Roma minority in Romania

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article may require a spell check.
Please correct the the typos and other spelling mistakes in this article.

A bulibaşa photographed in the inter-war period

The Roma (Roma in Romani, Romi in Romanian) constitute one of the major ethnic groups in Romania. According to the 2002 census, they number 535,140 people or 2.5% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians. The Roma are, however, also Romania's most socially- and economically-disadvantaged minority, and unofficial sources claim that there are up to 2 million Roma in the country, or approximately 8% of the total population. This may be caused either by the fact that many Roma do not declare their ethnicity in the census, or do not have an identity card or birth certificate.^[1]

1 Terminology
2 Cultural influence
3 Integration problems/gypsy hierarchy
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Terminology

In Romani, the native language of the Roma, they are known as "Roma". In Romanian, they are officially known as "romi" ("rom" in singular), a spelling which is preferred by the majority of Roma NGOs. The spelling "rromi" (with a double "r") is also sometimes used in order to distinguish them from Romanians (români). This spelling does not, however, have any etymological grounding, even though it is preferred by some Roma groups.^[2] Colloquially, the word "ţigani" (cognate with Hungarian cigány, Greek ατσίγγανοι (atsinganoi), French gitans, etc.) is sometimes used, even though it is seen as derogatory, equivalent to the English word "gypsy".

[edit] Cultural influence

Roma music has had a major influence in Romanian culture, as most lăutari (wedding and party musicians) are of Roma ethnicity. Renowned Romanian-Roma musicians include Grigoraş Dinicu and Ion Voicu. The musical genre manele, which is increasingly a part of Romanian pop culture, is often sung by Roma singers in Romania and has been influenced in part by Roma music (compare with hip hop and African American music in the US), but mostly by Oriental music brougth in Romania by the turkish occupation during the 19-th century. It is a cheap "consumer" trend in roma music, but has nothing to do with genuine roma music and traditions. It has invaded the market with its mediocre quality and annoying sound (they all share the same theme and rhythm). The basic lyrics are a kind of "show-off" declaration of wealth to friends and enemies, completed with whining about unaccomplished love relations and such. It is widely regarded in Romania as the music of low IQ people, as a proof it can be listen at the stop light bursting out from expensive cars' audio system. Lately, some of the true Roma artists have started to gather the genuine music in albums (regarded as true quality) as a measure of ethnic preservation.

[edit] Integration problems/gypsy hierarchy

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

The Rromani community has:

An Emperor of Rroms from Everywhere as Iulian Rădulescu proclaimed himself [6]
A King of Rroms, In 1992, at Horezu, Ioan Cioabă proclaimed himself in front of more than 10,000 Rroms (according to his son's declaration) King of Rroms. His son, Florin Cioabă, succeeded him as king.[7]
An International King of Rroms On 31 August 2003, according to decree issued by Emperor Iulian, Ilie Stănescu was proclaimed king. The ceremony took place in Curtea de Argeş Cathedral, the Orthodox Church where Romania's Hohenzollern monarchs were crowned and are buried.[8]

Although none of the three above is regarded as a king or emperor, they are the Rroms which enjoy most media coverage (as shown by, but not limited to, the two scandals below). Maybe just Mădălin Voicu as a politician can compare to them (from media coverage point of view).

[edit] Coronation of Ilie Stănescu as International King of the Rroma at Curtea de Argeş

The text read by one of the four priests performing the service contains:

"According to an Imperial Decree and with the approval of the Court of Vienna, in accordance with the council and the tradition of ethnic Rroms from within and outside Romania, forming a global people of 78 million Rroms, the supreme title of International King was accorded to His Majesty Stănescu Badea Ilie from the city of Costeşti, Romania."[9]

The Romanian Orthodox Church officials (Eparhia Argeşului şi Muscelului) announced:

"According to the request of Rroms from within and outside Romania, on Sunday 31 September of this year [2003], at the Curtea de Argeş monastery, we performed the ceremony of blessing the crown that will be worn by Mister Stănescu Badea Ilie, from Costeşti, Argeş, declared by imperial decree, issued by Emperor Iulian, International King of Rroms. The ceremony consisted in blessing the crown, which was done with holy water, followed by a Te Deum. Such services are common and can be done for any objects with Christian use: houses, offices, clothing, any kind of objects, etc..."[10]

