tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27817244396152582812024-03-12T16:22:11.895-07:00The Porrajmos Education SocietyThe goal of O Porrajmos Education Society is to create a platform for Romani inclusion in the metanarrative of the Holocaust .
Please visit our website at http://ciuin-ferrin.com/Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-61922367658264000152013-01-11T14:23:00.000-08:002013-01-11T14:23:00.581-08:00Interview with Romani composer Roger Moreno Rathgeb<br />
<h3>
This article comes to us from Romano Vod'i via <a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/" target="_blank">ROMEA</a>. Please follow ROMEA's link above for more interesting articles. </h3>
<h1 id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8571" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0.67em 0px; padding: 0px;">
Interview with Romani composer Roger Moreno Rathgeb</h1>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8570" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
Prague, 26.12.2012 23:31, (Romano vod'i)</div>
<img alt="--ilustrační foto--" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8272" src="http://www.romea.cz/aaa/img.php?src=/img_upload/03ec66ac77713bab242255f6194ad3ff/roger-moreno-big.jpg&w=630" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" width="650" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span><div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
--ilustrační foto--</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
<a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/interview-with-romani-composer-roger-moreno-rathgeb#" rel="nofollow" style="color: #2862c5; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Facebook">Share on facebook</a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&winname=addthis&pub=ra-4e0f71e432a346cb&source=tbx32-250&lng=en&s=2tag&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.romea.cz%2Fen%2Fnews%2Finterview-with-romani-composer-roger-moreno-rathgeb&title=Interview%20with%20Romani%20composer%20Roger%20Moreno%20Rathgeb%20-%20Romea.cz&ate=AT-ra-4e0f71e432a346cb/-/-/50db80298d38003c/2/4f6f4852e6cd8f86&frommenu=1&ips=1&uid=4f6f4852e6cd8f86&ct=1&pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.romea.cz%2Fen%2F&tt=0&captcha_provider=nucaptcha" rel="nofollow" style="color: #2862c5; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="2 Tag">Share on 2tag</a> <a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/interview-with-romani-composer-roger-moreno-rathgeb#" rel="nofollow" style="color: #2862c5; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Tweet">Share on twitter</a> <a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/interview-with-romani-composer-roger-moreno-rathgeb#" rel="nofollow" style="color: #2862c5; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Email">Share on email</a> <a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/interview-with-romani-composer-roger-moreno-rathgeb#" rel="nofollow" style="color: #2862c5; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">More Sharing Services</a> <a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/interview-with-romani-composer-roger-moreno-rathgeb#" rel="nofollow" style="color: #2862c5; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="View more services">1</a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8586" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
<div style="padding: 0px;">
Roger Moreno Rathgeb is, like many Romani musicians, self-taught, but he gradually began to use musical notation and to compose. Several years ago he decided to compose a requiem for the victims of the Auschwitz extermination camp, but his work was interrupted by a visit there which strongly impacted him and blocked his creative capabilities for several years. The impulse to complete the work came in the form of a request from Albert Siebelink, who suggested presenting the "Requiem for Auschwitz" at the International Gipsy Festival in Tilburg and then in other European cities.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A composer and multi-instrumentalist (he plays accordion, violin, double-bass, guitar, piano and drums), Rathgeb came to Prague for the first time ever to present his most extensive work to date, "Requiem for Auschwitz" (for more about this exceptional event, see <a href="http://www.romea.cz/cz/kultura/pocatkem-listopadu-predvedou-romsti-umelci-v-rudolfinu-koncert-requiem-za-osvetim" rel="nofollow" style="color: #2862c5; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.romea.cz/cz/kultura/pocatkem-listopadu-predvedou-romsti-umelci-v-rudolfinu-koncert-requiem-za-osvetim</a>). We spoke together in the foyer of the Rudolfinum concert hall during the dress rehearsal, which we could hear underway on the other side of the wall. It was beautiful.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: You were born in Switzerland in 1956, which means 11 years after the war. Even though Switzerland was neutral, did you sense any of the aftermath of the war?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: In reality there was no war in Switzerland, but there were other problems there. For example, at that time a particular Swiss organization was working to take children away from Romani families immediately after they were born and give them to infertile non-Romani married couples. That lasted until 1979. You could say that was a war, too, just a bit of a different one.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: Where did your parents come from?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: My father was not Romani, he was a German Swiss. My mother was Romani - to be precise, she was Sinti - but she also was born in Switzerland. I was not raised in the traditional Romani environment of that time. My sister and I normally attended school. I didn't even know my mother was Romani until I was 12 or 13. Not only did we never speak Romanes at home, we never talked about being Romani. I basically don't even know how my parents met. My grandpa (that is, the father of my mother) passed away when she was six, so she <i>de facto</i> did not know his culture.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: You do speak Romanes, however. You learned it later?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: Yes, sure. In 1980 my band and I were on a tour of Holland and I met several Sinti families of musicians. The band just left me there with them [laughs]. They only spoke the Sinti dialect of Romanes, and I immediately felt at home among them.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: Did you already know you were a Sinto by then?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: Yes. When I was young, children in school would laugh at me and say I was a "gypsy", and I always defended myself against their accusations because I really didn't know anything about my origins. They must have sensed it somehow. Once I came home and complained about it to my mother and she revealed to me that I am Romani. It wasn't easy for her to say, she was a bit ashamed herself. Then, for many years, I had a problem with my identity. After all, I grew up as just a "normal" Swiss person, just like a <i>gadjo</i>.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: Do you identify as Romani/Sinti today?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: I always had the feeling I was not like other Swiss people. I was a rebel. I protested against Swiss laws, against society, basically against everything. Swiss people have a completely different mindset. Inside I suspected I wasn't Swiss, that it couldn't be true. There just had to be something else.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: When did you decide to professionally devote yourself to music? What led you to that?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: When I was 10, I got a guitar for my birthday from my grandmother (on my mother's side). She recognized that I had musical talent, even though I am the only one in the family who has dedicated himself to music. My family is totally unmusical otherwise.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: What kind of music do you like most? You're here in Prague for a concert of classical music, but do you also go in for traditional Romani music?</b></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8589" style="padding: 0px;">
A: Yes, Romani music is definitely what I like the most. The road to classical music was a very long one for me, because for a long time I couldn't even read music.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8589" style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8588" style="padding: 0px;">
<b id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8587">Q: Where did you learn the music theory that is so necessary to composing a requiem?</b></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8585" style="padding: 0px;">
A: I first encountered musical notation when I was 35. I was taking violin lessons and my teacher was a Hungarian Rom who played in the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra. It was he who first showed me musical notation, and by doing so he opened up a whole new world to me.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8585" style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8590" style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: In addition to classical and Romani music, what else speaks to you?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: I'd say I basically love all music. Once I even played drums in a rock’n’roll band and to this day I have very warm feelings about that musical style, I enjoy it!</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: You have worked in many different groups - which do you have the best memories of and which contributed the most to your life?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: I'd say the Sinto family I started to play with after moving to Holland [the band Zigeunerorkest Nello Basily – Editors]. They played the traditional music of Romani people from Hungary, Romania, and Russia. From them, especially from the cimbalom [concert hammered dulcimer] player, I learned how to distinguish the Hungarian harmonies. Those are the best for learning accompaniment because they are constantly changing, and that makes it easier to accompany even songs you don't know. I came to the greatest depth of understanding in that band. </div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: Why did you decide to emigrate to Holland?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: In 1980 we traveled with the band on a tour around Holland, and the mentality of people in that country immediately clicked with me. The Dutch are free-thinkers, unlike the Swiss, who are terribly conservative. The truth is, the Swiss don't like Romani people. The Dutch are open and tolerant, and they have a beautiful country. It was a very quick decision.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: You have written scripts for several theatrical performances - what were they?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: We created two theatrical shows with the band. The first is called "The Long Journey", and it tells the story of the migration of Romani people from India to Europe. We called the second one "The Life", and in it we portray the daily life of Romani musicians. These are pastiches of music, poetry, and story-telling. We sat around a fire, played our instruments, and did our best to create the atmosphere of a Romani camp. The <i>gadje</i> don't know much about Romani people and often ask me about our culture and history. We wanted to somehow approximate our "Romani-ness" for them, because discrimination comes from ignorance in particular.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: How many people came to the show - was it mostly non-Romani people or Romani people?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: We performed in theaters in Belgium, Germany and Holland, and most of them were attended mainly by <i>gadje</i>. It's sad - Romani people aren't interested in these things, I don't know why.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: You have come to Prague with your wife. Is she also a musician?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: Yes, we perform together, it's how we make our living. It's brilliant that my composition is being played all over Europe, but I have not yet made any money from it, and I have to make a living somehow. We play in concert, we play at festivals and in theaters, at weddings and at various parties.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: You are one of the main figures in the film "Musicians for Life", which was created by Bob Entrop. Can you tell us about the film?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: That film is one of the reasons I am now in Prague. Albert Siebelink, who is the director of the Romani festival in Tilburg, saw it, and there's an interview with me in it where I talk about "Requiem for Auschwitz". After seeing the film, Albert asked me whether I had completed the piece yet, but it wasn't ready. He promised that if I would complete it, he would arrange for it to be performed. I began work on it once more, but it took me another three years all the same.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
