Philippe Alcoy – September 2015 The Gypsies’ Tortuous Journey. Brief history of Roma people in Central and Eastern Europe Philippe Alcoy The migration crisis has clearly shown the structural nature of racism and xenophobia in Europe. The Roma people are among the most oppressed in the continent; in France, there has been a rapid rise in anti-Roma racism, not only from right-wing groups, but also from the state and its institutions. The New York Times reports that France has become one of the most hostile European countries for the Roma. In 2013, there were 19,000 forced removals of Roma people; 13,500 in 2014, and an average of 150 each week in 2015. "Well, Hitler may have not killed enough [Roma]." That’s hat Gilles Bourdoulei , a e er of the Union of Democrats and Independents Party, mayor of the French city of Cholet, said in the summer of 2013 to a group of Roma who were expelled from the land they occupied. This is perhaps the most radicalized example of a deeply reactionary tendency—anti-Roma racism—growing in France and other European countries. 1 Philippe Alcoy – September 2015 These speeches and racist acts against the Roma population are far from new—they have a long history. However, since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the deterioration of mass living conditions in Central and Eastern Europe, the Roma population has again become a scapegoat. With the deepening international economic crisis, the anti-Roma discourse is being promoted by a large group of political parties ranging from the extreme right to reformist sectors. Various political leaders seek to cynically channel frustration and discontent against the Roma and other exploited and oppressed sectors of the society. These leaders and the media promote tropes that are very old, but still ubiquitous, including the idea that the Roma do not want to work and do not want to fit in; that they are profiteers who live off of swindling and theft beginning at an early age; that they live off of ta pa ers’ o tri utions through state benefits; and that they are the "dangerous poor" who have nothing to lose and thus are a threat to the entire society. While these characterizations may appear cartoonish, they serve as the basis of a discourse that, first, normalizes the misery in which the Roma are currently living and, second, criminalizes poverty. To counter these streotypes, it is necessary to examine the evolution of the social and economic conditions of the Roma people in Europe. These conditions explain the extreme poverty of the Romani people, especially after the fall of the Stalinist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. Slavery and Serfdom Although it is very difficult to determine the exact number, it is estimated that there are about 12 to 15 million Roma people in the world. Most live in Central and Eastern Europe, though they also live in Western European countries like Spain, Italy and France. Romania has the highest Roma population (between 800,000 and 1 million, nearly 10 percent of the total population). They comprise a significant portion of the population in Bulgaria (8 percent of the total population) and Hungary (5 percent of the total and the largest national minority). According to some researchers the Roma are native to the Indian subcontinent. For unknown reasons they began migrating to the West in successive waves beginning in the 10th century through the 17th century. It is believed that in the beginning of the 14th century, they arrived in Europe through the Balkans and spread throughout Eastern and 2 Philippe Alcoy – September 2015 Central europe. In the 15th century, they traveled as far as Britain, the Nordic countries and Russia. This geographical dispersion partly explains the cultural diversity of the Roma people. This same period was also marked by the enslavement of the Roma people, especially in the territories of Moldavia and Wallachia (south of modern Romania). The exploitation of Roma slaves in these countries became central to the economy of Moldavia and Wallachia. Romanian author Gabriel Troc writes that the value of Roma slaves i reased he the ere i ported fro the eigh ori g regio s. This ould e a e pla atio for the large number of Roma in present Romania. As Isabel Fonseca has shown, from the moment they ere i ported e asse, the prejudi e agai st the as sealed. The ter G ps o lo ger signified a broad ethnic group or race... For the first time it referred collectively to a social class: the slave cast.