Why study the Holocaust?

As the "Gypsy" Wagon Museum Display travels around Iowa every summer, the question I am asked most often is "Why does the Holocaust matter now? It's over." I get this same question at lectures as well. Why can't we, the human race, forget about the Holocaust? Why should we continue to look at those terrible pictures? Why remind ourselves of the horrors of the Third Reich when Nazism is a thing of the past? Surely no civilized nation or the UN would stand for a resurgence of the Nazi regime in Germany or any country. Why can't we let the dead rest in peace.

This question both frustrates and amuses me. Amusement because Americans pride ourselves in being a world power, a "Super Power" at that. We are the World's Police Force, ready to fight for right wherever we are needed. And yet most Americans have no idea what is really going on in the world. Our press hardly covers world events unless it involves a scandal with the royal family of England or some celebrity married or divorced.

We, as Americans, are obsessed with the Kardashians, the Hiltons, and "Real" Housewives of Beverly Hills, and Snookie. We love a good train wreck. We enjoy watching the rich and famous makes fools of themselves on national television. But who is laughing? We watch the shows, shake our heads at the drama those people call their lives, yet those people are the ones cashing the checks, scoring big at the bank.

What is really going on in the world? Do we, as Americans, really know? Do the citizens of the country claiming to be the World's Police have any idea what happens outside our borders?

No.

I can say this with conviction because everywhere I've lectured this year, people are stunned at the data I present.

"Sterilizations? This is 2012! How can that be going on now?"
Answer: "Its been going on since the early 1970's."

"Fingerprinting and photographing? Hitler did that. This is the Twenty-first century! It isn't done anymore!"
Answer: "It began in Italy in the Twenty-first century. While the practice has been condemned by the EU, no one in the U.S. knew about it until the program ended."

"Romani kids not allowed in the schools in the Czech Republic? It's a civilized country!"
Answer: "That civilized country was ordered by the Court of Human Rights to allow Romani children in schools...over five years ago and has failed to follow through with that order. PS: The Czech Republic writes human rights policy for the United Nations and holds this charter until 2014."

The list goes on and on and people everywhere are always surprised.

When the question arises of Holocaust remembrance, I always ask what the students already know of Nazi experience. What were the steps of dehumanization? How did the Nazis prepare German citizens for the destruction of the "lesser" races? Most students answer this question correctly.

Answer: It began slowly. The public was treated to a mass propaganda effort that compared the Jews and other lives unworthy of life to vermin that must be destroyed; rats in the sewers. Then they lost their rights, their jobs, their possessions, their homes. It was a gradual process that few Germans protested. It allowed the citizens of Germany to claim ignorance years later.

Why is this important? Can we learn anything from history?
Answer: Yes. We can see the process of how the Nazis came to power so we can recognize evil.

And yet, Americans do not see the very same process happening in Europe right now, in countries we would considered civilized. The leaders of France, Italy, the Czech Republic, England, Germany; are all very  educated. They are not running their countries based on fear and intimidation. Or are they?

Now that the United States has observer status in the Decade of Roma Inclusion, the American press must take notice of world events, events that are indeed relevant to life and human rights. We, as citizens and as customers of the American press, must demand of our news sources to report the news and leave the Kardashians to Entertainment Weekly.

  

Seasons Greetings

We would like to say "Baxtali Karachonja" to everyone this holiday season. Nais tuke, thank you, for your support over the year and may the New Year bring true peace and happiness to you and yours and to our brothers and sisters around the world.

Please watch us grow this coming year!

"Tired" by Qristina Zavackova Cummings

Today's post comes from a blog written by O Porrajmos Education Society board member Qristina Zavackova Cummings. Qristina is a valuable asset to our board and we offer our condolences on her loss. We also feel her anger and frustration at the situation of our brothers and sisters in Europe. Please follow the link to her blog and read her other posts.

Monument for Sinti and Roma victims of Nazis highlights German government hypocrisy

This article comes to us from the RINA network and was written in the World Socialist Website at WSWS.org

Monument for Sinti and Roma victims of Nazis highlights German government hypocrisy

By Bernd Reinhardt 
29 October 2012

On October 24, a central memorial for the 500,000 Sinti and Roma murdered by the Nazis was unveiled in Berlin. The monument is sited immediately next to the Bundestag (parliament) building. It is also close to the Holocaust memorial for the Jews murdered during Nazi rule.

The ceremony to unveil the monument was attended by representatives of the Sinti and Roma communities, a representative of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and the vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee. Top representatives of the German political establishment were present, including Federal President Joachim Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Culture Minister Bernd Neumann and Bundestag President Nobert Lammert.

Also in attendance were various party representatives such as Gregor Gysi and Petra Pau (Left Party), Renate Künast (Greens), Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit (Social Democratic Party), and former federal president Richard von Weizsäcker. The ceremony was transmitted live on television.

Israeli artist Dani Karavan created the monument in accordance with guidelines provided by the Sinti and Roma communities designed to point to their common history of persecution. The monument consists of a circular black basin filled with water, twelve metres in diameter, with a triangle-shaped column at its centre representing the piece of fabric that Sinti and Roma were forced to wear in the concentration camps.

Every evening, the column will retract, appearing again the following day bearing a fresh flower. This stands for recurring sorrow, recurring life and a constant reminder to keep alive the memory of the crimes committed against the Sinti and Roma.

The poem “Auschwitz” by the Italian Roma musician and poet Santino Spinelli is worked into the edge of the basin. A glass wall near the basin provides information about the history of the Nazi persecution of the Sinti and Roma in Europe.

The chair of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, and the Dutch Sinto Zoni Weisz delivered moving speeches. Last year, Weisz was the first Sinto to address the German Bundestag, where he called upon deputies to make public the “forgotten Holocaust”. As a child he escaped deportation to the camps but lost his entire family.

Romani Rose, who lost 13 family members in the camps, has long been active in the Sinti and Roma civil rights movement in Germany. He held a hunger strike at the Dachau concentration camp in 1980 to draw attention to the genocide against the Sinti and Roma.