"Musicians for Life" is not the only film I have collaborated on with Bob Entrop. I also perform in the documentary "A Hole in the Sky", which is about WWII survivors.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: When did you start to work on "Requiem"?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b></b>A: I first visited Auschwitz in 1998 and I immediately got the idea to write a requiem. I started working on it, but after some time all of my inspiration for it disappeared. I thought that if I returned to Auschwitz I would know how to continue, but that didn't happen - the complete opposite happened. I was just destroyed, it's a very macabre place. I set the work aside and did not return to the "Requiem" until eight years later.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: Would you call yourself a Romani (Sinti) activist?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: Probably not - I'm just a musician. Naturally, if people see a message in my music, then that's brilliant.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: For a certain time you collaborated with opera singer Carla Schroyen. What was that project? Did your idea to create a great classical music work (like "Requiem for Auschwitz") start there?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: Carla Schroyen sang various "gypsy" arias from operas and operettas and I accompanied her on accordion, but that didn't influence my composing. I had already dedicated myself to classical music prior to that.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: What was your first classical composition?</b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
A: In 1995 I decided to try to write a ballet for an amateur dance ensemble in Maastricht. In the end, however, it turned into a symphonic-poetic work.</div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b>Q: Did you try to incorporate elements of Romani music into "Requiem for Auschwitz"?</b></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8605" style="padding: 0px;">
A: A little, you can hear them in some places - there are several motifs that turn up repeatedly. "Requiem", however, is not dedicated only to the Romani victims, but to everyone who suffered or perished in Auschwitz. Before writing it I did not listen to any other requiems so I wouldn't be influenced by other works. It's me in "Requiem", not anyone else, which is why some Romani motifs have to be there.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8605" style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8604" style="padding: 0px;">
<b id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8603">Q: Do you see any difference between the genocide of the Jewish people and that of the Romani people?</b></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8602" style="padding: 0px;">
A: It's completely the same thing. The numbers differ a bit, but that's not what is essential.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8602" style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8601" style="padding: 0px;">
<b id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8600">Q: You have played as an opening act for Chuck Berry, you have performed for the Dutch royal family, and "Requiem for Auschwitz" is being played in the most celebrated halls in Europe. What do you consider your greatest success so far? What are your other plans or dreams?</b></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8599" style="padding: 0px;">
A: I am working on an oratorio about the migration of Romani people from India to Europe. I think it will be a much more extensive work than "Requiem". I also would like to write an opera about the Romani children taken away from their parents and placed with non-Romani families in Switzerland. As you can see, I have enough plans! [laughs]</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8599" style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8599" style="padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356725517060_8598" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
Inka Jurková, translated by Gwendolyn Albert</div>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">-- </span>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-34954031346787026992013-01-08T11:54:00.000-08:002013-01-08T11:54:00.867-08:00Conspiracy: The Wansee ConferenceThis isn't a new film, released in 2001, but Conspiracy is an amazing film and I recommend it for any student of the Holocaust. The film stars Kenneth Branagh as Reinhard Heydrich and Stanley Tucci as Adolf Eichmann. <div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-wcMHgDcBXFDmem08LxZwTfLEwofNoejZFDgBEDIyLzGu6bYQwAMqkT3GZjPNidmOguN3huQ6binZwVH3q_SW3mE3x4OY0QdhSBSx0RiAlal7e-xvXsAKdntmTYRc_MYhjnj4FnNN8A/s1600/conspiracy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-wcMHgDcBXFDmem08LxZwTfLEwofNoejZFDgBEDIyLzGu6bYQwAMqkT3GZjPNidmOguN3huQ6binZwVH3q_SW3mE3x4OY0QdhSBSx0RiAlal7e-xvXsAKdntmTYRc_MYhjnj4FnNN8A/s1600/conspiracy.jpg" /></a></div>
<div>
This film is a brilliant depiction of the Wannsee Conference, a meeting that would have been lost to history had it not been for one conference member who kept the notes he was ordered to burn.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The purpose of the Wannsee Conference was to unify various branches of the Third Reich under Heydrich's leadership in the definition and concept of The Final Solution to the Jewish Problem and organize the logistics of processing millions of people to their deaths. Fifteen men met at a table over a two hour luncheon and decided the fate six million Jewish men, women, and children.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The astounding method at which these horrific decisions were made keeps the viewer's attention on the screen. These men discuss the annihilation of a people as if they were discussing the transportation of freight or munitions. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When tensions begin to run high as at least some men in the room are having a small battle with their consciences, preferring sterilizations over gassings, Heydrick makes his makes his intentions clear:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Heydrich</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: We will not sterilize every Jew and wait for them to die. We will not sterilize every Jew and then exterminate the race. That's farcical. Dead men don't hump, dead women don't get pregnant. Death is the most reliable form of sterilization, put it that way.</span></blockquote>
<div>
With sterilization taken off the table, Heydrich and Eichman explain their proposal for the Final Solution.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Adolf Eichmann</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: Now, last summer Reichsführer Himmler asked me to visit a camp up in Upper Silesia, called Auschwitz, which is very well isolated, and close to significant rail access. And we are turning that camp into a major center, solid structures (and here's where your Jewish labor comes into play, Herr Neumann, the Jews haul the bricks and they build the buildings themselves). And when the structures are complete, we expect to be able to process 2500... an hour. Not a day, an hour. </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Heydrich</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: And those numbers look a lot better. </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Luther</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: 2500 an hour? </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Hofmann</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: 2500? </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Adolf Eichmann</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: At 24 hours a day, that is 60,000. </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Kritzinger</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: 60,000 each day... </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Adolf Eichmann</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: That's 21,900,000 Jews a year, if ever there were that many. </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Heydrich</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: And we are also constructing the means of disposal, which will obviously depend upon the process of combustion. </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Adolf Eichmann</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: Yes, it'll be industrial in nature: large commercial gas-fed ovens, no residue to speak of. </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Müller</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: 60,000 Jews every day go up in smoke. </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Heydrich</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: We can achieve that. Imagine. </span></blockquote>
<br />
This film helps students of the Holocaust understand the mindset of those in power and explains how Hitler was able to stay away from the blame even though the carnage took place under his direction. This is a must-see for anyone interested in the mechanisms of the Holocaust.Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-8539688758876248872013-01-04T13:30:00.000-08:002013-01-04T13:30:00.712-08:00On transforming the Czech "practical primary schools"<br />
<h4>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><i>This article comes to us from Romano Vod'i, published on December 27, 2012. O Porrajmos Education Society would like to thank them and Gwendolyn Albert for the use of the article.</i> <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> </span></span></span></h4>
