Daily Archives: janvier 4, 2013

04.01.2013 Rroma Names

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The publication «TANGRAM 30» by the federal institute against racism gives an interesting differentiation of terminologies associated with Rroma. They differentiate between Rroma, explained to be a meta-term for the numerous groups of around 8 or 10 million Rroma living in Europe. The Rroma, which became sedentary in central Europe around the 15th century – the exodus out of India starting in the 10th century – are termed «Sinti» in Germany and Austria, «Manouche» in France and «Gitans/Kalés» on the Iberian Peninsula. The authors stress additionally:

«In einem engen Sinn schliesst der Begriff Roma die Manouches/Sinti und Gitans/Kalés aus und umfasst nur einen Zweig der aus Indien zugewanderten Hauptgruppen. Die grössten dieser Gruppen leben in Rumänien, Ungarn, Slowakei und Bulgarien. Im TANGRAM wird der Begriff Roma in dieser Bedeutung verwendet.»

The logic in this distinction is not explained nor whether if it has political, ethnological or other reasons. The «Manouche», mostly based in France, are explained to regard themselves as a separate group from the Rroma. On which sources this statement is based, is not explained. The term «Gadsche» is used to denote non-Rroma people. It can be seen as a tool for the construction of Rroma identity in separation to the majority of societies.

Source:

  • Tangram 30 (2012) Jenische, Sinti/Manouches und Roma in der Schweiz. Bern: Eidgenössische Kommission gegen Rassismus. 

04.01.2013 Rroma in Switzerland

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The radio program «Treffpunk» from DRS1 from the 11. October 2012 elaborated on the situation of Rroma in Switzerland. Swiss-Macedonian Rroma Mustafa Asan, who also participated in the television program «The Club», speaks shortly about the majority of “invisible Rroma” in Switzerland – about 50’000 people, who keep their identity a secret and gives some examples of the language Rromanes. As already explained in former articles, many Rroma people keep their ethnic identity a secret because of the intensity of negative stereotypes attributed to them, which have embedded themselves in the minds of many people and have been 

Stefan Heinichen explains the realities behind the stereotypes: Most Rroma are not travellers but sedentary and live integrated in the different nation states. Interesting for the situation of Switzerland is the differentiation of Rroma and Yeniche: Rroma have their origins in India, whereas the origins of the Yeniche are traced back to central Europe itself. Heinichen explains that the goals of the Rroma Contact Point are to work against misinformation in the media, to sensitize the public about the topic of Rroma, to create a more realistic notion of Rroma amongst the public, the strengthening of Rroma identity, especially amongst young Swiss Rroma, to connect Rroma groups under each other, the fostering of the integration of Rroma into Swiss society and the collaboration with the authorities.

Heinichen emphasizes that Rroma identity is primarily constructed through the language Rromanes, with its Indian origins and its four main dialects: The Nordic, the Balkan, the Carpathian and the Wallachian dialect. Rromanes is mainly a spoken language, with a small amount of textualisation. Not all Rroma speak Rromanes though. The exclusion of Rroma from societies has the paradox side effect to strengthen group cohesion and identity. Heinichen also stresses the importance of the Rroma family for Rroma identity and the reverence to elderly people, especially elderly women. Another tradition, which is talked about in the program, is the notion of honor and shame, which Heinichen explains as a pillar of Rroma traditions.

One issue elaborated by Swiss folklorist Martin Heule is the view of Switzerland as a successful «integration machine», which builds upon economic inclusion. In his perspective, the 50’000 Rroma living in Switzerland were successfully integrated through the well functioning local economy, which incorporated them successfully. Excessive economic competition, as it can be found in more poor countries in Eastern Europe, fosters racial hatred and mutual discrimination.

Source:

  • SRF (2012) Roma in der Schweiz. «Treffpunkt» vom 11.11.2012.

