The Plight of the Roma

SOFIA, Bulgaria—The recent expulsions of Roma, also known as Gypsies, from France to their countries of origin, Romania and Bulgaria, reopened a longstanding discussion on the fate of this ethnic minority.

Many Europeans view Roma as swindlers, pickpockets, social welfare system abusers, and people living parasitical lives on the shoulders of society. Human rights advocates and Roma organizations say the negative attitude toward Roma is mainly based in racism.

According to activist Emil Cohen, the Roma are descendants of large numbers of immigrants who came to Europe from India about 1,000 years ago. They were mostly members of lower castes, and the Roma were never able to shake the negative stereotype that developed after they entered Europe. Cohen is a member of a human rights watchdog group, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, and author of the electronic bulletin Human Rights in Focus.

Another theory states that the discrimination arises from the acute differences between the lifestyle of many Roma and the larger European population.

“The repulsion against those who are different, especially if they are 'inferior,' is a social-psychological characteristic. It is normal to think that those who are the poorest, dirtiest, and lowest, invoke even stronger hatred,” explains Cohen.

Cohen further elaborates on how racism works: while hating, people affirm their own status. Often people use hate to suppress memories of their own past and feelings of shame. In addition, by feeling hatred toward others perceived as inferior, people glorify themselves.

With the passage of time, many Roma who did not adapt to mainstream society were pushed to its fringe. Cohen said that society played a strong role in this.

“When you don’t allow a group of people to flow into the regular society, thus blunting differences, and when you erect all kinds of obstacles, the group closes itself off. In order to defend itself, it conserves its traditions, culture, and way of living.”

Indeed, Roma who are not integrated in society live in conditions the same as 150 years ago: impoverished, they inhabit makeshift camps, and receive little education.

Valeriu Nicolae, founder of the Bucharest-based Policy Center for Roma and Minorities, strives to promote the concept of responsible citizenship. He believes that the reason so many Roma are outside the mainstream is that they do not behave as citizens of their own countries. Rather, they act the way they are perceived. They are perceived as aliens, so they fulfill that role. However, he is confident a lot can be done to change this.

“First, you have get those Roma who are successful to assume their responsibilities to say they are Roma," Nicolae said in a telephone interview from Romania. "This will help the society in general. In the short term, it will be difficult for them, because people do not like Roma, but in the long term, it will be beneficial for society. The non-Roma will realize there are a lot of Roma who are just like them, and Roma children living in the ghettos will have good role models to follow.”

In his opinion, there are many Roma in the upper levels of society, but they are invisible because of common biases.

“I myself am very well integrated in society, as well as many other Roma. Unfortunately, we are not visible because we do not correspond to the stereotypes. People identify Roma with negative stereotypes in their minds because they are educated to have those stereotypes. The statement that Roma are not integrated is false, it’s just that those who are integrated are not perceived as Roma.”

Education is the Key

According to Nicolae, in order for full social inclusion of Roma to be achieved, both mainstream society and the Roma minority need to pay a price and assume responsibility. Progress must be a two-side process. Thus, his organization has a staff of half Roma and half non-Roma, and they work together daily.

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee member reveals details of a program that has helped nearly 3,000 Roma children to attend mainstream schools and communicate with non-Roma classmates. He said that for the last 10 years this model has been implemented in Bulgaria, but only by nongovernmental organizations. The program was modeled after a similar one that was used in the United States during the 1950s to help overcome the segregation of African-Americans in certain states.