<h1 id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19714" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0.67em 0px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">On transforming the Czech "practical primary schools"</span></span></h1>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19713" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Prague, 27.12.2012 17:37, (Romano vod'i)</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><img alt="A teaching assistant at the Božena Němcová Primary School in Přerov. (PHOTO: YouTube.com) " id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19480" src="http://www.romea.cz/aaa/img.php?src=/img_upload/03ec66ac77713bab242255f6194ad3ff/prerov-asistence.jpg&w=630" style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" width="650" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span></span></span><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">A teaching assistant at the Božena Němcová Primary School in Přerov. (PHOTO: <a href="http://youtube.com/" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1356640974_0">YouTube.com</span></a>)</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/on-transforming-the-czech-practical-primary-schools#" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Facebook">Share on facebook</a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&winname=addthis&pub=ra-4e0f71e432a346cb&source=tbx32-250&lng=en&s=2tag&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.romea.cz%2Fen%2Fnews%2Fczech%2Fon-transforming-the-czech-practical-primary-schools&title=On%20transforming%20the%20Czech%20%22practical%20primary%20schools%22%20-%20Romea.cz&ate=AT-ra-4e0f71e432a346cb/-/-/50dc7e49841a7a40/2/4f6f4852e6cd8f86&frommenu=1&ips=1&uid=4f6f4852e6cd8f86&ct=1&pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.romea.cz%2Fen%2F&tt=0&captcha_provider=nucaptcha" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="2 Tag">Share on 2tag</a> <a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/on-transforming-the-czech-practical-primary-schools#" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Tweet">Share on twitter</a> <a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/on-transforming-the-czech-practical-primary-schools#" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Email">Share on email</a> <a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/on-transforming-the-czech-practical-primary-schools#" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank">More Sharing Services</a> <a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/on-transforming-the-czech-practical-primary-schools#" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="View more services">1</a></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19730" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Iveta Němečková is the coordinator of the Together to School coalition and has worked as a special educator, a director, a lecturer in education programs, a coordinator and a specialist in education methods for the Step by Step program. She has implemented a project aimed at integrating Romani pupils into primary education and has participated in designing an international education program focusing on working with prejudices and stereotypes. She has long been an advocate of inclusive education and has worked as the coordinator of early childhood care projects. She is a lecturer in adult education and a coordinator and organizer of educational events. She contributed the following commentary to the latest issue of <i>Romano voďi</i>.</span></b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<b style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">In recent months, a wave of reaction to planned measures that are supposed to help address the situation of Romani pupils (among others) in the education system has spread through communications networks and the media. The measures were adopted by the Government of the Czech Republic last year and were part of its "Strategy for the Fight against Social Exclusion".</span></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The subject of this communications campaign has primarily been measures aiming to transform the so-called "practical primary schools". Under the name of a "Petition against closing the practical schools", it has spread throughout the entire Czech Republic. Many of my fellow citizens, friends and parents of schoolchildren have asked me what is basically at issue here.</span></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">First and foremost, the group behind this petition is the Association of Special Educators (Asociace speciálních pedagogů), who argue that there is a need for separate schools for children with light mental retardation and warns against closing them. As one of the authors of the petition, Jana Smetanová, has stated: "...the current situation is convenient - thanks to special care we have one of the lowest levels of illiteracy".</span></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Permit me to add that special education is a very broad concept. It primarily involves support for children with serious medical disabilities (auditory, visual, and physical, as well as medium and severe mental disabilities). The proposed transformation does not concern the network of specialized schools serving this population, but exclusively concerns one type of school only - schools for children with light mental disability.</span></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19742" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">What is basically at issue here, and what is another way to view the current situation? These primary schools that instruct their pupils according to programs for children with light mental retardation are relatively new institutions in the education system, but only as far as their names are concerned. In reality, these schools are carrying on the long tradition of "special schools" and, just like those schools, they educate children who have been diagnosed with so-called light mental retardation. For the sake of completeness, I must add that in reality these schools are also attended by children who have never been diagnosed as mentally disabled, as a report by the Czech School Inspection Authority showed in 2010.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19742" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19741" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Another fact is that a disproportionately high share of Romani children attend these schools - a far greater share than corresponds to the probability of their being disabled. It is difficult to believe that more than 25 % of children from Romani families suffer from light mental retardation when the prevalence of this disability in the rest of the population does not exceed 2 %. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg also strongly pointed this out when it brought a judgment against the Czech Republic in 2007 for the "indirect discrimination" of Romani children in education.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19740" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">We should also look at how, in most countries in Europe (and not only in Europe), children with light mental disability primarily attend mainstream primary schools. In countries where the education system functions at a good level, these students have very good professional support guaranteed to them in mainstream schools. These pupils are accepted by both their teachers and their classmates. They find a broader circle of friends and acquire good social skills.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19739" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">This is a good investment into their future lives - it is basically good news for everyone. These so-called "integrated" children find it easier to navigate society with a higher degree of independence in their adult lives. The other children in the classroom learn to count on the fact that people with special needs are an ordinary part of society. The "specialized schooling system" exists for pupils for whom such support in a mainstream school is not sufficient, pupils who would not be well-accepted among the other children, pupils in whose actual best interest it is to attend schools outside the mainstream.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19739" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19738" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I think it is also necessary to stress that transformation is not the same thing as closing the schools. The aim of this transformation is primarily to create better conditions for educating children who need support. Those who will be benefited by such support at a mainstream school should simply be educated with the rest of the population.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19737" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">As part of this transformation, it is important to bring the educational programs of the so-called "practical primary schools" closer to the programs used by mainstream schools - and primarily to bring them closer to what today's schoolchildren will need once they are adults. After all, don't we want them to succeed in high school, in apprenticeships, and in adult life? It is no secret that it is precisely the graduates of these former "special schools" that have the greatest difficult in finding employment. It is also no secret how often such graduates are to be found among the residents of socially excluded localities.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19737" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19736" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Yes, if the transformation is successful, a certain number of schools for children with light mental disabilities are definitely certain to close - they will not be needed. Their pupils will attend ordinary primary schools and professional support will be provided to them there. Isn't this also a good aim for special educators, to help these children master education in a mainstream primary school, achieve good results, and find a broader range of options for themselves in adulthood?</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19736" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19735" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">In conclusion, I would like to sum up this commentary by reflecting on the question of what the advantage is of educating children together in the same school and what the hidden risks of this approach are. The children now in the "practical primary schools" who will attend mainstream school along with the rest of the population in future will achieve better results, provided they have sufficient support, and will be more motivated to educate themselves. It will be far easier for them to assert themselves in their adult lives and to choose a profession from a broader range of options.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19731" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Another big bonus - and this argues against educating these children in "special schools" - is the option provided by the mainstream schools for natural contact with their peers, for the building of relationships, and for the acquisition of the corresponding social skills. It is precisely those skills that are very important for their adult lives and their ability to assert themselves in society - and not only for them. Many years ago, I noticed that children who collaborate with, communicate with, and encounter other children who need a greater degree of support in a natural setting become more mature as human beings. They look at the world with a greater degree of comprehension and understanding of their own needs and those of others. That is a very big bonus for all of us.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19731" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19729" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I believe that in order to head towards the common education of all children, we primarily need to prepare the conditions for that education in the mainstream primary schools. We need to prepare their teachers and provide a support system of special educators and psychologists - for example, those professionals currently providing support to pupils in the "practical primary schools".</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19729" style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1356615669868_19728" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Iveta Němečková, translated by Gwendolyn Albert</span></span></div>
<br clear="all" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" />Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-9211841598337674262013-01-01T12:40:00.000-08:002013-01-01T12:40:00.129-08:00Looking back and looking forwardWhat did O Porrajmos Education Society accomplish in 2012? Where will we go in 2013? What are our long-term goals? It's time to consider the past and look to the future; to learn from our victories as well as from our mistakes. After all, we are historians.<br />
<br />
This past year brought the "Gypsy" Wagon Museum Display to new venues in Iowa as well as to visit old friends. The Wagon made its second appearance at the Summer of the Arts Global Village, a children's event held in Iowa City in June. This event holds a special place in our history, as it was the debut for the Wagon in 2011. Over 400 children and their parents had the opportunity to visit and explore the information on the Wagon and offer their support.<br />
