The Turtle Salutes... The Roma

Charges of Eurocentrism have been laid at the Turtle's door in the past, and the Turtle has responded by turning its steely gaze to foreign lands. This month, to complement the subtle reworking of the Turtle's website, the Turtle returns to Europe, with new eyes. The Salutes have traditionally been intended to hail spectacular victories against insurmountable odds. In Europe, every day, many Roma do precisely this And this month's Salute celebrates their continued struggle against over five centuries of persecution across the entire continent. This is not a Europe that Eurocentrics like to think about.

Much concerning the Roma is politically contested this even extends to official knowledge over their exact numbers. There are huge discrepancies between official and unofficial population estimates. National governments tend to underestimate their Roma populations by about 300% -- particularly egregious in this regard is Austria, with an official Roma population of ninety five, but with Roma activist groups claiming a population between twenty and twenty five thousand. Whether the state intentionally underestimate these figures, or whether the statistical techniques used by the state alienate and homegenise the Roma, this is a source of concern. A fair estimate of the European Roma population seems to be around seven million, but the number is contested.

Despite this uncertainty, one thing is clear. The Roma have been persecuted since they arrived in Europe in the fifteenth century. The extermination of over four hundred thousand Roma by the Nazis was only one incident in a history of victimisation that continues to the present day. Hate crimes against the Roma have increased, particularly since the fall of the Soviet Union. In Eastern Europe more Roma have died in hate related crimes since 1990 than during the entire socialist period. Discrimination against them in employment, education and government continue, largely unchecked.

The persecution of the Roma has, of course, been exacerbated by the sledgehammer of "transition" in Eastern and Central Europe. There is little to compare in recent history with the silenced savagery wrought across the region after the fall of the Soviet Union. Since 1989, those without political connections, wealth, education or jobs in growth sectors have been left to twist in the wind of the new economy. Roma are overrepresented in sectors which took the hardest hits -- agriculture and industry -- and by and large are overrepresented in unskilled and semi-skilled labor force. This is how -- in a structural sense --they have ended up as "losers" in the transition.

The briefest of trips to Eastern Europe gives the lie to breathless pronouncements of capitalist progress. Yes, there have been swathes of foreign investment, particularly in Hungary. Pretty much all of it, though, is directed towards consumption and much of it has been directed towards more urbanized areas. These investments create new jobs, but in large part for young, educated people with technical skills and the ability to speak several languages. Tesco and Carrefour hypermarkets the likes of which would be unimaginable in the UK or US have been dropped on to the Hungarian countryside. And people have now taken out loans in order to be able to shop there.

One example of Roma experience of "transition"‰ will have to serve for many. In the North East of Hungary is the Kegyetlen region. Kegyetlen means "despair". Over 70% of the population here is Roma. Before transition, social safety nets, while not abundant, were adequate, especially compared with other Hungarian areas. Now, in some villages, the unemployment rate approaches 100%. Most jobs are necessarily in the informal sector, providing fodder for those who would perpetuate stereotypes of Roma indolence.It would, of course, be truer to say that in the absence of a formal economy, the Roma -- and residents in general -- of the area have been very creative at stitching together a whole portfolio of sustenance activities, including participation in the formal workforce, when possible, working "black" and participating in the informal economy -- these are not indolent people, clearly.

The government has, to some extent, begun to address The Roma Question. Through a six-year old instituted Local Minority Self Government programme, the state has tried to give Roma and other minority communities a way to preserve their cultural heritage and traditions. Unfortunately, the Roma aren‰t worried about preserving these so much as having access to equal education, health care and livelihoods. It may yet turn out that the self government programme is a vehicle for Roma to get substantive changes in areas that matter to them. The jury is still out. In the meantime, the devastation continues.

It is in this context that the Phralipe Independent Gypsy Organization, a group that dates from before transition, has blossomed, with a mixture of state and EU funding. It is one of the contradictions of Eastern European transition that the same institutions that have promoted unfettered market capitalism in Eastern Europe significantly impoverishing the Roma in the process, also offer palliative injections of cash to fund small Roma non-governmental organisations.

Phralipe (which translates as "Brotherhood" -- yes, Roma men can be sexist too) organises the local community, provides them with balanced and occasionally critical information about the EU. Within the framework offered by the State, Phralipe offers a secure basis for Roma to cooperate with non-Roma Hungarians. This is cause for guarded optimism, because it is only through this kind of interaction that the centuries of mutual suspicion will erode. No number of government dictates can over come prejudice. Racism is a quotidian activity, and it is through organisations like Phralipe in forums like the minority self government system that this kind of hostility can be named and overcome.

It this spirit of everyday struggle, and the hope it promises, that the Turtle is proud to salute this month. Avanti!