Both speakers visibly struggled with their emotions. Many of the Sinti and Roma present cried when Weisz recounted the history of his family. Practically every family has lost members. The memory of the nightmare of the Third Reich and the fear of its repetition remain tangible today.

In the background but very present at the ceremony was a sense of the hypocrisy of unveiling a memorial over half a century after the crimes were committed, compounded by the escalating persecution of Sinti and Roma today in Germany and throughout Europe.

Following the speech by Chancellor Merkel, one angry audience member demanded to know what was happening to the Sinti currently being deported from Germany to Eastern Europe. A speaker on the platform simply talked over the objection, declaring, “That is not the issue here today.”

This arrogant response underscores the fact that the German government has no interest in documenting and exposing the crimes of the Nazis against the Sinti and Roma, providing restitution for these crimes, or looking honestly and objectively at Germany’s postwar history.

Following the Second World War, old Nazis were able to continue their careers. Practically the entire judicial and civil service apparatus of the Third Reich was taken over by the “democratic” Federal Republic of Germany.

The size of the pensions received after the war by such officials and judges included their service under the Nazis, while their victims were often treated as outcasts. The documentary film Django’s Song by Tom Franke and Kuno Richter depicts a Sinto from Oldenburg, who describes how Sinti visiting the doctor’s surgery after the war were often confronted with the very medics who had sent them to the concentration camp.

In 1956, just seven years after the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Supreme Court rejected a compensation case benefiting Sinti and Roma, declaring that they had not been persecuted in the Third Reich on racist grounds, but because they displayed criminal tendencies. “They often lack the moral instinct to respect the property of others, and like primitives are driven by an unbridled cupidity”, the verdict read.

The Sinti and Roma fought up to the 1980s without success for moral and financial compensation for the crimes committed against them by the Nazis.

There are many hair-raising stories. The above-mentioned hunger strike in 1980 was directed against the Bavarian state Interior Ministry, which refused to allow Sinti to view the files of the “Landfahrerzentrale” (Central Agency for Vagrants), the immediate successor to the fascist “Reichszentrale zur Bekämpfung des Zigeunerunwesens” (Reich Headquarters to Combat the Gypsy Pest). The Landfahrerzentrale had relied on files created by the Nazis. Some of those working in the agency had been so-called “Gypsy specialists” in the Third Reich.

In the 1920s, the crisis-ridden Weimar Republic, with its many unemployed and homeless, had already set up “Zigeunerzentralen” (Police Gypsy Bureaus), which gathered intelligence on Sinti, Roma and “other Gypsy-like itinerant persons”. Bavaria was the pioneer with its 1926 law to “combat Gypsies, vagrants and the work-shy”. In Hesse, following the Bavarian model, the Social Democratic state interior minister and trade union leader Wilhelm Leuschner introduced the “law to combat the Gypsy menace”, which was passed in 1929.

It was only in 1982, more than thirty years after the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany, that Sinti and Roma were recognised to have been persecuted by the Nazi regime on racist grounds, and their mass elimination recognized as genocide. But this was not made public.

The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) also condescended merely to erect an unobtrusive monument at the Marzahn Cemetery on the outskirts of East Berlin. Sinti and Roma were never recognised as national minorities in either of the postwar German states.

It took another ten years, at the behest of the Sinti and Roma communities, before the Bundestag relented and agreed to erect a central memorial. It then took a further twenty years before it was actually unveiled. During this entire time, Sinti and Roma have been confronted with the claim that their persecution could not be compared to the Holocaust of the Jews. In the meantime, many victims have died.

Despite their expressions of gratitude to Chancellor Merkel, the bitter tone of the two Sinti speakers could not be missed. The oft-used word “hope” could only partially hide their disappointment.

In his speech, Rose warned of the growth of racism in Europe and Germany, which was not restricted to far-right groups, but was increasingly found in the midst of society. According to Rose, the political and judicial response to the right-wing ideology of violence is a touchstone as to whether lessons are drawn from the war and the Holocaust.

Rose mentioned the victims of the neo-Nazi terrorist group from Zwickau, which for all those present brought to mind recent press reports on the involvement of the secret service in the far-right scene. He greeted from the podium the representatives of Berlin’s Muslim community, who are also increasingly confronted with racist attacks.

In her long-winded speech, Chancellor Merkel did not have much to say other than to repeat a few platitudes about human dignity and civil courage. She spoke of the “incomprehensible” that had knocked Germany off its course and from which one had to learn. How one can learn from something that is incomprehensible, she did not say. Merkel then promised that Germany would continue to pursue the rights of the Sinti and Roma in the European Union.

The opposite is the case. Immediately following the unveiling, Merkel’s interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich (Christian Social Union—CSU), gave out with a tirade in the media against refugees from Serbia and Macedonia, whence come the majority of Roma, who are fleeing from unbearable living conditions and racist persecution. One day following the unveiling, he proposed that benefits paid to these refugees be cut. The human rights organisation Pro Asyl accused him of launching a “populist campaign against Roma from the Balkan states.”

Sinti and Roma are also systematically persecuted in Italy and France. The French government has dispersed them from their camps and deported them en masse to Romania and Bulgaria.

In Eastern Europe, the terror faced by Roma and Sinti recalls the Nazi era. In the Czech Republic and Hungary, uniformed fascist gangs organise regular marches in Roma neighbourhoods, encouraged and tolerated by the authorities. Attending school and getting access to medical care have become increasingly difficult.

The Merkel government, which is mercilessly driving forward austerity measures throughout Europe, bears the main responsibility. German calls for financially drained governments to protect the “human rights” of the Roma are hypocritical to the core.

Friedrich’s predecessor as interior minister had also proceeded against Sinti and Roma. In 2002, Otto Schily (Social Democratic Party—SPD) negotiated a so-called readmission treaty with Albania and Yugoslavia, which included “combating illegal migration from the Balkan region.”

