"Cultural" Anti-Gypsyism

By Valeriu Nicolae

The social problem created by Roma is not from yesterday or today, it has been present since the Europeans had their first contacts with this ethnic group…

…everywhere, the gypsies managed to inculcate an almost complete lack of trust in themselves and to build an image of professional criminals. Nobody loves the gypsies (with the extraordinary exception of those who have never had contact with them)…the gypsies have only their own law and their respect for the other is either equal to zero, or depends on immediate interest or individual friendships…

These excerpts are from an August 30, 2007 article printed in the magazine Cultura[1] (Culture) published by the Romanian Cultural Foundation. According to its director, Mr Augustin Buzura, a member of the Romanian Academy , this foundation functions as part of the Romanian “cultural diplomacy.”[2] Mr Eugen Simion, former president of the Romanian Academy , is also one of the main contributors to Cultura magazine.

This is far from all the article says: gypsies are also accused of destroying the historical centers of “our [Romanian] towns,” of inferiority and backwardness, and of having no civic sense whatsoever towards their “adopting” country.

The author, Mr Alexandru Bogdan Duca, a professor of Romanian Christian Orthodoxy, implies that currently, there exists a shameful obligation (enforced due to “western standards”) for Romanian dignitaries to employ councilors for Roma issues.

Overall, the article is full of innuendos which barely disguise the author’s hate of Roma, and it is a clear eulogy to the strong and widespread Romanian and European anti-Gypsyism. It presents Roma as criminals, pimps, prostitutes, beggars and witches, in other words, completely different from Romanians, who are presented as the “victims” of political correctness.

The article holds the Roma responsible for a well-justified reaction by the majority against them, including the cases where Roma were killed.

It ends by proposing a “final solution:” a separate gypsy state which will isolate gypsies far away, and give the majority population the opportunity to finally enjoy “our civilization.”

A few facts:

Roma have lived in Romania since the beginning of the first millennium, hundreds of years before even an incipient Romanian state or language existed. They were held in slavery by the Romanian Orthodox Church and Romanian boyars (land-owners) for over 400 years.

It is estimated that in Romania alone, there are over one million mixed families, where one parent is Roma.

At this moment, no positions for councilor on Roma issue is available within the Romanian government, presidency or other Romanian institutions.

There are no recorded acts of racism by Roma against Romanians. Polls in Romania demonstrate that Roma are by far the most hated ethnic group. There are thousands of recorded racially-motivated incidents of violence against Roma. The Romanian political elite is well-known for repeated anti-Roma speech.[3]

The Romanian Cultural Foundation is built on the previous state-sponsored institution with the same name, which was under the auspices of the Romanian Presidency and was entrusted to promote Romanian culture abroad.