BETWEEN ETHNO NATIONALISM SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND Mirescu... · BETWEEN ETHNO NATIONALISM, SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND MULTICULTURAL POLICIES THE CASE OF ROMA IN ROMANIA GABRIELA MIRESCU 01‐216‐449

BETWEENETHNONATIONALISM,SOCIALEXCLUSIONAND

MULTICULTURALPOLICIES

THECASEOFROMAINROMANIA

GABRIELAMIRESCU

01‐216‐449AVENUEJEANBOURGKNECHT6

1700FRIBOURG

O

01‐

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PROF.NICOLASHAYOZ

Lizentiatsarbeit im Fachbereich Politikwissenschaft der Universität Freiburg (Schweiz) 2010

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Părinţilor mei, Lucia şi Ioan, cu dragoste şi profundă recunoştinţă pentru felul în care

m-au învăţat sa privesc lumea.

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List of Figures Fig. 1: Hypotheses: The Romanian concept of nationhood and the roots of social exclusion of the Roma can

explain the unsuccessful process aiming at Roma integration. .............................................................. 15Fig. 2: Methodology: Data Collection.............................................................................................................. 17Fig. 3: Risk of Being Poor, 2006 (World Bank, 2007)..................................................................................... 24Fig, 4: The History of the National Agency for Roma (1997-2010)................................................................ 37Fig. 5: Main Functions of the National Agency for Roma............................................................................... 38Fig. 6: Civic Nationalism in France ................................................................................................................. 47Fig. 7: Ethnic Nationalism in Germany............................................................................................................ 48Fig. 8: Civic and Ethnic Understanding of Nationhood and National Self-Understanding (Brubaker).......... 50Fig. 9: Transylvania, Moldavia and Walachia in the first half of the 19th century.......................................... 51Fig. 10: The Great Romania in 1919 ................................................................................................................ 58Fig. 11: Social Exclusion Based on Racial and Ethnic Differences................................................................. 69Fig.12: Outcomes: The Concept of Romanian Nation ..................................................................................... 80Fig. 13: Outcomes: The Social Exclusion of Roma ......................................................................................... 81Fig. 14: Verification of Hypotheses: The Concept of Romanian Nationhood and the History of Social

Exclusion of Roma as Barriers in Implementing Strategies of Integration ............................................ 84

List of Abbreviations ARU The Alliance of Roma Unity CEDIME Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe CNM The Council for National Minorities COE Council of Europe CSCE Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe DIR Department of Interethnic Relations DPNM Department for the Protection of National Minorities DPNM The Department of the Protection of National Minorities EC European Community ECHR The European Convention on Human Rights ECRML The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ERRC European Roma Rights Centre ESC The European Social Charter EU European Union FCNM Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities GSG The General Secretariat of the Government IRU International Roma Union MPI The Ministry for Public Information NAR National Agency for Roma NGO Non-governmental organisation NOR National Office of Roma ONIR Office for National Integration of Roma ORP The Office for Roma Problems OSCE The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSI The Open Society Institute Romani Criss Roma Center for Social Intervention and Studies UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN United Nations WB The World Bank

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Contents

EXECUTIVESUMMARY ................................................................................................................ 6

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 7

STATEOFTHEART ..................................................................................................................... 8

STATEMENTOFTHEPROBLEMANDRESEARCHQUESTION ............................................................... 12

HYPOTHESES .......................................................................................................................... 14

METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................... 16 TheIssue ........................................................................................................................................................... 16 DataCollection ............................................................................................................................................... 16

OUTLINEOFTHESTUDY ............................................................................................................ 18

I.SETTINGTHECONTEXT:THECASEOFROMAMINORITYINROMANIA

CHAPTER1:THEPOST‐COMMUNISTPERIOD‐POLITICALMOBILIZATIONANDRECOGNITIONINEUROPE... 20

CHAPTER2:CURRENTCHALLENGESFORTHEROMANIANROMA ....................................................... 232.1.PovertyandGeneralSocialStatus ....................................................................................................... 232.2.Education ........................................................................................................................................................ 242.3.LabourMarket .............................................................................................................................................. 262.4.Migration......................................................................................................................................................... 282.5.Discriminationandsocialexclusion ................................................................................................... 29

CHAPTER3:THEGOVERNMENTALPROJECTOFROMAINTEGRATION ................................................. 333.1.InternationalandNationalActors ....................................................................................................... 33

3.1.1.TheInternationalLevel‐ActorsandLegalTools ............................................................ 333.1.2.TheNationalLevel:TheRomanianGovernment,itsStrategiesanditsInteractionswithRomaCivilSociety................................................................................................. 35

CHAPTER4:MAINGOVERNMENTALACTIONSFORROMAINTEGRATION–STRATEGIES,KEYACTORSANDTHEIRINTERACTION ................................................................................................................. 374.1.TheNationalAgencyforRoma.............................................................................................................. 374.2.TheNationalStrategyforImprovingtheSituationofRoma.................................................... 404.3.TheDecadeofRomaInclusion2005‐2015....................................................................................... 41

II.THEORETICALFRAMEWORKANDCASESTUDY

THEORY1‐CONCEPTSOFNATIONHOOD..................................................................................... 43

CHAPTER5:DEFINITIONSANDPATTERNSOFNATIONALSELF‐UNDERSTANDING................................... 435.1.NationsandNationalism.......................................................................................................................... 435.2.TwoConceptsofNationsandofNationalMovements ............................................................... 46

CASESTUDY1:THEROMANIANCONCEPTOFNATIONHOOD .......................................................... 50

CHAPTER6:NATIONBUILDINGANDNATIONALSELF‐UNDERSTANDINGINROMANIA ............................ 516.1.TheSocio‐PoliticalContextinthe18thCentury............................................................................ 526.2.TheLanguageasPatternofNationalIdentity ................................................................................ 53

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6.3.Acommonpast,thesamepeople......................................................................................................... 546.4.LookingtotheWest‐TheFrenchMythandtheGermanCountermyth ............................. 556.5.TheReligionasPatternofNationalIdentity ................................................................................... 576.6.TheUnitaryCharacteroftheRomanianNation‐State ................................................................ 58

THEORY2–THECONCEPTOFSOCIALEXCLUSION ........................................................................ 61

CHAPTER7:THEROLEOFTHESTATEINPROCESSESOFSOCIALEXCLUSION ......................................... 627.1.TheTheoryofSocialClosure.................................................................................................................. 627.1.StrategiesofSocialExclusion................................................................................................................ 63 7.1.1.RaceandEthnicityasTargetsinSocialExclusion........................................................... 637.2.TheRoleoftheStateintheProcessofSocialExclusion ............................................................ 64 7.2.1.TheState’sMechanismsinExploitationthroughRacializedRelations ................. 65 7.2.2.TheState’sMechanismsinInducingEthnicViolence.................................................... 667.3.ReproducingPatternsofSocialExclusion........................................................................................ 67

CASESTUDY2:THESOCIALEXCLUSIONOFROMA ........................................................................ 70

CHAPTER8:THEROLEOFTHESTATEINTHESOCIALEXCLUSIONOFROMA ......................................... 718.1.RacializingtheRomaMinority‐Slavery ........................................................................................... 718.2.FromSlavestoSecond‐ClassCitizens ................................................................................................ 738.3.InstitutionalizedMeasuresofAcculturation................................................................................... 738.4.FirsttendenciesofRomaEthnicSelf‐AwarenessinRomania ................................................. 758.5.TheRomaGenocide.................................................................................................................................... 758.6.HowtodealwiththePast?...................................................................................................................... 768.7.TheViciousCycleofRomaSocialExclusion.................................................................................... 77

III.OUTCOMESANDVERIFICATIONOFTHEHYPOTHESES

CHAPTER9:DISCUSSIONOFOUTCOMES ...................................................................................... 799.1.TheConceptofRomanianNationhoodandtheNationalSelf‐Understanding ................. 799.2.UnderstandingtheTraditionofSocialExclusionoftheRomainRomania ....................... 81

CHAPTER10:VERIFICATIONOFTHEHYPOTHESES .......................................................................... 8210.1.TowhatextentdoestheconceptoftheRomaniannation‐statechallengetheattemptsofRomaintegration?.......................................................................................................................................... 8210.2TowhatextentdoesthehistoricalevolutionoftherelationsbetweentheRomaandthemajoritysocietyhindertheprocessofRomaintegration?........................................................ 83

IV.CONCLUSION........................................................................................................... 85

V.BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 89 Vita ................................................................................................................................................................................... 98DeclarationofAuthorship .....................................................................................................................................100

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Policies towards minorities are currently evaluated within a global context, in which global criticism relies on standards of liberal multiculturalism. Post-communist Romania was sharply criticized for how it treated its minorities, while in particular the Roma problem has achieved more visibility in the context of Romania’s accession to the European structures.

Under international pressure, the Romanian Government set special institutions and adopted particular strategies in recent years in order to address Roma integration. Today, offically, Romania fulfils the EU standards on human and minority rights, employment, housing and education. Nevertheless, until now all these actions have not led to any significant results concerning Roma integration, nor have they improved the social conditions in which Roma live.

Seeking to understand why the integration efforts of Roma minority pose such a challenge in Romania, the research reveals a complex connection between the failure of the integration project and two domestic aspects of the Romanian context:

The exclusionary concept of Romanian nationhood that sees the culturally distinct

Roma as citizens of the state, but not as legitimate members of the Romanian nation;

The history of social closure of Roma on the Romanian territory, which is rooted in centuries of institutionalized slavery, in constant state measures of forced acculturation and even mass-extermination. Old strategies of exclusion drawn by the state continue to be informally reproduced and provide ongoing mechanisms for social exclusion of Roma.

Both these particularities of the Romanian context are to be understand as intrinsic generators of exclusion, that hold back any attempts of Roma minority to integrate. Besides their exclusionary character, these aspects disclose a deep lack of trust and acceptance that dramatically defines the relations between Roma and the State and between Roma and mainstream society.

Recommending a suis generis approach in addressing the issue of Roma integration, this study underlines the challenges of “importing” values and policies without adequately addressing certain local specificities and case-particular priorities.

The question is not whether multicultural approaches are suitable for drafting strategies for integration of the Roma minority, but rather whether the multicultural discourse can address such deep rooted causes for lack of trust and acceptance, that the particular case of the Roma in Romania reveals. And if yes, what are the appropriate steps that need to be taken?

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INTRODUCTION

The presence of Roma on the Romanian territory has been attested for more than 600 years

- centuries before the Romanian nation-state was established. Nevertheless, their co-

nationals generally do not perceive Roma as being Romanians, even if they are Romanian

citizens. Referring to this aspect, the historian Lucian Boia explains: “Romania is a country that has little success in assimilating, or even integrating its minorities,

and indeed it has hardly had the time and the means to do so. (…) How could it assimilate the

Gypsies, who live in a world of their own? Romania is not France!1” This perspective summarizes the nature of the relationship between Roma and the majority

population in terms of Roma social status and the participation of Roma in Romanian

society.

After centuries of slavery, systematic ethnic cleansing during the Second World War,

and coercive assimilation policies during the communist regime, the Roma community of

Romania found itself facing a new threat: integration.

The collapse of communism in 1989 was followed by a phenomenon without precedent

in Romania: the Roma community was recognized as a national minority, and a Roma

political mobilization took place. Paradoxically, during the last two decades, several

international reports revealed that a large percentage of Roma living in Romania are

confronted with living conditions characteristic to those of the Third World: severe

poverty, lack of access to education, to the labour market, to health care, to housing, as

well as discrimination, and finally, social exclusion.2 Twenty years after the fall of

Ceausescu’s regime, the interethnic tensions and the marginalization of Roma even

intensified, while post-communist politicians and society have not paid enough attention to

the Roma commensurate with the magnitude of what generally is known as “the Roma

problem”3.

Therefore, the past twenty years have witnessed not only an achievement of democratic

values in post-communist Romania, but have also drawn attention to the difficulty of the

regime and society in maintaining and developing harmonious relations with the ethnic 1 Boia, Lucian (2001): Romania. Borderland of Europe; Reaktion Books, London: 193. 2 World Bank (2007): Romania: Poverty Assessment. Analytical and Advisory Assistance Program: First Phase Report, fiscal year 2007: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=51083066&piPK=51083078&theSitePK=258599&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=311712&theSitePK=258599&entityID=000020439_20071204114818&searchMenuPK=311712&theSitePK=258599 3 Barany, Zoltan D (1994): Nobody’s Children: The Resurgence of Nationalism and the Status of Gypsies in Post-Communist Eastern Europe: 235; in Serafin, Joan (ed.): East-Central Europe in the 1990´s; Westview Press, Boulder, San Francisco, Oxford.

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minorities sharing the same territory. In place of communist propaganda attempting to

educate all Romanian citizens to be proud of their glorious common past, the questions of

who belongs here, and of who is a Romanian and who is not, became well known rhetoric

in the last two decades.

STATE OF THE ART

Literature about Roma is scarce. The oldest documents attesting their presence in Europe

often refers to this group as to a mysterious one, with unconventional habits and an exotic

culture. Centuries long, written documents on Roma referred mostly to their culture,

language and history. These topics were and still are of relevance since even today the

Roma appear as a less known group for many Europeans. But unfortunately, many

historical documents often illustrate an unrealistic image of Roma, based on subjective

interpretations and leading to a large palette of stereotypes and prejudices. It has been

noted that “Gypsies are much more popular subjects of fictional literature than of

academic studies”4 and as consequence, it is not easy to find good and accurate historical

references about Roma.

Misinterpretations, and even pejorative formulations in defining the Roma

communities, could primarily find their first explanation in the lack of an official Roma

history and the generally poor quality of information about this group. Secondly, the

absence of a written language and culture, but also the omission of Roma from the

national histories could be another explanation of the not very ambitious efforts in writing

a history of the Roma. Another reason could be the heterogeneity of the Roma. They are

not organized in a homogeneous ethnic community, but spread all over the world and

divided in numerous different groups and subgroups.5 Disregard for the diversity of this

ethnic group (which results in a variety of professions, traditions, lifestyles and dialects of

Romanes6) has frequently lead to broad generalizations about all Roma based on restrictive

4 Crowe, David M. (1994): A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia; Taurus Publisher, London; cited in Gaarde, Signe (2006): Recreating the Roma. Policies and Activism; Department for Minority Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen: 8. 5 There were identified in Europe about 50 different Roma groups. For details, see the complex study of Tcherencov, Lev and Laederich Stéphane (2004): The Rroma. Otherwise Known as Gypsies, Gitanos, Gyphtoi, Tsiganes, Tigani, Cingene, Zigeuner, Bohemiens, Travellers, Fahrende etc; Schwabe Verlag, Basel: Vol. 1: 275-517. 6 Romanes designates the Roma language. Romanes has a grammar mainly based on Sanskrit (its Indian origins), and a large vocabulary consisting in many terms of Armenian, Persian, Slavonic and Greek provenience. Since the language alone allows a partial reconstruction of the itinerary followed by the group

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studies of a Roma subgroup.7 All these difficulties of objectively documenting the Roma

are reflected in most available studies, which are often based on inexact dates, filled with

spurious generalizations and fallacious interpretations, or simply myths. Modest research

was undertaken in the Balkans, while a few studies are available from Russia, Poland and

the Baltic states.

