Az "Amerika Hangja" - Voice of America - A ciganyokrol,
szarmazasukrol, eletukrol, sorsukrol.
(Elnezest az esetleges kisbetukert, de az eredeti szoveg csupa
nagybetuvel volt irva, amit at kellett cserelnem.)
Buchwald Amy
*****************************************************************
date=6/28/94
type=focus
number=4-07520
title=the gypsies: their tragedy and their achievements
byline=Judith Latham
telephone=619-3464
dateline=Washington
editor=Tom Slinkard
content= // inserts in audio services //
anncr: The Voice of America presents focus!
Tape b: cut one -- Gypsy music (establish 12 seconds, fade at
end of intro)
Intro: Throughout their thousand-year history, the Romani
people -- known to most of the rest of the world as
"Gypsies" -- have suffered from discrimination and
persecution. Despite enslavement in Europe from the 14th
to the 19th century, extermination in death camps in the
mid-20th century, violent attacks since the collapse of
communism in Eastern Europe, and continuing hostility
nearly everywhere, the Roma have contributed much to
world culture. International attention has recently
focused on the Roma [rom-ah, sounds like cd-rom, but
with a slightly trilled "r"]. In May, there were
conferences in both Budapest and Seville. In this
focus, _______ reports on the tragic history of the
Romani people, their current political activities, and
some new revelations about the holocaust.
Text: Ian Hancock, a professor of linguistics at the
University of Texas, is the United Nations
representative for the International Romani Union. The
International Romani Union coordinates the activities of
Romani organizations in about 30 countries. Professor
Hancock says the an-cestors of the Roma, or European
Gypsies, were a non-Aryan people from Northern India who
began to migrate westward in the early 11th century.
They swept across the Caucasus and into the Byzantine
empire. In the Balkans, the Roma provided artisan
skills, especially in metal working and the manufacture
of weapons. By the early 14th century, laws began to be
introduced making these workers the property of their
employers, so necessary were their skills. In Moldavia
and Wallachia, part of present-day Romania, Roma were
held as slaves until the mid-19th century, professor
Hancock says.
Tape a: cut one -- Hancock (0:26)
"This slavery was abolished in the middle of the 1800's,
finally being abolished by 1864. But, the attitudes,
much like the attitudes in the United States, where
slavery was abolished about the same time, the attitudes
toward former slaves continues to be very, very negative
and very prejudiced, even today over 100 years after
abolition."
Text: Gypsies throughout the world today speak a variety of
dialects of Romani, an Indic language related to ancient
Sanskrit. It is closest to the Hindi language of India.
There are Roma living in all the countries of Europe as
well as in Canada, the United States, Cuba, Argentina,
Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Singapore, and Eastern China. The
word "Gypsy" comes from "Egyptian," a misnomer which
arose because people in Europe did not know where the
Romani population came from. The Roma are still a
non-territorial people, professor Hancock says, and are
universally regarded as "outsiders." They lack
political, military, and economic strength. They have
not been educated in a western fashion, and they've
traditionally had no means of legal redress. In every
country, the professor says, the Romani people have been
blamed for their own condition. Those who despise or
mistreat Roma typically justify their behavior by
claiming that Gypsies are thieves, or they're dirty,
promiscuous, itinerant, uneducated, or uncivilized.
William Lockwood, a professor of anthropology at the
University of Michigan, agrees that such stereotypes are
widespread.
Tape a: cut two -- Lockwood (0:19)
"Roma were perceived as a social problem in the West and
in the East. That's not altogether wrong. That doesn't
mean they're a social problem of their own making.
Nevertheless, they're undereducated, they're
underskilled in the labor force. They are poor, and
something needs to be done. The strategy in Eastern
Europe was forced assimilation."
Text: However, professor Lockwood says, the assimilation
process failed virtually everywhere. And, he explains
that a thousand years of pariah status will do strange
things to a culture. In Britain, for example, where
professor Hancock grew up, discrimination often gave
Roma no alternative but to steal.