Many of those affected had fled to Germany in the 1990s as a result of the civil war in Yugoslavia. In April 2010, Thomas de Maiziere (Christian Democratic Union—CDU) signed an agreement that obliged Kosovo to take back 14,000 refugees. Some 10,000 were Roma who had fled the terror being carried out by the German-supported Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

Recently, if one listened carefully, the long plaintiff sounds of a violin could be heard coming from a small park near the Brandenburg Gate. Refugees had set up a camp and begun a hunger strike protesting their persecution and demanding the right to stay and work in Germany. On the eve of the unveiling of the monument, police forcibly dismantled and closed down the camp.

Czech Republic and “gypsies” - 1938 vs. 2012

Romea

October 16^th 2012

Czech Republic and “gypsies” - 1938 vs. 2012

By František Kostlán

1 December 1938 - District Governor in Poděbrady, speaking to the governing body of the provincial authority in Prague: “Every day I am continually challenged, at work, in society and by various individuals, with getting the Government to correct this evil, and the most reliable way to do this is unequivocally the establishment of concentration camps for gypsies and vagrants. The incoming new Government would immediately gain the general sympathy and thanks of all classes of society were it to introduce such measures.”

24 August 2011 - Czech Senator Jaroslav Doubrava (Severočeši.cz - “North Bohemians.cz”): “In my opinion, the Army should be prepared in any event, because what is starting to happen here exceeds all tolerable limits... The Government and the responsible bodies of the state administration are overlooking the racism coming from the side of the Gypsies… Recent events are proof of what I am saying. There is an unequivocal need for tougher punishments, to not be afraid to give these thugs the maximum possible sentences. We should make the law more strict and increase the maximum sentences possible. The fun has to stop here now. The situation is very serious. Do we want the Gypsies to burn down our towns like they do in England? … I am getting ready to ask the appropriate bodies to thoroughly address this situation and I will try to submit bills in the Senate to make our legislation more strict. In any event, I will speak with my colleagues and do my best to get us to stop closing our eyes to this aggression and terror. It’s time to take action.”

19 April 2012 Czech Senator Vladimír Dryml (a member of the Czech Social Democratic Party when he made this statement, today a member of the Zeman Supporters’ Citizens’ Rights Party - SPOZ): “The high criminality of Romani people and the feeling that they enjoy impunity because of the implementation of positive racism by the Czech justice system and the empty, false opinions of the weird human rights defenders in the EU and in our country are now bearing fruit... Laws should apply the same to everyone and the law must be enforced rapidly and, in the case of racism, also harshly, and that applies to everyone, in particular Romani people.”

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5 February 1939 - The village council in Svatobořice, writing to the Prime Minister of the Czech-Slovak Government, Rudolf Beran: “If until now a bad policy of humanism has been in place, it is time to take another path. We should not be criticized for wanting to cleanse the tribe of our small nation of parasites like the gypsies.”

17 January 2012 - Czech MP Poslanec Otto Chaloupka (Public Affairs -Věci veřejné): “Romani leaders should first and foremost start making their livings decently. They are just as much parasites on the Romani community as the Romani community is a parasite on the majority society... Today they don’t have to work, they just constantly complain. A wave of physical violence is rising against the majority society and we just keep backing down... I understand this effort to do something about it and to do our best to include them, to re-educate a generation of these inadaptables and give them all the conditions in which to become decent people who won’t bother anyone and who won’t be despised, but how many years have we been doing our best to somehow include them - without any effect?”

19 April 2012 - Czech Senator Miroslav Krejča (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD): “The public’s view of Romani people is completely justified and we are too tolerant toward this inadaptable, parasitical minority.”

19 April 2012 - Czech Senator Pavel Lebeda (ČSSD): “Because most Romani people are criminals and loiterers living parasitically on the majority population and refusing to work, the public’s position on them is understandable and is amplified by the unacceptable positive discrimination of Romani people, not only in the social welfare area, but even in the justice system. The feeling that they are being defended, that they can commit crime with impunity, means Romani people are committing brutal crimes more and more frequently in addition to their traditional crimes against property. When we add to that the problems with civil coexistence and the widespread drug addiction among Romani people, no one should by surprised by the majority population’s aversion toward them.”

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6 July 1939 - District commander of the gendarmerie in Litomyšl, speaking to the District Authority there: “It must first be clear that the opinions of the ‘humanists’ who only know the gypsies from poetry or melancholy little songs,... are irrelevant..., and their opinions must not be taken notice of in the least in our future work to subdue the gypsies if we are to achieve our purpose and rid humanity of an evil worse than cancer.”

19 April 2012 - Czech Senator Zdeněk Schwarz (Civic Democratic Party - ODS): “The concept of racism in the context of the problems of Romani people is being intentionally abused by those same troubled Romani people and by some politicians who are themselves parasites on this problem and don’t know how to solve it. Unfortunately, the media is complicating the situation even further by reporting to the public in a way that is insufficient, not objective, or is unequivocally pro-Romani. A typical example of this is the recent case of the severely injured 15-year-old boy from Břeclav who has become an invalid for life. Why aren’t the media following this case with the same intensity and to the same extent as they followed the case of the Romani burn victim Natálka?”

(Editor’s note: The case in Břeclav was covered just as profusely by the Czech media as was the case of young Natálka. Moreover, it was later proven that the 15-year-old boy in the Břeclav case had completely fabricated the allegations that his injuries were caused by “Romani” assailants and that no attack ever took place. The number of such fabricated cases alleging that Romani people have perpetrated violence is rising sharply here.)

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30 November 1939 - Circular released by the Interior Ministry of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to the provincial authorities in Brno and Prague: “The bodies and offices under your direction shall be tasked with calling on all gypsies to settle permanently by the end of January 1940 and to cease their itinerant ways. Their nomad documents will also be confiscated. Whoever does not obey will be assigned to the disciplinary labor camps.”

19 April 2012 - Czech Senator Petr Pakosta (BEZPP): “The Gypsies themselves are to blame for the Czech public’s negative attitudes towards them. Their avoidance of work, their growing aggression, their lifestyle at the expense of the majority population is entirely the result of their own decisions.”

