The following is an excerpt of a presentation made by Georgel Caldararu and Filiz Demirova, two Europe-based Romani organizers, to the Sixth Congress of the APSP.
We would like to express our profound appreciation for the chance to give our statement to the Sixth Congress of the African People’s Socialist Party.
We believe this Congress is a very important gathering and we are thankful to speak about the situation of Romani people without any censorship.
The foundation of Europe is based on the enslavement, oppression and exploitation of African, Asian and other people.
Like Chairman Omali Yeshitela says, as a process, slavery created a parasitic political economy that must suck the blood of Africa and of African and oppressed people of the world in order to survive.
Roma are located in between borders and a bureaucratic, political and social no-mans land where they are persecuted and humiliated. They live below the poverty line in slums, suburbs and in the worst conditions possible, having no access to resources, being forced to feed their families from the garbage and being victims of disease provoked by the worst living conditions, hunger and lack of healthcare.
Roma children are segregated into ghetto schools, assumed incapable of achieving the very first levels of education and very often treated as animals. They are stigmatized and have no prospects from the very beginning of their lives. Many of them live on the streets, exposed to drugs, child prostitution and human trafficking.
The unemployment rate in our communities is intolerably high, touching hundreds of thousands of families. As a consequence, the majority of those families have a very low income that makes Roma the worst paid workers in Europe.
The teenagers are victims of marginalization and racist assaults. They are eliminated from public life because they are considered criminals. They are targeted forviolence and hatred on a daily basis.
Roma women suffer all kinds of prejudices. They are exposed to the worst experiences possible, forced into prostitution and the lowest paid jobs that can be found.
Between 1971 and 1991 in Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Roma population was reduced through surgical sterilization, performed without the knowledge of the women themselves.
The majority of our people have a very low pension. They have no access to medical assistance and in the very few cases they do, they are treated poorly.
After the Second World War, Roma were forced to keep silent about Nazi era persecution. At the same time, the USA and western European states were more interested in supporting Germany which was and is responsible for the murder of millions of people and the disaster of Europe.
Conditions in many Roma communities have not changed since the end of the Second World War. Actually, the persecution of the Roma never ended since the arrival of our people over 700 years ago.
In 2005, at the initiative of George Soros, governments of 12 European states signed the agreement known as the Decade of Roma Inclusion. What was meant to be a sign of solidarity ended as an explosion of resentment and hate.
Human rights abuses are a common practice. Roma can be deported from one country to another within Europe, even if they are European citizens or are victims of racial persecution in the countries from which they come.
The financial resources allocated to Roma communities for combating poverty never come to the families in need, but to the corrupt officials and mafia-like organizations protected by the states.
On the other hand, some Roma representatives misuse the political work and resources for their own interests and damage the struggle of emancipation.
Roma activists and artists have been censored and accused of racism when they tried to fight against the anti-Roma status quo.
We consider that the Roma are in a very dangerous situation and racism and anti-Romanism are manifesting at all levels of society. We do consider that there’s no solidarity from white Europeans.
We consider that Roma have no right to decide their own lives and that the murders and inhumane measures against our people will continue because white people are in an undeclared war with us.
Even the activists and artists who claim to be in solidarity with us act mostly to protect their own interests.
The only solution for Roma people is to join with other oppressed people, to overthrow the financial and political domination of the white world, to stop the inhumane capitalist regime and to fight for emancipation and equal rights all over the world for all people.
The only solution is the revolution of the oppressed people.
As long as Europe has programs against the Roma, there is no democracy in Europe
As long as racism exists in Europe, there’s no civilization in Europe.
As long as deportation practices and elimination practices exist in Europe, there is no respect for human rights in Europe.
In solidarity, all power to the people!
Uhuru!