Tape a: cut three -- Hancock (0:46)
"Stores will say, 'we do not serve Gypsies.' How do you
feed your children if you cannot buy food, if people
won't sell to you? What do you do? You don't stand there
and watch your children die. So, yes, it's true, people
may steal food, and then they will be called 'thieves.'
People may turn to alcohol to escape the burden of
unemployment, all the distress that comes with lack of
equal opportunity in housing, in schooling, and then you
are labeled 'alcoholic,' 'lazy,' 'immoral.' If you look
at Romani culture, you will see that it is extremely
rigidly structured, it is extremely moral. But, people
don't know this of Romani culture."
Text: In Germany, for example, where many Roma fled as
refugees after the collapse of communism in Eastern
Europe, the government placed Romani families in
multi-story dwellings, professor Hancock says.
Tape a: cut four -- Hancock (1:12)
"The Germans complained and said, 'look at these filthy
Gypsies. They don't know how to use a kitchen, they
don't know how to use a bathroom. Everything we thought
about them is true.' If the government had realized
that, for example, you cannot in Romani culture, have a
toilet near a kitchen, so people came outside. You
cannot cook in that kind of environment. (Begin opt)
people cooked outside. You cannot have people who are in
a state of pollution above you, which is to say, in one
of the stories in a multi-story building above you. All
of these things are taboo for certain Romani groups.
(End opt) if the German government had realized this and
had provided single-story prefabs or tents, had provided
outdoor communal kitchens or outdoor latrines, all of
this would have been avoided. (Begin opt) it would have
accommodated the culture and the people, and it wouldn't
have cost any more, (end opt) and the German public
wouldn't have had its preconceptions, its prejudices,
reconfirmed -- through a misunderstanding of Romani
culture."
Text: Paul Polansky of the Czech Historical Research Center in
Stillwell, Iowa, made a recent discovery that shows just
how far European hatred for Gypsies extended. He
examined more than 40,000 uncatalogued documents from
the so-called "Gypsy work camp" at Lety [let-tee], a
small village in South Bohemia, part of the former
Czechoslovakia.
Tape a: cut five -- Polansky (0:15)
"It took me some time to go through the records, but it
became apparent very early on that Lety was really a
death camp. Gypsies were taken there from all over
Bohemia and Moravia and were either killed in Lety or
were sent to Auschwitz [in Poland]."
Text: Mr. Polansky says there were at least 10 more Gypsy
death camps in Bohemia, but Lety is unique because there
is so much documentation on Romani prisoners -- more, he
believes, than from any other camp in Europe.
Tape a: cut six -- Polansky (0:13)
(begin opt) "I think it's quite horrifying to think that
these camps were systematically set up with the sole
purpose of eliminating an entire race. And then, to come
across this documentation, I can't emphasize that
enough." (End opt)
Text: The enslavement of the Romani population in Eastern
Europe from the 14th to the 19th century and their
extermination in the mid-20th century are part of a long
history of oppression, according to Livia Plaks of the
project on ethnic relations. Financed by the Carnegie
Foundation, the project on ethnic relations was founded
in 1991 to encourage the peaceful resolution of conflict
in the new European democracies. A specialist in Russian
and East European studies, Ms. Plaks says that prejudice
and discrimination against the Roma have increased in
Eastern Europe since the fall of communism.
Tape a: cut seven -- Plaks (0:56)
(begin opt) "The situation of the Roma today is very
difficult. It's a combination of ethnic and social
discrimination. And, it has been a feature of the life
of the Roma throughout most of Europe. All accounts
describe a widespead perception by mainstream population
that the Roma people are a despised, marginal social
problem. (End opt) There have been violent clashes in
many countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and this
is very much a feature of the changing societies, the
post-communist societies in that area, with trying to
rebuild economies that have collapsed and the Roma being
the first to suffer from these extreme changes in the
societies."