<br />
In July and August, the Wagon made numerous appearances at the Downtown Farmers Market in Cedar Raids, Iowa, where dozens of people joined the Society on our email list. The Farmers Market draws people in from may surrounding communities, so it is a welcome opportunity to share current events and talk with visitors about the Romani people.<br />
<br />
The Wagon was scheduled to appear at Imagination Square in July as part of the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival, but the threat of rain prevented set up. While we did have activities for the youngsters, we hope to return to Imagination Square in 2013 with the Wagon.<br />
<br />
The Wagon also returned to the Linn County Fair in Central City this past July, surviving setup during a terrible storm that did some damage to the fair grounds. While it was a limited showing, the Wagon received more visitors this year than its appearance at the fair last year.<br />
<br />
Ciuin Ferrin spoke at new venues this year as well as more familiar places. Besides lecturing at schools around Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, she had the opportunity to teach at the Linn County Genealogical Society, Beyond Rubies at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, and at the Midwest Open Air Museums Coordinating Council Conference hosted by Ushers Ferry in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.<br />
<br />
2012 also allowed Ciuin the opportunity to go to the University of Texas in Austin to work on a research project at the Romani Archive and Documentation Center run by Dr. Ian Hancock. Please keep your eyes on the blog as more posts are to come on the results of this trip.<br />
<br />
Working with a graduate student at the University of Iowa, we were able to translate one DVD out of a set of 20. These DVDs hold as of yet unheard testimony from O Baro Porrajmos survivors. The rest of the DVDs should arrive soon and we will begin translation work immediately. Our goal is to create a documentary on the testimonies, the interviewer, and publish a book on the process of translation. Again, watch this blog in 2013 for updates.<br />
<br />
So what does the New Year bring? More opportunities to share at venues around the Midwest.<br />
<br />
We have expanded our outreach to include Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, and Illinois in hopes of taking the Wagon or lectures to new academic venues. We would like to thank Rapids Reproduction of Cedar Rapids Iowa for their assistance in this endeavor.<br />
<br />
The translation project is an exciting work that has been in the making for over two years. We hope to have the DVDs soon so work on translation and transcription may begin. This is a momentous project and we are honored to be a part of it.<br />
<br />
O Porrajmos Education Society is glad you have taken interest in our work. We thank you for your support. If Ciuin or the Wagon will be in your area, please stop by and say hello. We look forward to meeting you.<br />
<br />
May you and yours have a joyous and prosperous New Year!<br />
<br />
<br />Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-80801739715176846992012-12-27T09:47:00.000-08:002012-12-27T09:47:28.150-08:00Why 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
I can say this with conviction because everywhere I've lectured this year, people are stunned at the data I present.<br />
<br />
"Sterilizations? This is 2012! How can that be going on now?"<br />
Answer: "Its been going on since the early 1970's."<br />
<br />
"Fingerprinting and photographing? Hitler did that. This is the Twenty-first century! It isn't done anymore!"<br />
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."<br />
<br />
"Romani kids not allowed in the schools in the Czech Republic? It's a civilized country!"<br />
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."<br />
<br />
The list goes on and on and people everywhere are always surprised.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Why is this important? Can we learn anything from history?<br />
Answer: Yes. We can see the process of how the Nazis came to power so we can recognize evil.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-7323364670089529212012-12-25T11:47:00.003-08:002012-12-25T11:47:35.172-08:00Seasons GreetingsWe 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.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSfR7pn2dxp2srW_nw64W9wmoBYHVxEUlbybC4uCjjeLxm0kyvWskTu6gjLDtElDfZnsxECMKUOYlfIHSN_Dn3Q2ICMuEZy48neLNulkasZ7hy9lZggzq9srpoUhzVQD1hWqIA9c_LdmM/s1600/old_fashioned_santa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSfR7pn2dxp2srW_nw64W9wmoBYHVxEUlbybC4uCjjeLxm0kyvWskTu6gjLDtElDfZnsxECMKUOYlfIHSN_Dn3Q2ICMuEZy48neLNulkasZ7hy9lZggzq9srpoUhzVQD1hWqIA9c_LdmM/s320/old_fashioned_santa.jpg" width="204" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Please watch us grow this coming year!</div>
<br />Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-52612481758325446782012-12-11T07:21:00.000-08:002012-12-11T07:21:05.924-08:00"Tired" by Qristina Zavackova Cummings<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJX3XWxjz_ETW-ppRmwlzak_YdSEvOuJwAx441WVtDIuVbAi9s0GRQ_i45KhOGvkkVBXseeI4CYMlEnNJkNzJCvNE_ySVx6ght5vadxd-jAXh1tzvEYsYGLDYhGvM9IO734XxhBZlJaIc/s1600/lighted+candle.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJX3XWxjz_ETW-ppRmwlzak_YdSEvOuJwAx441WVtDIuVbAi9s0GRQ_i45KhOGvkkVBXseeI4CYMlEnNJkNzJCvNE_ySVx6ght5vadxd-jAXh1tzvEYsYGLDYhGvM9IO734XxhBZlJaIc/s320/lighted+candle.gif" width="236" /></a>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<a href="http://golden-zephyr.com/tired/" target="_blank"> blog </a>and read her other posts.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-51489632563355423612012-10-29T07:16:00.000-07:002012-10-29T07:16:28.494-07:00Monument for Sinti and Roma victims of Nazis highlights German government hypocrisy<br />
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 19.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><i><span style="color: white;">This article comes to us from the RINA network and was written in the World Socialist Website at WSWS.org</span></i></span><br />
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 19.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h2>
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 19.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: red;">Monument for Sinti and Roma victims of Nazis highlights German government hypocrisy</span></span></h2>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">By Bernd Reinhardt <br style="line-height: 1.22em;" />29 October 2012</span></span></i></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.”</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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 <i style="line-height: 1.22em;">Django’s Song</i> 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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.”</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.”</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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).</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1351463459524_1042" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1351463459524_1040" style="background-color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: white;">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.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1674814267MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-73946915751414716792012-10-21T19:40:00.001-07:002012-10-21T19:42:56.093-07:00Czech Republic and “gypsies” - 1938 vs. 2012<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<b style="line-height: 1.22em;"><i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Romea</span></i></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">October 16<sup style="line-height: 1.22em;">th</sup> 2012</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 1.22em;">Czech Republic and “gypsies” - 1938 <i style="line-height: 1.22em;">vs. </i>2012</span></div>
<div class="yiv684203611MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">By František Kostlán</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">24 August 2011 - Czech Senator Jaroslav Doubrava (Severočeš<a href="http://i.cz/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 1.22em; outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">i.cz</span></a> - “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.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">****</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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?”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">****</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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?”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">(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.)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">****</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">****</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">24 August 2011 - Czech Senator Jaroslav Doubrava (Severočeš<a href="http://i.cz/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 1.22em; outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">i.cz</span></a> - “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.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">****</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">****</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">****</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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... .”</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">****</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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… .”</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">***</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Sources:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“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’.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The quotes from present-day politicians dated 19 April 2012 are from an article published on news server <a href="http://xn--euportl-mwa.cz/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 1.22em; outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">euportál.cz</span></a>, 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.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">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.</span></div>
<div class="yiv684203611MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Translated by Gwendolyn Albert</span></div>