In Romania, the first representative articles and studies concerning the Roma were

published primarily by supporters of the Enlightenment8 in the 19th century. Their

discussions concentrated on transactions involving Roma slaves, their treatment, and later

within the context of Roma enslavements in Moldavia and Walachia (today provinces of

Romania). Nevertheless, due to several reasons, even well intentioned studies have often

contributed to many of the current misconceptions regarding this minority group.

On Romanian territory, where it is estimated that about one to two million Roma

currently live,9 prior to 1990 the Roma community was not recognized as a national

minority and the Roma issue was a taboo subject, especially during the communist regime.

Even the school history books avoided mentioning the Roma as an historical part of

mainstream society. During this period, this ethnic group was practically non-existent for

the authors and historians in this part of the world.

Later, after the breakdown of communism in Europe, together with the emergence of a

new wave of Roma intelligentsia, more publications on Roma appeared. Notably, this time,

they were often written by Roma themselves. These developments occurred

simultaneously with the official acknowledgement of Roma as a national minority in post-

communist Romania and as Europe’s largest transnational minority10. From this moment

in the age of migration, but also due to the fact that the whole Roma culture is an oral one, Tcherencov and Laederich see Romanes not only as instrument for communicating thoughts, but as a veritable “vehicle of culture”. The language is shared in several dialects, depending on groups, subgroups, but also on the language of surrounding society. Therefore, Romanes spoken by a Kalderaša Rom from Romania may vary from the dialect of a Sinti Rom from Germany. Nevertheless, there is not a problem of communication between these in Romanes. For detailed information on Romanes, see the extended study of Tcherencov, Lev and Laederich Stéphane (2004): The Rroma. Otherwise known as Gypsies, Gitanos, Gyphtoi, Tsiganes, Tigani, Cingene, Zigeuner, Bohemiens, Travellers, Fahrende etc; Schwabe Verlag, Basel, Vol. 1: 237-275. 7 See Stewart, Michael (1997): The Time of the Gypsies; Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado. 8 See Cezar Bolliac, Alecu Russo, Ion Heliade Radulescu, Vasile Alecsandri, Alexandru Ghica, Gheorghe Asachi, or Mihail Kogalniceanu. The last is known as the most prominent struggler for Roma’s emancipation. 9 The exact number of Roma in Romania is a subject to speculation. National an international institutions estimate the number of Roma in Romania to be somewhere inbetween 1 and 1.2 million persons, while Roma activists agree on a figure of 2 million people. Official data put it in the last census (2002) at 535.140 (2.5% of the total population). In all assessments, independent from the exact number of its Roma ethnics, Romania is considered to be the country with the highest number of Roma members in Europe. See Romania’s National Statistics Institute: http://www.insse.ro/cms/rw/pages/index.ro.do or Minority at Risk Project, Assessment for Roma in Romania: http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/mar/assessment.asp?groupId=36003. 10 See European Commission (2004): The Situation of Roma in an Enlarged European Union; European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), Luxemburg: http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2119.

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on we can identify two main strands in the literature on Roma: the continued publication of

works covering cultural and historical aspects of Roma and a new series of works dealing

with socio-political matters.

The topics linked to Roma culture and history are still in trend, and are also necessary,

because often, through rigorous data collection and analysis they deconstruct the cultural

interpretations and stereotypes cultivated over centuries by many (non-Roma) authors. On

the other hand, most authors continue to write about Roma from a historical-cultural

perspective, since this minority continues to face serious prejudices and many Europeans

still do not know who the Roma are.

At the same time a new strand of literature developed: new documentation on the Roma

gained a socio-political character, referring to topics linked to social issues, minority rights

and political participation. Recent and relevant work has been done by Günter Grass, one

of the first non-Roma to write, in 2000, about Roma political participation at the European

level.11 Jean Pierre Liegeois and Nicolae, Gheorghe, with their perspective on Roma as a

neglected minority group, call for partnerships in protecting their rights.12 Other authors in

this strand include Martin Kovats13and Istvan Pogany,14 who refer to the politics of Roma

identity, Rajko Djuric, who sees a precondition for creating a national and cultural identity

of Roma in the standardization of the Romany language,15 Zoltan Baranny,16 who

investigates the situation of Roma after the end of the Cold War, and Peter Thelen, who

writes for the non-Roma, in order to deconstruct prejudices, and for the Roma, in order to

empower them to participate at the local, regional or European decision-making levels.17

This is not a comprehensive list, only a reference to a few relevant authors.

In Romania, few sociological studies and statistics have been compiled, especially in

the last decade. A notable beginning in this field is the sociological study of Catalin and 11 Grass, Günter (2000): Without a Voice, Excerpt from a Speech to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Oct. 11, 2000 and published in Günter Grass: “Ohne Stimme – Reden zugunsten des Volkes der Roma und Sinti”; Steidl Verlag, Göttingen. 12 Liégeois, Jean-Pierre and Gheorghe, Nicolae (1995): Roma/Gypsies: A European Minority; Minority Rights Group International Report: http://www.minorityrights.org/1010/reports/romagypsies-a-european-minority.html 13 Kovats, Martin (2003): The Politics of Roma Identity: Between Nationalism and Destitution; Open Democracy, Budapest. 14 Pogany, Istvan (1999): Accommodating an Emergent National Identity: The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe; International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 6, pp. 149-167. 15 Djurik Rajko (2005): A Standard Romany Language – A Pre-Condition and Basis for a National and Cultural Identity for the Roma; in Thelen, Peter (ed.): Roma in Europe. From Social Exclusion to Active Participation; Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Skopje. 16 Barany, Zoltan D. (1994): Nobody’s Children. The Resurgence of Nationalism and the Status of Gypsies; in Post-Communist Eastern Europe, Serafin, Juan (ed.): East-Central Europe in the 1990s; Westview Press, Boulder, San Francisco, Oxford. 17 Thelen, Peter (2005): Roma in Europe. From Social Exclusion to Active Participation, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Skopje.

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Elena Zamfir, which appeared in 1993: “The Gypsies between ignorance and worries.”

Later, important studies appeared as a result of newly established research institutions, but

nevertheless research in Romania suffers from the lack of significant data, starting with the

very fact that the total number of Roma in Romania is still unknown and speculations vary

from 500 to 2,500,000 or even three million persons.

In conclusion, we can state that until 1990, the contributions of literature on Roma were

modest, both in quantity and quality. The editorial apparitions were inconstant, often

reflecting many unbalanced perspectives. After the collapse of communism in Eastern

Europe we note a proliferation of the Roma documentation in general, but also a

diversification, marked in particular by the new socio-political literature.

Nevertheless, there is still a lack of several political perspectives on this group. Due to

observations concerning a different degree of inclusion and participation of Roma in

different states, there is a need for comparative studies concerning integration policies and

different views on accommodation of minorities. Furthermore, what role does the

democratic transition in Eastern Europe play in Roma integration in respect to their

marginalization? There are less extensive studies concerning the impact of two

contradictory phenomena in post-communist Europe on the Roma: democracy and ethno-

nationalism. Additionally, more research needs to be undertaken in the field of conflict

transformation. For reasons unclear, the Roma are not mentioned in any conflict study or

conflict barometer. Paradoxically, most written or non-written reports on Roma emphasize

conflictual relationships between Roma and non-Roma populations (Gadže18), while Roma

are daily victims of organized violence in several European countries. Therefore, a

standpoint regarding the conflict dynamics in the case of Roma and the surrounding

societies, and eventually a conflict transformation outlook, involving approaches such as

dealing with the past,19 reconciliation and trust building, remain some of uncovered issues

in the literature on Roma.

18 “Gadže” designates the non-Roma population in Romanes language. 19 Dealing with the past is a newly established concept that designates a political process with complex social dimensions. Used in the context of transitional justice and rule of law in post-conflict societies, the process of dealing with the past purposes to end the cycle of violence, to confront impunity, to investigate and to make public the truth about previous human rights abuses, and to rehabilitate victims. The approach implies the involvement of a large part of society in a multifaceted process of conflict transformation, sustaining a more equitable redefinition of power relation within society. For details see Sisson, Jonathan (ed.) (2007): Dealing with the Past in Post-Conflict Societies: Ten Years after the Peace Accords in Guatemala and Bosnia – Herzegovina; Conference Paper 1, Swisspeace Annual Conference 2006: 2 http://www.swisspeace.ch/typo3/en/peacebuilding-activities/koff/topics/dealing-with-the-past/index.html

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND RESEARCH QUESTION

Time and again we are witnessing how states around the world are judged and condemned

for their actions toward minorities. Global criticism relies today on standards of liberal

multiculturalism and the states in question commonly have two reactions: they may simply

adopt the international rhetoric, transforming it into an alibi for their continuous exclusion

of minorities from the social and political arena, or they may underline the fact that

international observers do not understand certain local specificities and are not able to truly

understand the situation.20

Post-communist Romania was also sharply criticized for how it treated its minorities,

and especially the Roma problem has achieved more visibility in the context of Romania’s

accession to the European structures.

Before joining the EU, the European Commission urged Romania to develop policies

for combating discrimination of Roma and for including the minority in the mainstream

society. The Romanian Government responded to these requirements and set up new

institutions, such as the National Agency for Roma, and the National Council for

Combating Discrimination, and adopted strategies implying affirmative action in certain

sectors of public life in order to address Roma integration.21 Today, offically, Romania

fulfils the EU standards on human rights, employment, housing and education.

Nevertheless, until now all these actions have not led to significant results concerning

Roma inclusion or to the improvement of Roma social conditions.22

Seeking to understand the reason for today’s situation for Roma, especially why the

integration efforts of this ethnic group pose such a challenge, we are confronted with a

large palette of actors and explanations. There are the international observers that

frequently condemn the passivity of Romanian authorities in addressing the social

exclusion of Roma community. There is the Government that admits to, as President

20 For details concerning the debate on internationalization of multiculturalism and minority rights, see: Kymlicka, Will: Liberal Multiculturalism: Western Models, Global Trends, and Asian Debates; in Baogang He and Kymilcka, Will (eds.) (2005): Multiculturalism in Asia, OUO, Oxford: 22-56. 21 The National Agency for Roma and the two major governmental strategies - The National Strategy for Improving the Situation of Roma and the Decade of Roma Inclusion - will be explicit discussed in chapter 4. 22 Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, 15/11/2007: Jobs Boom in Bulgaria Leaves Roma Behind: //209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:8sHOWfnSSVkJ:birn.eu.com/en/113/10/5823/+roma+integration,+eu+precondition+for+romania&cd=3&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=ch&client=firefox-a

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Băsescu has declared, “our partial failure concerning Roma integration”.23 There are the

Roma, represented by their leaders that condemn the widespread discrimination of Roma

and the insufficient support from the authorities. And finally, there is a large part of

Romanian society that continues to reproduce old stereotypes concerning the Roma

culture, understood as a culture of poverty.24 The centuries long established statement “the

Ţigan remain a Ţigan”25 continues to be the most popular explanation, omnipresent in

more or less politically correct formulations, in more or less official statements. It

underlines the fundamental incompatibility of Roma culture with any civilization rule: in

other words, Roma’s very unwillingness to integrate.

What are the appropriate explanations for this situation? Are the Romanian authorities

to blame for the unsuccessful integration of Roma, or the Roma themselves, or the

international community, or the Romanian society as a whole?

For sure, all these actors play an important role in the process of Roma integration, and

an explanation can be presented by each of them, but how does one draw a comprehensive

explanation for the vicious circle with which many Roma are confronted, and for the

difficulty of breaking out of it?

The issue of controversy that needs to be resolved here is:

Why have the national and international strategies for improving the living conditions

of Roma in Romania, and finally for including them into Romanian society remained a

“pleasant fiction”?26

23 Mediafax, 1/8/2008: We Recognize our Part in the Failure of Roma Integration: http://www.mediafax.ro/politic/basescu-recunoastem-esecul-nostru-partial-privind-integrarea-romilor-galerie-foto-2839724 24 “The culture of poverty” is a concept that explains the cycles of poverty, arguing that the poor remain poor due to their unique value system and due to their adaptation to the burdens of poverty. For details see Lewis, Oscar (1961): The Culture of Poverty; in Moynnihan, Daniel (ed.): On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences; Basic Books, New York. 25 “Ţigan” is the Romanian pejorative term for Roma. 26 The term “pleasant fiction” was used in 1998 by the European Roma Rights Center, for describing the human rights situation of Roma in Macedonia. For details see European Roma Rights Center (1998): A Pleasant Fiction. The Human Rights Situation of Roma in Macedonia; The Country Reports Series No. 7: http://romawomeninfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=251%3A2009-09-01-09-56-16&catid=107%3A2009-09-01-09-52-41&Itemid=249&lang=en

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HYPOTHESES

The case of Roma in Romania highlights two relevant aspects in the minority debate

inherent to Eastern Europe:27 the crucial interethnic relations, generally marked by

historical rooted lack of trust and tolerance on the one hand, and the ethnic understanding

of the nation state and the nature of local nationalism on the other hand.

In search of understanding the challenges regarding the process of Roma integration,

the research hypothesizes a complex connection between the failure of inclusion project

and the two above mentioned socio-political aspects.

Starting from the premise that every problem has its own unique history and

circumstances which need to be taken into account when formulating a fair and workable

solution, the general assumption is that the issue of Roma integration cannot be studied as

an isolated “Roma problem”, but in correlation with the domestic particularities of the

Romanian context.

In the following, the study relies on two working hypotheses:

1. We first argue that one of the main factors hindering a successful integration of

Roma is the Romanian conception of the nation state. The interests of the Romanian state

influence definitions of who does and who does not belong to the nation. Hence, for

understanding the possible degree of accommodation of the Roma as a distinct cultural

group within the nation, we should first look at the conception of Romanian nationhood

and its repercussions.

2. The second hypothesis asserts that another major factor posing considerable

barriers to the integration process is found in the specific historical evolution of the

relations between the Roma and the majority society. Over time, these relations came to be

defined by important ethnic tensions and high degrees of social exclusion.

Combining the two hypotheses, the study argues that:

The Romanian concept of nationhood and the roots of social exclusion of the Roma

are two of the key aspects that challenge the current efforts to integrate the Roma.