Text: Ms. Plaks says there has been increasing violence in the
Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, and especially in
Romania where 80 percent of the Romani population is
unemployed. In February, the project on ethnic
relations organized a special mission of experts to 11
Romanian villages and cities where anti-Roma mob
violence had occurred during the past four years.
Tape a: cut eight -- Plaks (0:17)
"We shared those findings with the president of Romania,
with the Romanian prosecutor general, the Romanian chief
of police, the secretary-general of the government, and
other authorities. We left behind specific practical
recommendations for the improvement of police and
justice procedures."
Text: Ms. Plaks says that people of other nationalities
frequently try to justify their hostility toward the
Romani people by saying that the Gypsies themselves
engage in anti-social behavior.
Tape a: cut nine -- Plaks (0:45)
(begin opt) "You cannot generalize a whole population
based on the activities of a certain percentage of the
population. Sure, there is crime within the Roma
community, but (end opt) statistics show that actually
the crime rate within the Roma population is not higher
than within the general population. So, we have to be
very careful not to stereotype a whole group of people
for the activities of some. This has worked in the
disfavor of minorities in the past. It has led to the
holocaust, it has led to Jews and Gypsies being killed
during the second World War."
Text: Because the Roma are a substantial part of the
population in all the countries of Central and Eastern
Europe, Ms. Plaks says, it is in the interest of
national leaders to improve their social and economic
condition. And, that's because lack of stability within
the Romani population also undermines stability and
economic development in the region as a whole.
Tape a: cut ten -- Plaks (0:26)
"The project on ethnic relations has been trying to
bring together leaders from the countries of Central and
Eastern Europe and the Russian federation with Roma
leaders to discuss how the lot of the Roma can be
improved because, without tackling this enormous
question, there will be no stability in the countries of
the region, and they will not be able to develop viable
democracies."
Text: Professor Hancock, a member of the project's Romani
advisory council, says European governments today need
to acknowledge the racial and cultural heritage of their
Romani minorities, if some of these fundamental problems
are to solved.
Tape a: cut eleven -- Hancock (0:57)
"It's been easy to scapegoat the outsider population and
to attack the population without fear of reprisal.
That's all on the European side. And, on the Romani
side, we're talking about a people who traditionally has
had a very exclusive culture, (begin opt) exclusive in
the true sense of the word, meaning excluding non-Romani
people who are regarded as tainted or polluted. These
are Indian traditions and have their roots in the caste
system and so on, but it's a fundamental attitude
amongst conservative Roma -- that the 'gadze,' or
non-Romani people, can pollute you by association. (End
opt) so, there is an effort on the Romani side to
minimize socialization and contact with the non-Romani
world. So, it's a two-sided problem."
Text: Professor Hancock says that, if such social tensions are
to be resolved, governments in Central and Eastern
Europe will need to address the educational inequalities
that Romani children often face.
Tape a: cut twelve -- Hancock (0:51)
"For example, in Romania, in Hungary, in various
countries where Romani children may go to school, they
are put into remedial classes because they don't have
very good language skills in the national languages.
This isn't seen as a language learning problem. This is
seen as a mental deficiency problem. (Begin opt) There
aren't bilingual programs in Eastern Europe the way
there are in this country, for example, for
spanish-speaking american children. These things are
gradually being recognized, but (end opt) the European
governments, especially in the East, don't have the
skills yet to deal with minority issues, human rights
issues, and so on. This is all quite new to them, and
the principal victims are the Roma, who number in the
millions."
Text: In many countries, including the United States, there
are laws that prevent Roma from staying anywhere. For
example, some U.S. state laws require Gypsies to buy an
annual license to be able to set up a home or a
business. Some West European governments, professor
Hancock says, still provide reservations for their
Romani population. In the past 4 or 5 years, since the
collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, life has grown
more difficult for the Roma.
