(Mlada Fronta Dnes, Saturday, 29 July 2000, page 1 and 6)

Czech Republic - translated into English

(front page:)

Prague - The participants of the world Roma congress are just having the

lunch break. In the main

hall of the Radio Free Europe building is turning a dense cigarette smoke.

Dozens of people are

talking loudly while constantly smoking. Suddenly somebody starts clapping,

the people in the

crowd slowly move aside and form a cicle. An old man takes a corpulent

woman around her

waist and they start making dancing figures. The clapping becomes more

rhytmical and louder.

Everybody enjoys the moment. They are among their people. They want to show

the world that

the Roma are a nation sui juris, although it does not have its own

territory.

"Do you know that story?" a man who emerges from behing the column suddenly

asks in

English. "That dancing man is not a delegate. They found him in a railway

station and they took

him here," he explains. He is an American lawyer. He represents the Roma in

their efforts to get

the compensation for holocaust, during which half a million of them have

died. "Anybody else

would not notice him. We do," reacts immediatelly one of the Roma.

(page 6:)

Although the Romanes is the official language of the Congress, you can hear

various languages

outside the congress hall. The Roma from all over the world, also from

Australia, came here.

Nevertheless, thanks to the Romanes they all understand each other. Even the

representatives

from Begium came here. However they have Czech names: Jan Rusenko and Maria

Margita

Reiznerova. "I live in Belgium for 6 years already and this is my first

visit of Prague since I left

from here. It has been grat to meet so many old friends," says Reiznerova.

But when the congress

finishes she will immediatelly move home, near Brussels. She likes it there

much more.

AFTER THE LUNCH THERE IS LITTLE WILL TO WORK

The lunch is over, but the delegates of the Congress do not move into the

congress hall, where

only seven years ago the federal deputies were sitting. And the program is

several hours behind

the schedule. It is almost 2 p.m. and therefore also the press conference is

about to start, where

the results of the election of the new president of the Union should be

announced. But the election

has not even start yet. The spokeperson of the Congress is nervous, because

the overwhelming

majority of foreign journalists is sitting on the carpet and waiting. "In

about one hour it will be

done," the spokeperson promises and goes to look for tables and microphones.

But one hour turns

into four hours.

"Come, come," a young Rom, who leads a Romani broadcasting in Macedonia,

starts to shout and

hurries the others by clapping. Only now the delegates slowly return to

their places. In a while the

congress hall is almost full. Who does not have the headphones with the

simultaneous interpreter,

and does not know Romanes, has a hard luck.

The election of the president is however postponed. The Secretary General of

the Union, Emil

Scuka, takes the floor and starts to invite to the presidential board the

distinguished personalities,

who promoted in the various ways the better situation for the Roma. Each of

the pronounced

names is followed by a stormy applause and the prominent receives a diploma.

Only around half past five the votes thrown into the white plastic ballot

boxes are finally counted.

As expected, Emil Scuka wins. International Romani Union after more than a

year has again its

President. And which is his first task? "In the coming month we will work on

an urgent

preparation of a new office in Brussels," stated Scuka.

WE ARE 12 MILLIONS IN EUROPE

The Congres has to convince finally the whole world that the Roma take their

national recognition

very seriously. There are 12 millions of them living all around Europe and

they want to be

regarded as a peculiar nation. This is the first time they pronounce this so

decisively ever since the

Union was founded in London in 1971. The Romani Parliament will now

regularly meet twice

a year, a network of embassies will be created in all the countries and also

an anti-racist

commission will be founded. The commission should be linked to the

international Romani Court,

which will make pressure on the countries that allow the discrimination of

the Roma. The

functioning of these institutions is supposed to be financed by the means of

special taxes.

The Roma want to be the first European nation, without claiming for some

territory. They have

their own language, the International Romani Union designated the national

anthem "Gelem,

gelem" and the blue-green flag. "The Roma are a modern nation as the other

nations and this

equal position should be admitted to them. We will then be able to play an

important political role

on the national and international level," said Scuka's assistant Sean

Nazerali. But the Roma do

not care about being portrayed by people in romantic colours as nomads, who

move from one

place to another, who walk barefoot, who life in colourfull caravans and are

able just to play and

sing. "This is the exotic, but quite common idea of people about the lives

of the Roma. And it is

equally realistic as the picture of Indians gallopping on the horses over

prairies and shooting the

buffalos with longbows," noted Nazerali in the British daily The Guardian.

And how will the Roma, often living in the poor conditions and without the

access to usual

communication and information means, be able to learn about the formation of

their own nation?

"The delegates of the Congress are always very respected and influential

people within their

community. And through them the informations spread orally," explains

Nazerali.

SOME DELEGATES FROM THE WEST DID NOT COME

The idylic picture of unity of all the Roma from all over the world has

however its credibility gaps.

Some of the passionate speeches in the discussions can indicate it. Not

everybody has the same

opinions on how the Union should function and how the Roma should pursue

themselves and

how they should be recognised by the rest of the world. Not everybody has

also the identical

problems. A Rom living in Germany lives in the different conditions than a

Rom living in

Romania.

The proof that the Congress of the International Romani Union did not

represent all the Roma

is the fact that many of the west European groups did not come to Prague.

The reason was also

the bad reputation of the Czech Republic as a country which is not able to

protect its citizens from

racial hatred and discrimination.

The British Roma were also considering a boycott of the Congress in the

beginning. "We think

that the Czech and Slovak Roma are discriminated and that the British

authorities should treat

them in a more human way," says one of the long-time members of the Union

Peter Mercer.

His colleague Charles Smith (he refuses being called Rom, he is a Gypsy) is

moreover convinced

that the people in the Union have not understood the rules of democracy so

far. "The Union is

governed by the representatives of central and eastern Europe. For example,

they have carried

into the new constitution of the Union whatever they wanted. We have got its

draft in the day of

our arrival, but only about a half of the people has actually read it. There

was no real debate on

its contents," says Smith. "The people here have still to go a very long way

to understand

democracy," adds this man, whom only few could recognise as a Rom. He has

not dark skin, does

not understand the Romanes and with his face he could easily sit behind the

bank desk. Still he

is one of a few still nomadizing Roma. His home is a caravan and he does not

intend to change

it for a flat.

Sean Nazerali does not agee with the Smith's accusations: "The fact that

there are many Roma

from the central and eastern Europe here is a consequence of the fact that

the majority of them

are living in this part of the world."

NOW WE A RE CONCERNED MOST ABOUT KOSOVO

Probably the most painful now for the Roma are the events in Kosovo, where

the Roma often are

the targets of racially motivated attacks, particulartly from the part of

the Albanians who accuse

them of the collaboration with the Serbs. "What is happening in Kosovo is

the consequence of the

fact that Europe was in no way engaged in this issue. It is not possible to

send there only the

humanitarian aid, but also political steps are needed," stated the political

advisor of the Secretary

General Paolo Pietrosanti. From the Congress in Prague should be sent to

Kosovo 3451 US

Dollars (130 thousand CZK), which were collected from among the delegates in

the humanitarian

appeal.

Equally painful for the Roma is the memory of the holocaust. The Roma

endeavour, similarly as

the Jewish community does, to obtain the compensation for their suffering.

During the Congress

an idea was raised that these money could be invested into a rather living

memorial of the dead

Roma. "This memorial should be the first world Romani university, " says

Sean Nazerali.

(Article is illustrated by three photos from the Congress, one of the

showing Emil Scuka being

congratulated after his election as a new President of the IRU)