27 More on minority debate in Eastern Europe in Kymlicka, Will (2004): Justice and Security in the Accommodation of Minority Nationalism; in May, Stephen; Modood, Tariq, and Squires, Judith (2004): Ethnicity, Nationalism and Minority Rights; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

15

The examination and interpretation of the Romanian national self-understanding on the

one side, and the nature of the social relations between the Roma and the majority society

on the other, are therefore the primary issues to debate upon which the research relies. (see

Figure 1)

Fig. 1: Hypotheses: The Romanian concept of nationhood and the roots of social exclusion of the Roma can

explain the unsuccessful process aiming at Roma integration.

BarriersintheProcessofRomaIntegration

HistoryofSocial

Exclusion

ConceptofNationhood

16

METHODOLOGY

The Issue

This thesis concentrates on the problems faced by the Roma community in Romania, and

on the challenge of addressing the social inclusion of the Roma, which is faced by

Bucharest’s regime and the international community. The focus is on a single-country

study – Romania, while the subjects of analysis are the Roma and the Romanian state in

the context of current integration policies.

Following the issue of Roma inclusion in the Romanian mainstream society, the study

outlines a socio-political approach to this problem. We first look at the current debate on

Roma in Romania, underlining actions and interactions of national and international actors

involved in the project of integration. Then we build a theoretical framework around

concepts of nationhood and social exclusion, and finally we turn to the study case for

operating the theoretical outcomes and for assessing them.

Aiming to step back and to present a more general view of the theoretical and empirical

landscape, the study proposes a qualitative discussion, mainly sustained by an analytical

approach.

The single country study provides space to visualize the situation of Roma in Romania

in detail and to discuss two of the relevant points in addressing the Romanian

accommodation of the Roma.

Data Collection For the Part I of the study, that aims to provide context for the current situation of the

Roma, literature on Roma and Romania is used. The general picture is anchored to the

purpose of the study by conveying, comparing and interpreting the most recent national

and international surveys addressing the Roma issue in Romania. In addition, official

declarations and political discourses selected from various Romanian media articles are

added to enhance the picture of Roma in the actual Romanian context.

In the Part II, for the theoretical framework on nationhood and social exclusion,

literature elucidating political science concepts, general theory of the state and sociology

are primarily utilized. As in the Part I of the study, the sections, which address the case

17

study, rely on literature on the Roma and Romania, and on the interpretation of the

achieved theoretical outcomes (see Figure 2).

Fig. 2: Methodology: Data Collection

SettingtheContext

LiteraturereviewonRoma

LiteraturereviewonRomania

Romanian/internationalsurveys

Oìcialdiscoursesanddeclarations

RelevantRomanian

mediaarticles

Homepagesofrelevant

institutions

TheoreticalFramework

Literatureonnationhoodandnationalism

Literatureonethnicity

Literatureonethniccon`lict

Literatureonethnic

minorities

Literatureonethnicpluralism

Literatureonsocialexclusion

StudyCase

LiteratureonRoma

LiteratureonRomania

Interpretationofavailableinformation

Comparasionofavailableinformation

18

OUTLINE OF THE STUDY

By accentuating the relevance of distinct perspectives in the current debate over Roma

integration - the understanding of the Romanian nationhood, and the historical relations

between Roma, the state and the mainstream society - this study aims to offer two suitable

explanations for the challenging project of Roma integration.

The subject is addressed in four main parts, consisting in distinct chapters.

Part I has a descriptive-explicative character and, after an overview on the Roma political

mobilization that emerged after the collapse of communism, concentrates on the Romanian

debate on Roma integration.

Chapter 1 introduces the new Roma rhetoric and the emergence of Roma political

activism after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. These developments mark the

moment when Roma mobilization first interacted and even influenced the European

policies.

Chapter 2 allows an overview of the main challenges a large part of Roma face

nowadays, two decades after the fall of communism. A summary presentation of key

problems like poverty, precarious education, or the status of Roma in the labour market

will be provided, while light will be also shed on aspects of discrimination and migration

of Roma to other countries of Europe.

Chapter 3 maps out the most important national and international actors, and looks at

legal tools that address Roma integration. This perspective creates a window into the main

international structures dealing with minority issues in general and Roma issues in specific

on the one side, and important national structures addressing Roma matters at national

level on the other one. The section offers a comprehensive picture of key actors involved

in the projects of Roma integration and of basic documents supporting this project.

Chapter 4 focuses on Romania’s policies addressing inclusion of Roma. The activity

of a relevant governmental institution - The National Agency for Roma - and its interaction

with Roma civil society may deliver explanations regarding the challenges that the social

inclusion of Roma poses. Two main policies addressing Roma issues - the National

Strategy for Improving the Situation of Roma and the Decade of Roma Inclusion–will be

given special focus.

19

Part II consists of 4 intertwined chapters: two theoretical and othertwo related to the

case study.

Chapter 5 has a theoretical character and addresses working concepts of nationhood

drawing patterns of nationalism according to Brubaker’s model of inclusionary civic and

exclusionary ethnic national understanding. It aims to explore the connection between

these patterns of nationalism and the treatment of minorities by the nation state

Chapter 6 turns to the Romanian context, considering the process of nation building,

and tracing the influence of the Romanian national self-understanding on accommodation

of national minorities in general and the Roma in particular. The aim is to identify whether

the particular nature of Romanian nationhood has an inclusionary or an exclusionary

character. This aspect may deliver explanations for the current marginalization of the

culturally distinct Roma, and for the complicated process aiming at their integration.

Chapter 7 is the second theoretical chapter and attempts to determine the track along

which distinct cultural groups are excluded. Here we adapt Weber’s and Parkin’s Theory of

Social Closure that emphasizes the action of the state in the hierarchical stratification of

cultural groups. In all its temporal and spatial configurations, the state facilitates

exclusionary practices of certain groups, and the chapter discloses that strategies of social

closure and ethnic subordination are, therefore, not arbitrarily chosen.

Chapter 8 turns to the case of Roma, exploring the connections between the historical

stages of social exclusion they faced on the Romanian territory, and their current social

and stigmatization. The chapter visualizes key aspects of institutionalized slavery or ethnic

cleansing - pivotal moments when as a group the Roma were put in a context of exclusion

created by the state. Aiming to clarify the historical dynamics of social exclusion of the

Roma, this chapter underlines the crucial role of the state in facilitating exclusionary

practices of Roma The chapter traces the influence of structural discrimination on the

current attempts to integrate this minority.

Part III consists of Chapter 9 – a discussion of the outcomes and of Chapter 10 that

operates the verifications of hypotheses. This part highlights the idea that integration is not

possible unless efforts are taken for addressing manifestations of exclusory ethno-

nationalism and the institutionally rooted discrimination of Roma.

Finally, the Conclusion emphasizes the acute need for a suis generis approach in

addressing the Roma integration, underlining the deep lack of trust and acceptance that

dramatically defines the relations between Roma and the State and between Roma and

mainstream society.

20

I. SETTING THE CONTEXT: THE CASE OF ROMA MINORITY IN ROMANIA

CHAPTER 1: THE POST-COMMUNIST PERIOD - POLITICAL MOBILIZATION

AND RECOGNITION IN EUROPE

The democratization processes of the former communist states opened a new debate on

multicultural policies and minority rights, and the Roma minority used the new

opportunities to take its place on the political stage, and for the first time, to deal with its

own destiny.28

The beginning of the 1990s marked an important moment of Roma political

mobilization. The intelligentsia started to design a Roma view of their identity. The

centuries of stereotypes, myths and fantasy, but also exclusion and discrimination began to

be curtailed, and the new activists claimed, in an official framework, the recognition of

Roma as an ethnic group, as a people that despite their dispersed presence all over Europe

(and the world), shared a common heritage and a common culture.29

Supported by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the

Council of Europe, Roma leaders stressed the particular problems of the Roma and

claimed special attention of this minority. In the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference

on the Human Rights Dimension of the CSCE in 1990, these particular problems of the

Roma minority signalled the beginning of an approach that recognized the Roma as a

transnational minority without a motherland facing different problems than “normal”

national minorities – a milestone in gaining recognition of the special situation of the

Roma.30

With the Recommendation 1203 adopted by the Council of Europe in 1993, the

situation of the Roma was placed in a European context. The official recognition as a

28 Cooper, Belinda (2001): We have no Martin Luther King; in World Policy Journal, 18/4: 77. 29 Gaarde, Signe (2006): Recreating the Roma. Policies and Activism; Department for Minority Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen: 4. 30 Ibid: 23.

21

minority living scattered all over Europe, not having a country to call their own, lead to

the status of True European Minority.31

The importance of the EU enlargement for Roma integration and their identity building

process cannot be overstated. In 2007, with the integration of Romania and Bulgaria in the

European structures, approximately three million Roma became European citizens and

increased the number of the total Roma living in the European Union to circa 12 million

citizens. The Roma were recognized as Europe’s largest transnational minority32.

From an international perspective the two most important organizations representing

Roma interests are: the International Romani Union (IRU), and the Roma National

Congress (RNC).33 Both organizations represent hundreds of national Roma organizations

and have had some success in attracting the attention of international bodies such as the

Council of Europe, OSCE and the European Union. In 2000 IRU adopted a declaration

named We, the Roma Nation, stating that “We ask for being recognized as a Nation for the

sake of the Roma and of non-Roma individuals, who share the need to deal with the new

challenges nowadays.”34 Roma authors such as Ian Hancock, Nicolae Gheorghe, or

Andrzej Mirga outlined in their papers and books the elements of Roma mobilization35.

Some of them went further and emphasized even common elements favourable for the

process of nation building. Values such as a shared history of persecution, a common

culture of travelling and living in the moment, and a Romani cooking tradition36 were used

as arguments for a shared culture, as preconditions for a potential nation-building

process37.

31 Recommendation 1203 on Gypsies in Europe, adopted by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly in February 1993: http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta93/EREC1203.htm 32 Gaarde, Signe (2006): Recreating the Roma. Policies and Activism; Department for Minority Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen: 67. 33 Thelen, Peter (2005): Roma Policy: The Long Walk Towards Political Participation; in Roma in Europe. From Social Exclusion to Active Participation. Skopje: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung: 40. 34 IRU (2000), cited in Thelen, Peter (2005): Roma Policy: The Long Walk Towards Political Participation, in: Roma in Europe. From Social Exclusion to Active Participation; Skopje: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung: 42. 35 See: Hancock Ian (2000): Roma: Genocide of in the Holocaust; in: Israel W. Charny (ed.) Encyclopedia of Genocide, CA: ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara; Liégeois, Jean-Pierre & Gheorghe, Nicolae (1995): Roma/Gypsies: A European Minority; Minority Rights Group International Report, or Mirga, Andrzej (2005): Roma and EU Accession: Elected and Appointed Romani Representatives in an Enlarged Europe; in: Roma in Europe. From Social Exclusion to Active Participation. Skopje, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. 36 Gaarde, Signe (2006): Recreating the Roma. Policies and Activism; Department for Minority Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen: 22. 37 As we will see in the theoretical Chapter 5, the scientific debate around nationalism underlines that distinct shared values are significant in building a nation. Smith’s definition reflects this view. He describes the nation as a human population occupying an historic territory, sharing common myths and memories, distinctive public culture, a common economy, and common laws and customs. See Smith, Anthony D. (2003): The Poverty of Anti-Nationalist Modernism; in Nations and Nationalism: 359; Vol 9, Issue 3.

22

In 2004 the Roma organizations established the European Roma and Travellers Forum

(ERTF), which has advisory status to the Council of Europe, thus formalising a

cooperation that had already begun in 1994. The OSCE is another major international actor

that comprises a specific Roma office - the ODIHR’s Contact Point for Roma and Sinti

Issues.

The activities of all these bodies are mostly directed at an international level, and their

efforts are mainly concentrated on combating discrimination and fostering social inclusion

for a large number of European Roma.

As we will see in the next chapters a conceptual and legal framework covering these

aims has been developed, but in spite of all these positive developments, the reality

provides a tragic dimension: “the true European minority” confronts increasing

marginalization and substandard living conditions.

23

CHAPTER 2: CURRENT CHALLENGES FOR THE ROMANIAN ROMA

Severe poverty, unemployment, low education, discriminatory treatments, precarious

housing and health care conditions: These are core features persistently addressed in all

recent sociological surveys, or media contents referring to Roma in Romania. There are

also significant international bodies addressing the deploring conditions that Roma live in.

Among the most relevant are: the Center for Documentation and Information on

Minorities in Europe – Southeast Europe (CEDIME-SE), The Advisory Committee (AC)

on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Council of

Europe), as well as international NGO’s like the Open Society Institute or the European

Roma Rights Centre (ERRC).

In the following we shall present some of the main challenges that are present in

current Romania when speaking about the Roma minority. These are linked to poverty,

education, labour market, discrimination and migration, and shall be addressed in turn.

2.1. Poverty and General Social Status

Compared to the mainstream society and to other national minorities settled in Romania,

the Roma are separated from the rest of the population especially by their social

condition.38 A poverty assessment recognized by the World Bank in 2007 reveals that there

are no significant differences between the level of welfare of the ethnic Hungarians (5.9%)

or Germans (0.5%) and the Romanian majority population. Referring to Roma, the study

shows very wide differences between them and all other groups.39 In 2006, statistics

indicated that the gap between the Roma and average Romanians increased: “if in 2003 the

Roma poverty risk was three times higher than the national average, in 2006 it was more

than four times higher”, the World Bank noted40 (see Figure 3).

38 Boia, Lucian (2001); Romania. Borderland of Europe; Reaktion Books, London: 215-216, and World Bank (2007): Romania: Poverty Assessment. Analytical and Advisory assistance Program: First Phase Report, Fiscal Year 2007. 39 World Bank (2007): Romania: Poverty Assessment. Analytical and Advisory Assistance Program: First Phase Report, Fiscal Year 2007: 10. 40 Ibid: 23.

24

Fig. 3: Risk of Being Poor, 2006 (World Bank, 2007)

Romania has known important economical growth in this period, and this situation can

lead to the conclusion that most Roma did not take advantage of this progress.

A considerable portion of Romanian Roma habitually occupy the lowest stage on

the socio-economical hierarchy, are socially despised, politically powerless, often

undereducated, and confined to marginal occupations.41 Almost all crimes are attributed to

Roma, while the Roma culture is generally treated with disapproval and disrespect.42

Therefore, the Roma of Romania continue to be considered as the others, the aliens, but at

the same time also as second-hand citizens. For a large majority of Romanians, to be a

Roma means more than belonging to an ethnic group. The concept of Roma embodies the

conjunction of ethnicity and class, and, as Lucian Boia points, the members of the Roma

community are found “guilty of most troubles that have befallen the Romanians”.43

2.2. Education

The available data concerning participation in schools shows a highly difficult situation for

Roma children in Romania. The Romanian Ministry of Education indicates that currently,

12 to 20% of Roma pupils drop-out of primary and secondary schools, while 20% are not

enrolled at all. 44 The tendencies concerning education of Roma are alarming, since

statistics indicate an increased percentage of Roma who have no graduation certificate

41 Esman, Milton J. (2004) An Introduction to Ethnic Conflict, Polity Press; Cambridge: 12. 42 Ibid. 43 Boia, Lucian (2001): Romania. Borderland of Europe; Reaktion Books, London: 192. 44 Ministry of Education and Research (2008): Education Development National Report on Romania: 30-31.