Tape a: cut thirteen -- Hancock (0:32)
(Begin opt) "Under communism, ethnic assertion was
suppressed. The state came first, and any kind of
identity beyond that was seen as counter-productive to
being a citizen of the state. (End opt) Since the fall
of communism, the prejudices which were suppressed have
risen to the surface, and we've seen the results of that
in the splitting up Czechoslovakia, the former
Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union into what are
essentially ethnic subdivisions."
Text: Unemployment among the Romani population is high.
Professor Hancock says that in Romania and Slovakia
there have been several recent incidents where Roma have
been massacred and their homes burned down. But, reports
on such atrocities often blame the victims for a life
style that invites mistreatment.
Tape a: cut fourteen -- Hancock (0:21)
"The way Roma live today in Europe is not from choice.
It's from circumstance. (Begin opt) These same laws
which keep Romani people on the move have been
reinterpreted in the literature and folklore of the
establishment as some kind of romantic 'wanderlust'
[irresistable impulse to travel] on the part of Romani
people." (End opt)
text: Because of the widespread prejudice against Gypsies,
professor Hancock says, many people of Romani ancestry
even in the United States do not acknowledge their
heritage.
Tape a: cut fifteen -- Hancock (1:07)
"Because the United States is a country made up of
immigrant groups of all different physical appearances
and different complexions, it has been easier here for
the Romani population to hide among other ethnic groups
-- to present themselves outwardly as Mexican-Americans
or native Americans or Italians or Greeks or whatever,
anything rather than saying, 'i am a Gypsy.' In Europe
for centuries, I would say until the 20th century, the
Romani population has been the only people of color,
(begin opt) and therefore easily identifiable -- not
simply by physical appearance but also because of dress,
way of life, certainly language, customs, and so on.
(End opt) So, it's been very easy for Europeans to
identify Gypsies in a way that Americans generally have
not been able to and still are not able to."
Text: In mid-May, two major international conferences were
held on Romani issues. Professor Hancock says the
meeting in Budapest was primarily cultural, and most
presentations focused on literature. The meeting in
Seville was even more significant.
Tape a: cut sixteen -- Hancock (0:31)
"It was much more concerned with human rights issues,
political issues, legal issues, and there was a
resolution that we be recognized as a non-territorial
nation. (Begin opt) In every respect, we are like a
country. We have a common genetic ancestry, we have our
language, we have our culture. What we lack, really, is
a territory. (End opt) this was an important meeting
because the Queen of Spain spoke and opened it, and it
got an awful lot of attention."
Text: Despite centuries of persecution and prejudice,
professor Hancock says, the Roma have made many
contributions to world culture, especially in the arts.
Tape a: cut seventeen -- Hancock (1:28)
"A number of studies have appeared in recent years
demonstrating that the classical musical tradition in
Europe, the classical composers have not simply taken
Romani music and elaborated upon it, but have taken the
scale, the Romani musical scale, which is called the
'bhairava' scale, a 12-note oriental chromatic scale,
and incorporated it into their music -- Brahms, Liszt,
and so on have done this. A study at the [hebrew]
University of Jerusalem has shown that the 'klezmer'
music, which is very popular, has its roots in Romani
music. In the arts, Charlie Chaplin was of Romani
descent, (begin opt) Yul Brynner, Rita Hayworth, Bob
Hoskins, Michael Caine, all of these people have
contributed to the arts. It's rumored that Picasso was
of Romani descent. In addition, Roma have contributed to
the folklore tradition by transmitting folk tales from
place to place in Europe. We introduced a number of
things into Europe from further East, including playing
cards, certain instruments, perhaps the violin,
marionettes, puppets. (End opt) Certainly in an oblique
way, we have contributed to the literary tradition,
perhaps not in the way we'd like, but the number of
literary works, plays, poems, operas with Romani
themes."
Text: Shakespeare's plays, Victor Hugo's novel "The Hunchback
of Notre Dame," and the much loved operas "Carmen" and
"Il Trovatore" all have Gypsy characters.
