(Note to self: by all means gaze up at the beautiful house façades bathed in sunlight and do gasp in awe as you spot another wonderful gothic or baroque creation…just don’t forget to keep one eye on the pavement. Dog’s rule this city and poor innocent newcomers who haven’t quite mastered the art of excrement-dogging will pay the price.)  

“Blue Bolsheviks!” were the words that greeted me as I entered the office this morning. Somewhat startled, I realised as Mr Ivan Vesely began to elaborate that no, this wasn’t a Czech ‘good morning’ equivalent stemming from communist times: he was referring to the pile of paperwork on his desk which now obscured my view of a somewhat exasperated Mr Vesely. “You know Christina; I had fewer forms to fill out under the bureaucratic machine of the army. Now considering I spent 2-3 days per week writing reports as a commander of over 100 soldiers, that is saying something”. Dzeno relies heavily on project funding, yet the necessary paperwork is incredibly time consuming. Ivan Vesely shrugs his shoulders, mutters “the blue Bolsheviks have the money” and gets on with it. Any remaining romantic images I had of advocating for such a just cause vanish as I am reminded of the continuous trials and tribulations faced by small minority rights organisations like Dzeno.  A particularly large dose of pragmatism is the order of the day.

The realities of Roma rights activism hit home. The mound of paperwork is nothing compared to the enormity of the problems with which the Roma community is confronted. Given the current preoccupation with employment and migration, Roma all over Europe are in real danger of becoming almost institutionalised scapegoats for economic woes. The disturbing upsurge in far-right extremism in Central and Eastern Europe which Colby Pacheco - Dzeno’s 2008 Peace Fellow - described in his blog has persisted. November of last year saw 500 members and supporters of the far-right Workers Party clash with police as they attempted to march through a Roma suburb in the Czech town of Litvinov. In April this year, a 2-year-old was left fighting for her life following an arson attack on a Romani house in Vitkov, also in the Czech Republic. These incidences alongside recent racial attacks on Roma in Northern Ireland, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia warrant immediate action on local, national and international levels.

“Slow down Christina, slow down”. Mr Vesely’s wise words are hard to swallow.

It seems as though I may have been a little hasty in taking the first plunge into the depths of everything Roma: I was asked yesterday whether Roma were originally from Rome. All I managed in reply was a suppressed snigger. With hindsight such a response was unfair; the comment wasn’t so much naïve as just exemplifying how little most of us know about the Roma. I’d applied for the Dzeno Fellowship precisely because any Roma facts I could recall were vastly outnumbered by presumptions emanating from the few encounters I’d had with gold toothed Roma insistent upon washing my car windscreen. The Roma-Rome question reminded me of this and highlighted the need for a short excursion into the past before embarking upon the contemporary tale of discrimination and exclusion. What follows isn’t a definitive guide (there’s always wiki!) but just some Roma essentials…

If the Roma aren’t from Rome, then where?

Interestingly the word ‘gypsy’ itself (used synonymously for Roma and regarded by many as derogatory) has its origins in misunderstanding: It derives from ‘Egyptian’ as in the Middle Ages Roma were believed to have come to Europe from Egypt. In fact, linguistic and genetic evidence indicates they originated from the Indian subcontinent, emigrating from India towards the northwest no earlier than the 11th century. By the 14th century Roma reached the Balkans and Bohemia and by the 15th, they arrived in Germany, France, Italy and Spain and Portugal. Today, Roma and Sinti make up the largest minority in Europe with some 10 to 12 million members. Those of eastern European descent are called “Roma” and those of central European origin are referred to as “Sinti”.

Estimated Roma Population in Europe (World Bank 2006)

And they travel around a lot, right?

In the minds of many, Roma and Sinti are still associated with homeless “nomads”. Yet for many centuries – particularly in Europe – they have been integrated in and are citizens of their respective countries of nationality. Most European Governments recognise Roma and Sinti as national minorities who, in addition to the national culture of the majority, also cultivate their own cultural identity, including their traditional language, Romany.

So the discrimination the Dzeno Association aims at addressing is something new?     

On the contrary: Since their arrival in Europe, hostility and xenophobia have culminated in Roma being subject to slavery, ethnic cleansing, children abduction and forced labour. The more recent past has bore witness to the systematic attempt at genocide of the Roma by the Nazis during World War II and the assimilation schemes and restrictions of cultural freedom under Communist rule in Eastern Europe. Despite democratisation and Europeanisation in Central and Eastern Europe, Roma today face discrimination in the form of exclusion from employment, housing, education and health care and have been the victims of numerous violent racially motivated attacks. The recent electoral successes of right extremist parties across Europe make their plight even more of a pressing issue.

The Congress of London of the International Romani Union in 1971 defined the flag of the Roma people like a red wheel, taking again all the Indian symbolic system of the wheel, centered on two-tone bottom: blue higher half, symbolizing the Sky, infinite father of Humanity, and green lower half, symbolizing the Earth, mother of Humanity.

I took a huge step yesterday and went…grocery shopping. Momentarily daunted by the vast array of dairy products which lay before me, I made my move and triumphantly lifted off the shelf what I hoped was yoghurt. Victory celebrations were cut short (the imaginary Mexican wave had only rippled half way down the shopping aisle) by a tap on the shoulder. I turned to face an overly friendly member of staff frantically pointing to a low fat alternative. Trying hard not to be offended, I explained I spoke no Czech. Grinning, the shop assistant paused, nodded and then proudly announced: “cheap, take this…cheaper, good AND cheap”.

