Robert Rustem's speech to the Swedish Forum for Human Rights' seminar on ‘Antiziganism in Europe.’
Ladies and Gentlemen
There is a growing sense that Europe is at a crossroads. Its
economies are in dire straits and the stirrings of political extremism threaten
to shred its social fabric.
Young peoples’ movements in Greece and Spain demonstrate
openly for the political mould to be recast in the direction of fairness.
We hear much about the strife between Christians and
Muslims.
There is talk too of the parallel societies in our urban
midst. These are the ghettoes of insularity, incubating indifference, hostility
and violence towards mainstream society and its values.
Yet, when it comes to Europe’s Roma communities, there is
only a collective shrugging of the shoulders and a burying of heads.
That is, of course, until the issue is forced by the sudden
migration of hundreds of Roma people into a prosperous west European capital.
Then, a flurry of political activity and comment is followed
invariably by meetings, conferences and assistance projects until the Roma
camps are disbanded and their inhabitants are deported.
When even the trickiest of political and social issues can
find an army of problem-solvers, why is it that the discussion of ‘Europe’s
Roma-phobia,’ leads inexorably to the shifting of blame and responsibility onto
its victims?
It is important to raise this question, even though, I
suspect, the answers are all too obvious.
Europe has done little to end the Roma community’s
centuries of economic marginalisation.
Over the same period, anti-gipsyism has become the dominant,
de-facto Roma social management programme in many European countries.
It is no longer written into law, or codified in the way of
old but it is there, omni-present, the central barrier that corrodes and
criminalises some 15 million Europeans.
We see it in the surgical operations on new mothers which
leave them unable to have more children.
We see it in the special education provided by special
schools.
We see it in the anguished faces of generations of Roma
youth who have little prospect of a job or a decent home.
We see it in the European “bantustans” where the Roma people
live without basic services or amenities.
And there it is again, clearly visible in the pathologies,
disease and depression of thousands of “at-risk” Roma communities across the
continent.
Romaphobia is the ideology that supports the paramilitary
patrols and violence which blight the lives of Roma communities.
It is Romaphobia which explains the treatment of those Roma
who like other Europeans, take up their legal right to move to another EU
country, but find that they are unwelcome.
Meanwhile, this fear of Roma people has spawned an army of
specialists, advisers, theorists and think-tanks, each with a specific project
to help the Roma out of distress.
Health projects, education projects, civil society projects,
capacity-building projects and income-generation projects flutter down from
NGOs and national and European institutions.
After more than three decades, the only people being
projected into better lives are the authors of many of these failed ideas.
It is hardly new to state that the treatment of Roma people
is Europe’s disgrace. What the Roma community needs now is for Europe to wake
up to this shame and to do something about it.
If slavery could be abolished and strong efforts made to
roll back centuries of prejudice towards women, LGBT and disabled people,
surely, slaying the dragon of Romaphobia is not beyond us.
Europe must summon its finest instincts to defeat this
prejudice and finally admit Roma people into the family of European nations.
If the European project is to be made well again, it must be
inclusive in design and have, at its heart, a respect for the human rights of
all.
We all have a common stake in Europe’s future. We cannot go
on building societies which leave out millions of our fellow citizens.
We are all inextricably linked by our proximity and common
destiny. Dr Martin Luther King described this as the “inescapable network of
mutuality.” Now, just as in the 1960’s, the words of the American human rights
leader are worthy of our attention.
As European leaders look ahead towards the coming decades of
this century, they should not be allowed to abandon by stealth Europe’s human
rights heritage.
Nor should Europe’s internationally-recognised authority on
humanitarian concerns be taken seriously whilst millions of its Roma citizens
languish in misery and are bound by poverty and discrimination.
This is why we need to reinvigorate progressive politics
across Europe. The ideas and energy which in the last century took up the challenge
of women’s rights and issues affecting minority groups, should be harnessed to
the Roma quest for justice and freedom.
Progressives should find common cause with Roma activists to
make sure that in our multi-cultural, multi-faith societies, there is no place
for the racist, the misogynist, the anti-semite, the homophobe or the
Roma-phobe.
Genuine, clearly expressed and immediate civil society
disapproval for expressions of Romaphobia are crucial to building up the
momentum for change.
Bu this is not all. Change needs strong allies in national
and local government and in the media. They must be ready to stand-up for what
is right and willing to face down the forces of hate.
The current generation of Roma leaders must do their part
too. They must bring forward from the community, young men and women who are
confident in their identity and certain of their place in Europe’s
future.
The Roma community is growing. It is a multi-faith,
multi-lingual and pan-European resource, which has been ignored for far too
long. Its young people are impatient for change. They want more than just
promises.
The symptoms of Europe’s current sickness may be political
and economic. But just as surely, the health of the European project will be
threatened by a lack of social justice and the denial of human rights.
That is why I hope this conference can lead to the
mobilization of fair-minded people committed to fighting for change.
Projects, legal action and goodwill have taken us this far.
Now European civil society must get behind the fairness and respect programme
put forward by Roma activists.
This will go a long way towards ensuring that, in the Europe
of tomorrow, there are no second class citizens.
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