On the gypsy trail...

Hema Vijay talks to young researcher Siva Chithirai who is researching the lives 'narikuravars' of Tamil Nadu, and is impressed by his fascination with the gypsies.

Millions of years ago, agriculture took anchor on earth. It brought with it civilisation and a settled life. Not for all of humanity, though. Gypsies have continued to escape the snare of having to settle at one place. Unlike other groups, tribal or otherwise, most gypsies have not let go of their freedom. Very little is known about them, and to this day, the fragile status quo of Indian gypsies remains a mystery.

“I have always been drawn to gypsies, right from childhood", says young Siva Chithirai, who is now researching the lives of the Narikuravars (Tamil for ‘fox hunters’) of Tamil Nadu, a counterpart to the European gypsies.

“Children of my village would invariably in awe of the gypsies who would periodically visit my village,” Siva says. Siva and his friends would follow them around and envy them for their school-free lives. The gypsies, however, didn’t really like this attention and pelted stones to drive the kids away. Most children generally outgrow this fascination for gypsies. But Siva remained enamoured of their way of life, though he moved on with his life, got an education and eventually a respectable job. This young man is studying the gypsy phenomenon and has come out with interesting bits of information and a colourful photo essay on the narikuravars. And why not, they are an interesting people.

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Right Turn

From The Times
September 27, 2008

Hostility to immigration is bolstering the far Right across much of Europe.

In Austria, they raise their arms in stiff salutes and roar approval of calls to kick out the foreigners. In Italy, they don black shirts, crop their hair and chant the name of their former dictator at football matches. In Germany, they rally outside mosques or foreigners' hostels to protest against what they describe as the “immigrant invasion” of Europe. More than 60 years after their grisly deaths, the names and symbols of Hitler and Mussolini are still being paraded on the streets. Is fascism making a return?

The test will come tomorrow when Austria goes to the polls. Heinz-Christian Strache, a protégé of Jörg Haider who overthrew him as leader of the far-right Freedom Party with even more hardline policies against foreigners and the European Union, is poised to win at least 20 per cent of the vote. Playing to the extremist sentiment still pervading a large proportion of the population, Mr Strache has replaced the demonisation of Jews last heard in Austria two generations ago with denunciations of a new threat: Muslims. “Homeland instead of Islam”, the slogans say. “Vienna must not become Istanbul”.

Islam and its symbols have also become the focus for the far Right in Germany and the Netherlands. Hundreds gathered in Cologne on Saturday in a rally to halt construction of one of Europe's biggest mosques. Far-right leaders from Belgium, Italy and Austria arrived to join calls to protect Western values and Christian traditions - calls that are being echoed by more and more mainstream politicians to curry popular support.

It is in Italy, however, that nostalgia for fascism has been most overt and where the echoes of the past have been most ominous. Mussolini's tomb has become a shrine for neo-Fascists, who chant his name at rallies and campaign to rehabilitate his ideology and architectural legacy. The Duce's granddaughter, Alessandra Mussolini, is a politician on the Right who makes much of her name and her determination to halt attempts by Alleanza Nationale, the post-fascist party now forming part of Silvio Berlusconi's coalition, to distance itself from its undemocratic past.

And like their forebears, today's young blackshirts are out on the streets, brawling. They have been in the thick of violent clashes at Gypsy encampments and attacks on Romanians and other migrants. Like the new right-wing mayor of Rome, they have led calls for the expulsion of all illegal migrants and even proposed the fingerprinting of all Gypsy children.

It is not only in the former Axis countries that right-wing sentiment is growing. Switzerland, France and Belgium have seen the emergence of populist parties that denounce liberalism and tolerance and are not averse to violent tactics to intimidate their opponents. What unites them is not so much anti-Semitism - though that revolting sentiment is nowadays growing in most European countries - but opposition to immigration, especially from Africa and the Muslim world.

Blaming minorities is the symptom of a society under stress. In Britain, so far, the far Right has made few political gains. And at a time when economic turmoil is almost certain to exacerbate social tensions, politicians of all groups are being forced to focus on the ugly agenda of the extremists. History teaches lessons. And those of the 1930s are still crucial.