25

(from 25.1% in 1997 to 34.3% in 2007), while the illiteracy rate among Roma has risen,

especially in the post communist period, to 40%.45 (According to Save the Children Romania, in

only the decade 1997-2007 the number of illiterate Roma rose from 57,100 to 104,737).46

Initial post-communist studies of Zamfir and Zamfir indicated in 1993 that there was a

correlation between children’s participation in education and the participation of their

parents in the labour market, their degree of education and the living conditions.47

Therefore, the children are more likely to regularly attend school if their fathers are

employed, if their mothers had attended school more than eight years, and if they lived in

mixed (not ethnically segregated) communities.48

Segregation in schools appears as a relevant factor in the quality of schools, since in the

segregated classes every seventh teacher is unqualified, 57% of segregated schools are not

provided with heating possibilities, 56% have no laboratory, and 87% have no medical

assistance.49

The socialist legacy of defectology, which, by ignoring the environmental conditions,

assumes that differences between pupils are results of disabilities, has prevailed many

years after the break of communism. In Romania, legal steps in prohibiting school

segregation were first taken in 2007.50 Nevertheless, a year later, a study realized by

UNICEF and Romani Criss (a Roma NGO) indicated that the legislation against school

segregation was not applied in 63% of the surveyed schools, while the legislation was

generally unknown to the schools’ personnel, including school directors.51 The Ministry of

Education and Research notes in a 2008 report that “the Romani students have access to an

educational system of lower quality, which is also revealed by the significantly lower ratio

45 Ministry of Education and Research, The Institute of Educational Sciences, The Research Institute for Quality of Life, and UNICEF (2002) Roma Children Participation in Education – Problems, Solutions and Actors: 8, Bucharest. 46 Save the Children Romania, Roma Children’s Rights Protection: The Right To Equal Chances – Non Discrimination, http://www.savethechildren.net/romania_en/ce_facem/programe/rromi.html and Educational System, http://www.savethechildren.net/romania_en/copiii_romania/sistemul_invatamant.html#content 47 Zamfir, Elena and Zamfir, Catalin (1993): Gypsies: Between Ignoring Them and Worrying About Them, Alternative, Bucharest, cited in Ringold, Dena; Orenstein; A. Mitchell and Wilkens, Erika (2002): Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle; The World Bank (Conference Edition), Washington: 99. 48 Zamfir, Elena and Zamfir, Catalin (1993): Gypsies: Between Ignoring Them and Worrying About Them, Alternative, Bucharest, cited in Ringold, Dena; Orenstein, A. Mitchell and Wilkens, Erika (2002): Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle; The World Bank (Conference Edition), Washington: 99. 49 Romani Criss (Roma Center for Social Intervention) and UNICEF Romania (2008): Monitoring the Application of Measures against School Segregation in Romania; MarLink, Bucharest: 3. 50 The Law MECT 1540 from 19.07.2007. See Romani Criss (Roma Center for Social Intervention) and UNICEF Romania (2008): Monitoring the Application of Measures against School Segregation in Romania, MarLink, Bucharest. 51 Romani Criss (Roma Center for Social Intervention) and UNICEF Romania (2008): Monitoring the Application of Measures against School Segregation in Romania, MarLink, Bucharest: 3.

26

of the students who pass the exam at the end of grade VIII”52 and that 4.3% of Roma

students graduate high school, while only 0.4% graduate from a higher education unit.53

Even if the low level of Roma participation in national education is evident, it is

important to note that the increasing school drop-out rate and the degree of illiteracy are

general tendencies for Romanian society as whole. In this field Romania has displayed, in

recent years, worrying developments with high school drop-out rates and difficulties with

literacy overall.54

Nevertheless, several studies revealed that Roma children are even more likely to

abandon school, with early drop out or non-enrolment scoring three times higher compared

to children belonging to mainstream society55.

2.3. Labour Market

Perhaps a tragic result of the post-communist transition for Roma was their status in the

labour market. Through active assimilation campaigns, the socialist system had moved

many Roma (but also non-Roma) from the informal and self-employed sector to full-time,

formal jobs.56 The full employment, the job security, resulting in guarantees of a minimal

income, and correlated with housing, childcare and health assistance were determinant

characteristics of Romanian socialist regimes. The famous Order 153 implemented in 1970

by the Ceausescu regime defined unemployment as “social parasitism”, a phenomenon

punishable with prison and forced labour.57 Even if often placed at the lowest level of

social hierarchy in the Socialist Republic of Romania, Roma, along with the rest of the

population, were assimilated into the industrialization process and the collectivization of

agriculture. Thus their unemployment rate was not different from that of non-Roma.

Following the revolution in 1989, many Roma, as well as other members of mainstream

society, were laid off, since several factories and kolkhoz were closed. The developments 52 Ministry of Education and Research (2008): Education Development National Report on Romania: 31. 53 Ibid: 30 54 In 2007, a European Union study rated Romania among the first five European countries in terms of school drop-out rates, with a rate of 19.2%, while in the context of alphabetization Romania occupied the last place in the European Union. At the 2006 PISA assessments, Romanian students obtained scores lower than those of 2001 for all tested subjects. For details see Ministry of Education and Research (2008): Education Development National Report on Romania. 55 Romani Criss (Roma Center for Social Intervention), Ministry of Education, Research and Youth and Roma Center “Amare Rromentza”(2008): The Project “Need for Quality and Equality in Education” (2006-2008), Romani Criss, Bucharest. 56 Ringold, Dena; Orenstein; A. Mitchell and Wilkens, Erika (2002): Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle; The World Bank (Conference Edition), Washington: 38-40. 57 Ibid: 38-39.

27

after this event indicate an increasing absence of the Roma in the labour market.58

Communism brought Roma advantages and disadvantages. Nevertheless, because the

Roma were incorporated in the public work force, the communist assimilation policies

were perceived by many Roma as positive59. In a report of Helsinki Watch, several Roma

admitted that they felt nostalgic about the Ceausescu era.

In this context, Belinda Cooper suggests that the Roma, suffering from unemployment,

lack of basic education and discrimination, became the biggest losers following the demise

of communism in Eastern Europe, where they are mainly concentrated, and actually have

reasons to look back nostalgically to the days of communism.60

Though most authors agree that the unemployment rate among Roma is much higher

than that of the majority population, it is impossible to find concrete data. In 2003, the

Romanian study “the Access of Roma to the Labour Market” stated: “the occupational

degree of Roma population in Romania is much deeper than that of the population at the

national level (47% to 61%).“61 According to a 2007 study of the Open Society Institute,

“the unemployment rate among Roma is estimated as being between 24% and 56%,

although cases of 90% to 100% may be registered in some disadvantaged Roma

communities”.62

The unemployment rate of the Roma reflects both, low qualification and exclusion,

while Roma are generally “last hired and first fired”.63 Beside the low qualification, an

important exclusion factor is revealed by the total lack of identity documents for 3.1% of

the declared Roma population64. This very fact excludes appreciatively 47,000 persons

from every right guaranteed by Romanian citizenship.65 This is a typical situation that

favours negative chain reactions: the people who do not have identity documents have no

access to education, to the labour market, to social or health assistance, they are not able to

vote, to marry legally or to register their children.

58 See Ringold, Dena; Orenstein; A. Mitchell and Wilkens, Erika (2002): Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle; The World Bank (Conference Edition), Washington: 96. 59 Gaarde, Signe (2006): Recreating the Roma. Policies and Activism, Department for Minority Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen: 4. 60 Cooper, Belinda (2001): We have no Martin Luther King; in World Policy Journal, 18/4: 69-70. 61 Duminica, Gelu and Preda, Marian – Agentia de Dezvoltare Comunitara “Împreuna” (2003): The Roma Access to the Labor Market, Editura Cartii de Agribusiness, Bucharest: 26. 62 Open Society Institute, Monitoring Report (2007): Equal Access to Quality Education For Roma. Romania. Vol. 1 - Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, OSI/EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program;Budapest, New York: 405. 63 Ringold, Dena; Orenstein, A. Mitchell and Wilkens, Erika (2002): Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle; The World Bank (Conference Edition), Washington: 96. 64 Duminica, Gelu and Preda, Marian – Agentia de Dezvoltare Comunitara “Împreuna” (2003): The Roma Access to the Labour Market, Editura Cartii de Agribusiness, Bucharest: 27. 65 Ibid: 51.

28

The official statistics do not tell the whole story about the status of Roma in the labour

market, since their increasing absence here is counterweighted by an intense dynamism of

Roma members in the informal sector. A survey of 2003 indicates that 71.1% of the

declared Roma individuals are working in the black market66 (day labour, casual and self-

employment), having an instable income and no access to insurances or other social

services related to the legal work market. Studies repeatedly emphasize a more active

search for jobs on the part of Roma than is average among the total population67. This

phenomenon can be explained by the fact that since most of the declared Roma are

engaged in short-term informal work, frequently having more than one job, they

automatically may be more active in looking for work.

Official Romanian studies on Roma access to the labour market insistently draw

attention to the auto-exclusion of Roma from the labour market, mentioning only

marginally the possibility of discriminatory treatments against Roma68. Nevertheless, in

the last years, aspects of racism and discrimination in the labour market received notice in

the governmental studies, facilitating a more transparent view of the discriminatory social

structures and the impact of this phenomenon on the general desolate life condition of

many Roma.

2.4. Migration

After Romania’s integration into the European Union structures in 2007, new mobility

possibilities for the Romanian citizens were created. Their increasing mobility in the

European area and the growing number of Romanian migrants belonging to the Roma

community revealed not only an instable economical system in their homeland, but also

the weakness of the Romanian state in managing the minority integration. Therefore, the

challenges to Bucharest’s regime regarding Roma policies crossed the borders and became

well known themes throughout Europe.69

66 Ibid: 27. 67 Surveys in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary indicated a more active behavior of unemployed Roma in looking for jobs compared to the total of unemployed population. For details see Ringold, Dena; Orenstein, A. Mitchell and Wilkens, Erika (2002): Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle; The World Bank (Conference Edition), Washington: 41. 68 See Duminica, Gelu and Preda, Marian – Agentia de Dezvoltare Comunitara “Împreuna” (2003): The Roma Access to the Labour Market, Editura Cartii de Agribusiness, Bucharest. 69 In the perspective of Europeanization, not only the people were free to move in a borderless place, but also even nation state affaires were “exported” and became international problems.

29

The migration of Romanian Roma and an intense media coverage of criminal acts of

some of them, especially in Italy, alerted European public opinion and emphasized the

profound internal crisis regarding the minorities’ question in Romania. At the same time,

Romanian society became more racist in its reactions against the Roma minority,70 and

even if 20.6 % of respondents in a 2009 study did not agree that Roma are living in

Romania,71 in general, Romanians are not happy when the Roma leave the country. The

most often voiced argument of their concern is that Roma are making a laughing stock of

Romania and damaging the country’s image abroad.72 At the same time, many Romanians

are revolted that the Europeans generally do not perceive the Roma as ethnically and

culturally different from the Romanians (although according to their citizenship the Roma

are Romanians too). Therefore, even the name of the minority, Roma, is highly debated,

and in 2009 a national newspaper launched a public initiative for the recurrence of the term

Ţigani for designating the Roma population, in order to avoid the confusion between the

ethnic group and Romanians: “Our initiative is all the more legitimate because the

violations, carried out by the members of the Ţigani ethnic group in Italy or other

European countries, have led to the unfortunate confusion Roma/Romanian and the

anathema hits the entire Romanian people,”73 Jurnalul National states.

2.5. Discrimination and social exclusion

Discrimination remains one of the most acute problems that Roma of Romania must

confront. Even if still a taboo, recent Romanian studies74 refer to an old issue in Romanian

society: the structural discrimination of Roma.

The results of the Opinion Barometer concerning discrimination in Romania75 show

alarming results concerning discrimination in Romanian public life in 2004. Followed only

by AIDS-infected individuals and homosexuals, the Roma, and generally the categories 70 See for example the increasing public actions against Roma of the ultra nationalist movement “Noua Dreapta” (The New Right): http://www.nouadreapta.org/limbistraine.php?lmb=eng 71 The National Agency for Roma (2009): Project S.P.E.R. (Stop Prejudices about Roma Ethnicity) / The Barometer of Interethnic Relations (May-June 2009); realized by IMAS: 47: http://www.sper.org.ro/ 72 Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 170. 73 Jurnalul National, 17/03/2009, Proiect de Lege Jurnalul National: “Tigan” in loc de “Rom” (Draft Proposal Jurnalul National: “Tigan” in Place of “Roma”) http://www.jurnalul.ro/stire-tigan-in-loc-de-rom/propunere-jurnalul-national-tigan-in-loc-de-rom-145427.html 74 See Metro Media Transylvania (2004): Opinion Barometer Concerning the Discrimination in Romania: http://www.mmt.ro/Engleza/portofoliu.htm or The National Agency for Roma (2009): Project S.P.E.R. (Stop Prejudices about Roma Ethnie): http://www.sper.org.ro/ 75 Metro Media Transylvania (2004): Opinion Barometer Concerning the Discrimination in Romania: http://www.mmt.ro/Engleza/portofoliu.htm

30

affected by poverty, appear as the most discriminated group in the labour market,

hospitals, schools, and in public places, as well as in their relations with public and judicial

institutions.76 Taking into consideration that in Romania, at the same time, a large

percentage of individuals belonging to the Roma minority are affected by extreme

poverty,77 poor Roma present the risk of multiple discriminations based not only on

ethnicity, but also on class or social position.

In 2009, a study of the National Agency for Roma78 presented a dramatic perception of

Roma in Romanian Society. Concerning the general image of Roma, most respondents

consider that Roma are lazy and thieves, 48.8% would not accept Roma as neighbours,

54.9% would not agree to have Roma friends, while 70% would not accept Roma into their

family. Only 1.2% trust the Roma people, 52% consider that minority protection in

Romania is sufficient; while 21% consider that ethnic minorities have too many rights in

Romania.

The study concludes that Roma are, as a group, victims of structural and systemic social

exclusion, marked by episodically organized violence. There have been bloody

confrontations between Romanians and entire Roma communities, especially in the 1990s,

but also recently, in 2007 and 2009.79

Discrimination is very prominent as well in media coverage and even in political

discourse.

