ROMANISTAN

19th JULY 2021 6pm CEST

The Future of our struggle

We, Roma, have been historically defined as the “others”, as people without a history, and without the capacity for self-determination and self-organisation. For decades we have been classified as the “people without a voice.” From the Roma Holocaust to forced sterilisations, forced evictions, police brutality, mass incarceration, urban and school segregations, to openly racist speeches by EU politicians has been the reality of more than 14 million Roma in Europe.

Even, today some have argued that the challenge Roma face is not structural racism but a product of “the unadaptable culture of Roma.” The struggle for Roma is against antigypsyism, a form of structural racism that has existed for many centuries. It is the struggle to secure a safe space for Roma in European countries that are openly anti-Roma.

Yet, very little political attention has been given to it by the left wings parties, international anti-racist movements, international human rights institutions, academics, or the media. We can no longer remain silent against systemic oppression that creates the impossibilities of existing. This public discussion aims to bring together Roma and non-Roma people from different countries to discuss the urgency of re-thinking the Future of our Struggle. Why is political violence against Roma normalised?

LIVE STREAM
FUTURE OF OUR STRUGGLE
19 / JULY / 2021 / 18:00 CEST

Can we re-think our strategies/agendas and imagine a new one based on our embedded experiences that will be in open confrontation with the oppressive system? Can we create the collective road to full emancipation through self-representation? Can we reconnect with the dignity of our accentor’s struggle and with the aims of 1971 World Romani Congress? To reflect on all this and more, we have invited the following speakers to take part in this online discussion:

Grattan Puxon – General-secretary of the First World Roma Congress [1971-1981]

Cayetano Fernandez – Militant of Kale Amenge (Roma for Ourselves)

Sebijan Fejzula – Militant of Kale Amenge (Roma for Ourselves)

Jonathan Lee – European Roma Rights Center (Brussels)

Hamze Bytyci – Chairman RomaTrial e.V (Berlin)

Tanja Vasic – Minority Initiative (Serbia)

Lisa Smith – RomaTrial e.V./ Chairwoman of ACERT

The daily struggle to maintain life against the odds; that above all has defined Romani existence. A struggle maintained for centuries. Living on the margins, Roma held together, kept our language; escaped cultural, even physical annihilation, by staying on the run; blanking confrontation. The slaughter of the Nazi genocide forced some to turn and fight. As partisans, as rioting inmates of the Auswchitz zingeuner lager. Whole vitzas were wiped out, but a terrible choice had been taken to combat the enemy whatever the cost. Twenty-five years later, delegates from those shattered remnants came together in London for the 1971 First World Roma Congress. Henceforth the flag of the Roma Nation would fly over a political movement that sought emancipation through self-representation. In the Jubilee year of that movement what momentous future awaits? Faced again by the rise of fascism, exposed systemic racism, a new, active generation of a nation without borders is reaching or ownership of a people’s sovereignty. Two questions dominate the agenda. Will the scattered millions of the Roma Diaspora be mobilized by that call? And if they are, will our collective struggle against antigypsyism and persecution finally open the road to a just and peaceful co-existence?
Grattan Puxon General-secretary of the First World Roma Congress [1971-1981]

Watch the livestream on 19th July directly here or sing up for the Facebook event and get a notification once we are on air.

Therefore, fifty years after the 1971 Roma congress, Kale Amenge alongside with Pretendemos Gitanizar el Mundo, aims to ask, reflect and discuss what does Roma emancipation and resistance mean? To be able to answer these questions, we must critically look at the role of the Roma ngo’s as well as the politicians who have been accomplice of selling the idea of “integration” to our people in return for state benefits and status. We strongly claim that in order to confront Antigypsysm as a matter of structural racism we must fight the system and not to collaborate with the same system that oppresses and dehumanizes our people. What do we do with the Roma colonial administrations? Where is the Roma political agenda decided? And most importantly, what does an autonomous Roma movement mean? How can we be able to break the with the dependency and subordination in order to build an autonomous emancipatory Roma movement able to reconnect with the dignity of our accentor’s struggle and with the aims of 1971?

