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[Theme]

Good for you Madonna! Thank God we live in America.


BUCHAREST, Romania - At first, fans politely applauded the Roma performers sharing a stage with Madonna. Then the pop star condemned widespread discrimination against Roma, or Gypsies — and the cheers gave way to jeers.

The sharp mood change that swept the crowd of 60,000, who had packed a park for Wednesday night's concert, underscores how prejudice against Gypsies remains deeply entrenched across Eastern Europe.

Despite long-standing efforts to stamp out rampant bias, human rights advocates say Roma probably suffer more humiliation and endure more discrimination than any other people group on the continent.

Sometimes, it can be deadly: In neighboring Hungary, six Roma have been killed and several wounded in a recent series of apparently racially motivated attacks targeting small countryside villages predominantly settled by Gypsies.

More in todays news.

[bucheon bum]

You might want to read "Balkan Ghosts" by Robert Kaplan. The book is a bit dated (written in '91 I believe), but it is still an interesting glimpse into the region. Romania has a rather messed up modern history.

[Julius]

I see it essentially as a modern conflict between nomadic and sedentary lifestyles.
its a form of slow and gradual genocide.

Romany Photo essay:
http://www.viiphoto.com/detailStory3.php?news_id=778

[Bronski]

Lots of Roma are sedentary, until they're forced to move, making them nomadic in a way. There have been scores of attacks on middle class and wealthy Roma in Romania and elsewhere (and of course, poor Roma). Their houses have been burned down, etc.

A lot of people think they're just fortune tellers at the carnival or people who beg and pick pockets in front of European tourist attractions, and don't take the problem seriously. It's too bad.

[ytuque]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

Are we sure they weren't just booing her because she was going to play a song from her last two albums?

Ken:>

[Julius]

[ED209]

[djsmnc]

They reek of cabbage, have small, bony hands, play silly traditional music, and wear lots of colors. Wait, are Koreans gypsies?

[ManintheMiddle]

Glad the ugly wench got booed, only wished it would have happen long ago when she blasphemed the Roman Catholic Church with her hideous act in the 1980s.

Now when she has a legitimate cause, her little soap box routines aren't so easily tolerated. She chose the wrong venue, of course, but she's still laughing all the way to the bank.

[ddeubel]

The best read on the subject by far is Isabel Fonseca's "Bury Me Standing" [from an old Romany saying]. I've yet to meet a person as well versed and "true" to this subject. (just noticed it was mentioned, thank you Bronski).

I spent a good part of my life in E. Europe and can say "entrenched" is not even close to how institutionalized and repressive the discrimination is against the Romany. When I was teaching classes in the Czech P.Ss, Cigani children upon entering school were immediately sent to very full special ed classes (basically daycare). Not many of them kept coming.

Kudo's to Madonna. One thing you can say about having money - it does offer one the opportunity to be true, very true, to oneself. However the world agrees or doesn't really doesn't matter. Let me eat their sarmale.

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[gakduki]

The situation is complicated. The Roma have reasons to pickpocket, hustle, be dirty, and travel around. And Europeans hate them for it. What came first the dirty theiving Gypsy, or the hatred towards them as a group. Probably the hatred. None are worst than the Pikey's heard bad stories about them and their caravan's. Through my travels I've seen them as far from Europe as Irkutsk, they were plying the same trade there, not that the friendly folk of Siberia give them much chance either.

Madona must be over the money and the fame because its not a good idea to express such views in such places. Now what would happen if someone climbed up on stage here and spoke of 'widespread discrimination' against weigooks? Booed and jeered or showered with kimchi?

[ddeubel]

Gakduki,

Blame the person, not the culture.

The EU should strongly punish all states which still have very very institutionalized racism and bias (and not just in the books but how laws/regulations are delivered/enacted).

Further, you've never had any Romany friends have you? Friendship, drinking in a pub, singing Stevie Wonder songs, visiting their homes -- really makes you see things differently.

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[pkang0202]

Is it easy to tell if someone is a Roma just by looking at them?

Do they have names that are dead giveaways to their ethnicity?

How does one tell if someone is a Roma(Gypsie)?

[ytuque]