The media plays an important role in discrimination and Romanian journalists seem to

have a clear agenda in presenting the Roma in a predominantly negative light. A media

analysis80 (December 2008-May 2009) calls attention to the four issues most promoted in

the TV news and in print media where Roma were contextualized: migration, infractions,

social issues, and acts of violence. The same survey generally observes an exchanged 76 Ibid: 35-50. 77 See World Bank (2007): Romania: Poverty Assessment. Analytical and Advisory assistance Program: First Phase report, fiscal year 2007. 78 The National Agency for Roma (2009): Project S.P.E.R. (Stop Prejudices about Roma Ethnicity). 79 In the 1990s, the Romanian society was troubled by several violent clashes between the local majority population (Romanians or Hungarians) and Roma. One of the most brutal conflicts was in 1993 in Hadareni (Mures county), and involved Romanians and Hungarians on one side, and members of local Roma community on the other one. As a result of the ethnic clash, on 20th of September 1993, 4 people died, 14 houses were burnt and other 4 houses were severely damaged. See National Agency for Roma. http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:czso8cywL3UJ:www.undp.ro/download/Hadareni%202007%20-%202008%20Project%20Document%20EN_1.pdf+conflict+between+romanians+and+roma,+hadareni&cd=2&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=ch&client=firefox-a. Further tensions between the local majority population and local Roma community were recorded also in 2007 in Apata (Brasov county), in 2009, again in Hadareni (Mures county), in the village of Racos (Brasov county) and in the two villages Sanmartin si Sancraieni (Harghita county) with a Hungarian majority population. 80 For details see the National Agency for Roma (2009): Project S.P.E.R. (Stop Prejudices about Ethnicity of Roma): The Image of Roma Ethnics in the Print Media and the TV news. Media Analysis Report, December 2008-May 2009: http://www.sper.org.ro/

31

perspective in portraying Roma in Romanian media: “the Roma are not stealing children

anymore, but they damage the country’s image abroad”81. According to the study, most

Romanian journalists invest passionate efforts in clarifying the terms: “The Roma are not

Romanians. In fact they are Ţigani.”82

The discriminatory public media discourse is accompanied again and again by racist

statements from Romanian politicians, not including the usual xenophobe speeches of

extreme-right political movements.

Following an intensely publicized criminal act where Romanian Roma were presumed

to be involved, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Adrian Cioroianu said in a 2007

television interview that he had considered “buying a piece of land in the Egyptian desert

to send there all the people who tarnish the country’s image”.83 After critical public

reactions to his declaration, Cioroianu apologized publicly for his “human reaction”,

mentioning that he referred only to delinquents.84

Even the Romanian president was accused of discriminatory rhetoric against the Roma

community. In 2007 Traian Băsescu was recorded making an unfair statement while a

journalist was filming him shopping with his wife. Băsescu could be heard referring to the

journalist as a “stinky Gypsy”. After vehement public reactions from several national and

international organizations condemning the discriminatory phrase, the Presidency said in a

press release that Băsescu’s statement was due to “media and public pressure, and does

not represent the attitude of the President towards the Gypsy community in Romania.”85

Amnesty International condemned the Romanian authorities for failing to adopt effective

measures in combating discrimination against Roma, both by public officials and in society

at large, and underlined that: “the High Court of Cassation and Justice ruled that the

phrase ‘stinky gypsy’, used by President Traian Băsescu when referring to a journalist in

81 Ibid: 4. 82 Ibid: 5. 83 See Roma Rights Network (2009): Roma in Romania: http://www.romarights.net/content/roma-romania 84 See Gardianul, 6/11/2007: Lectia de Istorie: Cioroianu viseaza deportarea Romilor in desertul Egiptean (The History’ Lection: Cioroianu Dreams about Deportation of Roma in the Desert): http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:7_cPwgF__DYJ:www.gardianul.ro/2007/11/06/externe-c3/lectia_de_istorie_fascistul_cioroianu_viseaza_la_deportarea_rromilor_in_desert-s104097.html+cioroianu,+gluma,+desertul+egiptean&cd=3&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=ch&client=firefox-a 85 Rroma Page, 27/5/2008: Romania Leader let off over Gypsy Slur: http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:9RSvQ2szayMJ:www.romapage.hu/europa/hircentrum/article/114278/191/page/5/+press+release+that+Basescu%E2%80%99s+statement+was+due+to+%E2%80%9Cmedia+and+public+pressure&cd=1&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=ch&client=firefox-a

32

May 2007, was discriminatory.”86 Finally, the Court did not sanction Băsescu, giving the

reason that the remark had been made during a private conversation.

The position of Romanian authorities – official or not – versus Roma, contributes to the

marginalization of the Roma community, and to further social fissures capable of

generating dangerous circumstances and underlining tensions in Romania.87

86 Amnesty International Report (2009): State of the World’s Human Rights. Romania: http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:PeKDrLNVBTwJ:report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/europe-central-asia/romania+amnesty+international,+basescu&cd=7&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=ch&client=firefox-a 87 Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 170.

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CHAPTER 3: THE GOVERNMENTAL PROJECT OF ROMA INTEGRATION

In recent years, several developments drew notable attention to difficulties faced by Roma:

the expansion of the European Union, the prioritization of the Roma issue by the Council

of Europe, the active policy of the Romanian Government and the various activities of

several non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Governments of Central and South-

Eastern Europe and the civil society, together with the international community, initiated

and supported comprehensive programmes to not only overcome but also address the

social exclusion of Roma. For an understanding of these programmes and their promoters

it is necessary to sketch an overview on the various actors implied in supporting the

programs of Roma integration.

3.1. International and National Actors

3.1.1. The International Level - Actors and Legal Tools

Dealing with aspects that concern the protection of national minorities in general and with

the Roma issue in particular, a suitable legal tool is available. Especially after the collapse

of communist regimes, when extreme ethno-nationalism gained new salience and

interethnic hostilities took place in several European states,88 the protection of national

minorities acquired considerable importance.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),89 until 1995 the

Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), is the international institution

that first recognized the particular problems of the Roma, in the Document of the

Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, a

conference in which Romania also participated in 1990: The participating States clearly and unequivocally condemn totalitarianism, racial and ethnic

hatred, anti-semitism, xenophobia and discrimination against anyone as well as persecution on

88 See Diamond, Larry and Plattner, Mark F. (1994): Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict and Democracy; The Johns Hopkins University Press, London. 89 The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Concerning its activity in the field of minority rights, the OSCE's approach is to seek early resolution of ethnic tensions, and to set standards for the rights of persons belonging to minority groups. For details see OSCE at: http://www.osce.org/

34

religious and ideological grounds. In this context, they also recognize the particular problems of

Roma (Gypsies).90 The 1990 Copenhagen Document is seen as a milestone in gaining acknowledgment for the

special situation of Roma, in that they were recognized therein as a “transnational minority

without a kin state, confronted with distinct problems than normal national minorities”.91

In the context of Roma protection, it is also important to mention here the sustained

efforts of the Council of Europe (CoE)92 in developing an ample range of activities on the

specific problems, with which Roma in Europe are confronted. As a member of the

Council of Europe since 1993, in the last two decades the Romanian government has

advocated several strategies for improving the social and political status of Roma by

ratifying a number of international covenants, concerning social, ethnic and racial

discrimination such as: the European Social Charter,93 the European Charter for Regional

or Minority Languages,94 the European Convention on Human Rights,95 or the Framework

Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.96

90 The Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, section IV, paragraph 40, p. 21: http://www.osce.org/ 91 Gaarde, Signe (2006): Recreating the Roma. Policies and Activism; Department for Minority Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen: 23. 92 The Council of Europe is an international institution, actively involved in the protection of national minorities. Concerning Roma issues, within the Council of Europe functions the Roma and Travellers Division. For details see: http://www.coe.int/aboutCoe/default.asp and http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/romatravellers/Default_en.asp 93 The European Social Charter (revised) entered into force in Romania in 1999 and guarantees the enjoyment, without discrimination, of fundamental social and economic rights of all individuals in their daily lives: right to protection against poverty and social exclusion; right to housing; right to protection in cases of termination of employment; right to equal opportunities and equal treatment, etc. For details see Council of Europe: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/163.htm 94 The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages entered into force in Romania in 2008 and aims to maintain and to develop the Europe's cultural traditions and heritage, and to respect an inalienable and commonly recognized right to use a regional or minority language in private and public life. For details see: European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Strasbourg, 5.XI.1992, at: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/148.htm 95 The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, also called the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), entered into force in Romania in 1994. ECHR and its additional Protocols set forth a number of fundamental rights and freedoms like the right to life, prohibition of slavery and forced labour, right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association, prohibition of discrimination, etc. To ensure the observance of the engagements undertaken by the Parties, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has been set up. For details see The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Rome, 4.XI.1950, at: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/005.htm 96 The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) entered into force in Romania in 1998. FCNM represents the first legally binding multilateral instrument concerned with the protection of national minorities and aims to protect the existence of national minorities within the respective territories of the Parties. The Convention promotes as key standard for minority protection the full and effective equality of national minorities by creating appropriate conditions enabling them to preserve and develop their culture and to retain their identity. For details see The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Strasbourg, 1.II.1995, at: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/157.htm.

35

As a member of the United Nations (UN), Romania committed itself to the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, including the United Nations Declaration in the Rights of

Persons Belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities97.

3.1.2. The National Level: The Romanian Government, its Strategies and its

Interactions with Roma Civil Society

In 2000-2001, significant steps, such as enacting anti-discrimination legislation, and

allowing the use of minority languages in areas where minorities constitute at least 20% of

the population,98 were taken. Simultaneously, several institutions specialized in dealing

with minority issues were established. In essence, alongside a shift in governmental

policies regarding Roma, new institutions such as the Council for National Minorities, the

Department for the Protection of National Minorities and the Office for National

Integration of Roma were set up.99 Later they were concentrated in the Department of

Interethnic Relations and the National Agency for Roma. The National Agency for Roma

is currently the main actor implementing the government’s policies in fostering Roma

integration.

Beside governmental institutions, more than 150 NGO’s play a critical role in

supporting the inclusion of the Roma in Romanian society. One such notable NGO is the

Roma Center for Social Intervention and Studies (Romani Criss),100 which is a constant

partner of the Romanian Government in implementing policies concerning Roma.

There are also two political parties representing Roma on the central level: the Roma

Party (RP) and the Alliance of Roma Unity (ARU).101 But despite the concerted efforts of

the Romanian Government and various NGO’s at Roma integration, there is no strong

political representation for Roma in Romania. How many Roma are in the Parliament?

97 The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities indicates that States should accommodate their ethnically diverse populations through rule of law and democratic governance. The aim presented in the preamble is to strength the “friendship and cooperation among peoples and States”. For details see The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities, adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1992/16, 21 February 1992 and by the General Assembly in its resolution 47/135 on 18 December 1992, at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/minorities.htm. 98 Roma are not concerned by this law, since they don’t live concentrated in a single geographical area. 99 Ringold, Dena; Orenstein, A. Mitchell and Wilkens, Erika (2002): Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle; The World Bank (Conference Edition), Washington: 118. 100 For details see: http://www.romanicriss.org/en.html 101 For details see National Democratic Institute for International Affaires (2003): Roma Political Participation in Romania; Open Society Institute, Washington D.C.

36

International actors such as the Open Society Institute, the World Bank, the European

Commission, the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe, and the Council of Europe play an influential role in supporting the government;

in addition, various local NGOs play a role in conducting several strategies for improving

Roma participation in society.

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CHAPTER 4: MAIN GOVERNMENTAL ACTIONS FOR ROMA INTEGRATION –

STRATEGIES, KEY ACTORS AND THEIR INTERACTION

For an understanding of the recent national development in addressing the Roma issue, we

direct our attention to the National Agency for Roma (NAR), the main governmental actor

dealing with national and international projects on Roma. We concentrate on the functions

the NAR fulfils, its interaction with Roma civil society and at the two major governmental

strategies implying national and international partners: The National Strategy for

Improving the Situation of Roma and The Decade of Roma Inclusion.

4.1. The National Agency for Roma

The National Agency for Roma has been active since 2005 and was created as a result of

volatile actions on the part of different governments in addressing Roma related issues (see

Figure 4).

Fig, 4: The History of the National Agency for Roma (1997-2010)

A first government office for Roma affaires was first established in 1997 under the

name the National Office of Roma (NOR). The NOR was set up as a governmental section

dealing with Roma Issues within the Department of the Protection of National Minorities

(DPNM). In 2001 the DPNM was reorganized and became a division of the Ministry for

Public Information (MPI). At the same time the name of DPNM was changed into

• DepartmentforProtectionofNationalMinorities• (Government)

1997NationalOf/iceforRoma

• DepartmentforInterethnicRelations• (MinistryofPublicInformation)

2001NationalOf/iceforRoma • Departmentfor

InterethnicRelations• (Government)

2003TheOf/iceforRoma

Problems

• GeneralSecretariatoftheGovernment• (Government)

2004TheNationalAgency

forRoma

38

Department for Interethnic Relations (DIR), where the NOR continued to function. In

2003, DIR was transferred from MPI (no longer extant) back to the governmental

structures, while NOR, still functioning inside DIR, was renamed the Office for Roma

Problems (ORP). In 2004, ORP was renamed the National Agency for Roma (NAR) and

was subordinated to the General Secretariat of the Government (GSG).

Since 2005, the NAR functions as successor of the NOR and the ORP and is responsible

for the implementation of governmental objectives concerning Roma issues. Today, the

NAR fulfils four main functions:102 (see Figure 5)

Fig. 5: Main Functions of the National Agency for Roma

At the internal level, the NAR is responsible for coordinating the National Strategy for

Improving the Situation of Roma, a governmental ten-year project adopted in 2001.

The agency has a cooperation agreement with the National Agency for the Employment

of the Labour Force, and organizes joint initiatives with the purpose of improving the

employment rate among the Romanian Roma.

At the international level, NAR coordinates Romania’s involvement in the Decade of

Roma Inclusion, a ten-year cooperation between twelve European governments, aimed at

improving the social and economic condition of Roma.

102 National Agency for Roma http://www.anr.gov.ro/index.html

•  elaborationofpublicpoliciesandprogramsforRoma;

STRATEGY

•  offundsdestinedtoprogramsforimprovingRomacommunities;ADMINISTRATION

•  oftheRomanianGovernmentinallinternalandexternaloccurrencesconcerningRomaissues

REPRESENTATION

•  guaranteeingthecontroloverandimplementationofarrangementsconcerningRomapublicpolicies.

STATEAUTHORIZATION

39

The president of NAR has the rank of a State Secretary and is named by the prime

minister, upon the recommendation of the minister delegated for coordinating the General

Secretariat of the Government.

Concerning the interaction of governmental institutions and the Roma civil society,

there are several tensions related to communications problems, representation and

questionable will of cooperate.