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17 January 1940 - Police directorate in Brno, speaking to the Provincial Authority there: “Because of the nature of the gypsies’ race and their Semitic origins, their strong clannish instinct and inborn tendency to wander the world must be subjected to the strictest legal measures ever to be issued for the control of gypsy malfeasance.”

24 August 2011 - Czech Senator Jaroslav Doubrava (Severočeši.cz - “North Bohemians.cz”): “I heard a gypsy teenager say to his friend: ‘I don’t want to fuck my mother anymore, man, I would rather fuck my sister, but only Dad gets to fuck her and he would beat me up.’ I felt like fainting... Unfortunately, it is still the case that most gypsies consider work to be the worst possible way to make a living... We don’t want to watch them destroy our region, and we’re going to do something about it irrespective of all this disingenuous bullshit about human rights and tolerance - before it’s too late. That community is illiterate. Who is preventing their access to education? Only they themselves, because they explicitly do not want to learn.”

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9 March 1942 - Government Edict No. 89 on the preventive control of crime: “For the purpose of protecting society from wrongdoers, police preventive custody is enacted. This police preventive custody is being performed in special internment camps. The length of such police preventive custody is not subject to restriction.”

22 September 2011 - Ivana Řápková, Czech MP for ODS, when she was still Mayor of Chomutov, speaking after a demonstration by human rights defenders and Romani people in her town was attacked by ultra-rightists while municipal officials and police stood by: “We want calm in Chomutov. That is why we will not permit any more such demonstrations, whether they are convened by Romani people or by left or right-wing extremists.”

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5 February 1943 - General Commander of the undercover Protectorate Police in Bohemia, speaking to government counsel Dr Schneider (in German): “It has been established that the quarantine of the gypsies in Hodonín could be cancelled before the end of this month because we have not yet discovered any cases of spotted typhus, so the gypsies can be transported to Auschwitz after thorough delousing and disinfecting of their clothing... The transport of the gypsies will be accomplished on the basis of the SS Reichskommandant’s order of 16 December 1942.”

15 August 2006 - Liana Janáčková, (then and now) Mayor of the Municipal Department of Mariánské Hory and Hulváky of the town of Ostrava, speaking at a public meeting of the housing department: “I understand it’s unfair to you all, but I really don’t have anywhere else to put these gypsies unless I take some dynamite and blow them to bits... Unfortunately, I am a racist, I disagree with integrating the gypsies so that they will live all over the municipality. We chose the Bedřiška area, so that’s where they will be, with a high fence, an electrified one, it’s all the same to me... and I’ll shout that to the whole world.

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24 August 1943 - Criminal Police Directorate of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in Brno, to the General Commander of the undercover Criminal Police in Prague (in German): “... on 21 August and 22 August 1943 a transport of 767 gypsies to Auschwitz was performed. ...on 22 August 1943 at 5:30 the transport was handed over to the German gendarmerie in Moravská Ostrava for further transport to Auschwitz. The transport and handover of the gypsies took place without a single flaw. After the gypsies were transported away, there remain 32 persons at this time in gypsy camp II in Hodonín by Kunštát... .”

15 August 2006 - Jiří Jezerský (running for TOP 09), (then and now) Vice-Mayor of the Municipal Department of Mariánské Hory and Hulváky of the town of Ostrava, speaking at a public meeting of the housing department, during the debate over the Romani residents of the Bedřiška settlement: “Give me a gun license and permission to shoot my weapon and I’ll go do it.”

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1 February 1944 - Criminal Police Directorate of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in Brno to the Criminal Police there: “With respect to the final solution of the gypsy question, i.e., the expatriation of gypsies from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, this was fulfilled and thereby the following decrees are no longer necessary: Interior Ministry Decrees from 13 February and 30 May 1941… .”

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Sources:

The quotes from the dignitaries of the Second Republic era and from the time of the Nazi occupation (1938 - 1944) were taken from a speech made by historian Michal Schuster at the commemorative ceremony at Hodonín by Kunštát on 19 August 2012. In that speech, Schuster also said:

“The Nazi genocide of Romani people concurred with the prevailing prejudices against this minority in Europe prior to the Nazis’ rise to power. Measures taken by the authorities in those days grew out of the xenophobic position of society back then. For people living in Europe during the 1930s, it was not necessarily curious or disturbing - and in most cases it was not curious or disturbing - for there to be a gradually radicalizing tendency heading toward suppressing the rights of various groups and eventually leading to the so-called ‘Final Solution’.”

The quotes from present-day politicians dated 19 April 2012 are from an article published on news server euportál.cz, part of the group of websites run by Parlamentní listy, an online periodical known for its anti-Romani tendencies. The headline for that article also influenced this one.

Czech MP Ivana Řápková (ODS) is fighting a remorseless battle in this regard and we will soon be reviewing it. Racist Czech Senator Doubrava is green with envy over her ongoing legislative anti-Romani crusade.

Translated by Gwendolyn Albert

Songs of Gypsies Past

We Romanies lead a frustrating existence.  Rarely are we allowed to mark our own identity; instead it is marked for us by society, the same society who labeled us incorrectly as Egyptians. Who are we? We are con artists, thieves, even murderers and sexual predators according to shows like Criminal Minds, The Riches, The Finder, and Law and Order:SVU and NCIS:LA.  We are violent and aggressive according to the latest batch of reprehensible shows like My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, and American Gypsies.  Our music is wild and uncultured and our female performers are exotic and sexual according to bands like Fishtank and Caravan of Thieves, just to name a few. 

How can a Romani be a Romani and celebrate his real heritage and culture and be accepted within society? By taking the initiative and putting something real before the eyes of the public. Nais tuke, Nick Wildwood. Brava.

Mr Wildwood has collected recordings from the past, performed by real Romanies who remained true to their heritage. This collection has been beautifully remastered in Pennsylvania for release with Volume 1 of Songs of Gypsies Past. This CD contains traditional music performed in the Romani language.

