WE ARE A NATION, THE ROMA DECLARE TO THE WORLD
by Johanna Grohova
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.
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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 great 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)