<div class="yiv684203611MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.850000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-71840308568526138942012-08-15T10:02:00.000-07:002012-08-15T10:02:16.949-07:00Songs of Gypsies Past<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">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 <i>Criminal Minds, The Riches, The Finder,</i> and <i>Law and Order:SVU </i>and <i>NCIS:LA.</i> We are violent and aggressive according to the latest batch of reprehensible shows like <i>My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding</i>, and <i>American Gypsies</i>. 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. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">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.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">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 </span><i style="line-height: 19px;">Songs of Gypsies Past. </i><span style="line-height: 19px;">This CD contains traditional music performed in the Romani language.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNuwgBEo6jL-NYkG3RWR2kkgH-iuegpMVU_jpiUnJ4M2PiMFPkzZIcTlQ_3ybmgR-vBnKGEkf6rYsUYOCYWP6g_Goy_76tu0M1UoYGNFv3G2NoTZ2WTOVkGglueaPu8Ykev4VdUD8Fnk/s1600/Songs+of+Gypsies+Past.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNuwgBEo6jL-NYkG3RWR2kkgH-iuegpMVU_jpiUnJ4M2PiMFPkzZIcTlQ_3ybmgR-vBnKGEkf6rYsUYOCYWP6g_Goy_76tu0M1UoYGNFv3G2NoTZ2WTOVkGglueaPu8Ykev4VdUD8Fnk/s400/Songs+of+Gypsies+Past.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">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.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">"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."</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"> "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">You'll find six baso songs (traditional Romani dancing) that you might see at a party or a wedding. One of the "basos," labeled </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">The Happy Dance</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">, is performed by an accordion player known throughout the United States, Meeska, and that recording is at least 100 years old," he continues. "And t</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">here are 15 tracks of a "taw-cheve" performances with one special track called</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">Autumn Leaves </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">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."</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Even the cover art, shown above, was painstaking selected. </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">"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."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Even the CD inside bears the stamp of Romani pride. "</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">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." </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">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. </span><br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;">"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."</span></span></h4>
<div>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">One way to support our brothers and sisters in Europe is to purchase </span></span></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: normal;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/songs-gypsies-past-various/dp/B0081KQI52/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1338905906&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Songs of Gypsies Past</a>. </i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;">It is available on Amazon.com for 14.95 and you may purchase it by following the link above. </span></h4>
</div>
<div>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;">Another way to support our children in Europe is to donate to <a href="http://europeschildren.org/donate/" target="_blank">Europe's Children</a>. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">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. </span></div>
<div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">And a closing message from Mr. Wildwood: </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">"Paw-cheave</span></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 19px;">-po-menga - to your happiness!"</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<h4>
</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
</h4>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></span>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-78799594140131245922012-07-30T18:44:00.002-07:002012-07-30T18:49:52.523-07:00ROMA COMMUNITY CENTRE DISTANCES ITSELF FROM REMARKS OF CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OBSERVER AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEETING, June 28, 2012<br />
<div class="yiv580736951MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 1.22em;"><b style="background-color: black;">ROMA COMMUNITY CENTRE DISTANCES ITSELF FROM REMARKS OF CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OBSERVER AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEETING, June 28, 2012</b></span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv580736951MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<div style="color: #454545;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 19px;">The Roma Community Centre (RCC) in</span><span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"> 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 </span><a href="http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/Records/2012/E/1206281530E.htm" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.22em;" target="_blank">remarks</a><span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"> during the session. </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv580736951MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 1.22em;">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. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv580736951MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 1.22em;">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.<span style="line-height: 1.22em;"> </span>We want justice! That includes criminal prosecution of Roma criminals.<span style="line-height: 1.22em;"> </span>Canadians do not tolerate criminal behaviour from other Canadians, so why would we be different?</span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv580736951MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 1.22em;">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.<span style="line-height: 1.22em;"> </span>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. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv580736951MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 1.22em;">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.<span style="line-height: 1.22em;"> </span>It is time for action. Enforcement of existing laws and reforms in education policies need to be addressed. Police corruption must be rooted out.<span style="line-height: 1.22em;"> </span>Member states must be committed to fighting racism and protect minority rights.<span style="line-height: 1.22em;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv580736951MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 1.22em;">The RCC does not support the criminalization of refugees.<span style="line-height: 1.22em;"> </span>The RCC supports the claims of Roma who have legitimate claims for asylum in Canada.<span style="line-height: 1.22em;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv580736951MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 1.22em;">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.<span style="line-height: 1.22em;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv580736951MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-38252558573286229032012-05-30T04:11:00.000-07:002012-05-30T04:11:07.596-07:00Another Day, another DenierYesterday 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
He stands proudly on these two facts. His beliefs demand it.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-27229214763992564322012-05-21T08:20:00.001-07:002012-05-21T08:20:39.936-07:00Take 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.<br />
<br />
There are some difficult obstacles to overcome to do this. In order to reclaim this word, we have to define it.<br />
<br />
<h3>
What exactly IS a "Gypsy" according to 'reliable' sources?</h3>
Google Dictionary: 1. <em>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.</em><br />
3. <em>A nomadic or free-spirited person.</em><br />
<br />
That leaves me out but includes every hippie I know.<br />
<br />
<span class="ib-brac qualifier-brac">http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gypsy: <em>(</em></span><em><span class="ib-content qualifier-content">sometimes pejorative</span><span class="ib-brac qualifier-brac">)</span> 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.</em><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
http://www.northdorsetlocalplan.co.uk <em>(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.</em><br />
<br />
Again, Romanies who are settled with jobs are not Gypsies. This also doesn't include me or most Romanies I know.<br />
<br />
Other sources down the list on the Google search were blog sites describing Gypsies as "born with mystic powers", "diviners", and the like. <br />
<br />
<h3>
How do people use the word "Gypsy"?</h3>
Like this:<br />
<div class="std" style="padding-left: 20px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuwxf3JG35a5Gmeu6wtcPxN_vPEYQFY6nWhoCMsE8smwkZC8dDdiApXPVyAq7QlA9j3fVr8MJZ-zKFlKQo02-B0zwMLW4xmpG3BG3FLRgu6oEl02AunzAu9J4fisIhwtym2CZdGUMm_DE/s1600/anti-Gypsy+bilboards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuwxf3JG35a5Gmeu6wtcPxN_vPEYQFY6nWhoCMsE8smwkZC8dDdiApXPVyAq7QlA9j3fVr8MJZ-zKFlKQo02-B0zwMLW4xmpG3BG3FLRgu6oEl02AunzAu9J4fisIhwtym2CZdGUMm_DE/s320/anti-Gypsy+bilboards.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT1iaJ7yz5ZF6CNVHmm6RZx_ArcJil9-uDB8Mns63s-QWEIe1cvZ33OicGXY4lYTuxsvmOkuj4j59beGAw1jE52-muXhIaD884lOaJppwEMwy_cT31F5lNH0RVfTp0A1pSM8rQ-BcFHeg/s1600/anti+Gypsy+demonstration.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT1iaJ7yz5ZF6CNVHmm6RZx_ArcJil9-uDB8Mns63s-QWEIe1cvZ33OicGXY4lYTuxsvmOkuj4j59beGAw1jE52-muXhIaD884lOaJppwEMwy_cT31F5lNH0RVfTp0A1pSM8rQ-BcFHeg/s1600/anti+Gypsy+demonstration.png" /></a><ul></ul>
<br /> </div>
<br />
<div class="std" style="padding-left: 20px;">
</div>
<div align="left" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
And they shout slogans like "Leave, Gypsy!" or "Die Gypsy!" or "Gypsies into glue!"</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3 class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
How do people react to the word "Gypsy?"</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
like this....</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX1UY58jntSdZVNKjLyNDQbHtYScMcDIWWNHI7GYjtTD8fZ5u_GeYwgvGHpSigUaEZ-_qEql0nSv3r9WjqbXzDKQAAsFng6xLsstS_SPnW6Tr3JQka90x2Eji94zJ0naShlduDRwKtMd0/s1600/fingerprinting+Roma+in+Italy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX1UY58jntSdZVNKjLyNDQbHtYScMcDIWWNHI7GYjtTD8fZ5u_GeYwgvGHpSigUaEZ-_qEql0nSv3r9WjqbXzDKQAAsFng6xLsstS_SPnW6Tr3JQka90x2Eji94zJ0naShlduDRwKtMd0/s200/fingerprinting+Roma+in+Italy.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNK043espV9fF_ADovUqk2gRXsvK0HSwGiPxCu0kr63pjM7ZAA7CSxbcqMGTk8cKvS5jznvLPvy3t-criTHAckQxH5RzaXDy8I9OkzStsIOHQZJNyCj7bfpXrsPpzaPZ20LPE2-4sAa3M/s1600/anti+Gypsy+demonstration+01.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNK043espV9fF_ADovUqk2gRXsvK0HSwGiPxCu0kr63pjM7ZAA7CSxbcqMGTk8cKvS5jznvLPvy3t-criTHAckQxH5RzaXDy8I9OkzStsIOHQZJNyCj7bfpXrsPpzaPZ20LPE2-4sAa3M/s1600/anti+Gypsy+demonstration+01.png" /></a></div>
<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5iENHJAR4pX8MFn_zu5ckah9YwA-xblH2n0oLq3pef1QoG03Ouod0h9y3Twr0L8k256_vLrQrY-ULvWBwsgRom0LVOrdo8-nqGEfBGhX-MUlSVWwcCWSCgq4yqxeDkdqQ3-x7JaGqWZg/s1600/Gypsies+into+glue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5iENHJAR4pX8MFn_zu5ckah9YwA-xblH2n0oLq3pef1QoG03Ouod0h9y3Twr0L8k256_vLrQrY-ULvWBwsgRom0LVOrdo8-nqGEfBGhX-MUlSVWwcCWSCgq4yqxeDkdqQ3-x7JaGqWZg/s320/Gypsies+into+glue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h3 class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Why would we want to 'reclaim' this word?</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3 class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The Answer</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
"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.</div>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-59011633244022848512012-05-18T09:45:00.000-07:002012-05-18T09:45:31.047-07:00Golden Dawn in Greece: Hold on Tight<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Golden Dawn: Sunset of Humanity</span><br />
<br />
compiled by František Kostlán, translated by Gwendolyn Albert<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">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.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">"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.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">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.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">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.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">"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.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">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 <a href="http://rt.com/" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1337357051_0">RT.com</span></a>. According to To Vima, a large portion of the votes cast for the neo-Nazis in the 6 May elections came from police officers.</span><br />
