July 2012
1 tag
Anonymous asked: Hello, I'm an American Rom. I wanted to point out an error in an article posted a month ago "Romani or Roma? Which word is correct?" Roma does not mean a woman, rather it is plural form of Rom. Romni is the word for woman. Romani is not my first language but I know some from studying. You can refer to Prof. Ian Hancock's keynote address at the Romani Studies Conference,...
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The American Gypsies Fan Page
biggadjeworld:
National Geographic Fan Page ”Freaking fail. I thought you were better than this Nat Geo. You make Jesus cry.” ”they should embrace evolution of cultures, there would be less drama in thier lives!” “you people are so racist! if you have such a problem go back where you came from!!” ”They are way too paranoid and racist” ”I’m watching it now!:) also Romanian rules!:) I know cuz I’m...
20 tags
Open Letter to Ralph Macchio
golden-zephyr:
lovarilisa:
Ek lil andar Ralph Maccio; o gadjo kon kerdjan “American Gypsies”. biggadjeworld:
This is an open letter to Ralph Macchio, creator of the National Geographic series, ‘American Gypsies’. I not only recommend reading the letter, but also highly reccomend viewing the films linked at the bottom of the letter. This show does great injustice to our culture. Like...
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We Serve You On Different Plates
biggadjeworld:
Yes. This is true.
In a strict Romani household where the family upholds our cultural customs, we do serve non-Romani who are guests in our homes using a different set of cutlery, dishes & glassware. This practice is poorly understood by the outside world. When made aware of this practice, many non-Romani misinterpret it as racist in nature. It is not, but needs explanation.
...
6 tags
TV's portrayal of Gypsy culture is one Big Fat...
golden-zephyr:
By Katharine Quarmby
Ask anyone in the street what the word ‘Gypsy’ means to them and they will almost certainly come up with Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. And the images the public link to Gypsies and Travellers? Big dresses, spray tans, skimpy outfits and make-up slathered on with a trowel.
It’s a far cry from the world I’ve been visiting, on and off, since 2006, when I first...
11 tags
Roma refugees in Montenegro lose homes in fire...
golden-zephyr:
It was the only home Selija Hisenaj knew since she was forced out of war-torn Kosovo 13 years ago, and now it’s gone too.
The 30-year-old mother of seven is among hundreds of Roma, or Gypsies, from Kosovo who are living in tents after a fire burned down their settlement on the outskirts of the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica.
Officials said Wednesday that some 850 people...
8 tags
Petition to bring Legal Action against the...
golden-zephyr:
Help us fight against the National Geographic TV show American Gypsies, TLC’s My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and other programs that cause Romanies actual harm, pain and suffering. These shows do not represent even a small fraction of the total Romani (Gypsy) population. It represents only a few outrageous and controversial individuals in a way that is SCRIPTED to exaggerate a...
14 tags
The gypsies who lost their homes to make way for... →
themisanthropichumanist:
I am really glad that there are so many people on tumblr now who understand that Gypsy isn’t a very nice term but my god please stop telling *me* to call *them* Rroma. Then you get the smart alecs coming back at them with ‘well actually they’re obviously Irish Travellers because their not from Eastern Europe.’ Hmm no.
The article is entitled “The gypsies who lost...
8 tags
I'm a Slur.
golden-zephyr:
I’m a fashion trend.
I’m more than half a million
brothers and sisters
devoured
in the Porajmos.
I’m a synonym.
I’m a law passed in 1969
or was it ‘94?
I’m a moth and a cab;
I’m a dog and a cat.
I’m forced sterilizations,
hidden behind arson and
eviction.
I’m an article in the Times,
Wikipedia,
the dictionary.
I’m a noun
an adjective
a caravan.
I’m...
9 tags
Vlax "Amaro Dad"
lovarilisa:
Amaro Dad kaj san ande o cheri! Ke tjiro anav t’avel svintsime; ke tjiri amperetsia t’avel; ketu keres sar tu kames pe e phuv sar ande o cheri. De amenge adjes amaro manrro sakone djesesko. Yertisar amenge amare bezexendar, sar vi ame jertisaras kudalendar kaj amisaile amende. Na zurnav amen, numa skipisar amen katar o xitro. Ke tuke si, ande sa le bersh kaj avena, e amperetsia, e...