´ This study also indicates that the ter G psies a ha e grouped together other people ho ere also e sla ed. This situation pushed Roma families to flee to less hostile regions. Many groups went to Transylvania, while others went even further west. In Transylvania, although the Roma occupied the most marginalized positions in society, they were not formally slaves. However, they did not own land and were completely dependent on local aristocrats who hired them temporarily and treated them as if they were slaves. The rest of the time, they had to stay on the move to work as migrant agricutural laborers, to trade artisanal goods they manufactured and to sell a few specialized services. All of this enabled them to survive. The o adis of the Ro a first resulted fro o ditio s of escaping slavery and second, became the means of survival for a landless and excluded people. In this sense, we can characterize the Roma as being in forced nomadism. Between Precarious Proletarianization and Forced Assimilation The Roma were a marginalized group who at every turn were discriminated against and persecuted. Many were reduced to slavery or serfdom. However, in some areas and at specific times, the Roma groups managed to obtain relative social recognition. This was the case of those living in Hungary between the 15th and 17th centuries. As the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs states, Duri g the ars fought agai st the Turkish o querors, Gypsies played a considerable role in Hungarian society. Constant military preparation and the lack of craftsmen provided 3 Philippe Alcoy – September 2015 opportunity to work. Offering cheaper rates than the craftsmen in guilds ensured them jobs in fortification and construction work, metalwork, weapons production and maintenance, horse trading, postal services, wood carving and blacksmithing. This enabled them to make a living and engage in important activities for the country. Some Gypsy groups were even granted privileges, first under King Sigismund (1387-1437) and King Matthias (1458-1490) … Ho e er, at the e d of the th e tur he the Turks ere dri e out of Hu gar , most activities carried out by the Gypsy population were rendered unnecessary by farmers, animal breeders, rafts e a d traders, ho had egu to settle i Hu gar . This integration i to the ou tr ’s e o o i stru ture as a o pa ied a poli that for ed Ro a people to assi ilate i to Hu garia so iet . The ter "G ps as for idde and replaced with the term, "new Hungarian." It was forbidden to speak the language of the Gypsies. Roma marriages were very limited and Romani children were taken from their parents to be raised in Hungarian families. In the second half of the 19th century, the arrival of new Roma groups from neighboring countries not only fueled prejudices held by the majority Magyar population, but also among Hungarian Roma who had been "assimilated." There was a high level of diversity within the Romani population, even if one solely considered Hungary. According to Troc, The di isio s i Hu gar s G ps populatio developed in the early 20th century. The largest group, who arrived earlier and lost their la guage a d ulture, are k o as the ‘o u gro or Hu garia G ps people. They themselves form the rest of the Gypsy population today. The vast majority of the second group arrived from Romanian land in the second half of the 19th century. They speak the G ps la guage, a d are alled Vla h G psies irtue of their origi . There is also a third, s aller group, the Beas G psies, ho ai l settled i “outh-West Hungary and speak archaic Romanian-la guage diale ts. With the development of capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century, the Roma people began to form part of the proletariat in some countries. The opening of new industries, construction of new infrastructure (roads, railways) and the expansion of agriculture allowed a part of the Roma people to become integrated into the economic process. However, this "integration" was done at the lowest levels of the economy. Analyzing the example of a village in Transylvania, Gabriel Troc writes, Opportu ities should e read here only as opportu ities for sur i al … The ‘o a ere o sidered heap la or that did ot have the right to wages, like a gadzo worker did. Accordingly, before WWII, a significant u er of ‘o a ere e plo ed Hu garia s i retur for food a d lothes … “o e of 4 Philippe Alcoy – September 2015 the , espe iall o e , ere hired for do esti ork i Hu garia households. Be ause the Gypsy had no land, they were constrained to do whatever labor was offered to them by the ajorit populatio … Whe e plo ed i agri ultural or do esti ork the great majority of Roms had a de-fa to serf status. A "Forgotten" Genocide? In the 1930s, the worldwide capitalist economic crisis and the rise of fascism had terrible consequences for the Roma population. The stigma against them grew and racist acts perpetrated by far-right gangs and the state increased. The Roma were the first to lose their jobs. They were often run off the land or homes they occupied to make room for the nationals. Furthermore, the Roma were increasingly perceived as a burden to the State. Gabriel Troc states, I ‘o a ia the ta o o as ai ed to separate the useful ‘o a a s all group of etal orkers i the ou tr side rafts e i the ities a d so e usi ia s fro the eggars, agra ts, a d pri iti e Roma who, by their high rate of reprodu tio , ould alter the pure o positio of the Romanian population. The consequence of this classification was the massive deportation of Roma populations in Transnistria (eastern