When speaking to Mr. Wildwood over the phone about this ambitious project, I was touched to the point of tears by his enthusiasm and love for the music of his people."Most of the artists are no longer with us; recordings that were handed down from my grandfather to my father and then to me. Many of these musicians had no formal training. They learned by ear and are beyond our imagination." 

 "You'll find six baso songs (traditional Romani dancing) that you might see at a party or a wedding. One of the "basos," labeled The Happy Dance, is performed by an accordion player known throughout the United States, Meeska, and that recording is at least 100 years old," he continues. "And there are 15 tracks of a "taw-cheve" performances with one special track called Autumn Leaves and in this track, the woman sings half in English and half in Romani. My grandmother used to sing this song when she was a 'boryee', or a young bride."

Even the cover art, shown above, was painstaking selected. "Two of the photographs are from the Romani Archive and Documentation Center and the other two are of an authentic bow top Gypsy wagon. The gorgeous horse on the back cover is a Gypsy vanner, bred by Romani in Europe. When the horse would run, they (the Romanies) would say the horse "whorrall" which means the horse could fly. The reason is that the fluffiness of the hair of the hooves, tail, and the mane would be blowing in the wind, giving the horse the appearance of lifting off the ground. That's our horse!" he says with great pride in his voice. "They wanted a strong horse like a Clydsdale but they didn't want the burden of feeding a horse as big a Clydesdale or the difficulty of caring for a horse as big as a Clydesdale, so they bred a smaller version."

Even the CD inside bears the stamp of Romani pride. "The CD itself is encrypted with the cover art," states Mr. Wildwood. "So this is indeed a collector's piece, a thing of beauty for the eyes as well as the ears." 

This CD collection has an even greater significance to the Romani people than just music, however. Mr Wildwood has formed a unique and special agreement with Europe's Children, the children's ministry branch of the Assembly of God Church. This agreement means Romani children will benefit from the sale of this CD. 

"We are working with the Assembly of God Church, and they represent the European people as far as children are concerned. But because of our people, the Romani people, they have made an exclusion that the funds will go to support Romani children in orphanages throughout Europe," explained Mr. Wildwood, and his voice cracked in his emotion while speaking of the children. "They (Europe's Children) also help Romani girls to get off the streets and into a home.They have missionaries in each of these countries that actually deliver food, clothes, medicine, and the most very important thing that they are teaching them is the word of God."

One way to support our brothers and sisters in Europe is to purchase Songs of Gypsies Past. It is available on Amazon.com for 14.95 and you may purchase it by following the link above. 

Another way to support our children in Europe is to donate to Europe's Children. It doesn't take much to help these children. Simply click on the link above and when you send in your donation, note that you would like your donation to assist Romani children. Help our Romani families overseas and purchase the CD or donate today. If you are Romani, claim your heritage and purchase the CD. If you are not Romani and want to experience the real deal, purchase the CD and help make a difference. 

And a closing message from Mr. Wildwood: 

"Paw-cheave-po-menga - to your happiness!"

ROMA COMMUNITY CENTRE DISTANCES ITSELF FROM REMARKS OF CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OBSERVER AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEETING, June 28, 2012

ROMA COMMUNITY CENTRE DISTANCES ITSELF FROM REMARKS OF CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OBSERVER AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEETING, June 28, 2012

The Roma Community Centre  (RCC) in Toronto declares openly that it has never had any contact with Mr. Chisu, envoy of the Canadian government present as an observer during the 26th ordinary session of the Council of Europe regular session on June 28, 2012 nor does the RCC condone, support or agree with any of Mr. Chisu's remarks during the session.  

Instead of working to protect refugees in accordance with internationally established standards in operation among western nations since 1951, Mr. Chisu and the government of Canada are criminalizing the victims of persecution.  Mr. Chisu’s statements do more damage than simply denying the right of every human being to flee persecution as recognized in the Geneva conventions. The outright justification to deny Roma victims of persecution refugee status due to accusations that individuals of Romani ethnicity may be involved in human trafficking of Romani victims is absurd. It promotes stereotypical racial prejudice against the Romani people. That anyone can declare an entire people criminals and therefore unworthy of asylum is unthinkable.  

If investigations can lead to criminal charges and successful prosecution of such criminal activity, the Roma Community Centre as well as most Romani citizens worldwide would welcome and support such actions. The very lack of equal access to police protection is what in fact is causing Roma refugees to come to Canada.  We want justice! That includes criminal prosecution of Roma criminals.  Canadians do not tolerate criminal behaviour from other Canadians, so why would we be different?

The existence of criminal activity such as human trafficking in situations where people are in need of fleeing is not unique to the Roma.  Cubans, Cambodians, Sri Lankans, and other nations have been suffering persecution and in some cases in their desperation have allowed themselves to become further victims of human trafficking.  The existence of such activity does not deny, refute, negate or excuse the activity of nations such as the Czech Republic and Hungary from protecting their citizens from racial discrimination as it applies to receiving police protection.  Armed neo-Nazi militias have increased the frequency and severity of their attacks against Roma people, which has been well documented since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. The tolerance that the majority populations of these countries demonstrate towards the behaviour of these organized thugs are causing Roma to flee. 

Contrary to Mr. Chisu’s remarks, no further analysis on the possible contributing factors to the Roma’s difficulties is necessary beyond that which already has been analyzed in the past 23 years.  It is time for action. Enforcement of existing laws and reforms in education policies need to be addressed. Police corruption must be rooted out.  Member states must be committed to fighting racism and protect minority rights.  

The RCC does not support the criminalization of refugees.  The RCC supports the claims of Roma who have legitimate claims for asylum in Canada. 

We wish that Mr. Chisu and the Canadian government would actually ask us what we think, and what our recommendations are before making misleading statements about our position to the Council of Europe. The efforts of volunteers in the Roma community for the past decade have been precisely this point: don’t talk about us without talking to us. 

Another Day, another Denier

Yesterday I began a conversation with a Denier. I actually felt sorry for this man, and even somewhat impressed. He could quote 'chapter and verse' from hate sites, as if he's read them repeatedly to memorize the material in case he needs to 'educate' people like me.