23th of JUNE 2021
17:00 CEST

ROMA CHILDREN IN CARE SESSION

The panel discussed the over-representation of Roma children in care not only in institutions for children without parental care but in foster care. We also discussed the impact of adoption. This unfortunately has been an ongoing discussion for many years amongst Roma representatives and state institutions. Social exclusion resulting in poverty has a big impact on Roma children. Examples discussed within the panel highlight the far reachings consequences of deep-rooted anti-Gypsism in European society and the need for our voices as Roma professionals working in the field with direct experience to be heard.

Go to live stream on this site or visit our Romanistan facebook live stream page.

LIVE STREAM
Roma children in care
23 / JUNE / 2021 / 17:00 CEST

Panelists:
Michal Hugo (ERRC) Czeh Republic, Carmen Tanasie (ERGO Network)-Belgium Edita Stejskalova Czech Republic, Tanja Vasic (Minority Initiative) Serbia, Alison Hulmes, (GRTSWA, BSWA )UK, Dada Felja (Law for Life)UK, (Gwendolyn Albert – Translations) Czech Republic, Mihai Calin Bica – (Roma Support Group) UK, Lisa Smith (ACERT)

For so many reasons, Roma children in many countries are the last ones on the list for adoption. The lack of understanding when working with Roma families negates the positive solutions for Roma children in need. There is also a lack of general information on Roma tradition and living patterns, language barriers, stereotypes, and prejudices directed towards Roma that influence the communication between social workers and Roma parents, or broader family members.

Our discussion aims to make the broader public aware of these issue and invites Roma communities to share with us their experiences, and to jointly develop a strategy with a plan of action on how best to create solutions to these very important issues.

Check in to the congress in order to participate, or just watch the livestream directly here or sing up for the Facebook event and get a notification once we are on air.

1st MAI 2021
19:30 CEST

In the last years the political settings in Spain have experienced severe changes that have impacted both, semantic and political spheres.

Go to live stream on this site or visit our Romanistan facebook live stream page.

LIVE STREAM
SPAIN SESSION
01 / MAI / 2021 / 19:30 CEST

One of the most relevant and promising change has been the evolution of the political anti-racism in the Spanish state, a political orientation that reclaim autonomy as a key political element to break with the ‘ideology of integration’ and the subordination system created by the State and its institutions and with the complicity and collaboration of the NGOs who have historically tackled racism from moralist approaches contributing to the depolitization of the Roma Nation struggle during decades. (See below.)

Participants:

Cayetano Fernandez – Militant of Kale Amenge

Juan Giménez – Militant of Kale Amenge

Sebijan Fejzula – Militant of Kale Amenge

Nicolas Jimenez – Pretendemos Gitanizar el Mundo

To confront and overcome such depolitization of our struggle and the complicity of the so-called Roma movement has been the aim, since its foundation, of Kale Amenge (Roma for Ourselves), is an independent anti-racist Roma political organisation that works for the collective emancipation of our people and the construction of Roma political autonomy. By placing Antigypsyism within the political anti-racist movements’ agenda, as well as denouncing anti-Roma racism as a product of the state, Kale Amenge has contributed to ‘change the terms of the discussion’ leaving aside the docile request for integration of NGOs to coherently turn our struggle in a political fight in open confrontation with the state. As a direct consequence of Roma political anti/racism, we are beginning to witness an increase of Roma collective consciousness such as, the mobilization of Roma in the streets, denunciations of police brutality and anti-Gypsy harassments in school, hospitals and work places. More importantly, the Roma resistance is achieved by refusing the integratory approaches and by demanding to be respected by our own terms and political forms.

Check in to the congress in order to participate. You also can just watch the livestream directly here or sing up for the Facebook event and get a notification once we are on air.

24th APRIL 2021
12:00 noon CEST

RUSSIA SESSION

«Actual problems of the Roma in Russia: the image of the Roma in the media space; accessibility of education and social mobility»

Problem 1:

Тhe image of the Roma in the media space
Modernity shows that propaganda, its methods and features, especially what is called “black” or “gray” (with negative connotations), is still an integral part of the everyday media and information field. On modern Russian television, news feeds and films provide information where the Roma community is almost entirely identified with crime, which creates a negative and hostile attitude towards Roma in the eyes of the entire Russian society. The goal is to use the compilation method created in the course of our research that contaminates content analysis and information-targeted analysis, to create a sufficiently universal tool for identifying signs of propaganda text in a broader context – perhaps using the example of other television programs or, wider, other “cultural texts”.