Having been in Prague for only a few days, it is too soon to make sweeping judgments about the city’s inhabitants. Yet the yoghurt incident reflects much of what I have witnessed so far; an eagerness to help and an admiration (or is it perhaps sympathy?) for anyone attempting to speak their language. It is hard to imagine that abhorrence as strong as that towards Roma can emanate from this same society….

I have refrained until now from delving into the world of “Antigypsyism” and the situation of Roma in Central and Eastern Europe in any great detail. As gingerly as I first entered the supermarket I will now - blog by blog - begin to navigate my way through the web of tradition, culture, language, migration, discrimination, social deprivation, violence (I could go on) and prejudice. I begin by reiterating the words of EU commissioner Vladimír Å pidla who insists that neither romanticisation nor condemnation provide the answer to the Roma problematic. There is no black and white. Dialogue is required and uncomfortable truths regarding all parties involved need to be addressed.

Gypsy.cz: Rapper Radoslav Banga and Violinist Vojta Lavicka

The lyrics of the internationally successful Czech Romano hip-hop group Gypsy.cz is one example; an attempt at self-reflection of sorts. Band members Radoslav Banga and Vojta Lavicka maintain that whilst European society segregated the Roma people in the past, the real problem today is that Gypsies don’t want to integrate. By focusing on the role Roma themselves have in determining their own fate, Gypsy.cz may be in danger of neglecting the bigger picture. Nevertheless, their views do demonstrate the need for a multidimensional approach - one surpassing in scope even the supermarket’s impressive dairy selection.

I leave you for now with a little taste of what is possible:

DISILLUSIONMENT [click of a PC mouse]

ANGER [ash falls from a cigarette butt]

PASSION [coffee vigorously stirred]

DETERMINATION [short sharp words down the telephone line]

AND DRIVE.

Mr Ivan Vesely does not conceal his emotions as he speaks of the Roma cause.

His pragmatism is not to be mistaken for indifference or surrender. “Stagnant” may be the term he uses to capture Roma Rights developments over the past 20 years, yet his experiences since the Velvet Revolution seem to act as a remarkable source of energy. “Dzeno Association is situated in the heart of Prague and seeks to go address the very heart of the issue”. A frequently furrowed brow hides the persistent sparkle of resilience and optimism in his eyes. It was that very twinkle that left me leaving Dzeno after my induction intrigued, moved and inspired in spite of the arduous task ahead.

Dzeno Association. An inconspicuous facade for such a pressing issue.

I spoke in my first blog about the pervasiveness of stereotypes. One day in Prague and I have already been exposed to the enormity of the ‘Gypsy’ stereotype and the prejudice it breeds. Ivan’s 20 year narrative is brought to life as Roma board trams in the city – bodies stiffen, bags are clutched and wary glances follow the newcomers’ every move. The issue is not whether these reactions are really unfounded; but that such attitudes are themselves part of the problem. The roots of the Roma’s current socio-economic situation are deep and multifaceted. Exposing the discrimination is one way of beginning to disentangle and address the complexities involved.

Advocacy Project training had taught us that we were there not to attempt to move mountains (I lack the arm power anyway), but to equip marginalised communities with the tools they need to make themselves heard. The first morning with Ivan had demonstrated the seeming futility of such tools in the face of the profound hurdles standing in the way of promoting the rights of minorities such as the Roma. Nevertheless, exposing the injustices IS the beginning of a long process empowering peoples and inducing change. My blog isn’t going to have a grandiose fairytale-like “and they all lived happily ever after” ending. I hope instead to draw attention to the scale of the issue at hand and encourage you the reader to think hard about your own presumptions…does “hooped-earrings, travelling, stealing, windscreen wiping and tax-evasion” really cover it all?

My first blog comes to you from the (relative) comfort of an economy Delta airline seat somewhere over the Atlantic, flying ‘home’ to Switzerland after a week in Washington DC. Aside from the whirling of the excessively cold air-conditioning and cramp in my feet, I am accompanied by the familiar feeling of betwixt and between that has intensified since making the decision to divide my time between the UK and Switzerland. Although I believe nationality is only one component of what it means to be me, defining myself as ‘British’ and ‘Swiss’ does provide a certain sense of belonging, a point of reference helping me cope with this sensation of ‘in the middle’. Losing the battle for the armchair to my considerably larger neighbour, my thoughts turn to my fellowship at the Dženo Association – an independent Roma media news and information service based in Prague…

In my initial preparation for Dženo I stumbled upon the case of Romani people pressurised into concealing their ethnicity in order to attain Czech citizenship. The powerful stigma associated with being ‘Gypsy’ in the Czech Republic which drives many ethnically ‘underground’ for official information and registry purposes denies Roma of the very sense of belonging which I, in seat 17F, find so comforting.

Since discovering that I would be going to Prague this summer, I have become aware that the Roma stigma is entrenched and far from limited to Eastern Europe where nationalism, citizenship and ethnicity are often contentious issues. As a Brit on continental European soil, I have inevitably been confronted with snide remarks about British food and the island’s notorious consumption of alcohol. The incessant stereotyping is omnipresent within the international university community. Yet never once have I had reason to question, hide or defend my loyalty to and pride in my cultural roots. Stereotypes help us all make sense of the world, but the blindness that tends to come with it is dangerous. The hostile response amongst friends, colleges and family to my decision to advocate Roma rights surprised me somewhat and is an indication for the challenges I am likely to face during the course of my fellowship.