What he hasn't done, as is the case of most deniers, is to look behind the hate sites. Using facts claimed to be hidden, when in actuality they are well documented, this young man is doomed to spout a false history in order to feel better about the color of his skin.

His argument hinges on two facts: 1. A door to one of the gas chambers that has a peephole without a cover and 2. no traces of Zyklon-B on walls in a gas chamber.

He stands proudly on these two facts. His beliefs demand it.

The door he refers to, and even the walls themselves, are recreations. The chamber Deniers often offer up as evidence as proof that there were no go gas chambers is a re-construction of a gas chamber because the originals were destroyed by the Nazis to cover their crimes. This re-creation is a matter of public record. It was built to allow visitors to understand the feeling of the now destroyed chambers.

I asked him about the real chambers, currently in ruins after the Nazis attempted to destroy them when the Russians were at their door. He didn't have an exact answer, though others have explained to me that they were destroyed to make it look bad for the Nazis. The Jews did it to make it look like the Nazis were covering up war crimes.

I'm sorry, but the Nazis looked bad long before those few buildings were blown up. And it was the Nazis who destroyed them. We have that in records.

The Nazis are once again coming to power. Other supremest groups are on the rise. Deniers are becoming more and more vocal. We have to be diligent. We have to be ready to expose racism when we see it. Learn the truth and educate others.

Take back "Gypsy?"

Recently someone suggested to me that we 'take back' the word "Gypsy" by giving it a positive meaning, by showing the world what it really means to be Rromani. Perhaps the logic behind it is that since people are already using the word, if we 'step up' and give people a reason to realize that Gypsies really are decent people, then everything will be fine. We can live happily together as a global people.

There are some difficult obstacles to overcome to do this. In order to reclaim this word, we have to define it.

What exactly IS a "Gypsy" according to 'reliable' sources?

Google Dictionary: 1. A member of a traveling people with dark skin and hair who speak Romany and traditionally live by seasonal work, itinerant trade, and fortune-telling. Gypsies are now found mostly in Europe, parts of North Africa, and North America, but are believed to have originated in the Indian subcontinent.
3. A nomadic or free-spirited person.

That leaves me out but includes every hippie I know.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gypsy:  (sometimes pejorative) An itinerant person or any person or group with qualities traditionally ascribed to Romani people, including suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft etc.; one of a vagabond race, not necessarily Romani.

In this case, Gypsies aren't even Romanies, though Romanies making a dishonest living. Again, most Romanies I know are left out of the Gypsy portion of this definition, yet are included in the second portion as Romani and, by default, are dishonest. So I am not Gypsy because I am Romani, but because I am Romani I am dishonest.

http://www.northdorsetlocalplan.co.uk (Gypsies) Persons who wander or travel for the purpose of making or seeking their livelihood. New Age Travellers do not normally fall under this definition.

Again, Romanies who are settled with jobs are not Gypsies. This also doesn't include me or most Romanies I know.

Other sources down the list on the Google search were blog sites describing Gypsies as "born with mystic powers", "diviners", and the like.

How do people use the word "Gypsy"?

Like this:

 

 



And they shout slogans like "Leave, Gypsy!" or "Die Gypsy!" or "Gypsies into glue!"

How do people react to the word "Gypsy?"

like this....







Why would we want to 'reclaim' this word?

The word has negative connotations and doesn't even represent who and what we are. It is a name placed upon us by outsiders. We didn't even come up with this ourselves. The word came from "Egyptian", used when people didn't understand who we were. Yes, we applied this to ourselves as well, but now the word has once again taken on a violent meaning with genocidal proportions.

The Answer

"Gypsy" isn't who we are. It is the definition and the image the world has projected upon us. 'Taking back' the word is not the answer. The answer is education, both for outsiders and for Romanies. We need to teach the world what ROMANI means and in that process, we need to protect and preserve who we are. Teach the next generation the old ways and understand the new; remaining separate but equal as is our right as human beings.

Golden Dawn in Greece: Hold on Tight

Golden Dawn: Sunset of Humanity

compiled by František Kostlán, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
Nikos Michaloliákos, the leader of the Greek party Golden Dawn, now seated in parliament, believes the information about the gas chambers and ovens of the Nazi concentration camps is all lies. He denied the Holocaust last Sunday during an interview with the Greek private television station Mega. On Tuesday, the Greek Government sharply condemned his statement. Many police officers reportedly voted for Golden Dawn in the last parliamentary elections.

"There were no gas chambers or ovens, I consider that a lie. Auschwitz, what Auschwitz? I wasn't there, what happened there? Were you there?" asked the leader of the neo-Nazi movement which just made it into the Greek parliament for the first time in 40 years.

A Greek Government spokesperson in Athens called Michaloliákos' statements an "enormous insult to the memory of the victims" and an "attempt to revise" the historical events which victimized "tens of thousands of Greek Jews". News server Česká pozice reports that Golden Dawn's electoral slogan, aimed against immigrants, was "We must rid the country of filth". The party's logo includes a swastika-like symbol and the Nazi salute is given at its rallies.

The neo-Nazis' campaign recipe for addressing the country's economic crisis was simple: Deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants and install landmines on the borders with the neighboring states from which immigrants most often arrive. "We want to drive out all illegal immigrants. We want to get their stench out of here," Reuters quoted party representative Frangiskos Porichis as saying.
"The hour of fear for the traitors of the homeland has arrived," Michaloliakos thundered at the party's press conference. The online news server of the daily To Vima reported that he had several journalists ejected from the conference because they did not stand up when he entered the room. Agence-France Presse reported him as ominously saying, "This is just the beginning" to the foreign correspondents whom his movement has charged with spreading lies about his ideology.

News server Česká pozice also mentions a disturbing analysis published by the Greek daily To Vima, which has also been reported on by the Russian news server RT.com. According to To Vima, a large portion of the votes cast for the neo-Nazis in the 6 May elections came from police officers.