Horse fair could be Euro highlight

Published on 18/04/2008

APPLEBY Horse Fair has the potential to become one of the best cultural events in Europe, according to a new report.

The study, conducted by a team from Salford University, looks at how tensions between residents and the gypsy/traveller community can be addressed to make the annual event a major tourist attraction.

Commissioned by the district and county councils, the report recognises that opinion is currently divided about the value of the fair.

It states that there are those who welcome the event and see it as a boost for the local economy, yet there are others who have concerns about issues such as unauthorised use of land, the early arrival of gypsies and travellers and the rubbish that they leave behind.

The document looks at how many of these issues can be resolved just by improving communication between gypsies/travellers and the people of Appleby and surrounding area.

Ultimately it recommends more funding for the event, which would result in improved refuse collections, toilet provision, road safety and policing.

However, it also recognises growing concerns that the event is moving away from being a traditional horse fair to becoming a market or car boot sale. The report is one of two commissioned by local authorities in Cumbria to address the needs of the gypsy and traveller community in the county, both during the horse fair and on a permanent basis.

Both documents were unveiled at a meeting in Penrith earlier this week, attended by representatives from a wide range of parties, including the gypsy and traveller fraternity, involved in the studies.

The second report highlights the negative attitudes towards these people and the lack of available sites for them to set up home. It calls for better communication in a bid to change attitudes and the provision of new plots in each area of the county.

The findings estimate that there are at least 771 gypsies and travellers living in Cumbria, yet there are no local authority-run sites. The only authorised plots are at private sites in Carlisle in Penrith.

The knock-on effect is that they are ultimately moved on, which in turn causes problems accessing basic services such as healthcare and education. On top of this, more than a third of gypsies and travellers in Cumbria say they have suffered harassment or intimidation.

Billy Welch, one of those representing the gypsy, traveller and fairground community at the launch in Penrith, said he was extremely encouraged by the report and hoped it would finally lead to action.

Roma MEP on her people’s plight in EU

Written by Robert Hodgson

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

The right fight

International Roma Day last Tuesday saw celebrations of Roma culture around the world. At the same time, many NGOs, politicians and representatives of Roma communities across Europe discussed what is being done to address the seemingly intractable problems of social exclusion and racism. The Budapest Times spoke to Lívia Járóka, who in 2004 became only the second Roma to be elected to the European Parliament.


The situation

The plight of the Roma people in Central Europe deteriorated rapidly after the change of system in 1989-90, when 50% of Hungarian Roma lost their jobs. Estimates of the number of Roma in the European Union vary from nine to fifteen million, but it is generally accepted that there are at least ten million. It is difficult to get a precise figure as people often do not declare their ethnicity. In Hungary the 2001 census suggested 190,000; the real figure is believed to be over half a million, or at least 5% of the population.

Many of Hungary’s Roma live in ghettos on the edge of towns and villages, and the level of segregation has – in some places – reached that of a sort of apartheid. Many communities lack even basic utilities such as sewerage and electricity. Unemployment among the Roma is estimated to be around 80%. Life expectancy for Roma is ten years lower than the Hungarian average.

Fight from within

Lívia Járóka, 33, grew up in Sopron near the Austrian border. After studying sociology on a Soros Foundation scholarship, she turned to politics and has made it her mission to push for reintegration of Roma into mainstream society. She became Hungary’s first Roma MEP in 2004 on a centre-right Fidesz party ticket.

Járóka said she found most European politicians to be ignorant of the issues affecting the EU’s Roma citizens when she arrived Brussels. Since the accession of 12 new member states in 2004 and 2007, the minority has increased such that it is now larger than the population of each of the EU’s 14 smallest countries – too large to be ignored.