For instance, the 2009 appointment of the new president of the National Agency for

Roma received a lot of dissent within Roma civil society. Several NGO’s, as well as the

Roma Party, accused the state institutions noting (…) the way Government appointed the new Chairman of the NAR illustrates a political

attitude in the absence of transparency, against the democratic principles, with no previous

consultancy with the representatives of Roma civil society.103 The protesters questioned the professional competencies of the new NAR chairman (a

former member of the Roma Party, who obtained his Bachelor Diploma only in 2009)104

and expressed their concern regarding “the actual government responsibility towards not

only Roma minority from Romania, but also towards the government representation in its

relation with the international partners”.105

The Romanian president, Traian Băsescu, who characterized himself as a player on the

political stage upholds the hostility between Government and the Roma civil societies with

his already notorious populist rhetoric. In a public statement he summed up that “we have

a behavioural problem in the Roma community”, and he put in question the activity of

Roma representatives: We have many institutions dealing with the Roma, many programs and strategies, we take part in

many symposia, but I don’t know how many representatives of this minority (…) took a Roma child

by the hand and got him to school. We must take down the mask and act where needed.106 He also accused the Roma civil society of developing propaganda programs and hiding the

reality about Roma: As long as, fearing some ladies or gentlemen from various foundations, we hide and, for instance,

deny that we have a big problem with the Roma community, nothing can be done to solve it.107

103 Divers Bulletin no. 96(339)/02/16/2009: Roma Organizations: We Want Transparency in Governmental Policies: http://www.divers.ro/eveniment_en?wid=37646&func=viewSubmission&sid=9659 104 Divers Bulletin no. 95(338)/02/09/2009: New Chairman at the National Agency for Roma: http://www.divers.ro/actualitate_en?wid=37647&func=viewSubmission&sid=9636 Site consulted in August 2009. 105 Divers Bulletin no. 96(339)/02/16/2009: Roma Organizations: We Want Transparency in Governmental Policies:http://www.divers.ro/eveniment_en?wid=37646&func=viewSubmission&sid=9659 106 Divers Bulletin no. 62(305)/05/12/2008: European Money for Roma Education. Critics from the President: http://www.divers.ro/opinii_en?wid=37649&func=viewSubmission&sid=8663 107 Ibid.

40

The Romani Criss’ president ironically “saluted” the evolution in Băsescu’s attitude

toward Roma: “he shifted from ‘stinky gipsy’ to ‘Roma communities’.”108 (See the Chapter

2.5. Discrimination and Social Exclusion).

Summing up, the interaction between government and Roma NGOs appears tense,

while there is a noted lack of communication, absence of criteria for cooperation and poor

dialogue between state institutions and Roma civil society.109

Some of the results of this uneasy cooperation and of two main projects of the NAR are

the subject of the following paragraphs.

4.2. The National Strategy for Improving the Situation of Roma

In 2001, The National Strategy for Improving the Situation of Roma was adopted; a ten-

year plan (2001-2010), which drafted goals like: ensuring conditions for the Roma to have

equal opportunities; supporting the formation and promotion of a Roma intellectual and

economic elite; removing the stereotypes, prejudices and practices that limit the access of

Roma ethnics to public services; or stimulating Roma participation in economic, social

and political life.110

Elaborated with the participation of Government, Roma leaders and a variety of

representatives of civil society, the National Strategy is perceived as a milestone in the

official policy toward Roma. While significant progress has been made in establishing

relevant institutions for implementing the policy, a 2006 study of the Word Bank notes that

“there is considerable variation in the degree to which they are currently able to achieve

the goals laid out in the strategy”, and that “much work remains to be done in elaborating

and strengthening the institutional framework and implementation.”111 At the same time,

several ambiguities concerning the implementation of the strategy are emphasized: no

concordance due to varying degree of institutional activities, and no clear criteria

concerning the appointment of local representatives, their concrete roles and

108 Ibid. 109 Divers Bulletin no. 96(339), 02/16/2009: Roma Organizations: We Want Transparency in Governmental Policies: http://www.divers.ro/eveniment_en?wid=37646&func=viewSubmission&sid=9659 110 See Government of Romania - Ministry of Public Information (2001): Strategy of the Government of Romania for Improving the Condition of the Roma: http://www.anr.gov.ro/site/Programe.html or Romanian Official Monitory No. 252, 16 May 2001. 111 Ringold, Dena; Orenstein, A. Mitchell and Wilkens, Erika (2002): Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle; The World Bank (Conference Edition), Washington: 119.

41

responsibilities. The project comes to an end in 2010, but due to a lack of monitoring and

evaluation, it is hard to measure the progress made in implementing the strategy.112

4.3.The Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015

Another notable governmental program for dealing with Roma issues is The Decade of

Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, an international initiative that joins together numerous

governmental and nongovernmental actors and is meant to combat exclusion and

discrimination of Roma by (…) adopting, implementing and monitoring measures meant to promote the social inclusion and the

equal opportunities for Roma people and also to suppress the segregationists and discriminatory

tendencies and behaviours the Roma people are frequently facing.113

The Decade is mainly launched by national governments and designed within the ten-year

timeframe 2005-2015, with a concrete focus on ensuring Roma equal access to education,

housing, employment and health care.

This political commitment brings together twelve countries114 with large Roma

populations and several local and international Roma civil society actors. The founding

international organizations of the Decade are the World Bank, the Open Society Institute,

the United Nations Development Program, the Council of Europe, the Council of Europe

Development Bank, (the Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues of the Office for

Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE), the European Roma Information

Office (COE), the European Roma and Traveller Forum, the European Roma Rights

Centre, the UN-HABITAT, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHC)

and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).115

The Decade Watch116 2005-2006, the first periodical assessment of outcomes of the

Decade of Roma Inclusion, noted that Romania was confronted with cooperation

112 Ibid: 121 113 The Government of Romania (2006): The National Agency for Roma, The Decade of Roma Inclusion. One Year of Romanian Presidency July 2005- June 2006, Bucharest: 8: www.anr.gov.ro 114 The twelve countries currently taking part in the Decade are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain. For a detailed survey of The decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015. For details see http://www.romadecade.org/ 115 Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015: http://www.romadecade.org/about and The World Bank: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/ROMANIAEXTN/0,,menuPK:275159~pagePK:141159~piPK:141110~theSitePK:275154,00.html 116 The Decade Watch is a periodical assessment of outcomes of the Decade of Roma Inclusion that identifies, monitories and compare government’ action across all countries. The Decade Watch is an

42

challenges between Roma NGOs and the Romanian Government, which avoided taking

into consideration inputs from the Roma civil society when developing The Decade Action

Plan.117 There were some tensions between Roma NGOs and the Romanian government

when representatives of the latter questioned the legitimacy of Roma civil society

participation.

Concerning the efficiency of the National Agency for Roma as main governmental

actor, a certain excessive demand was noted in the assessment, due to simultaneous

implementation of two major policies: The National Strategy for Improving the Situation

of Roma and The Decade of Roma Inclusion.

In a second Decade Watch (2007), Romania is reported to exhibit severe structural

problems, to pursue incoherent policies in relation to inclusion of Roma in mainstream

society and to display a general governmental passivity related to the implementation of

formulated strategies. The document also emphasizes the lack of programs promoting a

culture of tolerance as an important barrier in addressing policies concerning Roma118. The

overview suggests even deepened social exclusion and worrisome tendencies towards an

increased “ghettoization” of many Roma communities.119

Referring to general outcomes of this political commitment, the Open Society Institute,

a supporter of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, communicated in 2009: Several years have passed since governments in Central and Eastern Europe committed to the Decade

of Roma Inclusion. Since then, it has become clear that little progress had been made toward

eliminating discrimination and supporting the meaningful inclusion of Roma. Monitoring reports

show that governments and other stakeholders have not cooperated either effectively or efficiently to

carry out their commitments towards the Roma Decade, and major sources of funding have yet to

‘trickle down’ to ideal candidates.120 The ANR’s homepage offers a large palette of information on legislation, public policies,

statistics and strategies. There is an interesting option as well, called successful stories.

When accessing it, the following text appears: “în curând aici veti putea citi povesti de

success”121 –it will soon be possible to read success stories here.

initiative of a group of Roma activists and researchers supported by the Open Society Institute and the World Bank. 117 Each of the participating countries has developed a national Decade Action Plan that formulates goals and indicators in the Decade's priority issues. 118 See Decade Watch (2007): Country Report: Romania, available at: http://www.romadecade.org/decade_watch_report_20052006 119 Ibid. 120 Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015: http://www.romadecade.org/ 121 The National Agency for Roma http://www.anr.gov.ro/site/Povesti.html

43

II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND CASE STUDY

THEORY 1 - CONCEPTS OF NATIONHOOD

The Part I of the study indicated that there exists a contradiction between the governmental

rhetoric embodied in strategies and institutions aimed at integrating the Roma into

mainstream society and the outcome of such attempts. Furthermore, a line of demarcation

between Romanians and Roma, an informal perception of Roma as strangers, as non-

Romanians, can even be observed in the statements of high-ranking officials.

A general concern that Roma make a laughing stock of Romania and damage the

country’s image abroad,122 the discomfort felt when Roma are “confused” in the West with

Romanians, the feeling that the term Roma is too similar to Romanian and can easily lead

to confusion, are all indicators of a deep cleavage emphasizing the perception of Roma as

a danger for the Romanian national identity. It is of crucial importance, therefore, to

determine whether national discourse and the Romanian national self-understanding play

a role with respect to the marginalization of the Roma minority.

CHAPTER 5: DEFINITIONS AND PATTERNS OF NATIONAL SELF-

UNDERSTANDING

5.1. Nations and Nationalism

Topics related to the national self-understanding of communities within the territory of a

nation state are diverse and complex, they include ethnic identity, race and racism, fascism,

ethnic conflict, international law, minorities, immigration and genocide, to name but a

few.123 Concepts such as nations and nationalism cannot be integrated into a concrete

theoretical framework. The systematic study of these concepts began only recently and its

122 Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 170. 123 Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (1994): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 3.

44

interdisciplinary nature creates some confusion.124 Historians, political scientists,

anthropologists, sociologists, social psychologists, linguists, philosophers, lawyers,

economists, geographers, international relations scholars and many others formulate

distinct definitions, deliver rival scholarly ideas, and stress different perspectives on nation

and nationalism.125 The characteristic features of a nation are discussed in several debates,

but, as Joseph Stalin advises, “none of them taken separately is sufficient to define a

nation, and it is sufficient for a single one (…) to be lacking, and the nation ceases to be a

nation.” Some of these features include assumed blood ties, common race, language,

region, religion, customs, descent, destiny, territory, culture, economic life, and solidarity.

In spite of the difficulties in finding adequate, commonly accepted definitions, a

generally accepted perspective is that the idea of a nation and nationalism was first

designed on the principle of collective identities of a state. Using this as a starting point,

we follow some of the main theoretical debates, concentrating on key statements around

nations and nationalism. Etymologically, the Latin word nation means birth, race, people,

and designates a community of people who feel they belong together due to ethnical,

lingual, cultural or political reasons, and who perceive themselves as different from “the

others”.126

Abbé Sièyes, considered by some scholars to be the leader of the French Revolution,

defines the French nation in his liberal pamphlet, What is the Third Estate? (1789), as “a

body of associates, living under a common law, and represented by the same legislature

(…).”127 The nation is built here by the political aspiration and the ambition of the third

estate (the great majority of the people) to sovereignty in an already existing state. During

the Age of Revolution, the French people associated the concept of nation with the

principle of unité et indivisibilité, where a nation illustrates an inseparable mass, able to

build a state.

More than a century ago, a classic statement of Ernest Renan emphasized the dynamic

nature of nationhood, linking the past to the present and the future. In his opinion, the

nation is not a fait accompli, but un plébiscite de tous le jours,128 the result of a process of

124 Social scientific analyses are to find in the early 20th century, and only since 1960s the topic has begun to be investigated by different fields scholars. 125 Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony, D. (1994): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 3. 126 Nohlen, Dieter (2001): Kleines Lexikon der Politik (Lexikon of Politics); Verlag C.H. Beck, München: 313. 127 Sièyes, Emmanuel Joseph (1789): Qu’est-ce que le Tiers État? (What is the Third Estate?); Paris, published online at: fordham.edu/halsall/mod/sieyes.html, or in Furet, François (1988), La Revolution I, Hachette Littératures, Paris: 87-96. 128 Renan, Ernest (1882): Qu est-ce qu’une nation? in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony, D. (1994): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 17-18.

45

solidarity building.129 He sees the nation as a form of morality, sustained by a distinct

historical consciousness,130 while “l’essence d’une nation est que tous les individus aient

beaucoup de choses en commun, et aussi que touts aient oublié bien de choses.”131

Benedict Anderson discussed the essence of the nation in his well-known book,

Imagined Communities. He regards the nation as an artifact, an imagined political

community,132 and argues that the nation is imagined (…) because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-

members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the mind of each lives the image of their

community.133

Nevertheless, the sense of fraternity in a nation seems to be mostly imagined. Anderson

explains that through unequal or exploitation rapport inherent in every society, the nation

is always understood as a horizontal partnership:134 (…) it is the fraternity that makes it possible, over the past two centuries, for so many millions of

people, not so much to kill, as be willing to die for such limited imaginings.135 The questions surrounding a national spirit of sacrifice places us in a deeper context of the

nation, shedding light on the driving force behind it: nationalism.

Nationalism is characterized as an ideology and a global political movement, and is

often considered to be one of the most powerful forces in the modern world.136 Founding

fathers of the ideological movements of nationalism, such as Rousseau, Herder, Fichte,

Korais and Mazzini, saw in nationalism the power to reunite the aspirations of the modern

world: autonomy, unity and above all, an authentic identity.137 Therefore, nationhood and

nationalism have been related to democracy, political legitimacy, social integration and

civil solidarity.138 But, as Ghia Nodia recognizes, nationalism is a coin with two sides139 –

129 Ibid. 130 Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony, D. (1994): Nationalism, Oxford University Press; Oxford: 15. 131 Renan, Ernest (1882): Qu est-ce qu’une nation? in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony, D. (1994): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 17-18. 132 Anderson, Benedict (1983): Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism; Verso, New York: 6. 133 Ibid. 134 Ibid: 7. 135 Ibid. 136 Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony, D. (1994): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 3, 47. 137 Aira, Kemiläinen (1964): Nationalism: Problems Concerning the Word, the Concept and Classification, cited in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony, D. (1994): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 4. 138 Brubaker, Rogers (1999): The Manichean Myth: Rethinking the Distinction Between “Civic” and “Ethnic” Nationalism; in Kriesi, Hanspeter; Armigeon Klaus; Siegrist, Hannes and Wimmer, Andreas (eds.): Nation and National Identity. The European Experience in Perspective; Ruegger Verlag, Chur, Zürich: 55. 139 Nodia, Ghia (1994): Nationalism and Democracy, in Diamond, Larry and Plattner, Mark F. (1994): Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict and Democracy; The Johns Hopkins University Press, London: 14.