Basarabia, now part of Republic of Moldova) during the ar. I deed, i 9 , Io A to es u’s pro-Nazi regime in Romania sent 25,000 Roma people (12 percent of the total 210,000 living in the country) into concentration camps, 11,000 of whom never returned. An estimated 230,000 to 500,000 Roma people died in concentration camps during World War II. They not only came from Eastern Europe, but also Western European countries (over 30,000 Roma people were kept in concentration camps in France). The silence about the genocide of Roma people (Germany—the former FRG—did not formally recognize this historical fact until 1979) cannot be understood without recognizing the continuity of discrimination and racism against the Roma in Europe today. This racism is expressed through discriminatory policies in various countries. In The Forgotten Holocaust (L Holo auste Ou lié, 1979), Christian Bernadac states that prejudi e, ai tai ed o sta t state sa tio ed repressio , led to this distur i g parado : to e agai st G psies is to be with the law. The breeding grou d for the Fi al “olutio as perfe tl lear he National Socialism seized power in 1933. All the imaginable abuses– with the exception of gas chambers–were anticipated, described and implemented by other governments: mass deportation (France, 1802), removal of Roma children from their parents (Germany 1830), armed evictions (Britain, 1912), the prohibition of gypsy language and clothes (several regions of France, Spain, Portugal), the prohibition of marriage between Gypsies and of 5 Philippe Alcoy – September 2015 nomadism; serfdom (Romania), the dissolution of marriages between Gypsies and nonGypsies (Hungary), the confiscation of property, the prohibition of owning a horse trailer, the prohibitition of exercising certain professions, the prohibition of buying a house (Portugal). (… Bra di g proje ts Hu gar , 9 9 or sterilizatio Nor a , 9 (pages -34). To complete the picture of widespread anti-Roma racism, Bernadac provides the testimony of Jewish Holocaust survivors on the Gypsies: Professor Hage uller: G psies appeared to us having basically two characteristics: the passio for steali g a d the usi . Professor Charles ‘i het: o er i g G psies, their total disappearance would have affected in the camp only a small number of committed phila thropists... If we can find such judgments in testimonials meant to denounce Nazi barbarism in the concentration camps, it is not surprising that these genocidal acts against the Roma continue to be obscured and misunderstood. Stalinist Regimes: Between Reform and Repression At the end of World War II, the western march of the Red Army established deformed and ureau ratised orkers’ states i a u er of Ce tral a d Easter Europea ou tries. The policies of the Stalinist regimes toward the Roma people were those that sought settlement and assimilation, thus denying cultural or national specificity. Policies of industrialization, however, did allow the Roma to gain employment in national enterprises and collective farms. In Hungary, the employment rate among working Roma men in 1971 was 85 percent— perhaps the highest i the Ro a people’s e tire histor i Hu gar . Ne ertheless, the o ti ued to o up the u skilled positio s ith the ost e ial tasks, as as the ase throughout the region. Regardless, the newfound ability to earn relatively stable incomes enabled the Roma to access social benefits, education for children and vocational training. However, as the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, G ps hildre ere ofte taught in separate lasses, or su je ted to spe ial edu atio due to their ha di ap. 6 Philippe Alcoy – September 2015 The Roma children attended schools in which classes were taught in the majority language; no subjects were taught in their native language, which was not the case for other national minorities, such as the Hungarians and Germans in Romania). When it comes to housing, the policies of various governments helped build homes and buildings where the Roma families could live. Within a few years, Roma slums disappeared. However, these homes were rudimentary and remained segregated from the rest of the population. In some cases, as in Romania, the Roma were housed in the e l -built socialist group of apartment districts, which were full of police and army personnel, in an attempt to o trol a d i ilize the (Gabriel Troc). During the Stalinist period, the living conditions of the Roma population of Eastern Europe generally improved, despite the bureaucratic and reactionary political regimes of the o u ist parties. These e peri e ts ga e a gli pse of the pote tial of a real orkers’ state, and what could be achieved. However the Stalinist bureaucracies failed to end the rampant anti-Roma prejudice. On the contrary, these prejudices were often stoked by state institutions themselves. The Restoration of Capitalism: A Major Setback In the late 1980s the process of capitalist restoration began in the former "Soviet bloc" and millions of workers found themselves unemployed. The decline