“I knew I had to bring the Roma issue to the European agenda. I wanted to demystify what it means to be Roma,” said Járóka. She was aware of a paternalistic attitude to Roma during the pre-2004 accession talks. “Many people had a very prejudiced idea about how they live and what they want,” she said, adding that there had been very little real research into the situation. “Politicians were not ready to see this issue as a complex question. They try to change living conditions, or education, or healthcare, but they never see that it is a complex combination of all these, especially in totally segregated areas.”

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Different strokes, different folks

Tolerance is at the heart of equestrian troupe Zingaro's newest performance, 'Battuta,'which follows a day in the lives of gypsies with a crew from diverse backgrounds.

By Lynne O'Donnell
AFP, HONG KONG
Sunday, Mar 02, 2008, Page 19


Bartabas, enigmatic visionary behind one of the world's most spectacular circuses, says his latest equestrian extravaganza is a celebration of life that transcends nationality, religion and race.

The show - in which 36 horses and their riders gallop around an arena for 90 minutes of fast-paced, acrobatic and comic story-telling - is a showcase, he says, for his philosophy of tolerance.

The theme is in the show's name: Battuta - a term he created from a combination of words cherry-picked from his native French, Romanian and Romany which he says aims to convey the energy and beauty of Gypsy music.

"I went to Romania and I was very surprised to see how these people (Gypsies) are treated," said Bartabas, who is known only by his stage name.

"In Europe they are outsiders, even though more than 20 years ago, people in Europe were talking about open borders. But we don't accept that people live differently, because their values are different."

Sitting in the stalls of the four-pointed tent erected on the northern shore of Hong Kong harbor in which the show takes place, Bartabas said this latest production by his company Zingaro - Gypsy in Italian - continues a tradition of drawing inspiration from a variety of cultures and lifestyles.


"It is a very important idea for Zingaro, to be able to live with people of all religions, nationalities and philosophies," he said.

"They come and live with us," he says of Zingaro's performers and musicians who hail from across Europe.

"We live always in the theater - not because we are a family of gypsies, but because we need to live with the horses and live together. The idea is that we have to learn from one another."

Bartabas is regarded in Europe as an almost mythical figure because he insists on using his stage name only, and stories abound of his origins stretching from Romania to Rajasthan.

A day in the life of a gypsy family

But as he watches riders exercise two of the 38 horses who arrived in Hong Kong aboard two Boeing 747 jets, he says there is no mystery about him.

"I come from outside Paris, my father was an architect, I did not grow up riding, but I was always fascinated by horses and I followed many disciplines - racing, dressage, bullfighting, jumping - before I came to this."

From his base near Versailles, Bartabas has built an equestrian academy, with support from the French government, where he trains horses and riders and creates his narrative spectacles.

The current show, which has been thrilling Hong Kong audiences since early last month, took three years to perfect, he says.

It portrays a day in the life of a Gypsy community, beginning with the breaking of camp at dawn through a rambunctious series of events from women fighting over stolen washing, to a young bride eloping with her lover, being chased and brought home by her irate father and brothers - all on horseback.

Two Gypsy orchestras - a brass ensemble from Moldova and fiddlers from Transylvania - provide a jolly, pace-setting soundtrack to the breathtaking acrobatics.

Riders perform somersaults, headstands and stripteases on horseback; they dance, ride two horses at once and swap mounts mid-stride; one rider makes her horse skip in double-time; another leaps on and off a cantering draft horse.

A gang of youths show off to each other by throwing their hats on the ground and picking them up again, all the while maintaining a frenetic gallop, standing in their saddles, beating their chests and shouting at each other like young men hanging out on street corners the world over.

The pace never wanes - and Bartabas described Battuta as the most ambitious show he has produced since Zingaro was established in 1984.

"Now I'm working a lot on the energy and physical impact," he said. "It is not an intellectual show - it gets your heart first, and then your head. I have no text, there's no reason for me to use language."

"I don't make the performance to show the horses - I want to show the reaction and relationship between man and horse. The way you are with the horse is the way you are with others," he added.

"The horse gives you back what you give - like a Stradivarius," he said, referring to the rare violins made by the Italian Stradivari family in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

"If you teach him the language of love and sensuality and sensibility, you will get it back."

