For over 40 years, George Soros has been the leading private supporter of Europe’s Roma—the continent’s largest and most excluded ethnic minority—championing Roma leaders in their fight for equality and against deep-rooted discrimination.
Origins of a Commitment
For George Soros, the idea of an open society did not merely exist in the abstract, where the rights of individuals were protected against the state. It was also personal to him. “An open society,” he once said, “is one in which a person like me can live and prosper.” As a Jew in Hungary, he survived Nazi rule and experienced the Soviet occupation. The difference between an open and closed society, he realized, was not just about the protection of minority opinions, but also the protection of minority communities.
When communism fell in 1989, political freedoms expanded across newly independent countries, but the economic and social rights of minorities like the Roma remained elusive—the community still marginalized and impoverished. “In every country I visited,” Soros recalled, “I saw the same pattern. Roma communities were denied access to decent housing, employment, health care, and education.”
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Please read the full piece about George Soros' support for the Roma here.
On 23 October, George Soros was awarded the European Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma to honour his decades-long commitment to championing Roma communities across Europe.
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