Journalists researched the electoral results in several districts of Athens, where 5 000 active-duty police officers are registered to vote. In some districts, Golden Dawn won a surprising 19 - 24 % of the vote. The newspaper reports that in the 11 districts (numbers 806 - 816) near the Ellas police station, the party even received a majority of votes! In four districts near the MAT police station the party won 13 - 19 % of the vote.

According to the electoral lists, roughly 550 - 700 people voted in each of the districts researched. Between 20 -30 % of the registered voters in those districts are police officers. To Vima says this analysis shows that 45 - 59 % of them voted for Golden Dawn.

News server Česká pozice has analyzed the reason police officers have voted for the extremists as more pragmatic than ideological. Security services would have an advantage should Golden Dawn participate in governing, or to be more precise, they definitely would not lose their existing advantages, but would increase in importance. In the current situation, on the other hand, budget cuts and savings measures must necessarily affect police officers as well.
Golden Dawn has just been guaranteed 21 parliamentary seats with 7 % of the overall vote. However, those results have made it impossible for a new government to be formed, so new elections are expected.

Gypsyland

Every once in a while you simply must enjoy life around you. I had the most interesting discussion with a young lady approximately nine years of age over the course of a twenty-four hour camp out at a local park where I volunteer.

The evening was not intended to be anything "Gypsy" at all. I was in charge of teaching a group of Girl Scouts how to bake bread on a stick over a camp fire. I had sixteen girls total, all around 9 years old. From out of the blue comes the question "Do Gypsies wear swimsuits?" The question was not directed at me, but at one of the child's friends. The friend responded in that 'all-knowing' voice that Gypsies were from Egypt and they don't swim in Egypt because it is a desert, that everyone wears 'dresses' that go to the ground, even the men, so no, Gypsies do not wear swimsuits, they were dresses and lots and lots of jewelry, especially really big ear rings.

I asked where the question had come from and why the child had asked. She 'saw on TV where Gypsy girls don't wear the right clothes all the time," and I can only assume she'd seen My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. We began to have a short conversation about real Gypsies and their origins. It took me awhile to convince them, but I managed to get the idea that Gypsies are from Egypt out of their heads.

This must have sat in this little girl's mind and percolated throughout story time at the bonfire. She came to the Visitor's Center, which was where I was spending the night, and asked me about 'Gypsyland.' I had my laptop set up, but was unable to connect to the Internet, so we had a nice little talk.

Where was Gypsyland?

I had to explain once more the idea that Gypsies (I gave up on the word Romanies by then) came from India, but there was no one place in the world that was 'Gypsyland.' She grew very quiet and I could see this idea had just blew apart her concept of the universe and required more thought. She thanked me for the information and went on her way.

The next morning, she approached me and asked if my laptop was the type of computers we use in Gypsyland.  This time I tried a different approach. I told her that there really wasn't a Gypsyland, that I was from her hometown, and that my laptop could be purchased by anyone at Best Buy. "Gypsies are just like you. We don't own anything special that makes us Gypsies."

"Oh," and with such a look of disappointment!

The girls asked if I had any Gypsy music on my laptop, so I pulled up VIA Romen and let that play awhile. And she was back.

"Is that the kind of music they have in Gypsyland?"

"We have many different musicians who play many types of music, but, please understand, my dear, there is no Gypsyland."

About 20 minutes later we were on a hay rack ride touring the park and my little Gypsy girl was still contemplating the universe. Again, she looked at me and asked if Gypsyland was as big as the park or smaller. And after a similar conversation to those mentioned above, she still had that look of confusion on her face.

At breakfast, she asked if the foods were the same in Gypsyland.

"I eat the same things you do, sweetheart. I had donuts and orange juice like you did. There isn't any special food Gypsies eat because Gypsies live everywhere. There is no one place we can call our own."

She still wasn't satisfied, but then, neither was I. As she walked away to go home with her mom, I couldn't help but think about those days a thousand years ago, when the long road began, just what it may have been like in Gypsyland.

URGENT: An Appeal to Roma Friends and Allies

This is a post from http://golden-zephyr.tumblr.com/post/22840789472/urgent-an-appeal-to-roma-friends-and-allies. Please take the time in the next 24 - 48 hours to copy this letter, sign it, and mail it. This is an urgent cause and your letters will help. If you read this today, I urge you to take action.

 

URGENT: An Appeal to Roma Friends and Allies

I recently posted information about a Roma rights activist, Toma Nikolaev, who is facing extradition from the UK back to Bulgaria, where his life is in danger. There is a petition (here), but it is well documented that LETTERS, actual physical letters written by MANY people are a better source of providing justice. So, I ask you, no I humbly BEG you to help Toma (and ALL Roma rights activists, myself included) by writing a letter to the addresses below.
I have included the blurb from the petition website as an inspiration to form a letter. I will probably include the text as it stands, along with some more personal information about why it’s important not just for Toma.

Toma Nikolaev is a well-respected Roma rights activist and former candidate MP. Persecuted in Bulgaria due to his criticism of the apartheid that excludes most of Bulgaria’s 700,000 Roma, he was directing editor of the bilingual newspaper DeFacto until its closure.

Fearing for his life after a bomb was placed near his home, Mr. Nikolaev sought asylum in the UK. A long, uncompleted process followed during which Nikolaev continued to help fellow Roma. He joined the campaign to save the Dale Farm community, which was broken up by the riot police assault on the estate on 19 October 2011.

On April 8, 2012 Toma Nikolaev attended a sit-in front of the Bulgarian Embassy in London to mark Roma Nation Day. Shortly after he was arrested under a European warrant and he spent three days in custody before being released on bail. He is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court at 9:30am on 22nd May.

This is the first time a prominent Roma political activist has been brought before this court, which is reserved for extradition and terrorism cases.

Mr. Nikolaev faces extradition back to Bulgaria, where he would have to continue a prison sentence imposed for his criticism of the government .

