WHO
ARE THE ROMA?
27
February 2002
(Hysni
Recica)
MUSIC (Roma)
Hello and welcome to UNMIK
on air!
Many people can visualize a
dark sturdy Roma singing.
Singing, dancing and even
fortune telling is often the image of some 12 million Roma scattered across the
world still enjoy. And unfortunately there are some less flattering stereotypes
as well.
A Roma scholar claims Bill
Clinton is of Roma descent… and so were Charlie Chaplin and Rita Heyworth.
MUSIC UP
They have their own language
and their own music… which has had great influence on jazz, among other modern
music types.
But who are they, and where
do they come from? Today we bring you a story on Roma people, who they are,
what they do, their challenges, and their hopes…
MUSIC
Most of the Romani
population is concentrated in Eastern Europe, and according to unofficial
figures, around 50,000 live in Kosovo, though many left after the war fearing
revenge from Albanians, who often saw them as collaborators of the previous
regime…
MUSIC
Ian Hancock, a Roma himself,
is a professor of Romani Studies at the University of Texas in Austin. He says
Roma were sent out of India as prisoners of war after they were defeated
fighting the spread of Islam in India, around one thousand years ago. They were
first sent to Anatolia, he says.
CUT 1: HANCOCK: The first
Roma came into Europe along with the Ottoman Turks, somewhere around 1300 I
would suppose. After that they crossed into Europe, the population moved in
different directions, although a large numbers were held in slavery in what is
today Romania.
Haxhi Zylfi Merxha is head of the United Roma Party
of Kosova, a member of parliament and the head of the non-Serb minority
committee in the parliament. He says the Roma have managed to preserve their
distinctive identity, despite often lacking schooling.
CUT 2: MERXHA: Roma are
specific people, without media, without their newspapers, we manage to maintain
our language and our tradition. Roma language is a language for all Roma in the
world…We Roma have not only preserved our language, but we have also kept our
tradition, traditional clothing.
The
Hollywood gypsy image is not accurate according to Mr. Hancock. In fact even the name “Gypsy” is incorrect,
as it refers to people of Egyptian origin. Literature and works of fiction have
shaped the popular image, but the reality is actually rather sad; a population
with no country, and little work.
CUT 3: HANCOCK: It’s been
extremely difficult to maintain any sense of ethnic unity, to have an economy,
to have a government, we do not have any of these things at all and we had to
rely on the populations around us to survive, this was possible before the age
of industrialization, it was quite possible to fit into the European economy
doing various often artisan trades, metal working and mending, but the need for
such skills has become less and less over the years, and today especially with
the emergence of ethnic self assertion, since the fall of communism the rise of
nation or ethnic states, does not leave much space for people who have no
geographic homeland.
The
problem for Roma is twofold; says Ian Hancock, the non-Romani world does not
really understand who they are, and they themselves are not that keen to get
involved in the non-Romani world.
CUT 4: HANCOCK: We need
education, but for some Romani groups, not all, even the idea of sending out
children to non-Romani schools goes against the cultural values, Tr. 12 so what
we need are parochial schools, ethnic schools, specifically designed for Romani
people, so that we can integrate - not assimilate necessarily, because
assimilation means loss of identity - but here we have a potentially large
workforce of people very willing if the conditions are right to become
productive members of the national societies.
But these hopes seem vain in
Kosovo, where jobs are hard to come by for everyone. Haxhi Merxha says the
Roma’s ambitions are modest.
CUT 5: MERXHA: Roma do not
pretend to take over the government, we want life safety, employment and
education.
Lots of Roma left Kosovo
right after war fearing revenge from returning Albanians. Some 650 now live in
an isolated camp in Plemetina. Adem Demaci, head of the committee for tolerance
and coexistence, says while they may have been manipulated by the previous
regime, some Roma did do things to make themselves disliked by the Albanians.
CUT 6: DEMACI: There were
Roma involved in actions against Albanians….I want to say they were manipulated
by the regime and this has brought them difficulties, and I saw with my own
eyes Roma looting Albanian shops during midday while police were just watching. During the bombing, when people
needed rice, macaroni, sugar, cigarettes, etc they headed for Roma
neighborhoods, since their houses had turned into stores selling this sort of
things.
Mr Demaci says recently some
of the animosities have been overcome, as people realize that individuals, and
not the Roma people as a whole, were involved. But the fact remains that,
particularly in difficult times in Kosovo, the Roma suffer many social
problems.
CUT 8: DEMACI: You can see
Roma in Prizren, Gjilan and other places, they go out work as much as they can.
Unemployment that has plagued Kosova has affected the minorities as well. …In
Gjilani area there are Roma who live in deep poverty, I do not know why some
humanitarian associations do not to concentrate their grants there, and to
allocate their funds to help these needy people; women, kids, it is
misery.
But there may be some hope.
Haxhi Merxha, the head of Roma party in Kosovo, says the fact that they and
other minorities have a strong voice in parliament may enable them to improve
their conditions.
CUT 9: MERXHA: We are 120
members in the parliament, out of that 90 % are Albanian 10 % are minorities.
Out of that 22 are Serb, 13 non-Serb. You have no where else this kind of
parliament, neither in Europe, nor in the entire world, with the rights we have
here in Kosova, then 33 % women in the parliament, this is something extremely
positive for all the world and Europe to see there is a new but just democracy
in Kosovo.
MUSIC
And
that’s all for today from UNMIK on Air. In a later programme we’ll look at the
differences – if any – between some Kosovo communities many people confuse with
each other: Roma, Ashkalia, and Egyptians.