Spectacular acrobatics

The logistics of Battuta are head-spinning - the 38 horses, which include two standbys in case any are injured during training or performing, eat about 17kg of food each a day, or a daily total of around 640kg.

They follow a strict diet of straw and mixed cereals served at intervals, including a supper of hay after the show. They snack on a total of 25kg of carrots a day and bed down on wood shavings that over the course of their two months in Hong Kong will amount to 23,200kg.

They are exercised for at least an hour each day to make sure they stay in peak fitness for the furious pace of the show, are put to bed at 10pm each night and woken with breakfast at 7am.

Each horse performs for a total of about 15 minutes, appearing several times during the show - running free, performing acrobatics and pulling carts.

The show runs in Hong Kong until March 23. Bartabas said he plans to take Battuta to Moscow, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Brussels.

EU Parliament: Anti-Gypsy prejudice, discrimination widespread in EU

© AP
2008-01-31 16:15:52 -

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Anti-Roma sentiments are widespread in the European Union, often leading to racist attacks, abuse and police harassment, the European Parliament warned Thursday.EU member states must increase their efforts to integrate Roma and prevent «ghettoization» in estates, slums and camps, where there are no hygiene and safety standards and a large number of children die in accidents, EU lawmakers said in a resolution.

They called on the European Commission to give one of its members the responsibility for coordinating an EU-wide policy on Roma and urged it to promote Roma staff within its routinely called on the countries to do more to end the marginalization of the Roma population, setting aside millions in EU aid programs the member states can use to bolster education, housing and job programs _ to little effect in many places.

Roma are now one of the largest, poorest, and fastest growing minorities in Europe, with a total population on the continent estimated at between 7 and 9 million.

Flamenco dancer is appointed Roma's ambassador to the EU

By Graham Keeley in Barcelona
Published: 09 February 2007

In the stuffy confines of the European Parliament, he cut an unlikely figure. A strutting peacock of a man, Joaquin Cortes is normally to be found stripped to the waist, dancing Flamenco in front of thousands of mostly female devotees.

This is the dancer who almost single-handedly used his talent - not to mention his looks - to make Spain's most famous art form a must-see among the fashionable classes. But, though more used to hearing excited female fans shouting guapo (handsome), the one-time model for Giorgio Armani now wants to use his fame for a very different end.

Roma by birth, Cortes has become the new European Union ambassador for his people, in an effort to end decades of discrimination and xenophobia.

Dressed in more sober attire than normal, the dancer recently addressed MEPs in Brussels. "The main reason for my presence here is that I am of Roma origin and I understand that this institution is known as the champion of human rights in the EU," he said.

"I am one of the rare European Roma to whom fortune has been kind, as I am able to proudly assert my identity without fear of being persecuted, humiliated or being made a scapegoat." He added: "We all have to fight for the integration of the Roma nation, and hope that in the near future a new generation will live a better life."

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Gypsy king: 'The EU offers new hope for the Roma'

Sibiu, Romania , 4.2.2007, 10:10, (Babel International)

Florin Cioaba, 'Roma King,' wants to unify the fragmented ethnic gypsy tribes and represent them politically.

There are around 12 million Roma living in Europe today. Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to the EU brings them more power and a voice in Brussels. Florin Cioaba, who lives in Sibiu, believes that the EU represents an immense opportunity for his people.

How did you inherit the title of 'International King of the Roma?'

The Cioaba family has been at the head of the Roma for several generations. It was my father, Ion Cioaba, who tried to integrate the Roma into society on a national and international level in the 1960s. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Roma wanted a king to represent them and fight for their rights. My father went from being called 'Bulibasha', which means head of a tribe in Romani, to 'king'. Following his death in 1997, I inherited the title.

What could change for your people with Romania’s accession to the EU?

The EU has been changing the fate of the Roma in Europe since 2000, when the European Roma and Traveller’s Forum was started. This is a sort of ‘mini parliament’ that I belong to, as Vice President of the Romani Union. I see the EU as a new path and a new future.

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