12 tags
My Ethnicity is Not a Commodity
biggadjeworld:
The New York Times published an article on 11 July 2012 titled, “Joining the Gypsy Caravan”. One can only imagine what this article may be about, or how offensive it may possibly be. Ruth La Ferla, the author, writes as if she is an expert about Romani culture, as if she has unlocked the secrets to appropriating Romani traditional dress and now, finally, we can be represented...
2 tags
Dear Tattoo Artists...
biggadjeworld:
Naj bister, phei. Naj bister o pandž šela ezero. thisisnotgypsy:
This is about “Gypsy” tattoos. You know, the disembodied heads of women wearing scarves? Sometimes accompanied by animals or (God Forbid) a crystal ball, but often wearing sugar skull makeup, which is associated with Dia De Los Muertos and has nothing to do with Romani/Gypsy culture? Yeah. Those tattoos.
NOTHING...
3 tags
golden-zephyr:
Teen slams C4’s Big Fat Gypsy spin-off themisanthropichumanist:
A YOUNG star of the new Big Fat Gypsy Weddings spin-off has blasted the series’ makers, claiming they manipulated wannabes to portray them as FREAKS.
Bridget Deadman is one of ten travellers seen in Thelma’s Gypsy Girls being taught by dressmaker Thelma Madine how to make her blingy gowns.
But the 17-year-old said:...
10 tags
Roma families in Romania 'enclosed' by new wall →
golden-zephyr:
There has been controversy in two Romanian towns in which a large number of Roma gypsy people live - thanks to the building of walls which appear to separate the Roma from the wider community.
The erection of a concrete wall in Baia Mare in northern Romania has led to a human rights group accusing the town of trying to set up a ghetto. The mayor of the town, Catalin Chereches,...
11 tags
FrP Leader Siv Jensen: Send Romani People Out of...
golden-zephyr:
This weekend Romani people had settled in Årvoll region of Oslo. Then, the protests of the neighborhood had turned into several physical attacks with fireworks and stones against the Romani camps.
While the city council argues these people’s future, FrP leader Siv Jensen called the authorities to take immediate action. Jensen asked the government to arrange some means to...
4 tags
Introduction of On-line Bulletin of Roma Virtual...
10 tags
Czech Police charge activist Jan Šinágl with...
golden-zephyr:
The Czech Police have launched the prosecution of the well-known activist Jan Šinágl, charging him with the crime of denying, approving and justifying genocide. Officers said the defendant has published two articles on his website in which he “brutally denied the crimes committed by the Nazis against the Czech nation on the territory of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia...
8 tags
džulory ladžala: Paul Polansky: How many Letys? →
golden-zephyr:
A few days ago Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas said the Czech state has no money to buy a pig farm built over the site of a Czech-run camp where hundreds of Roma — mainly children — died from disease, hunger or abuse during the German occupation. This is my article refuting the continued…
4 tags
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PM honors Romani Holocaust victims; no action on...
golden-zephyr:
Prime Minister Petr Nečas (Civic Democrats, ODS) has said the Czech state has no money to buy a pig farm built over the site of a Czech-run camp where hundreds of Roma — mainly children — died from disease, hunger or abuse during the German occupation.
“I will not lie and paint a rosy picture of the situation,” Nečas said at a memorial service on Monday. “Currently, we have no...
13 tags
Romania: Ghetto or Helping?
golden-zephyr:
From the Vancouver Sun:
BAIA MARE, Romania — Building a wall that closes in a Roma neighbourhood and rehousing families in a dilapidated Communist-era office block have earned Catalin Chereches accusations of racism.
But the actions have also helped the mayor of the northern Romanian town of Baia Mare to become the country’s most popular local politician and shown how central...
17 tags
Lulica, the Roma doll →
Once upon a time, there was a little girl with a dark complexion and long, braided plaits, who used to wear many long and colorful skirts. The little girl wanted a doll, too. Fair-haired, red-haired, blue-eyed or Arabian dolls were on sale in the shop on the corner. They bore strange names like Barbie, Steffi, Ariel and Jasmine. The dolls had their own hairdresser’s, bikes, cars, baby pushchairs,...