for Roma workers was even worse. The jobs held by the Roma were the first to disapear, especially for Roma women. In Hungary for example, the government study we ited earlier stated that this progress... ollapsed duri g the so ial a d politi al ha ges of 1990. The construction industry and mining, which provided employment for most of the Gypsies, fell into crisis. Gypsies, who were largely employed as unskilled workers and carried out tasks requiring the lowest level of expertise were the first to be made redundant at privatized companies. Within a short period of time the majority of Gypsy families had fallen a k to the le el of pre ious de ades . In Romania, the industrial situation is virtually the same as the one described in Hungary. There during the re-pri atizatio , or the redistri utio pro ess of la d i 99 , the Ro a were excluded. Thus, a survey conducted in early 1990 showed that [A out Eight -seven percent] of [Roma] women and 58% of men had no diplomas; only 1.8% of all Roma achieved a medium or high level of qualification. 27% of young people were illiterate and 40% of 8 ear old hildre e er atte ded s hool or stopped goi g… The risi g po ert as especially 7 Philippe Alcoy – September 2015 catastrophic for the Roma : 87.5% did not have enough to survive (40.6%) or had barely e ough .9% . Landless and jobless in a context of mass unemployment and increasing discrimination, the Roma population of Central and Eastern Europe were reduced to extreme poverty. For many (about 70 percent), the only stable income was the meager family allowance, retirement, and disability pensions granted by the state. Others had to struggle to survive by collecting scrap metal and recyclable materials. Many were forced to beg or engage in illegal activities. The widespread economic crisis and the already precarious conditions of the Roma set the stage for a surge in anti-Roma discourse and racist attacks. The same study on the Romanian case after the fall of the former regime states, Bet ee 99 a d 99 houses ere ur ed and people were beaten and expelled from their villages. The most violent incident occured in Hadareni in September 1993, which ended with the death of four men, three Gypsies. In total, there were about thirty local clashes the cause of which are disputed but which always lead to the e i tio of G psies. Economic Crisis and Racism In times of crisis, the ruling classes seek scapegoats to divert the attention of the masses from the true cause of their suffering. The scapegoats are the most exploited and oppressed sectors of society—ofte those see as "foreig or other. The ra is a d ationalism are a logical consequence of bourgeois politics. In Europe, where an economic crisis of historic proportions has been brewing for the past several years, there has also been a rise in the populist political tendencies of the extreme right. Some obvious examples include the French National Front and the Greek Golden Dawn, but there are other lesser-known far-right groups, like the Bulgarian Ataka and the Hungarian Jobbik. These two parties have grown on a platform of violent anti-Roma discourse. It is clear that this discourse serves the capitalists—contributing to the divisions within the working class and the oppressed in general. In this sense, it is not surprising that governments and politicians are introducing blatantly discriminatory policies targeting Roma people, such as compulsory work for the Roma in Hungary. In France, the "Roma problem" is discussed with no mention of the mass expulsions of Roma from their homes by city and state governments. 8 Philippe Alcoy – September 2015 But the workers should not be misled. The measures that governments take today against the Roma are linked to and may soon broaden into attacks against the whole of the proletariat and the masses. Passivity and inaction in the face of anti-Roma speech and laws will only make it easier for capitalists to attack all the exploited. Today, the Roma are the ideal scapegoat for the capitalists of the whole European continent. As we tried to show in this article, the poverty of the Roma is not a natural, intrinsic characteristic of the people. It results from a combination of social, economic and political conditions. Futhermore, their social condition does not follow a linear evolution. On the contrary, the Roma were able to integrate themselves into the production process, like any other sector of the population. Also, during every crisis, because of the persistence of anti-Roma prejudices, they were among the first who were sacrificed and their living conditions were horribly degraded. Since the restoration of capitalism in Eastern Europe and particularly since the onset of the global economic crisis, we see this same process being repeated today. It is essential that the labor movement takes on the fight against anti-Roma racism as part of the struggle against all forms of racism. This is an unavoidable task to rebuild the unity of the exploited and oppressed against the attacks of the capitalists. 9