Thanks, George (Soros)

George Soros believes in Tikkun Olam. Do you?

In a declaration signed by five heads of government and three deputy prime ministers, Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic promised to work to "abolish discrimination and heal the rift that separates the Roma from the rest of the population."

The statement followed a one-day meeting in Sofia organized by the World Bank with the help of international financier and philanthropist George Soros. After the politicians signed it, the statement was handed to a seven-year-old gypsy girl named Bojidara, who plans to keep a diary of the main events in her life until 2015 to gauge whether they keep their promises.[...]

But Soros, the director of the Open Society Institute, praised the emergence of "a new Roma intelligentsia, an elite that is well-educated and can speak for itself and for the Roma," saying this would help efforts to overcome "the worst case of ethnic discrimination in this region."

Soros pledged to contribute 30 million dollars (23 million euros) to the Roma Education Fund, which was created following a conference on Roma held in Budapest in 2003.

The fund now has 43 million dollars in pledges, the Open Society Institute said.

Soros said the meeting in Sofia marked "the first time that the governments are showing real politcal will to see that Roma are equal citizens in a growing Europe."

This is a very good cause.