A thousand years of discrimination

A striking young woman with dark hair and skin stopped me and pressed a sprig of
rosemary into my left hand.
"This is for good luck," she told me in exotically accented Spanish, "and now you must
let me tell you your fortune."
We were standing in front of the main entrance to Crdoba's cathedral, once the most
beautiful mosque in all of Islam. The only shade on the street was cast by the brim of
my hat, and I was on my way to buy a pair of ladybug-patterned flamenco shoes for my
six-year-old daughter. I wasn't really in the mood for a hustle.
I told the young woman that I didn't want to have my fortune told. But that didn't stop
her. She just gave me my fortune in double time, something about me being kind and
generous and, in the not too distant future, rich. It was four or five fortune cookies worth
of soothsaying. I gave back the sprig of rosemary and tried to walk off in search of my
daughter's shoes, but the woman did a nimble dance step and blocked my path.
"You have to pay for your fortune," she told me.
"But I didn't want the fortune in the first place," I reminded her.
"I gave you a fortune, now you must pay."
By this time the heat was starting to make me dizzy and sweat was running down my
back. The elastic band on my boxer shorts was like a wet sponge. I needed to get out
of the sun. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the only coin on me -- 2 Euros, it
turns out -- which I handed over to the purveyor of cheap fortunes. Once more, I tried
to walk away. Once more I got the dance step and my pathway was blocked once
more.
"Not enough," she told me. "I gave you a good fortune."
I started to walk again, but this time I did a dance step to match hers and I was able to
shake the skakedown in the narrow, crowded and sweltering medieval streets of
Crdoba
Theologian Ben Daniels

Discrimination occurs when you are mistreated as a result of your sex , your sexual
orientation, religion or believes; or because of your disability, race, colour, nationality or
national or ethnic origins.
Because of discrimination some ethnic groups often experience racial harassment.
Racial harassment takes place when people from one racial or ethnic group offend,
upset or threaten someone from another racial or ethnic group. Any situation in which
you feel humiliated, intimidated or distress because of your origins can be classified
into racial harassment. We can mention verbal abuse, vandalism and racist graffiti,
nuisance phone calls, bullying and physical abuse.
Today I am going to talk about Antiziganism which is also known as Anti-
Romanyism or Anti-Gypsyism. And when I use these words I am talking about
hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism directed at the Romani people.
A thousand years ago, when they entered Europe from India, the Roma became target
of discrimination. They were called Gypsies because it was thought they had come
from Egypt, what was wrong. This term according to Romanies, makes people believe
they are simply a group choosing a lifestyle when actually they are a race.
There are many wrong ideas about Roma people. It is said that they are dirty, that they
are thieves, illiterate, lazy, liars, kidnappers and that they sell their children .The most
widespread racism is against gypsies
Here we have the first Scottish report of 2001 of the Comitte of Equal opportunities.
This part of the inquiry into Gypsy Travellers and Public Sector Policies is about
discrimination

2.8 Discrimination
Young Gypsy/Travellers were asked `have you ever been picked on because you are a
Traveller?'. The responses to this question were overwhelming - as the pie chart below
shows, 88% of the young Gypsy/Travellers interviewed said yes they had personally
experienced discrimination, only 8% said no (4% didn't give clear response).

Chart 4
Those who ticked yes were then asked to identify the main perpetrators. Most
respondents picked three or more boxes, indicating that they had been subject to
discrimination from both members of the settled community and service providers. The
table on the next page lists the findings ranked according to whether they have been
picked on a lot, a bit or not at all.
Table 7
Q7. If yes, who did it?
(119 said Yes)
A LOT A BIT NOT AT ALL
Police 49 11 13
Teachers 13 31 17
Other pupils 69 20 7
Doctor 9 8 20
Local residents 59 21 9
Dentist 2 4 23
Disco 14 14 18
In shops 30 34 16
At swimming pool 14 32 20
Cinema 5 13 19
In the newspapers 27 22 5
The perceived strength of anti-Gypsy/Traveller feeling within the settled community is
clear - 93% of respondents felt other pupils were responsible a lot or a bit, only 7% had
never been picked on by other pupils - "they need more laws against bullies", "make
school children respect us like we respect them". Similarly, 90% attributed blame to
local residents. One young person even suggested they should do a survey of how
much people dislike Gypsy/Travellers.
In terms of agencies and public services, the majority of young Gypsy/Travellers felt
they had been unfairly discriminated against by service providers operating in both
`authoritative' and `supporting' capacities. 82% of respondents felt they had been
unfairly picked on a lot or a bit by the Police and more than half identified teachers as
picking on them a lot or a bit.
As regards doctors and dentists, the young Gypsy/Travellers had fewer experiences of
being picked on. Although 23% of those who responded to this section felt they had
been picked on by doctors a lot, and 7% by a dentist, the majority said they had never
in each case.
Respondents were also asked to comment on where they had been most frequently
picked on - the table above illustrates the responses made. The prevalence of public
places such as shops (80% a lot/a bit), swimming pools (70% a lot/a bit) and discos
(61% a lot/a bit) is disturbing. This supports the view that discrimination towards
Gypsy/Travellers is socially acceptable.


In the early 13th century Romanies are seen as "wizards... who are inspired satanically and
pretend to predict the unknown and by the 16th century, many Romanies in Eastern and
Central Europe worked as musicians, metal craftsmen, and soldiersThey were moved to
the lowest part of the social pyramid because it was considered the didn not have any
stable occupation. In the 18
th
century many of them were mutilated or marked to be
identified as Roma people because of an order of Joseph I. They were slaves of Princes,
landowners or Monasteries.

They were described as a plague by the "Intelligence Service Regarding the Gypsies"
during the 19
th
century in Munich.
In 2009 a ceremony was organized to remember in Auschwitz the half a million Sinti and
Roma killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust in the gas chambers. It seems we should do a
great job yet in order to raise human rights for these people. How is it possible that after a
horrifying and harsh War as the Second World War, persecution, harassment and racism still
being a daily thing to deal with for the Roma?
Probably you think I am exacerbating things, but I am definitely not. I will remember you the
case of The blonde Angel that is probably familiar to you. It is the story of a girl who was
found in Greece living with a Roma couple who affirmed they were her adoptive parents. The
girls hair was blonde, the girls eyes were blue, and her skin was white. Of course these people
are not their parents!!
It is unbelievable how hypocrite and prejudiced people can be. Suppose you see a couple of
blond people with a nice dark-skin girl. Would you ever think they have kidnapped the girl?
The Roma couple was prosecuted while different families of Western Europe wished the girl
was one of their missing children. Even Madeleine McCann parents thought they had finally
found their little girl. But no. The thing is that those dirty, bogey gypsies were telling the truth.
They had received the girl from another Roma family who could not keep her.
Maybe you want to know what happened with the first story, about the Gypsy Ben Daniel found
in Spain. He concludes saying: w hat kind of shallow people are we if we allow a few
bad experiences to insulate us against a potential human rights disaster?
A woman makes then a comment below: Maybe we'd have a more sympatric view if
they didn't let their daughters get knocked up when they are nine years old and wonder
what the big deal is when they give birth at ten.
I've been hustled by Gypsies in France, Italy, Germany, and even Turkey. If they want
better PR, let them give up thievery and join the 21st century. As it is, I don't see much to
respect in their culture.
As a conclusion we may say that Roma people remain silent victims of social and economic
prejudice and exclusion. They live in mobile units o they wanderer, but do they really like
living like this or is that they dont have a different choice?