46

a good and a bad one.140 Therefore, nationalism is also associated with irrationalism,

intolerance, xenophobia, forced assimilation, ethnocentrism, ethnic cleansing and even

genocide. Additionally it is blamed as “the starkest political shame of the twentieth

century”.141 The conclusion of Rogers Brubaker, “nation and nationalism designate a

whole world of different things,”142 requires a distinction between the main characteristics

of nations and of nationalism.

5.2. Two Concepts of Nations and of National Movements

To understand the general particularities of states and national movements, we choose a

simple dichotomous scheme formulated first by Friedrich Meinecke - Staatsnation and

Kulturnation.143 Later, Hans Kohn replaced the dichotomy in the debate with forms of

nationalism, distinguishing between the West and the rest.144 The rest later was

transformed to the East or Eastern nationalism.

Kohn sees nationalism as a “state of mind, (…) an idée-force, which fills man’s brain

and heart with new thoughts and new sentiments.”145 He explains that the crystallization of

national movements emerged in two distinct forms: the Western and the Eastern forms.

Kohn designates representatives of Western nationalism as states such as England, France,

Netherlands, Switzerland, United States and the British dominions, while Central and

Eastern Europe (in particular Germany) and Asia are regarded as regions representative of

Eastern nationalism.

According to Kohn, the rise of nationalism in the West has a political character,

preceded by the creation of a nation state, or as in the case of United States coinciding with

140 Lord Acton differentiate between the good British and the bad French doctrines of nationality. Cited in Nodia, Ghia (1994): Nationalism and Democracy, in Diamond, Larry and Plattner, Mark F. (1994): Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict and Democracy; The Johns Hopkins University Press, London: 14, 22. 141 Dunn, John (1979): Western Political Theory in the Face of the Future, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 55. 142 Brubaker, Rogers (1999): The Manichean Myth: Rethinking the Distinction Between “Civic” and “Ethnic” Nationalism; Kriesi, Hanspeter; Armigeon Klaus; Siegrist, Hannes and Wimmer, Andreas (eds.): Nation and National Identity. The European Experience in Perspective; Ruegger Verlag, Chur, Zürich: 55. 143 Meinecke, Friedrich (1922): Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat. Studien zur Genesis des Deutschen Nationalstaates (World Citizenship and Nation-State. Studies on the Origin of the German Nation-State); R. Oldenbourg Verlag, München, Berlin. 144 See Kohn, Hans (1945): The Idea of Nationalism: A Study in Its Origins and Background; Macmillan, New York, or Brubaker, Rogers (1999): The Manichean Myth: Rethinking the Distinction Between “Civic” and “Ethnic” Nationalism; Kriesi, Hanspeter; Armigeon Klaus; Siegrist, Hannes and Wimmer, Andreas (eds.): Nation and National Identity. The European Experience in Perspective; Ruegger Verlag, Chur, Zürich: 56. 145 Kohn, Hans (1994): The Idea of Nationalism; Macmillan, New York, in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds.): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 162.

47

it.146 Considering the rest, or the East, the national movements in these parts of the world

emerged later and were stimulated by aspirations to redefine political borders according to

ethnographic demands.147 Due to backward political and social developments, Eastern

nationalism found its expression in culture, and has a mystical, authoritarian character.148

Using the same perspective, Brubaker proposes a more appropriate distinction of

nationhood and nationalism, distinguishing between the Western political and Eastern

cultural regard: civic and ethnic.

In Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany, Brubaker explains that the idea

of nationhood was first elaborated in theory during the second half of the eighteenth

century, when France and Germany defined two distinctive, even antagonistic models of a

nation and national self-understanding.149

In France, the idea of nationhood was the work of a broad bourgeois stratum, and

gained a strong political character, oriented to the reform of an existing state.150 In other

words, a post-state character defines French nationhood by striving for cultural and

political unity - an essentially political, civic understanding151 (see Figure 6).

Fig. 6: Civic Nationalism in France

Contrary to this, the pre-political German nation, die Volksgemeinschaft, preceded the state

with a pronounced ethnocultural character. Placed in the context of a flourishing

Bildungsbürgertum, the German understanding of nationhood was apolitical, ethnic and

146 Ibid: 164. 147 Ibid. 148 Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (1994): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 160. 149 Brubaker, Rogers (1992): Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany; Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: 1. 150 Ibid: 6. 151 Ibid.

DrivingForce

• middleclass

Aim

•  reform of the existing state

Understanding

•  as creation of the state

Character

•  liberal •  civic/political •  assimilationist

48

cultural.152 The concept was identified here with a particularly literary national spirit – the

Nationalgeist153 (see Figure 7).

Fig. 7: Ethnic Nationalism in Germany

While the French understand the nation as the creation of their state, the Germans see the

nation as basis of their state and while civic nationalism, inspired by France, is liberal,

voluntarist, universalist and inclusive, based on common citizenship, the typically German

model of ethnic nationalism is illiberal, ascriptive, particularist and exclusive, and is based

upon common ethnicity.154

Turning to the current implications concerning the understanding of nationhood, we

discover a great influence on contemporaneous state affairs and on its social picture.

Policies and politics of citizenship are a central point, where national sovereignty is

manifested and where the understanding of nationhood has remained influential. To

illustrate this point, Brubaker shows that the French understanding of nationhood is state-

centred and assimilationist, due to its gradual formation of the nation state around a single

political and cultural centre. This aspect is expressed in an open definition of citizenship

that manifests in the more ready assimilation of newcomers (immigrants) to French

citizens.155

On the other side, the conglomerated pattern of post-national state building in

polycentric Germany promoted a Volk-centred and differentialist national self-

understanding.156 The ethnocultural understanding of nationhood here embodies an

152 Brubaker, Rogers (1992): Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany; Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: 6. 153 Ibid. 154 Brubaker, Rogers (1992): Civic and Ethnic Nations in France and Germany; in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds.): Ethnicity; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 169. 155 Brubaker, Rogers (1992): Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany; Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: 5. 156 Ibid: 1.

DrivingForce

•  elites

Aim

•  apolitic •  cultural

Understanding

•  as basis for the state

Character

•  illiberal •  ethnic/cultural •  exclusionist

49

exclusivist definition of citizenship: open to ethnic immigrants outside Germany, and

closed to other non-Germans.157 Hence the differences in the concepts of nation and

nationalism are emphasised by the sharply opposed citizenship policies of both states.

Expansively combined, jus soli, birthright citizenship and jus sanguinis, the principle that a

person's nationality at birth is the same as that of his natural parents, together express the

primordial state centred and assimilationist national self-understanding in France. On the

contrary, the concept of citizenry in Germany is more restricted and reflects the pure jus

sanguinis principle. Hence, while France remains the classical country of assimilation, the

national self-understanding remains more ethnocultural in Germany.158

France and Germany have furnished two distinctive models of nationhood and national

self-understanding. The impact of these on world politics increased when nationalism

started to spread. Although every national movement is an indigenous process, the core

nationalism patterns of political ideology were imported from France and/or Germany.159

Therefore, we can speak about adoption of a model of national understanding, rather than

creation. Liah Greenfeld underlines that creation of a nation, and implicitly adoption of a

new identity was marked by the dissatisfaction of a community regarding its traditional

character, or as Greenfeld states: “a change of identity presupposed a crisis of identity”.160

The particularities of different crises in many communities around the world determined

adoption of a specific understanding of nationhood – civic, ethnic or a mix of both. The

nature of nationalism was formed by the local social order and by the nature of change, but

the shape was “borrowed” from outside.

157 Ibid: 5. 158 Brubaker, Rogers (1992): Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany; Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts: 3-5. Brubaker’s statement in 1992 illustrates the traditional shape of nationhood in France and Germany. His prediction that these structural differences between France and Germany would continue to affect citizenship policies of both countries, were contradicted in 1993 by the German and French reforms of citizenships. Both policies put emphasis on the citizenship of emigrants. For details see: Basta Fleiner, Lidija (2009): Participation Rights under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM): Towards a Legal Framework Against Social and Economic Discrimination: 67-68; in Council of Europe (2009): Institutional Accommodation and the Citizen: Legal and Political Interaction in a Pluralist Society, Trends in social cohesion, No. 21; Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg. 159 Greenfeld, Liah (1992): Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity; Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts; in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds.): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 168. 160 Ibid: 169.

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CASE STUDY 1: THE ROMANIAN CONCEPT OF NATIONHOOD

In this chapter we are interested in observing how nation building occurred in Romania

and what form it adopted. Therefore, the French model of civic nationalism and the

German model of ethnic nationalism are the main instruments in analyzing the Romanian

national self-understanding. We are interested in identifying and interpreting key aspects in

Romania’s nation building process, similar to one or the other described models. Finally,

we intend to measure the impact of Romanian particular national self-understanding on

interethnic relationships. In the Figure 8 below the dichotomist characteristics of

nationhood and national self-understanding are simplified in two major patterns:

Fig. 8: Civic and Ethnic Understanding of Nationhood and National Self-Understanding (Brubaker)

We understand the policies of citizenship as a picture of the state’s perception on who

belongs and who does not belong to the nation. Therefore, the civic or ethnic

understanding of nationhood may deliver a picture on the interaction of state not only with

potential immigrants, but in first line with its own citizens having a different cultural or

ethnic attachment than the mainstream population. Our focus here is inwards rather than

outwards, focused on culturally and ethnic distinct groups already within the state

boundaries and not on recent immigrated groups.

Starting from the premise that, like citizenship policies, the national strategies for

minority accommodation are connected to the historical matrix of the nation state, we use

the knowledge acquired around the civic and ethnic understandings of nationhood to find

explanations for the general perception of Roma as outsiders and for their social exclusion.

What role does the Romanian self-understanding play in regard to Roma

marginalization?

CIVIC(POLITICAL)• liberal• universalist• assimilationist• basedoncommoncitizenship

ETHNIC(CULTURAL)• illiberal• particularist• exclusionist• basedoncommonethnicity

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CHAPTER 6: NATION BUILDING AND NATIONAL SELF-UNDERSTANDING IN

ROMANIA

The Romanian idea of a nation was designed by intellectuals in the 19th century, and

consisted in the effort to create a common conscience of identity and to promote a political

thinking,161 in order to unify the three main territories inhabited by Romanians. At that

time the later Romanian state was divided into three main provinces – Moldavia, Walachia

and Transylvania (see Figure 9).

Fig. 9: Transylvania, Moldavia and Walachia in the first half of the 19th century162

Moldavia

Ottoman Rule

Transylvania

Austro-Hungarian Rule

Walachia

Ottoman Rule

Being under different spheres of political influence – the Ottoman Empire in Moldova and

Walachia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Transylvania – the provinces have had

separate administration, institutions and various religious orientations. In the absence of a

middle class, the Romanian nationalism found its first expression in the cultural field and

embodied the nationalist dream of an elite. Giving the social, mental, cultural and political

fragmentation of societies in the three lands, the unitary theory of the nation was, therefore

a very challenging project for the scholars and poets.

161 Neumann, Victor (2008): The Concept of Nation in the Romanian Culture and Political Thought; in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 153-154. 162 Source: www.nationalist.ro

52

6.1. The Socio-Political Context in the 18th Century

In the eighteenth century the Phanariots were named as princes in Moldavia and Walachia,

for administrating the provinces on behalf of the Sublime Porte. These high Ottoman

officials, of Greek origins, had a great administrative influence in the territories dominated

by the Ottoman Empire and their regime in the two provinces was characterized by

economical reforms, but also by corruption and excessive fiscal policies. Their name –

Phanariots – came from the Istanbul Phanar district, where they use to live and where the

Turks commonly selected the dragomans163 and the princes for Moldavian and Walachian

thrones.164 Since along with the Phanariot administrators many Greek aristocratic families

settled in the two Orthodox provinces, there was an enormous oriental and neo-Greek

impact on the cultural life of the Romanian lands.165

In the ethnically diverse Transylvania, belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the

Romanians were mainly Orthodox peasants, while the dominant Magyars, Szeklers166 and

Saxons constituted a privileged class, belonging to the Calvinist, Lutheran, Unitarian and

Roman-Catholic churches.167

Social agitations in Transylvania culminated in 1784 in the uprising of the repressed

peasantry. This movement was directed against the feudal compulsions of the Magyar

nobility, which made life miserable for peasants and put in question the status of the

orthodox Romanians in Transylvania as tolerated minority. Therefore, this moment can be

seen as having mainly a social character, but also a national one.

The counterpart of the Transylvanian uprising was the 1821 Walachian revolution

against the Turkish-Phanariot regime. As in Transylvania, the uprising had a social and

political character – an accentuated claim being the non-involvement of Ottomans through

the Panariots princes in Walachia’s affaires.

The echo of the 1821 Walachian revolution was also felt in Moldavia, and the

progressive decline of the Ottoman Empire lead to the intensification of relations between

Moldavia and Walachia, and to the merging of a national consciousness. While in

Moldavia and Walachia the idea of nation became a sense of solidarity between different

social classes having a common ideal of liberation from an external foreign power – the

163 Foreign ministers. 164 Romanian Academy (1996): Romania, Historical-Geographical Atlas; Editura Academiei Romane, Bucharest: 52. 165 Ibid: 53. 166 Szeklers are a Magyar-speaking population concentrated in Eastern Transylvania. 167 Hitchins, Keith (2008): Romania Nation-formation in Transylvania; in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 63.

53

Ottomans –, the Romanians in Transylvania were united within a bottom class by the

desire to be free of the exploitation by an internal “foreign” power – the Magyar

Aristocracy.

However, Moldavia, Walachia and Transylvania all shared the overlapping of social

motivation with political ambition. The profound desire of Romanians in all three

provinces to be released from an oppressing foreign ruler and to unite with their “blood

brothers” can be seen as a robust base for the future idea of “unity” in the Romanian

national sense.168

6.2. The Language as Pattern of National Identity

The collapse of the Turkish-Phanariot regime, which had imposed the Greek language in

administration and culture (just as Slavonic some centuries earlier), made way for an

exalted interest in the language mostly spoken by the peasant mass – Romanian.169

If in a primordial phase the idea of nation was an elitist project, the need to also involve

the peasant majority, in order to generate a nationalist mass movement and to create a

public opinion, became clear very soon. Therefore, Romanian nationalism manifested first

in the spheres of education and propaganda, rather than in political projects. Intellectuals in

Moldavia and Walachia actively promoted the empathy of the nobles to the Romanian

peasants, as “we are the same people of the land”,170 while peasantry was implemented in

the collective mentality as “a symbol of fidelity to the past and an innocent victim of the

social and of eighteen centuries of history”.171 Nation, in this sense, was to be formed

especially across social classes, sharing the same language.

The rediscovery of language played a key role in defining the national idea and the new

national consciousness thus achieved consistency. The Romanian language was

predestined to serve as a great vehicle of national and patriotic identity for all Romanians

in all territories.