[edit] Early age marriage

On 27 September 2003, Ana Maria Cioabă, the 12-year-old daughter of Florin Cioabă (the King of Roma) was forced to marry Mihai Birita, a boy of 15 years old. Since both were below Romania's legal age of marriage (16), no official marriage ceremony was performed. Ana Maria Cioabă fled from the wedding, but her father brought her back and she was forcibly married.^[3] Particularly controversial was the fact that the groom showed the wedding guests a bloodied bedsheet the prove that the marriage had been consummated; in Romania, the age of consent is 15 years old, so sexual contact with the 12-year-old girl was illegal under Romanian law. A friend of her, Ms Dana Chendea said "She told me it was the worst thing that ever happened to her. She felt like a huge rock fell on her."^[4]

The Baroness Emma Nicholson, the European Parliament rapporteur for Romania, said that it was a rape and the child must be given over to foster care. Subsequently, the Romanian authorities decided that Ana-Maria Cioabă and Mihai Birita must live separately and must not have any sexual relationships until the legal age of marriage. Ana-Maria was not, however, sent to foster care.^[5]

Doru Viorel Ursu, a former Romanian Minister of the Interior (1990-1991),^[6] was the godfather of the young bride.^[7]

[edit] Integration in romanian society

Roma people are regarded by the EU organizations as discriminated people, which is not entirely accurate. The majority do not have IDs or birth certificates because they choose not to ask authorities to issue any kind of legal documents. The children born at home are not reported to the city hall and nobody knows about them until the school age, while the ones born in hospitals are not allowed to leave the hospital until they have the birth certificate issued (which is the responsability of the father, usually). The lack of interest in having proper IDs seems to stem from their culture, having been slaves for centuries has imprinted on their culture a kind of hate towards any kind of social order. While other countries have had a working social system and have succeded to integrate the roma ethnics, not the same thing can be said about Romania. The communist system has oppressed all Romanian citizens, without taking care of the social aspects arising from this, including specific interethnic frictions. After the fall of communism in 1989, the law inforcement has dropped to allmost anarchyc levels, which has led to unlawfull behaviour of a high percentage of the population. This continues today in a specific fashion, garnished with corruption and bureaucracy. This has to be correctly understood: unlawfull behaviour is higher among roma ethnics compared to other ethnics, including Romanian population. It is well known that rich roma are organized in powerful "clans" with primary occupation organised crime. Often they settle blody disputes right on the streets, with victimes on both sides, and the police officers practically are outnumbered and outpowered in most cases (besides the low reaction speed in emergency cases).

What makes thing worst is the bias of the european observers that do not present the whole truth, or both sides of the story, damaging a not good already image of a country with still pending political and economical issues. Imediatelly after '89, the first Romanian citizens to cross (illegally) the border heading west were roma ethnics. It is already folklore what happened in Vienna in the spring of 1990, when a clan of nomad roma have eaten the swans in a public park. When they were arrested, they declared their citizenship as Romanian and asked for political asylum in Austria, as communist disidents. As the years went by, the same unlawfull behaviour across Europe of Romanian citizens of roma ethnicity had become common sight.

[edit] See also

National Agency for the Roma, an agency of the Romanian government dealing with Roma affairs
List of towns in Romania by Roma population

[edit] References

^ Rromii sunt, în continuare, victime ale intoleranţei şi discriminării (Roma are still victims of intolerance and discrimination), Cronica Română, 22 February 2006
^ [1]
^ [2]
^
^ [3]
^ [4]
^ [5]

[edit] External links

	The Roma minority in Romania
Organisations	National Agency for the Roma \| Aven Amentza \| Romani CRISS \| Resource Center for Roma Communities \| Romanothan
Initiatives	Decade of Roma Inclusion \| National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust \| Racism Breaks the Game
People	Mădălin Voicu \| Ion Voicu \| Nicolae Păun \| Gheorghe Răducanu \| Taraful Haiducilor
Demographics	List of towns in Romania by Roma population
Culture	Romani language \| Kalderash \| Boyash \| Ursari \| Lăutari \| International Romani Art Festival
This box: view • talk • edit