The fight to make Roma voices heard in Bulgaria
A quick search for news from Bulgaria shows that the country has been organizing election after election and failing to form a stable government. Much is being said about the country’s corruption, a persistent problem that has prevented the state from entering the Schengen area for years. Dig further still and you will find discussions about the country’s role in NATO and the military aid provided to Ukraine. A problem that seems to get far less coverage, while being equally important, is that of the treatment of Roma people in Bulgaria. The question of Roma integration get continually pushed aside, in the hopes that one day it may magically resolve itself. While mainstream media may be slow to react, there are movements that make use of social media to challenge the anti-Roma sentiment which is prevalent in the country and seek better and more just representation for the community.
One of these movements is the Roma Standing Conference which was established in 2017 with the aim of giving voice to young Roma people and combatting prejudice. Their manifestoes call for better economic opportunities, a change in housing policies, better access to education and healthcare and an end to hate speech and segregation. Their website provides news that concern the Roma community, where people are frequently victims of forced evictions and police brutality. While Romani people comprise about 10% of the Bulgarian population, they face more difficulties than the general population when it comes to accessing education, healthcare and the labour market. It is problems like these that the movement successfully raises awareness on, collaborating with politicians and accepting people of all backgrounds as members, so long as they show dedication to their causes.
Another issue they tackle is that of hate speech which is prevalent not only on the streets, but also in Bulgarian Parliament itself. One article lists a few examples of the shocking statements made by a far-right leader who seems to find no issue in calling Romani people “shameless, arrogant and aggressive primates”. While the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance has called out the country for this unacceptable behaviour, most hate speech still goes unpunished and not seen as worthy of reporting. The organization has tried to push back against Valeri Simeonov, the man whose words you read above, by collecting 16,000 signatures condemning his speech.
However, the Roma Standing Conference doesn’t simply limit itself to political actions. One of the more optimistic parts of their website is dedicated to Roma success stories where young people are interviewed about their educational and career successes. These stories can also be found on their Instagram page, which is a great example of how social media can be used to give agency to minorities in telling their own stories and empowering them by giving them a platform. The in-depth interviews, for now only available in Bulgarian, do not shy away from discussing sensitive topics such as religion, racial discrimination and cultural identity. Among the people presented we find high-schoolers who aspire to study medicine, those who are already pursuing a Bachelor’s degree, whether in Bulgarian literature or Business management, actors, singers and make-up artists.
One of the stories presented is that of Marina Marinova, a 21-year old student of Bulgarian literature at the University of Sofia (pictured above). She talks about her passion for literature which was kindled by her teachers who encouraged her to pursue her interests and did not treat her any differently from the other students. That being said, when she tells people she is proud of her Romani heritage, she says many people look at her with surprise and say she is the exception to the rule. Far from taking it as a compliment, she says that comments like those make her frustrated as they show people have a lot of prejudice they are unaware of. Despite the negative comments, she is adamant that change is possible and believes that small steps make a difference for the future.
If you would like to know more about the Roma Standing Conference, you can visit them at https://romastandingconference.org/ or searching for their name on Instagram. For now most of their content is in Bulgarian, but I hope that doesn’t discourage you from looking into their activities.
Thank you very much Misha for this post! It is very interesting and well connected to both religious, ethnic, national and cultural identity discourses.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I did not know very much about Romani people's heritage and their struggle to being recognised in the Bulgarian context, but after reading this post I found similarities with the situation in Italy in terms of prejudices.
Romani people are addressed by the exonym "zingari", Italian version of "gypsies", and similar to what you describe in Bulgaria they undergo racial discriminations and intolerance.
In Italy they are still associated to procedures such as, witchcraft, voodoo, black magic and malocchio. These people are also stereotyped under the label of kidnappers: the existing myth about gypsies stealing children has always been a widespread knowledge which confirms the systemic discriminations to which Roma people are subjected.
The Roma Standing Conference is for sure an amazing initiative to give back this people their voice and agency, in order to being recognised and seen far apart from the stereotypes attributed to them for too long.
Hi Mischa!
ReplyDeleteThanks for introducing us to this organization.
Antigypsyism is a very prevalent problem all over Europe, so the work of organisations like that of the Roma Standing Conference is very important.
Germany for instance is also dealing with massive discrimination against Roma people. For many decades, Germany has also failed to recognize the huge number of people that fell victim to the Nazi regime, with government acknowledging the crimes commited against this community much later compared to other persecuted groups. Only due to the pressure of Roma-organizing is the historical documentation as well as commemoration extended to Romani lives.
Here is the link to Amaro Foro, a Roma organization in Berlin. Besides from advocating for equal opportunity, they also launched a Documentation Center for Antigypsyism, in an effort to provide a safe opportunity for victims of discrimination to report it. Their website is also available in English, so feel free to check out their work.
https://amaroforo.de/en/home/
Hey Micha! Super interesting article, thanks for sharing. I have to tell you that as a Balkan, I understand what you are saying. Romani people are being treated in the worst possible way in greek media, being presented as "thieves, thugs" or even criminals. A while ago, a police officer killed a Roma for stealing 20 euros by a gas station. This was one of the few times that a social media intiative through the hashtag #δηκεοσινη (meaning 'justice' but not grammarly correct), started and gained some popularity. The police officer who killed Nikos Sampanis is free from charges and therefore not in prison.
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