Problem 2:

Аccessibility of education and social mobility
An urgent problem is the rather low level of education of the Roma in Russia. This report examines the reasons for the lack of vertical social mobility, as well as the problems of affordable education (secondary and higher).

SPEAKERS:

Petr E. Tsarkov, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Primary Pedagogical Education (Moscow)

Vladimir Kalinin

Poet, Romanes translator and Roma civil rights activist

Check in to the congress in order to participate, or just watch the livestream on 24th April directly here or sing up for the Facebook event and get a notification once we are on air.

17th APRIL 2021
18:00 – 19:30 CEST

EU ROMAPRESS SESSION

In this session, representatives of the international Roma press agency “EU Romapress” discuss the resolutions proposed by the Jubilee World Roma Congress.

Panelists:

Petr Tsarkov (Moscow)

Grattan Puxon (London)

Mozes Solomon (France)

Tahir Ridarov (Germany)

Riccardo M. Sahiti (Germany)

SESSION OVERVIEW

I. A number of Resolutions have been submitted for adoption by the participations of the Jubilee Congress.
Here members of Euromapress and other journalists discuss their merit.

II. Chief among the Resolutions are those calling for:

1] 13 June should become an annual Day of Remembrance recalling the ethnic-cleansing of Roma from Kosovo.

2] Congress to support the campaign in the USA for status as a Sovereign Roma Nation.

3] Congress participants are asked to further the progress of the Democratic Transition as a means of ensuring increased legitimacy for collective political representation.

4] Resolution calls for post-Congress unity and coordinated action to be facilitated by creation of an open-to-all Congress Forum.

III. A Q and A period will follow.

Check in to the congress in order to participate, or just watch the livestream on 17th April directly in the Facebook event.

13th APRIL 2021
16:00 – 18:00 CEST

BULGARIA SESSION II.

In the second Bulgaria Session, Romani activist demand a better political participation in Bulgaria. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the First World Roma Congress, the Roma from Bulgaria address the new Bulgarian Parlament and the future governors with the message: “Nothing for Roma people without Roma people!”.

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11th APRIL 2021
17:00 – 18:30 CEST

BULGARIA SESSION I.

Speakers:

Hristo Hristov, Sofia

Stefan Ivan, Sliven

Prof. Mauna Kaushik, New Delhi

Bozhidar Nikolov, Sliven

Boyko Nikolov, Sliven

Evald Otterstad, Oslo

Indu Pandey, New Delhi

SESSION OVERVIEW:

Introduction about the history of the world Roma movement and the foundational role of the 1st Congress in 1971. A short input on the Bulgarian history of Roma organisations as a part of the European Roma presentation in the last century.

II.

International contacts and support for the Roma cause from India and Norway. The Indian participants, prof. Mauna Kaushik and Ms Indu Pandey, will join from New Delhi. The Norwegian side will be presented by the documentary film director from Oslo, Evald Otterstad, who made a film on Roma situation through the life of one family in Sliven over a decade, and sociologists, who have taken active part in multiple Roma related projects in Bulgaria in past 30 years.

III.

An open discussion for all participants with a focus on youth from one of the largest Roma neighbourhood in the country, kvartal Nadezhda in Sliven, and Roma leaders from Sofia’s “Hristo Botev” neighbourhood.

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10th APRIL 2021
5.00 – 6.30 CEST

SESSION ABOUT THE MEMORIAL TO THE MURDERED SINTI AND ROMA OF EUROPE

The Memorial to the Roma and Sinti of Europe murdered under National Socialism in Berlin is currently threatened by the planned construction of a suburban city train line.

The Jubilee World Roma Congress says: The memorial is not up for disposal! We demand:

– The global community of Romani people must be included into the discussion about the Memorial. The discussion must become transparent.

– The State of Berlin and the German Railways must adopt a solution which doesn’t affect the Memorial at all – also not the trees and bush around it, creating a natural sound barrier between the busy streets and the Memorial, preserving it as place of commemoration and contemplation.

– The Congress supports the open letter by the Bundes-Roma-Verband (Federal Association of Roma).