<br />
<div id="yui_3_2_0_1_1337356921017241">
<span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1337356921017240" style="font-family: Verdana;">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.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">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.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">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.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">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. </span><br />
<br />Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-78515464221582068942012-05-14T18:04:00.000-07:002012-05-14T18:04:31.512-07:00GypsylandEvery 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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
Where was Gypsyland?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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." <br />
<br />
"Oh," and with such a look of disappointment!<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
"Is that the kind of music they have in Gypsyland?"<br />
<br />
"We have many different musicians who play many types of music, but, please understand, my dear, there is no Gypsyland."<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
At breakfast, she asked if the foods were the same in Gypsyland. <br />
<br />
"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." <br />
<br />
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.Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-17769192340993533452012-05-11T10:11:00.000-07:002012-05-11T10:11:10.852-07:00URGENT: An Appeal to Roma Friends and AlliesThis is a post from <a href="http://golden-zephyr.tumblr.com/post/22840789472/urgent-an-appeal-to-roma-friends-and-allies">http://golden-zephyr.tumblr.com/post/22840789472/urgent-an-appeal-to-roma-friends-and-allies</a>. 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.<br />
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<a href="http://golden-zephyr.tumblr.com/post/22840789472/urgent-an-appeal-to-roma-friends-and-allies">URGENT: An Appeal to Roma Friends and Allies</a></h2>
<div class="textpostbody">
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 (<a href="http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/prevent-the-extradition-from-the-uk-of-roma-human-right.html"><span style="color: #41797e;">here</span></a>), but it is well documented that <em><strong>LETTERS</strong></em>, 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. <br />
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.<br />
<blockquote>
<span>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.</span><br /><br /><span>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 </span><span>broken up by the riot police assault on the estate on 19 October 2011.</span><br /><br /><span>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.</span><br /><br /><span>This is the first time a prominent Roma political activist has been brought before this court, which is reserved for extradition and terrorism cases.</span><br /><br /><span>Mr. Nikolaev faces extradition back to Bulgaria, where he would have to continue a prison sentence imposed for his criticism of the government .</span><br /><br /><span>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</span><br /><span>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.</span><br /><br /><span>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. </span><br /><br /><span>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.</span></blockquote>
<span>Addresses to send letters:</span><br />
<strong><em>Westminster Magistrate’s Court:</em></strong><em>Postal address - 181 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5QJ.</em><br />
<span><br /></span><br />
<strong><em>Navanethem Pillay </em></strong><strong><em>United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights</em></strong><br />
<em>Email address<a href="mailto:infodesk@ohchr.org" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #41797e;">infodesk@ohchr.org</span></a></em><br />
<em><span>Palais Wilson </span><br /><span>52 rue des Pâquis </span><br /><span>CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland.</span></em><br />
<em>or </em><br />
<em><span>Palais des Nations </span><br /><span>CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland<br /> </span></em><br />
<strong><em>Antonio Guterres</em></strong><em><strong>United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees</strong></em><br />
<em><span>Case Postale 2500</span><br /><span>CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt</span><br /><span>Suisse.<br /> </span></em><br />
<em><strong>Nils Muiznieks</strong></em><em><strong>European Commissioner for Human Rights</strong></em><br />
<div align="left">
<em>Council of Europe</em><em>F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex, FRANCE<br /> </em></div>
<div align="left">
<strong><em>Martin Schulz</em></strong><em><strong>President of the European Parliament</strong></em></div>
<em><span>Rue Wiertz 60</span><br /><span>1047 Bruxelles</span><br /><span>Belgique</span></em></div>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-42586762926500961932012-05-03T06:43:00.002-07:002012-05-03T06:43:59.072-07:00FIRST ROMA PERSON IN CANADIAN HISTORY TO ADDRESS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT<strong>FIRST ROMA PERSON IN CANADIAN HISTORY TO ADDRESS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT</strong> <br /><br />TORONTO –Bill C-31 – closing the door on Roma Refugees <br />
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">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. </span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">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?"</span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">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. </span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">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.”.</span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal" id="yui_3_2_0_1_13360524823291962">
<span id="yui_3_2_0_1_13360524823291961" style="font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1144612989MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-2114033411816686362012-05-01T07:48:00.000-07:002012-05-01T07:48:24.224-07:00A rest stop, some good news, and Gypped<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We were able to put together a flyer about the use of the word.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We have started a small protest about the book.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The author heard our outrage and apologized.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We were able to meet with the author and she listened, allowing us to share our views during her speaking time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We were able to talk to her audience and speak our minds, and perhaps in that we changed one heart, if not more.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We were able to start a protest on the publisher's website and Facebook site as well as on Amazon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That is a nice little list.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is what you can do:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">1. Leave the author a comment on her web page at</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://carolhigginsclark.com/contact/" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://carolhigginsclark.com/contact/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">or on her Facebook page:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/carolhigginsclark" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/carolhigginsclark</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">. Demand not just an apology but a repudiation of this slur!</span></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">or on Amazon at:</span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gypped-Regan-Reilly-Mystery-Mysteries/product-reviews/1439170312/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#ROL8V8VOIVXQQ">http://www.amazon.com/Gypped-Regan-Reilly-Mystery-Mysteries/product-reviews/1439170312/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#ROL8V8VOIVXQQ</a> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">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.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Time to get back in the car and start driving.</span><br />
<br /></div>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-6234715856136161412012-04-28T07:21:00.001-07:002012-04-28T07:21:45.584-07:00What will YOU do?Recently I took a course in Human Rights Advocacy in which the instructor had a guest lecturer almost every week explaining their own particular causes in detail. Sometimes the speaker had achieved victory, but usually they were still in the process of educating, fighting, petitioning, lobbying, writing, labeling, etc, for their particular causes. After one such speaker who had fired up the class for her case left the room, one of the students asked this question:<br />
<br />
"There are so many causes out there. So many things that need fixed. As a human rights advocate, where do you start?"<br />
<br />
The instructor smiled and stated that you had to follow your heart. <br />
<br />
I found that answer to be quite refreshing. The student was left to find her own answer to that question and I found justification in mine. <br />
<br />
There are many good fights out there and to my mind, equal rights for Romanies is one of those critical issues. We demand our equal rights. We demand justice. We demand respect. We do a lot of demanding. We shouldn't have to.<br />
<br />
The reason I bring this up is because I heard about a conversation between two Romanies that startled me. The conversation took place just days ago and involved an older Rom speaking to his son about education. In short, the father explained to his son that education was not important since it is a 'gadji' education.<br />
<br />
I thought hard on that, and in a sense it is true. Education is a gadji education. The victors write the history and, let's face it, it is rare the Romanies are the victors. We've been written out of the history books. We've become a footnote in Holocaust texts and, in one of my human rights text books, a parenthetical notation. Why? But more importantly, what can we do?<br />
<br />
We must become the educators. There is a statement made in The Memorial Book: The Gypsies at Auschwitz that has always astounded me. It refers to the relationship between the Germans and the Romanies, <em>"it has been left to the minority to document the history of their persecution and to remind others of it"</em> (emphasis mine).<br />
<br />
That is a profound statement. It really is. We shouldn't <em>have </em>to. I know this. The evidence is clear, for all the world to see. We were equally persecuted by the Nazis and were persecuted centuries before the Third Reich came into existence. We know this from the gadji's own history. Look at the law books. It's hidden in plain sight. We shouldn't <em>have</em> to. But we do. Get over it.<br />
<br />
It is time we claimed our history, claimed our rights, and then we may begin to go about the task of reminding the world of what really happened and what is currently happening. We are on the verge of genocide in Europe with no help from Canada or the United States. We don't get much help from governments now a days. We <em>KNOW</em> that.<br />
<br />
So, we know the problem. We have been written off by the gadji and we have few allies. What is the solution?<br />