Tape b: cut two -- music: "Habanera" from "Carmen" (sneak up,
establish 16 seconds, and fade under very gradually)
Text: William Duna, who teaches a course on the "History of
Gypsies and Their Music" at the University of St. Thomas
in Minnesota, comes from a long line of musicians of
Slovak and Hungarian Gypsy descent.
Tape a: cut eighteen -- Duna (0:17)
"We talk a lot about the folk music of Eastern Europe
really being primarily Gypsy music and the fact that
Gypsies have never really received credit for that. One
of the reason these Gypsies never received credit for
what they were doing is because many of the countries
and states wanted to stamp out Gypsy culture."
Text: For example, the patriotic Hungarian military march the
"Rakoczy March," was composed by the Gypsy violinist
Johannes Bihari [yoh-hahn-ess bi-hahr-ee], but the
credit for it goes another composer. Franz Liszt,
however, openly acknowledged that his "Hungarian
Rhapsodies" were based on Gypsy melodies.
Tape b: cut three -- music (Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2
(Sneak up, establish 8 seconds, fade, but hold to end of
cut 19, tape a)
tape a: cut nineteen -- Duna (0:23)
"What Liszt used to do was to invite Gypsies to come to
his home (begin opt) and they would sometimes carry the
piano outside because they loved to play outside on warm
evenings, and they would play until morning. (End opt)
and Liszt would play with them -- and just loved it. In
fact, Liszt wrote a book about the Gypsies, saying that
the folk music of Hungary is really Gypsy music."
Text: Johannes Brahms' "Hungarian Dances" and Georges Enesco's
"Romanian Rhapsodies" were also based on Gypsy themes.
And, the cimbalom [sim-bah-lum], a string instrument
with a sound between a harp and a piano, was brought to
Europe by the Gypsies. Professor Duna says that much
Gypsy music is sad and poignant, reflecting the often
tragic history of his people.
Tape b: cut one (reprise) -- music (sneak up, establish 12
seconds, fade, but hold to end of cut 20, tape a)
Text: Professor Duna is the only Gypsy member of the 40-member
United States holocaust council. The destruction of 80
percent of the Romani population of Europe during the
World War II period is a fact that is little known, he
says.
Tape a: cut twenty -- Duna (0:29)
"My goal has always been to make sure there is
information on what happened to Gypsies in the
holocaust, accurate information. Gypsies were the first
race singled out by the Nazis, not the Jews. When I came
on the council, there was next to no information about
Gypsies. In some of the schools that teach about the
holocaust, they mention next to nothing about the
Gypsies. Not only did they die in the concentration
camps, but now they're eliminated from the pages of
history. (Begin opt) This is a terrible thing, this is
something that has to be known." (End opt)
Text: Greek-born lawyer Elsa Stamatopopoulou
[stah-mah-toh-pop-oo-loo] is chief of the New York
office of the Center for Human Rights at the United
Nations. She says that the cycle of violence against
Roma, even today, is "quite alarming" and clearly
demonstrates the "scourge of racism." The protection of
Romani communities, she believes, is a purely
humanitarian issue because the Roma, unlike other
minority groups, threaten no national borders.
Tape a: cut twenty-one -- Stamatopopoulou (0:08)
"Unless we protect this particular minority, we have not
proven that we care about the elimination of racism in
Europe."
Text: The treatment of minority groups is a major issue facing
much of our world at the end of the 20th century.
Anncr: You have been listening to focus on the Voice of
America. Our report, on the Romani people, was written
by Judith Latham. The show was directed by ___________
and the producer was _________.
Tape b: cut four -- music (Sarasate's "Zigeunerweisen" [Gypsies
Airs], sneak up, establish 23 seconds, and fade.)
27-Jun-94 5:32 pm edt (2132 utc)
nnnn
source: Voice of America
|