Speakers:

Noa Karavan, producer, artist and filmmaker, daughter of Dani Karavan, the author of the Memorial, Israel

Jud Nirenberg, writer and manager of democratization and human rights projects, USA

Grattan Puxon, co-initiator and general secrety of the First World Roma Congress, co-organizer of the Jubilee World Roma Congress, U.K.

Tanja Vasic, co-organizer of the Jubilee Congress, psychologist and leader of MI – Manjinska Inicijativa, Serbia/Austria

Moderation:

Hamze Bytyci, chair of RomaTrial and co-organizer of the Jubilee Congress

Significance of the Memorial

Between 1933 and 1945, the Romani people were victims of systematic persecution, internment and finally murder, which originated in Germany and was planned in Berlin. From the 1936 confinement to camps commenced, then later deportations to took place to Auschwitz-Birkenau and other death camps. Many more were murdered by special death squads and German army units. In all more than 500,000 Roma lost their lives in the genocide committed by the National Socialists, in concentration camps, in mass shootings, in poison gas vans, starvation and cruel pseudo-medical experiments.

It took almost 40 years after the end of the Nazi regime for the genocide of the Sinti and Roma to be recognised by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1982. Many survivors were denied the right to moral and material compensation – they passed away stigmatised as “asocials”, officially persecuted for criminal reasons.

The Memorial to the Murdered Romani people Europe was inaugurated in 2012 after decades of civil rights struggles. For survivors and their descendants, it represents a symbolic resting place such as that the victims never had. And for the descendants of the perpetrators, it is a memorial as well as an expression of responsibility for the injustice committed and for the observance of human rights of Roma and Sinti in Europe today.

Threat to the Memorial

Now this place, whose significance is immeasurable both for those affected and for society as a whole, is under acute threat. It could make way for the construction of the new city train line, which is to connect Berlin’s main railway station with Potsdamer Platz, as planned by the State of Berlin.

Since 2020, the State of Berlin, the German Railways, the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma have been negotiating the possible route of the line in several rounds of closed talks, without reaching an acceptable result.

The project of the State of Berlin and the German Railways presents us with an unacceptable violation of ground sacred to the memory of Roma and Sinti victims of the genocide. The memorial must not be at the disposal of German Railways, the successor to the Reichsbahn, which made a profit during the Nazi era by transporting Roma, Sinti and other groups of victims to Auschwitz and many other concentration camps. In the most recent announcement in March 2021 it is proposed that the memorial should be tunneled under. That would involve a deep pit being excavated on the site. This is not an acceptable solution! If this tunnel is built, the immediate surroundings of the monument will be destroyed. The tree landscaping is an integral part of the Memorial’s design. This has been made clear by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan, as the author of the Memorial.

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9th APRIL 2021
5.00 – 6.30pm CEST

KOSOVO SESSION

Focus on crimes against Romani people in Kosovo and the consequences

During and after the civil war in Kosovo in 1999, estimated 130,000 Roma were forced to flee Kosovo, losing an estimated 14,000 homes and properties to arson and later occupation. An unknown number of Romani people lost their lives or unaccountably disappeared during that period. Many crimes against humanity towards Romani people were committed right in front of international peace corps, especially the French and NATO forces, without getting any protection from their side. On 13^th June 1999, few days after the official end of the war, the crimes against Romani people were carried out on mass scale. Many Romani people still live under inhuman conditions in camps in Serbia, many tried to start a new life in Germany and other EU countries – often facing insecure residence status and deportations even today, which is effecting even new generation born and raised in Germany.

The Jubilee World Roma Congress aims to adopt a resolution to declare the 13^th June to a Kosovo Roma Commemoration Day and to start a working group in order to plan worldwide commemoration events.

Programme:

I. Testimonies by witnesses of the crimes against humanity and their consequences:

Nizaquete Bislimi, Lawyer, Germany

Ahmet Ibrahimi, Filmmaker and Activist, Germany

Diana Post, Lawyer, USA

Riccardo M. Sahiti, Conductor, Germany

Šani Rifati, Choreographer, Germany

II. Introducing resolution about the Kosovo Roma Commemoration Day on 13^th June

Input by Ahmet Ibrahimi

20 minutes discussion

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