The Roma in Bulgaria make up 8% of the population, live mostly in segregated neighbourhoods and are suffering 70% unemployment. In this condition of social exclusion, Roma activists are subject to judicial and police persecution, as well as violence from nationalist and racist movements, in particular the Atak Party. That is why we believe it is unsafe for Mr Nikoleav, his wife and children, to return to Bulgaria
and appeal to the Westminster Magistrates’ Court to dismiss the extradition proceedings brought by the Bulgarian state and allow Toma Nikolaev to remain in the UK, where he wishes to apply for political asylum.

Our appeal is also addressed to Queen Elizabeth II, and the Government and Parliament of the United Kingdom. We are asking them to intervene in the case of Toma Nikolaev, thus offering the European Union and the world an example of civility and respect for human rights. We also urge the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres; the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay; the European Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks; the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, and all civil society not to remain indifferent to a paradigmatic case of the current conditions of the Roma people and those who defend their rights.

We hope there will be a just and humanitarian verdict in the case of Toma Nikolaev, and extend to all recipients of this appeal our best regards.

Addresses to send letters:
Westminster Magistrate’s Court:Postal address - 181 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5QJ.


Navanethem Pillay United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Email addressinfodesk@ohchr.org
Palais Wilson
52 rue des Pâquis
CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland.
or
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Antonio GuterresUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt
Suisse.

Nils MuiznieksEuropean Commissioner for Human Rights

Council of EuropeF-67075 Strasbourg Cedex, FRANCE

Martin SchulzPresident of the European Parliament

Rue Wiertz 60
1047 Bruxelles
Belgique

FIRST ROMA PERSON IN CANADIAN HISTORY TO ADDRESS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

FIRST ROMA PERSON IN CANADIAN HISTORY TO ADDRESS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

TORONTO –Bill C-31 – closing the door on Roma Refugees

Today, is an historical day for the Roma community in Canada. At 5:30 pm, Gina Csanyi-Robah, executive director at the Roma Community Centre in Toronto, will be the first Romani person to address the Canadian federal government. Throughout the 10 days of testimony being heard in Ottawa regarding the new refugee reform legislation, Bill C-31, she will be the sole voice of the Canadian Roma community. Csanyi-Robah said she feels incredibly grateful to have this opportunity and hopes that she can raise awareness about the epidemic of hate crimes facing her community her many parts of Europe, while addressing many of the unfair, misinformed, and prejudicial accusations that have been targeting the community here in Canada.

Csanyi-Robah said, “Sadly, the same racist allegations that have crippled the community in Europe, are now being imported and disseminated here in my own country. From one unfortunate criminal case that took place in Hamilton involving 20 people, the entire Canadian Roma community and all of the approximately 7,000 families seeking asylum here are now forced to pay the price for it.” Furthermore, Csanyi-Robah claims that “these unfair, racist stereoytypes of collective criminality within the community is now influencing Canadian legislation.” Moreover, "withdrawn or failed refugee claims do not in any way signify that they were illegitimate, what it does speak to is the flaws inherent in our system and vulnerability of a marginalized community. In 2011, there were 167 accepted Roma refugee claims - does that mean that those Immigration Refugee Board adjudicators will lose their jobs now for accepting bogus refugee claims?"

Bill C-31’s, new proposed ‘safe country designated list’ will be detrimental to any person who needs protection from the epidemic of racist hate crimes currently targeting Roma communities in Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Among other provisions, the bill would allow the Minister responsible to unilaterally designate countries as‘safe-countries’, from which refugee claimants would be subject to a discriminatory judicial process for their claims. The vastly shortened time period in which a claimant can access legal advice under the proposed law is a purposeful impediment to the refugee’s right to counsel.

Csanyi-Robah added that “I have met the most educated Roma in my life seeking refugee asylum in Canada. Gabor Sebok, an engineer from Hungary, had a very difficult time completing his application for asylum in the allotted 30 day window. Under the new legislation, the time will be cut to 15 days.”.

With Bill C-31, Canada is flying in the face of the international community, which acknowledges the persecution of Hungarian Roma. The Roma community in Canada does not want to see the creation of a safe country designated list – and hopes to continue having the same opportunities privileged to refugees from other parts of the world.

A rest stop, some good news, and Gypped

Every once in awhile we need some good news, news that helps us realize we are making progress. Good news could be compared to a rest area on the highway. A chance to get out of the car and stretch, to walk along the path, buy yourself a 2.00 bottle of water and relax before getting back into the hot car to drive another 500 miles. You need those rest areas.


Today's little bit of good news comes in the form of the new release by Carol Higgins Clark titled "Gypped." There are those who say we have not won this fight yet, and I am the first to agree. The title has yet to change. But consider what has been done:


We were able to put together a flyer about the use of the word.
We have started a small protest about the book.
We were able to get an article in the paper about the use of the word, an article that, prior to the release, would never have been printed.
The author heard our outrage and apologized.
We were able to meet with the author and she listened, allowing us to share our views during her speaking time.
We were able to talk to her audience and speak our minds, and perhaps in that we changed one heart, if not more.
We were able to get the fliers into the hands of the bookstore and the manager agreed to give the rest of the flyers out when people bought the book.
We were able to start a protest on the publisher's website and Facebook site as well as on Amazon.


That is a nice little list.


No, the title hasn't changed, but we will continue that fight. It is doubtful the title will be changed, but if we continue to pressure the publisher and the public, we can let authors and publishers know that we are a presence and that we will fight back.


It is now time to get back in the car. We have some momentum now that we've had a comfortable review of the situation.


Here is what you can do:
1. Leave the author a comment on her web page at
http://carolhigginsclark.com/contact/


or on her Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/carolhigginsclark. Demand not just an apology but a repudiation of this slur!

or on Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/Gypped-Regan-Reilly-Mystery-Mysteries/product-reviews/1439170312/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#ROL8V8VOIVXQQ 
2. If you can help with informational pickets to spread information about why the word "gypped" is an ethnic slur, please contact Rromani Zor at com.romanizor@gmail.com for materials that can be easily copied.


Time to get back in the car and start driving.