04.01.2013 Rroma as “hostile others”

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The television program “Der Club” of the Swiss national television company arranged a discussion about the topic of Rroma as “hostile others”, appearing in public only in connection with negative events. The participants of the discussion were Stefan Heinichen of the Rroma Contact Point Zurich, Mustafa Asan, a Swiss-Macedonian dual citizen and Rroma, Alexander Ott, supervisor of the immigration authorities of the police corps Bern, Julia Kuruc, social worker for the women organization “Flora Dora”, Brigitte Hagmann, supervisor of the section West-Balkans of the DEZA and Martin Heule, a folklorist. The discussion started with the topic of Rroma being publicly present as beggars and what backgrounds and motives there are to this activity. The participants agreed upon the insight to differentiate between Rroma identity and the criminal activities – begging or more explicitly organized begging, is prohibited in many Swiss cities. More importantly however, it was criticized that criminal activities are often hasty and uncritically attributed to Rroma, even though most people are not capable of identifying the language Rromanes or other markers of Rroma identity. Therefore, there is a picture of criminal Rroma, which is actively produced and spread by public actors as the police, un-reflected media and public persons, which builds on prejudices and lacking knowledge about Rroma. Not rarely, people of East-European origin, which are not Rroma and who engage in criminal activities, are identified as Rroma.

Another important aspect is the striking poverty of many minority groups in Eastern Europe, often even big parts of the entire population. This socio-economic hardships force people to organize and band with each other in order to overcome lacking means of financial income. Organized begging – as Julia Kuruc states – is therefore often not a choice, but a necessity for survival.

The negative stereotypes attributed to Rroma are so strongly anchored in many European societies, that also in Switzerland, people of Rroma origin are often reluctant to publicly state their Rroma identity. The consequences can be social exclusion, the strengthening of prejudices against persons and consequently more disadvantages. Therefore, many Rroma prefer to label themselves with their nationality and keep their ethnic identity a secret.

Mustafa Asan stated, that from his viewpoint, the events concerning Rroma are often reduced to a perspective of majority-society, excluding problems as the lacking will of majorities to integrate and support Rroma and therefore change their ongoing problem of exclusion and discrimination. Stefan Heinichen added, that one should stop to speak of a “Rroma problem” but start to speak of a societal problem. Of European society, which still has striking problems in integrating Rroma economically, socially and politically. Brigitte Hagmann criticized the lacking efforts of many East-European governments to actively change the miserable situations of Roma. On the other hand, it would be to simple to ascribe Rroma just to role of victims, but that it is necessary that Rroma themselves deploy an active part in changing their situations long- and short-term.

Another aspect is the difficulty of portraying the way Rroma really life. Life worlds of Rroma are very diverse, depending on their family and national history, their religion, their insisting on traditions or their subsequent softening and alteration, their group membership and social integration. Heinichen clearly hesitates when asked to explain Rroma traditions.  

As goal to improve the conditions of Rroma the participants identify better integration into the education system and better embedding and access to the economic sphere. Also, the problem of severe poverty of many people in Eastern Europe, which is important to separate from the topic of Rroma, has to be addressed.

Also the German television program «Menschen bei Maischberger» on ARD elaborated on the notion of Rroma as hostile others. Only seven days after the Swiss program, it joined elected green politician Claudia Roth, Christian-civil politician Joachim Herrmann, supervisor of the Central Council of Roma and Sinit in Germany Romani Rose, Rroma attorney Nizaqete Bislimi and Swiss journalist Philipp Gut from the «Weltwoche» in a discussion. The debate also started with the elaboration on the established negative stereotypes about Rroma, which since several hundred years continue to negatively influence the life worlds of Rroma. The discussion then continued with Philip Gut denouncing criminal activities of Rroma in Switzerland. He stated again and again, that his article in the «Weltwoche» was based on proofed facts, but he failed to intelligently distinguish criminal activities from the topic of Rroma identity and origins. Romani Rose and Claudia Roth therefore accused him of deliberately making a racist connection between ethnic origin and criminal activities. Gut defended himself by explaining that what he condemned was that certain Roma groups used children to implement burglaries, but that he didn’t accuse the Rroma as a whole of criminal activities. However, the mere fact, that he made a connection between Rroma and criminal activities, was enough to evoke the outrage of Romani Rose and other participants of the discussion.

Taking side with Romani Rose’s viewpoint, the author wants to emphasize the importance of not making an undifferentiated connection between criminal activities and Rroma ethnic identity. The making of this connection fails to consider vital questions of respect and ethics towards an ethnic group as the Rroma.

Source:

rroma.org
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