Roma Virtual Network' romale0804@yahoo.com [Roma_Francais]
Political Bodies
By Qristina Zavačková
16/04/2015 - I’m not a well-known Romani figure and I’m not
particularly well-educated, but with news this month of a new Romani initiative
– the European Roma Institute – I’ve come to understand something: I am not
just Romani (Roma, Roma Gypsy, Gypsy); I am an embodiment of all that needs
fixed within Europe; I am a political statement. It has also become clear, from
the commentary surrounding this news, that I – as a self-identified Romani –
have no right to any say at all and certainly no ability to have any input in
what needs done to fix my situation. Only when Romani step into the political
spotlight do non-Romani swarm forward to protect their own interests – i.e: the
intertwined domains of education and politics. In fact, the most vocal
opposition I’ve read thus far has come on one hand from academia and on the
other from ex-European Parliamentary members. If I am educated, vocal, and
visible, I am a self-identified Romani, as though my ethnicity is suddenly some
kind of choice. (However, if I am poor, uneducated, and living in a ghetto my
ethnicity is not questioned. It is handed to me, in words not of my choosing).
My grandmother was a Gypsy all her life. She was a
stereotype – poor and illiterate. She was handed her ethnicity as she ran for
her life from the S.S. Einsatzgruppen, it was not a choice she made. She told
me once that non-Roma kept us from education and jobs because they were scared
that they had misjudged us and that they would have to admit we weren’t like
rats, but instead like people. As she said, “then they must eat shame for
generation after generation”. My uncle always said that there were only two
options for us: live, act, and speak like non-Roma or live our lives, but in
poverty, fear, and silence. Facets of our ethnicity are prescribed daily – we
are real Romani only if we do this or that, or live this way or that way, or
speak this dialect or that one. Academics paint us into corners as statistics,
genetic haplotypes, and linguistically intriguing anomalies, literary authors use
their pastel-tinted brushes to describe our pastoral, wandering, romantic life,
edged with razor-sharp undercurrents of thieves, vagabonds, miscreants, danger
danger danger! News outlets call us gypsies and imply we are invading and
stealing and breaking England and France and Ireland and Canada.
Although we are not indigenous and don’t have our own
country, we are, nevertheless, a colonized people. All aspects of our being is
regulated and isolated. Non-Roma are still trying to civilize us – in fact, the
production of knowledge about Romani sits firmly in non-Romani hands – despite
claims to the contrary, many of these academics and authors reflect and
reinforce colonial ideology, which in turn becomes a mode of exercising
authority over us by organizing and classifying knowledge about us. This is
unsurprising really, since “knowledge” is simply a reflection of economic or
political interests. [However, it’s interesting to note one of the most
vociferous voices in this debate is a non-Romani academic afraid of Romani
intrusion into his sphere of influence].
A Romani Institute is not going to fix any of this and may,
in fact, make everything more difficult. A Romani Institute isn’t going to give
me a voice, give me a place in academia, or silence those non-Roma who like to
criticize us no matter what we do. It isn’t going to fix the rifts between our
own families, clans, and groups. It isn’t going to help Sinti, Travellers,
Jenische, Manouche, Gens du Voyage or anyone else who doesn’t self-identify as
Romani. It isn’t going to give us jobs, provide outstanding education,
healthcare, or social welfare. It isn’t going to solve our human rights issues,
disband the Jobbik party, or desegregate eduction.
In fact, I doubt that the ERI will do a single thing for me
or my family in Europe. But, I am behind this initiative one hundred thousand
percent.
Too many initiatives have been created, whether by Romani or
for Romani, without an understanding of what Romani really want and need.
Perhaps this will be no different, but if the wood won’t burn, it’s most likely
wet and you may as well try a different branch. Some argue that other
initiatives already exist – but what have they done? What are they doing? From
my uneducated, naive perspective I have seen little change.
That’s just it, I suppose. What in these initiatives will
actually help people like me to be involved? What is there for us
self-identified Romani academics and authors? The ERI proposal at least sounds
like it could force open a space for discourse and empower small voices to rise
up.
I think that’s exactly what non-Romani are afraid of – the
successful transfer of knowledge and power into Romani hands – in essence, a
move to decolonize our own voices and spaces, to politicize our own bodies.
But, what do I know?
ko kamel ča te sikhavel, bisterel te sikhljol.
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