Between silence and the selling of anti-gypsyism in Romania

By Valeriu Nicolae

On October 3rd Libertatea newspaper prints an article titled "Gypsies suspected of kidnapping a child"  http://www.libertatea.ro/index.php?section=articole&screen=stire&sid=164032 .
The same story is presented in different formats on almost all media channels in Romania. The only reactions on the Libertatea website are as follows:

"gypsydom

Sent by napalmul arde frumos [napalm burns nicely] at 2006-10-03 14:33:10

i don't think it's news anymore that gypsies steal children and not just that. they kidnap them for only one reason, to make some quick money off of it. they can commercialize it through "adoption," they cripple it and then send it to beg somewhere in the country but preferably abroad (the profits are better). if it is slightly older they can exploit it sexually, as sexual toy for pedophiles. or they can sell its internal organs (which are expensive and saught after on the black market). and they're not even gypsy children, but romanian children. i know personally a case of attempted but fortunately unsuccessful kidnapping of a romanian child by some gypsy women with colorful skirts. the child in question had gotten lost, his parents couldn't find him and looked for him desperately only to find him in the end being led by the hand by a gypsy woman who was trying to brainwash the child telling him that they are his new parents.


gypsydom

Sent by unu' [one guy] at 2006-10-03 15:52:18

it won't be long before gypsies from our country will invade europe, and then let's see what solutions they will adopt...


gyspydom

Sent by cineva [someone] at 2006-10-03 23:34:01

the child will be found dead or alive, but i am reticent to accept that the mother would have wanted to sell her child. if some gypsy has taken him, do everything possible to find him soon or the gypsy will cripple him and force him to beg when he gets a little older. what kind of people are those who steal a child??? have things gone this far???"



On October 6th the same newspaper prints the article "She stole the child to keep her husband!"
 http://www.libertatea.ro/index.php?section=articole&screen=arhiva&sid=164237
in which we find out not only the reason of the kidnapping but also the fact that the kidnapper was not a gypsy woman.


There is no reaction to this article and no apology from the editors for the fact that they "promoted," with no justification, anti-gypsy sentiments among Romanians. I haven't heard anywhere in mass media even an attempt to apologize for spreading a rumor which leads to further stigmatization of the roma minority.


In between the publication of those two articles, on October 4th, Libertatea published another one to stimulate the pavlovian anti-gypsy reflex: "War with the shacks of the gypsies."
 http://www.libertatea.ro/index.php?section=articole&screen=arhiva&sid=164179


During the same week, Corina Stirb authors in the Graiul Salajului newspaper (October 2nd 2006, page 3, right hand side) an article titled "Romas between pozitive discrimination and self-discrimination," in which she says nonchalantly:

"... Romas discriminate against themselves by not respecting the country's laws, through their lifestyle, by exclusion from the social rules. As far as we know there is no special law for romas to allow them to steal or to illegally occupy houses and land plots. (...) It is time for romas to stop their self-victimization. (...) It is fall, time for harvesting the crops. But a lot of people from the country side are complaining that there's nothing to harvest because the crops have already been harvested from their fields. Why should they (romas) be allowed to always profit from the hard work of others? (...)"


The fact that Graiul Salajului dares to publish an article in which we, Romanian citizens of roma ethnicity, are all dubbed criminals has passed by unnoticed and without any kind of reaction from the larger Romanian mass media, as in the Libertatea case. A journalist, Corina Stirb, is promoting through her writing - whether knowingly or not - not only the deep social stigma due to which less than half of the roma population is brave enough to declare their ethnicity, but also racial hatred.


During the same period the Romanian intelligentsia and media had a particularly strong and completely justified reaction against the racism shown by Il Tempo.


The complicit silence and double standards are beginning to be eliminated as far as the problem of corruption is concerned, and this is due in no small part to the contribution of the Romanian media and intelligentsia. Perhaps it is time to start the same thing with racism in Romania, as well.

PS. Thanks to Ruxandra Costescu for the help with translation and editing