<br />
<strong><em>It has been left to the minority (Romanies) to document the history of their persecution and to remind others of it.</em></strong><br />
<br />
Education. Pure and simple. We need that gadji education so we know how to teach them the truth. We can't rely on them to wake up one day and realize what has been going on in the world. It just isn't going to happen. We need to learn what they are teaching the next generation so that we can learn how to re-insert our history into theirs, because they have forgotten how history is not just one story, but many stories of many nations. Some win, some lose. But all of these stories contain one single element, a single thread that is true in every story. It is the thread of humanity. <br />
<br />
Each one of us, Romani and non-Romani, share that. We are ALL human beings and we deserve equal treatment in life and within the history books. Only when the world realizes this fact will we see equality in everyone. <br />
<br />
Get that education and then teach. When you tell one person, they will tell someone else, who will tell someone else. Yes, if we have to, we will fight this war one person at a time. One person at a time is better than no one at all.<br />
<br />
We do a lot of shouting. We do a lot of complaining. But few listen. Time to put action to words and do something. Learn your own history. Good or bad, claim it proudly. Then show what you know. Write letters. Volunteer to teach in your local classrooms. Speak at clubs and organizations. Write your local paper. Talk to anyone who will listen. <br />
<br />
Don't like the world? Complaining about it won't help much. Get over it. Then get on with it. It's time to fight the good fight. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="totop">
<div align="right">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="totop">
<div align="right">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="totop">
<div align="right">
<br /></div>
</div>
<h3>
</h3>
<br />Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-88502944781488232572012-04-20T07:22:00.000-07:002012-04-20T07:47:16.448-07:00Why do the gadji define us?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ZK4i0IpucRMkra3U6NRBp_P_9xWhknkhrOeVR1zCpLo8Yqs973mRcKkXE7YUHoJtwOKHErXMPtV-JaZk7SnLG5KgKGMkJtY5XhdHI1NJ9K7ze6tLUkiYyORmsBDLq-fgsWI3uDm64LE/s1600/Gypped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ZK4i0IpucRMkra3U6NRBp_P_9xWhknkhrOeVR1zCpLo8Yqs973mRcKkXE7YUHoJtwOKHErXMPtV-JaZk7SnLG5KgKGMkJtY5XhdHI1NJ9K7ze6tLUkiYyORmsBDLq-fgsWI3uDm64LE/s320/Gypped.jpg" width="210" /></a><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Really? I mean, REALLY? I had always considered this woman to be an educated professional. Seems I may have been gravely mistaken. </span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The book is the latest in the Regan Reilly series with titles like <i>Decked,</i> <i>Popped,</i> and <i>Fleeced</i>. Yesterday I stopped in at my local Barnes and Noble and found this book on a huge display when I first walked in the door. Since I had intended to find the book, the display made it easy, but I was dismayed at just how easy. When I found the manager and pointed to the book, he cringed before I even said anything. "I knew we were going to have trouble with that the moment I saw the cover." Kudos, Mr. Manager, for recognizing the problem. He was sympathetic, but of course has no authority to remove the book.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Today's blog is not about the book itself, but more it is a call to action. As a persecuted minority, we have been forced to accept the definitions others put on us.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Is this really what we are?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I got this from a Google definition: </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<br />
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 1.2; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">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</span></li>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">A nomadic or free-spirited person </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Wiktionary says: <span style="font-size: 13px;">An </span>itinerant<span style="font-size: 13px;"> 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 </span>vagabond<span style="font-size: 13px;"> </span>race<span style="font-size: 13px;">, not necessarily </span>Romani.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Well, at least it's good to know that not every Gypsy is a Gypsy. Just the bad ones.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />This one comes from wordnetweb.princeton.edu: a member of a people with dark skin and hair who speak Romany and who traditionally live by seasonal work and fortunetelling; they are believed to have originated in northern India but now are living on all continents (but mostly in Europe, North Africa, and North America)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">There are pages and pages more from all sorts of 'experts' and not one of them are Romanies. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Time to Act</span></h3>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We must have control of our own identity. We can not allow non-Romani academics, law enforcement, or 'Gypsiologists' to identify us. We can not allow authors to use such titles or characters without consequences. We can not allow Hollywood to portray us as magical villains who curse people to hell or other such drivel. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It is time to act. We are being run over by the media who is eager for a good story. Politicians set us up as scapegoats for their own mismanagement of government or to gain votes. I seem to recall Hitler using this same tactic. Racists are using violence to intimidate our people.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The time has come to stand up for what you are and what you believe in and there are so many ways you can do this. Write letters. Educate the outsiders by volunteering to speak in classrooms or at community events. Create events that show your community the truth about us. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Dr. Ian Hancock told me to never give up. "Do nothing and nothing will change." We need change. We need to help those who can not help themselves. We can not sit back idly as our brothers and sisters in Europe suffer because of ignorance.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If the book "Gypped" offends you, let the author know <a href="http://carolhigginsclark.com/contact/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">here</span></a></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Tired of seeing Criminal Minds "Bloodlines"? Let the network know <a href="http://www.iontelevision.com/?contact" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">here</span></a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">And everyone's favorite, 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding'. There are two links. Go <a href="http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/my-big-fat-gypsy-wedding/all-about-gypsies6.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">here</span></a> or <span style="color: white;"><a href="http://corporate.discovery.com/contact/viewer-relations/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">here</span></a> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Click on the links. Take a stand.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-13771266952494658682012-04-04T07:11:00.000-07:002012-04-04T07:41:43.346-07:00Inauguration date for the memorial to the murdered Sinti and Roma<div class="yiv306532421MsoNormal">
<span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1333486609612353" lang="EN"><strong><em>This comes to us via the Roma Virtual Network.</em></strong></span></div>
<div class="yiv306532421MsoNormal">
<br />
Inauguration date for the memorial to the murdered Sinti and Roma<br />
Europe on Thursday, 25 October 2012<br />
Central Council of German Sinti and Roma welcomes imminent completion of the memorial<br />
<br />
The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media announced today by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, the inauguration of the memorial to the murdered Sinti and Roma in Europe, in consultation with all stakeholders is set for 25 October, 2012.</div>
<div class="yiv306532421MsoNormal">
<br />
It is planned to celebrate the inauguration in the immediate vicinity of the Reichstag, memorial, attended by survivors of the Nazi Holocaust from all over Germany and representatives of European Roma and Sinti organization be. In addition, the representatives from European governments and the U.S. government and public figures are invited.<br />
<br />
The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma also has asked to be able to show the exhibition on the Nazi genocide of Sinti and Roma in Paul-Loebe-Haus of the German Bundestag.<br />
<br />
'We are very glad that this monument is now completed. The survivors had to wait very long, "said Romani Rose, chairman of the Central Council.<br />
<br />
_______</div>
<div class="yiv306532421MsoNormal">
We at O Porrajmos Education Society are delighted that this memorial is finally happening. One of the many shames of Europe is that she has never recognized all of the victims of the Holocaust and has continued to dehumanize those minorities who have already been victims of the Nazis. While it is only a symbol, only a band aid on a gaping wound, it is a small step forward. Brava to those who have worked so hard and so long on this project.</div>
<div class="yiv306532421MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt;"><u></u> <u></u></span></div>
<div class="yiv306532421MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt;"><u></u> <u></u></span></div>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-2990143379273143872012-04-02T12:32:00.003-07:002012-04-02T12:34:17.159-07:008th of April: A Call for Unity!<div>
<b><span style="color: #003399; font-family: "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">8th of April: A Call for Unity!</span> </span></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="color: #003399; font-family: "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"></span></b> </div>
<div>
<b><span style="color: #003399; font-family: "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></b> </div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #003399; font-family: "sans-serif"; font-size: 16pt;"><img height="79" src="http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?mid=1%5f161902%5fAMlWimIAACNIT3LYGQSyr3rSjBE&pid=2&fid=Inbox&inline=1&appid=YahooMailNeo" width="160" /></span><b><span style="color: #003399; font-family: "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "sans-serif";"><span style="color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Roma around the world celebrate this day in tribute of the first World Romani Congress held in Orphingon, near London in 1971.</span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Since 1971, decisions of the World Roma Congress
largely shaped our struggle for dignity. Ever since, a moral high ground
enshrined in those decisions elevates our determination to the cause. They
present a transnational political code for future generations of the Roma
people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Since 1971, we are resolved to be called Roma. We
stand up beneath the green and blue flag embellished with the red,
sixteen-spoked chakra wheel. We sing a common anthem that echoes our history of
determination to peace and unity. We speak Romanes, the language whose
endurance is a living source of connection with our brothers and sisters all
around the world. We are citizens. We are proud to be a Roma Nation. We commit
to live together with other people and Nations in peace and mutual respect. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">With these words in our hearts and minds, Roma
world-wide could celebrate International Roma Day together in unity under the