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'Gypsies' in the American Media
raindrop-prelude:
It is probable that National Geographic is aware that “Gypsy culture” has been a popular subject in the media recently, and it seems possible the Channel may want to feed off of this trend at the expense of the people involved despite its not-for-profit status. I’ve seen a few posts floating around Tumblr which suggest contacting the ACLU about the irresponsible and ignorant...
4 tags
Roma vluchten naar ‘reservaat’ (PressEurop)
golden-zephyr:
Translated from Dutch:
Of all the minorities living in the Ukraine, the Roma are undoubtedly the worst off. While many of them, on the eve of the European Football Championships, have been driven from their camps, the majority are still living in miserable conditions in slums on the outskirts of major cities.
by - Alexandra Malachovská
In the Transcarpathian city of Berehove,...
6 tags
Janko Horváth: Romani people are easy targets... →
Romani columnist and poet Jan Horváth (born in 1959) blogs on news server iDNES.cz about “everything that ails this world, the beauty and uniqueness of Romani culture, and the lives of ordinary Romani people.” Some people also know him as a die-hard activist and local politician. Today Horváth lives at the Janov housing estate in northern Bohemia. He teaches Romanes and works for...
5 tags
Roma in İpsala Make a Living the Hard Way... →
Roma living in İpsala district of Edirne (Thracia region of Turkey) take to the road to subsist when it is summer. Roma living in İpsala, whose traditional occupations primarily tin-smithing dissappeared long time ago, work as agricultural workers under extremly hard circumstances.
When it is summer, some of the Roma in İpsala go to Bolayır town of Gelibolu to carry hay bales. Some other go to...
5 tags
Bosnia’s ‘Others’ Fight for Their Rights... →
SARAJEVO | The peace agreement that ended the 1992-1995 war left Bosnia and Herzegovina with a massively complicated, multitier political system. But constitutional principles designed to bind Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats together in common structures have ended up depriving minority groups of rights to which they would otherwise be entitled.
The preamble to the constitution makes a fundamental...
4 tags
BULGARIA PRESSURED OVER NIKOLAEV CASE (Roma Buzz... →
03/07/2012 – A British court has given Bulgarian prosecuters a deadline to produce documentary evidence that Toma Nikolaev Mladenov, a leading Roma political activist, still has time to serve in prison as alleged when they filed extradition proceedings against him earlier this year.
At a hearing yesterday (2 July) defence counsel Marc Summers told Westminster Magistrates Court that there was...
6 tags
Ledyda decided to take care of Roma people on the... →
The regional state administration developed the program ‘Roma population of Transcarpathia’ for 2012 - 2015 years. The program offers to intensify the activities of Roma self-government and public organizations, gradually involve working-age Roma population to the public works, improve their public and living conditions, improve school attendance and increase the educational level in the...
13 tags
Nat Geo jumping on the "gypsy" TLC bandwagon
whooda-thunkit:
with “American Gypsies.”
I am not going into the “Gypsy is a racial slur” aspect because, at this time, that is not my main concern. The damage done by these shows is much deeper than a slur.
When I think about what this is going to do to my life, the lives of other Rroma, and our international reputation, I get nauseous. The damage TLC has done to us is going to be...
8 tags
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“A few studies have examined mental health of the Roma, finding an excess of...”
– The health of the Roma people. (via golden-zephyr)
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HRW: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Roma, Jews Face... →
EU, US Support for Constitutional Change Needed to Break Legacy of War
Bosnia’s constitution was designed to help end the war. But political discrimination against minorities has no place in a modern European country. It’s high time for reform.
Benjamin Ward, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch
Sarajevo, 4 April 2012 – Roma, Jews, and other national minorities in...
4 tags
Chachipe: Roma pay the price of visa... →
4 July 2012 – The visa liberalization with the EU has resulted in arbitrary border controls and travel bans in the countries of the so-called Western Balkans. This is the result of a comparative survey on the measures which have been taken by countries of the region in reaction to EU pressures over an increase in the number of asylum seekers from these countries. Roma, who have been brandmarked as...
