Monday, August 3, 2009

Roma woman killed in Hungary. Not in Bulgaria.

Romanian media reports that a 45 year old woman was shot dead and her 13 year old daughter severly wounded yesterday in Hungary. Becasue they were Romas.

It is an enormous tragedy for all families involved, and for the Hungarian nation,of course. It is also a sad news, following similar stories. Roma people, just like Moldovan's turn to Canada as one of the few liberal haven's in the world, not because of povert, then they would go to Paris or Berlin, but because the increased violence agaisnt them in Czech republic.

The Slovak police was humiliated when the humiliation of two roma boys was filmed and spread online. Look at the guys in the film. It looks like this is not the first time they enjoy this entertainment. The video has been REMOVED from both Youtube and Euronews. Youtube blames the undue discussion... couldn't the comments be removed in stead of this very important witness to Europe of today?

It could happen everywhere, of course. The thing is that it doesn't. It doesn't happen in Bulgaria. This kind of reports reach us almost daily, but they don't come from Europe's poorest countries. They come from central European countries, countries that are way ahead of Bulgaria in GNP, civil society development etc. Wolfram Alpha suggests that Hungary's GNP is three times bigger than Bulgarias,just to give a number. (Wolfram Alpha's numbers most likely refer to CIA factbook)

I think it is of outmost importance for everyone, to consider this issue: Why is violence against Roma exploding now, in the most developed parts of ex-communist Europe.

Is Bulgaria more tolerant towards roma? First of all - there are at least as many Roma in Romania or Bulgaria as in Central Europe.

(Picture belongs to Wikipedia Commons)
The first thing a new visitor in Sofia sees are horse carts with roma picking trash. Bulgarians don't do that. Roma don't work in offices. They live encapsulated, and are discriminated in numerous ways. Yet physical violence against Roma is rare, and very few Bulgarians would approve of it, in spite of a strong fascist presencein the parliament.

Anyone that has seen films like Time of the Gypsies or Gadjo Dilo, knows that the relations between Roma and the majority population is far from easy even in these countries


(Footage from Gadjo Dilo)

Yet, these tensions do not turn as nasty as in Central Europe, at least not for now.

Is the economical crisis more severe in Central Europe? Maybe it is. Bulgaria is hit late, and large chunks of the economy are not really for real. The crisis might also seem less critical if you fall from a lower level. (see GNP numbers above). But yet, this is a simplification worthy of dogmatic marxism. If unemployment and poverty in itself generated violence, there would be plenty of violence here. My own experience tells me the opposite.

Maybe the key to understand this kind of violent frustration is in the progress itself. Maybe it is Central Europe's higher GNP, and more developed societies that generate the violence?

We have seen in history how societey turns explosive not in times of absolute depression, but in time of rapid development. Consider the Russian revolution, the -60's or the french revolution. I don't think Bulgaria is remarkably tolerant towards roma. But there is probably a remarkable tolerance towards poverty here. The horse carts are still natural parts of Bulgarian cities. And the roma are still pleased with what they get.

If Bulgaria, and Romania, continues developing like the countries have done until now, which would be a wonderful thing, within a generation there would exist a generation of romas who go to university, and start asking for the same jobs as Bulgarians. That will be an explosive situation.

1 comment:

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Well what can I tell you, this happens everyday in this shit world that we live in, sadly...