motto: United in Peace, Prosperity and Solidarity!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">On 8th of April 2012, at 12:00 noon all the Roma
around the world can unite through the flow of the rivers, seas and oceans. Let
us gather at noon to cast flowers into our nearest river, sea, ocean. Let the
spirit of the International Roma Day unite us!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">A large group of Roma activists in Budapest will
gather and cast flowers into the Danube. We call on all Roma to organize
celebrations, cast flowers and share this information with others in order to
initiate the unity of Roma in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Organizing Committee, Budapest 8th of April<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: white;"></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"></span></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div>
</div>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-9174183380938089642012-03-08T15:41:00.003-08:002012-03-08T15:41:49.289-08:00Hindus concerned for Gypsies’ safety after new Czech Republic study<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" id="yui_3_2_0_1_1331248665928421" style="line-height: normal;">
<b id="yui_3_2_0_1_1331248665928420"><span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1331248665928419" style="font-size: 24pt;"><span style="color: red;">Hindus concerned for <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1331248669_0">Gypsies</span>’ safety after new <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1331248669_1">Czech Republic</span> study</span></span></b></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span>Hindus are concerned at the recent Czech Republic Interior Ministry study reportedly suggesting prevalent racism in the country and possibilities of attacks against Roma (Gypsies) in the future.</span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span>Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Czech Republic government should take this report seriously and ensure safety of its Roma populace, who were facing apartheid like conditions. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1331248669_2">Czech Republic</span> needed better protection system for Roma.</span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span>If Czech Republic was unable or unwilling to ensure the safety and security of its Roma people, then European Union should urgently intervene, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, added.</span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" id="yui_3_2_0_1_1331248665928465">
<span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1331248665928464" style="line-height: 115%;">Rajan Zed pointed out that Roma people in Czech Republic reportedly had faced violent attacks, stereotyping, racism, prejudice, growing gap between Roma and other Czechs, fear, beatings, poor quality housing, systemic employment and overall discrimination, persecution, throwing of Molotov cocktails, social exclusion, segregated schools, forced sterilization,<span> </span>marginalization; refused service at restaurants, stores, discos, etc.; municipalities/towns failing to support them; and the state being unwilling or unable to offer protection. </span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span>Zed further said that Czech religious leaders and religious groups, especially the majority Roman Catholic Church, should take-up the cause of Roma people and raise the issue of their continuous maltreatment; as religion taught us to plead for the oppressed, stand with the poor, and seek justice for those whom God loved and too often the world overlooked. </span><span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span>Rajan Zed hoped that the country of Franz Kafka, Antonin Dvorak, Jaroslav Hasek, Karlovy Vary, and rich cultural heritage would not continue staying apathetic and silent spectator ignoring Roma apartheid and would come to their rescue. Vaclav Klaus, Petr Necas and Jan Kubice are President, Prime Minister and Interior Minister respectively of Czech Republic. </span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv1697594801MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">References to Roma people in Europe, who are </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">believed to have their roots in the Indian subcontinent,</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">reportedly went as far back as ninth century CE.</span></div>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-2335978395024388192012-03-02T12:39:00.000-08:002012-03-02T12:39:16.245-08:00Hindus want historical atrocities on Gypsies be included in school textbooks of Europe<div class="yiv856217505MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><span style="font-size: 22pt;"><span style="color: red;">Hindus want historical atrocities on <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1330720602_0">Gypsies</span> be included in school textbooks of Europe</span></span></b></div>
<div class="yiv856217505MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span> </span></div>
<div class="yiv856217505MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span>Hindus stress that apartheid, atrocities, repression and persecution faced by Roma (Gypsies) in Europe for centuries should be included in the history textbooks of European schools.</span></div>
<div class="yiv856217505MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span> </span></div>
<div class="yiv856217505MsoNormal" id="yui_3_2_0_1_1330720348376226" style="line-height: normal;">
<span>Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Europe had been practically ignoring many </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1330720348376225">mass atrocities and repression suffered by <span> </span>Roma for centuries; including those associated with Holocaust, concentration camps, <span> </span>genocide, fascist persecution and maltreatment, enslavement, internment, expulsion, mob violence, etc.</span></div>
<div class="yiv856217505MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span> </span></div>
<div class="yiv856217505MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span>Inclusion of atrocities against Roma in Europe over centuries, their culture and history in school curriculum would bring transparency and better understanding among coming generations of the communities, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, argued.</span></div>
<div class="yiv856217505MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span><span> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv856217505MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span>Rajan Zed also suggested building memorials honoring Roma victims of maltreatment over centuries and museums displaying their traditions/history and apartheid faced by them. When would this group of about 15-million Roma, living in Europe since around ninth century, be treated at par with other Europeans, Zed asked.</span></div>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781724439615258281.post-7688867025188457272012-02-29T08:40:00.000-08:002012-02-29T08:41:26.314-08:00No return to business as usual after the Hammarberg Roma report<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><em>This comes to us from The European Roma and Travellers Forum via the Roma Virtual Network.</em></span></b></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><em><span style="color: red;">No return to business as usual after the Hammarberg Roma report</span></em></span></b></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "serif";">Strasbourg, 28 February 2012: </span></i><span style="font-family: "serif";">The European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF) welcomes the report published by the Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";">With much courage and dedication, Mr Hammarberg has set out for all to read what the Roma and Traveller community has known for decades – that Europe’s anti-Roma apartheid system intrudes on every aspect of life and death in this continent.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";">What concerns us now is the fate which awaits this watershed report.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";">The results of the commissioner’s research present the clear opportunity for a complete break with the past. Will governments now work constructively with the Roma community, involve it in all programmes aimed at progress and make good their commitment to serve all citizens?</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";">Or, will the report yellow with age as the sluggish economy, political intrigues and other issues reclaim the spotlight and Europe’s leaders return to “business as usual” in their dealings with the Roma community?</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";">It bodes ill for the future that so far, not a single political leader has made a public statement about the findings of the Commissioner for Human Rights’ report.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";">Nevertheless, the ERTF, strengthened by Mr Hammarberg’s impressive report, will continue to seek positive engagement with the authorities at national and international level, to obtain improvements for Roma communities on key matters:</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "serif";">Roma and Traveller people must enjoy the full protection of the law.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "serif";">Each Council of Europe member state must put in place firm and resolute policies to stamp out vigilante groups and extremists who threaten the security of peaceful communities.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "serif";">Anti-gipsyism and incitement to hatred must be condemned and their proponents sanctioned appropriately by the courts.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "serif";">Public services, health care and education must be available to all.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";">It is Europe’s shame that Roma and Travellers are still waiting for such basic rights in the second decade of the 21<sup>st</sup> century.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";">The Commissioner for Human Rights has thrown down the gauntlet to the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "serif";">Each one must now act with due diligence on the findings of the Hammarberg report. A failure to do so would be both irresponsible and inhumane.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "serif";">* * *</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "serif";"></span><span style="color: black;"></span> </div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal" id="yui_3_2_0_1_1330527382836243">
<span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1330527382836242" style="color: black; font-family: "serif";">The European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF), which has a partnership agreement with the Council of Europe and a special status with this institution, is Europe’s largest and most inclusive Roma and Traveller organisation. It brings together Europe’s main international Roma-NGOs and more than 1,500 national Roma and Traveller organisations from most of the Council of Europe member states.</span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "serif";"></span><span style="color: black;"></span> </div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<u>For more information please contact the ERTF Secretariat at</u>:</div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "serif";">Telephone: +33 3 90 21 53 50</span><span style="color: black;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "serif";">Email: <a href="mailto:info@ertf.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="blocked::mailto:info@ertf.org" ymailto="mailto:info@ertf.org"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1330527381_0">info@ertf.org</span></a></span></div>
<div class="yiv2135468227MsoNormal">
</div>Ciuinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05905588661052018609noreply@blogger.com0