3 tags
Little Roma, Big Gadje World: I'll Claim You →
biggadjeworld:
There is no denying that racism exists. Ethnocentrism and racist ideologies have sparked civil wars, geonocides, slavery, and countless other unspeakable crimes. What happens when there is internal racism? What is internal racism? Though I grew up steeped in Romani traditions & culture, internal racism was something I had never been exposed to until later in my life. I was...
6 tags
Slovakia: Romani community buries victims of... →
On Friday, 30 June, the funeral service was held at the municipal cemetery in Hurbanovo, Slovakia for the victims of a massacre that occurred more than two weeks ago when municipal police officer Milan Juhász (age 51) shot dead three Romani people and injured another two members of the same family. It is not entirely clear what Juhász’s exact motive was; police are working on several...
5 tags
ACTION: Roma risk imminent forced eviction in Rome... →
Dear Activists,
The Italian authorities must immediately stop plans to evict Roma families from a camp on the outskirts of Rome, and should instead improve housing conditions there, Amnesty International said yesterday.
Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia, Jezerca Tigani, said:
“The serious deterioration of living conditions in the camp, coupled with the repeated...
5 tags
Romano Lil (Russian Roma) →
We are glad to inform everybody, that in the nearest future we are launching a website ROMANOLIL.ORG, where all the actual information regarding passportization programme could be found.
Now everyone can quickly receive answers to all questions about romani passports and apply for a passport online. For that it is possible to fill application, provide necessary documents and pay a fee online....
5 tags
RAOUL WALLENBERG: SWEDISH SAVIOR (ROMEDIA... →
British prime minister Winston Churchill wrote in a letter to his Foreign Secretary in July 1944 that “There is no doubt that the persecution of Jews in Hungary and their expulsion from enemy territory is probably the greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world.”
Born in August 1912 in Lidingo Municipality near Stockholm in Sweden, Raoul Wallenberg emerged...
4 tags
ROMEA: Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis assault eight...
golden-zephyr:
During a nighttime spree of violence last Thursday, five drunken neo-Nazis attacked a total of eight young people in the Czech town of Slaný. The series of three unprovoked attacks resulted in injuries to four people. A 25-year-old man has been hospitalized with a serious head wound. News server Romea.cz has determined that several of those who were assaulted are Romani.
“On...
6 tags
Bomb attack on Euroroma Party (Roma Buzz Monitor) →
London protest on Monday
A party activist lies critically injured ina Sofia hospital after a bomb blast onFriday (29 June) at the headquarters ofthe Euroroma Party in Sandanski, theonly Bulgarian town ever to elect an all-Romamunicipal council.
When Malin Iliev (59) went to remove asuspicious package left in front of the buildingat about 6 a.m, the bomb exploded tearing offhis arm. He was taken...
2 tags
My Armaya: the Gadje in Me
biggadjeworld:
I don’t think it needs any explanation that I cannot claim to be purely ethnic Romani. I am light; my mirror tells me this every single day. I look white, or do I? I have claimed many ethnicities in my lifetime, from Jewish to the peculiar “dark German” instead of stating Romani. The ethnicity I have never invented, however, is Lithuanian. My mother is mixed. Her family comes...
6 tags
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Really, Sims... really?
golden-zephyr:
Play as supernatural Sims: Create witches, wizards, werewolves, more intriguing vampires, and fairies, each with their own magical abilities, traits, and interactions. Explore the town of Moonlight Falls: Discover what mysteries and abilities are revealed by the light of the full moon. Will your Sims freak out or become more powerful? Hone your magical crafts and share the...
5 tags
Italy: Halt closure of authorized Roma camp... →
Living conditions inside Rome’s Tor de Cenci camp have deteriorated in recent years. © Amnesty International
The Italian authorities must immediately stop plans to evict Roma families from a camp on the outskirts of Rome, and should instead improve housing conditions there, Amnesty International said today.
The Municipality of Rome plans to close the Tor de’Cenci camp and resettle...
7 tags
Bulgaria, Romania Romas better integrated in... →
Sofia. Roma from Bulgaria and Romania, often isolated in their own countries, integrate well in Spain and to a lesser degree in Italy, a new study showed Thursday, praising Spain’s successful policies, AFP reported.
The report by the Open Society institute found that 53 percent of Bulgarian Romas who had emigrated to Spain were employed, whereas at home the majority were jobless.
In Italy,...
