The film "Time of the Gypsies" by Emir Kusturica opened up my eyes for the situation for Roma people on the Balkans. I saw it many times and I still recon it as one of the best films that I ever seen.
But it was not until 2002 that I started to take a active part in the work for the inclusion of Roma people. A article by the Romanian sociologist and Roma rights activist Nicolae Gheorghe opened my eyes for the tough situation for Roma people in Romania. He had been working for Roma people since the mid 70s together with his fellow Roma activist Professor Vasile Burtea.
Last year I met Professor Vasile Burtea for an interview and he spoke with great honour about his good friend Nicolae Gheorghe who passed away in 2013. Nicolae was a one of the most carismatic Roma leaders in Europe and his work has been very important for Roma rights in Europe.
In 1993 Nicolae and Vasile founded the first Roma NGO - Romani Criss (the Centre for Social Intervention and Studies) with the intention to provide Roma people with education and work in the formal economy.
Nicolae who spent almost 35 years working for Roma issues in various roles had a wider dream for the Roma people. His dream was that Roma people should be included in the nations were they live and also represent a wider society that is freer and more boundless than the national state.
Text and photo: Mikael Good
On April 8th, Romas from 40 countries celebrated their national day in memory of the first Roma Congress that was held in London on April 8th 1971. The Romani flag ((O styago le romengo) was introduced at the congress. The blue field in the flag symbolizes the sky, the green field ground and the red wheel symbolizes progress. The Roma national anthem Djelem, Djelem (I traveled, I traveled) was also introduced during the Roma Congress.
In 2000, proclaimed the International Romani Union (IRU) Romani Stan as Roma's own country without imposing any requirements on a territory. That the IRU choosed not to make demands on any territory is not surprising because one can say that the whole world is Roma's home country.
Much of the Roma culture, customs and their way of life have been shattered by discrimination, persecution and extermination throughout history. Up to 1 million Roma and Sinti might have been murdered by the nazis and their collaborators during the Second World War, nobody knows the exact number because the nazis didn't keep record of how many Romas that they killed.
The persecution of Romani people should have ended in Europe when the evil nazi empire was finally defeated in May 1945. But instead Romas in Eastern Europe ended up behind the communist Iron Curtain and was deprived the few structures that had survived the nazi attempt to exterminate both the Romas and their culture.
The discrimination in western Europe continued after the war and it was not until the late 1970s that Roma rights began to be discussed seriously. It took until 1982 before the West German government recognized that the Romani people beside the Jewish people were subjected for the Holocaust.
Romani people in Eastern Europe had hopes that they would get better life after the end of communism in 1989/1990. The hope was never fulfilled and instead the discrimination and persecution increased in many countries. Mainly because they were blamed for many of the bad things that the communist dictatorships had caused. There were even outright pogroms in some countries in Eastern Europe, houses were burned down and Romani men and even women were severely beaten and some were even killed because of their ethnicity.
Romani People are still treated as second-class citizens and are discriminated and persecuted in many countries where they have lived for nearly 1,000 years because of their ethnicity. There's a long way to go before the Romani People have been truly included into the European Community where they belong.
Romani people are happy people as you can see in the pictures. Despite all the difficulties they have been through they are always close to a good laugh. Joy and music welds them together and it has become a way for them to escape from all the hatred and oppression that they are often subjected to from the majority population. It's more than time that we put the history behind us and include the Romas in our society. It's also important to break down barriers between people and combat all the prejudices and stereotypes that hinder us from getting to know each other.
Roma is Romani for human and regardless of nationality, ethnicity or religious belief we are all Roma. Jesus is love and he steps right over all the things that we humans like to sort into right and wrong and goes straight into our hearts and loves us just as the Romas (humans) that we are. Opre Roma!
Text and Photo: Mikael Good
Det är den 8 april idag och Romer från ett 40-tal länder firar sin nationaldag till minne av den första romska kongressen som hölls i London den 8 april 1971. På kongressen i London infördes den romska flaggan. Det blåa fältet i flaggan symboliserar himlen, det gröna marken och det röda hjulet symboliserar framåtskridandet. Även romernas nationalsång Djelem, Djelem (jag reste, jag reste) infördes på kongressen i London.
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År 2000 utropade International Romani Union (IRU) Romanistan som romernas eget hemland utan att ställa några krav på territorium. Att IRU valde att inte ställa krav på något territorium är inte så konstigt, för på sätt och vis kan man säga att hela världen är romernas hemland.
Genom historien har mycket av den romska kulturen, sedvänjorna och levnadssättet slagits i spillror genom diskriminering, förföljelse och ond bråd död. Förföljelsen av romer borde ha begravts i Europa i och med nazismens fall i maj 1945. Men istället berövades de östeuropeiska romerna som hamnade bakom den sovjetiska järnridån de få strukturerna som hade bestått nazisternas försök att utrota både romerna och deras kultur. I västeruropa fortsatte diskrimineringen efter kriget och det skulle dröja till slutet av 1970-talet innan romernas rättigheter började att diskuteras på allvar.
I Östeuropa var det många som trodde att romerna skulle få det bättre efter kommunismens fall men istället ökade diskrimineringen och förföljelsen. Romer behandlas fortfarande som främlingar och andra klassens medborgare i länder som de har bott i nästan 1000 år. Trots att vi har kommit till år 2015 har vi lång väg kvar att vandra innan romerna har inkluderats i vår europeiska stugvärme där de hör hemma. Men jag är övertygad om att vi kommer att nå dit en vacker dag.
Det är mer än dags att vi lägger historien bakom oss och inkluderar romerna i vår gemenskap. Rom är romani för människa och oavsett nationalitet, etnicitet, religiösa tro eller vår könstillhörighet är vi alla romer (människor) och Gud som ser rakt in i djupet av våra hjärtan älskar oss precis som de romer vi är. Opre Roma!
Romernas nationalsång Djelem, Djelem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23dW3H9yFSU
Text och foto: Mikael Good
Detta tal höll jag under firandet av romernas nationaldag på Frälsningsarmén i Huskvarna. Där ett 30-tal romer från Rumänien och Sverige samt ett 10-tal svenskar fanns på plats och deltog i firandet. Talet tolkades till rumänska. P4 Jönköping fanns på plats och sände live från Hannas Var Dags Rum.