168 Nicoara, Simona (2008): National Sensitivity in Romanian Society (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries); in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 85. 169 Ibid: 88. 170 This perspective was shared in 1811 by Serban Gradisteanu, a political figure of that time, cited by Nicoara, Simona (2008): National Sensitivity in Romanian Society (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries);in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 85. 171 The Walachian historian Nicolae Balcescu, cited in Nicoara, Simona (2008): National Sensitivity in Romanian Society (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries); in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 89.

54

Intellectuals underlined several key aspects in promoting the national idea through the

Romanian language. First, the Latin origins172 were able to project deep historical roots,

suggesting the continuation of the Roman Empire and conferring legitimacy to the nation.

Another important aspect was the uniqueness conferred by the language to Romanians,

among their Slavic neighbours and foreign rulers of Magyar, Germanic, Turkish and Greek

origin. And even more exalting was the identification with Western civilizations, and

especially with “the great Latin sister”, France.173 At the same time, the language provided

the nation with inclusion and exclusion criteria – key to every successful nation building

exercise.

6.3. A common past, the same people

The national movement has slowly been extended towards the great mass of people and the

nationalist discourse concentrated on the common descent of Romanian speakers from the

Roman settlers of Dacia.174 The growing idea of nation designated also the people joined

together in a community by the common language, a common origin and a shared history.

The political message emphasized more and more the duty to be faithful to the master

of the country, the devotion to the homeland, its culture and history,175 but also to the

Romanians as superior chosen people, due to their glorious past: “When Romanians should

see from what noble vintage they had come, they should all be led towards kindness and

common sense”,176 the historian Petru Maior Noted in 1809.

During the 1848 revolution, which extended over all three provinces, Moldavians,

Walachians and Transylvanians gained a common voice against the social and political

structure and claimed national unity based on the common ethnicity of Romanians. The

172 The Latin origin of Romanian language is a result of the realm of Latinity that in Antiquity includes the northern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Romanian language had in the 18th century undergone a process of re-latinization and finally came under French influence. Through linguistic reforms, remarkable efforts were made for introducing French words and to replace old Romanian vocables of Slavic or Oriental origin. For details see Boia, Lucian (2001): Romania. Borderland of Europe; Reaktion Books, London, : 28-58, and 59-111. 173 Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 160. 174 Hitchins, Keith (2008): Romania Nation-formation in Transylvania; in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 63. 175 Nicoara, Simona (2008): National Sensitivity in Romanian Society (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries); in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 86-87. 176 Noted in 1809 by the Romanian historian Petru Maior, cited in Nicoara, Simona (2008): National Sensitivity in Romanian Society (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries); in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 86.

55

principle of “civil freedom” claimed by the French revolutionaries in the same epoch, was

developed and transformed into “national freedom” for the oppressed Romanians in

Transylvania, Moldova and Walachia, while the social claims were overlapped with the

idea of national unity. Consequently, the claim for self determination rights embodied in

the dream of unification of the three provinces, including within the national corpus the

Romanian everywhere,177 was the belonging to the same ethnic and linguistic

community.178

6.4. Looking to the West - The French Myth and the German Countermyth179

After a first phase, when intellectuals were trying to “imagine” a new sense of community,

looking for linguistic, historical and traditional cultural elements, the bond with the West

had to be clarified. A visceral attachment to France was manifested in numerous scholarly

writings. To exemplify the power of the French myth for the Romanian national imaginary

we take a look to a memorandum addressed in 1853 by Ion C. Bratianu to Napoleon III.

Here, the Romanian politician pleads for the unification of principalities and sees this

national project as a “French conquest”: The army of the Romanian state would be the army of France, its ports on the Black Sea and the

Danube would be entrepôts for French trade. (…) we have all the advantages of a colony, without

the expenses which this implies.180

Since France was perceived as our second homeland and Romania’s destiny was to

become its colony,181 it seems that the way to Romanian Westernization lead first into the

arms of the great Latin sister, France.182

Moldavia and Walachia eventually united in 1859 and the independence of the new

Romanian state was recognised by the European powers.

177 Naum Râmniceanu cited in Nicoara, Simona (2008): National Sensitivity in Romanian Society (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries); in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 88. 178 Nicoara, Simona (2008): National Sensitivity in Romanian Society (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries); in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 88. 179 Expression used by Boia in Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest:160 180 Bratianu, Ion C. (1932): Acte si cuvantari (Documents and speeches), Vol. 4, Cartea Romaneasca, Bucharest: 241; cited in Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 161. 181 Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 160. 182 Ibid.

56

As Boia shows, the French myth continued to play an important modelling role for the

newborn Romanian nation. In terms of language, the process of the second Latinization

resulted in the elimination of Slav and Oriental elements in the Romanian Language and in

the adoption of numerous neologisms of French origin.183 Boia states that in today’s

Romanian speech, one word in five is of French origin.184 Therefore, former Greek

language and culture was replaced by French, the Oriental costume by the Parisian fashion,

young people left Constantinople to study in Paris and generally, for more than a century,

the French culture had a great impact on the leading elite of the country.

In 1898, Pompliliu Eliade argued in De l’influencé française sur l’esprit public in

Roumanie that Romania owed its whole modern civilization to France and that, thanks to

France, we can see “not the rebirth of a people, but its birth”.185

Remaining in the zone of highly mythologized representations, the power of the French

myth was later challenged by the German “countermyth”, balancing somehow in the

imaginary, the relationship between these two distinct understandings of nationhood. It

seemed that the German culture offered more proper solutions for the aspiration of the

Romanian nation than the French one. Especially the German sense of unity and the

understanding of patriotism fascinated many cultural personalities. Kogalniceanu,

Maiorescu or the greatest Romanian poet, Mihai Eminescu, belonged within this current,

having been educated in a German cultural spirit.186 Therefore, Kogalniceanu stated that (…) it is largely to the German culture, the university of Berlin, German society, and the men and

great patriots who accomplished the rising up of Germany again and its unity, that I owe all that I

have become in my county, and that it was from the fire of German patriotism that the torch of my

Romanian patriotism took its flame.”187

Concerning the French attachment, the polarization between enthusiastic reception and

absolute rejection188 is best illustrated in the notorious poem, Epistle III, of Eminescu: In Paris, in brothels of cynicism and idleness

With its lost women and in its obscene orgies (…)189

183 Ibid: 161-162. 184 Ibid. 185 Eliade, Pompiliu (1898): De l’influencé française sur l’esprit public in Roumanie (On French Influence on the Public Spirit in Romania; Paris: i-xi, in Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 161. 186 Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 163. 187 Kogalniceanu, Mihail, Opere (Creations), Vol. 2; cited in Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 609. 188 Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 163. 189 Eminescu, Mihai (1975): Poezii (Poems); Minerva, Bucharest.

57

A minority of intellectuals, especially represented by Junimea Society, supported the

German myth of nationhood and national self-understanding. Nevertheless, Junimea was

the most influential intellectual and political association of Romania in the 19th century,

which established the basis of the modern Romanian culture. Therefore, the German

understanding of nationhood was the decisive influence in the cultural and political

embodiment of the nation.190

6.5. The Religion as Pattern of National Identity

The nationalist ideas promoted by intellectuals in Romania found little echo among

Romanians living in the region of Transylvania. Here, the “national awake”191 was mainly

lead by the Scoala Ardeleana (Transylvanian School), a group of Romanian intellectuals,

which propagated the European enlightened ideas for stimulating people’s national

consciousness. Nevertheless, ethnicity was not the most important factor that led to

solidarity among Romanians in Transylvania, but the common social discontent. The

nobles (largely Magyars), and the privileged groups (Szeklers and the Saxons) represented

not only the ruling classes, but also the dominant “nations”. This important cohesion factor

among the oppressed Romanian peasants was therefore based on shared economic

hardships and social discrimination.192

Another important role here was played by religion. While the Austro-Hungarian rulers

were adepts of Calvinist, Lutheran, Unitarian and Roman Catholic churches, due to their

inferior social position the Romanians were isolated not only from the dominant nations

but also from the churches of Transylvania.193 Therefore, they felt drawn to the Orthodox

churches in neighbouring Walachia and Moldavia, where their priests were allowed to

study, and at the same time to the entire Orthodox commonwealth.194 The Orthodox

Church empowered the collective identity and institutionalized a clear distinction between

the Christian population and the Muslim rulers (Turks) in Walachia and Moldavia and

between the Orthodox Romanians and the Calvinist, Lutheran, Unitarian and Roman

Catholics in Transylvania.

190 Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 163. 191 Expression used by Max Weber in The Nation (1948). 192 Hitchins, Keith (2008): Romania Nation-formation in Transylvania; in Mitu, Sorin (2008): Re-Searching the Nation: The Romanian File; International Book Access, Cluj: 63. 193 Ibid. 194 Ibid.

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“The Romanian people were born Christian” was the first axiom intending to fuse

nation and church, and identified the Orthodox Christianity with the historical roots of the

nation.195 The church became yet another functional element in the national (self-)

definition.196

Hence the definition of nation was enlarged and designated by people joined together in

a community by the common language, a common origin, a shared history and a common

set of religious values.

6.6. The Unitary Character of the Romanian Nation-State

Besides the solidarity between and within the social strata, the desire of liberation from a

foreign ruler and the linguistic cohesion, for the emerging modern Romanian nation state

the orthodoxy surfaced as an additional support for national unity.197 And the wish for

national unity was the final point on which all Romanians living in such different contexts

agreed.198 The “Great Romania” emerged.

Fig. 10: The “Great Romania” in 1919199

195 Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness; Central European Press, Budapest: 11. 196 Kitromilides, Paschalis (1989) Orthodoxy and Nationalism; in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds.): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 208 197 Kitromilides, Paschalis (1989) Orthodoxy and Nationalism; in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds.): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 208. 198 Sugar, Peter (1969): Eastern and Domestic Roots of Eastern European Nationalism, in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds.): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 175. 199 Source: www.nationalist.ro

59

The configuration of the later Romanian nation state was rounded off in 1918, during the

final episode of the World War I, when the ”unification with Romania of all Romanians”200

took place.

After this historical episode, not only did Romania’s territory increase, but also its

population and its ethnic composition. The Paris Minority Treaty (1919) forced Bucharest

to guarantee equal rights, religious freedom and schools in the mother tongue for the post-

war Romanian ethnic minorities.201 In the 1923 Romanian Constitution not all of these

guarantees were included, and, according to Joseph Rothschild, “the ethnic minorities (…)

were regarded as foreigners.”202

The constitution of 1923 (also called The Constitution of Union) defines in its first

article the character of the modern Romanian state as unitary and indivisible.203

The idea of a unitary state can be seen as a result of the fundamental historical and

regional context in which the Romanian modern state emerged: it was the only way to

empower the national identity of, in fact, a multicultural society, to sustain the

homogeneity mission of the nation state and to avoid potential legitimacy questions.

And finally, the unitary character of the Romanian nation-state can be interpreted as a

security measure and as a reaction to the already traumatic past marked by foreign

territorial annexations, occupations, or interventions in the intern affaires. There were

proposals for a federalized system, like for example the project of a “Danubian

Confederation”,204 but the powerful rhetoric of the neighbouring foreign threat became an

instrument in discouraging any tendencies of a decentralized state: “We cannot be

unaware that around us the adversaries of Romanian unity are ceaselessly active”,205

noted a Romanian politician in 1943. The unitary character of the state represented the

perfect formula from the point of view with the ethno national ideal and became, alongside

continuity, the guiding axis or the historical discourse.

The expression of the unitary and indivisible state nation-state and the deep ethnic

conception of the Romanian nation are two elements that continue to define Romania,

200 Romanian Academy (1996): Romania, Historical-Geographical Atlas; Editura Academiei Romane, Bucharest: 54. 201 Crowe, David M. (1994): A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia; St. Martin's, New York: 127. 202 Ibid. 203 Romanian Constitution (1923), Art. 1: http://www.constitutia.ro/const1923.htm 204 The project was supported among others by the Romanian historian Nicolae Balcescu, and stipulated that Romanian should join a “Greater Austria”, finding its unity under the patronage of Vienna. For details see Boia, Lucian (2001): History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness;Central European Press, Budapest: 130-131. 205 Bratianu, George Ioan (1998): Originile si formarea unitatii romanesti (The Origins and the Creation of Romanian Unity; Editura Universitatii “Al. I. Cuza”, Iasi.

60

being anchored in its Constitution. The first phrase of the document lay down that:

“Romania is a sovereign, independent, unitary and indivisible National State”, while the

Art. 4, stipulates: “The State foundation is laid on the unity of the Romanian people and

the solidarity of its citizens”.

The ethnocultural frontiers continue to separate the Romanian people from the

Romanian citizens, emphasizing the exclusionary character of the nation. We may

understand that the national minorities are citizens within the Romanian state but not

members of the ethno-nation. Putting differently, using the “winner-takes-all” principle,

The Romanian nation-state sees the minorities as tolerated foreigners and marginalize

them permanently.206

There is not consistent information on Roma minority in the newborn Romanian state.

As some authors relate, in all these national agitations Romanian Roma remained

impassively outside the main flows of political, social and economic development. As

nowadays, the Roma minority did not have ambitions on a territory or a national status,

“they were mostly silent and invisible bystanders while important social and political

forces took shape all around them.”207 Glancing at this period, Hancock characterises the

Roma as “outsiders in the everybody’s country”208 – or, according to Barany: “nobody’s

children.”209

206For details on the constitutional principles for a multicultural state, see Fleiner, Thomas and Basta Fleiner, Lidija. R. (2009): Constitutional Democracy in a Multicultural and Globalised World; Springer-Verlag, Berlin; 656-651. 207 Pogany, Istvan (1999): Accommodating an Emergent National Identity: The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe; International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 6: 153. 208 See Hancock, Ian: Genocide of the Roma in the Holocaust; in Israel W. Charny (1997): Encyclopedia of Genocide; ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara. 209 Barany, Zoltan D, Nobody’s Children (1994): The Resurgence of Nationalism and the Status of Gypsies in Post-Communist Eastern Europe; in Serafin, Joan (ed.): East-Central Europe in the 1990´s, Westview Press, Oxford: 235.

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THEORY 2 – THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION

As we have seen in Chapter 2, all sociological surveys, official recommendations and

political strategies concerning the Roma in Romania, put great emphasis on the dramatic

living conditions of many members belonging to this community, on the discriminatory

treatment many of them face in all aspects of every day life, and finally, on the vicious

cycle that seems to imprison many Roma in bitter poverty, social exclusion and their own

resignation.

Identifying the source of these inequalities and the way in which they occur may be

vital for understanding the current challenges in their social and political sphere. An

analysis of the mechanisms, actors and processes that lead to social inequalities may

deliver a transparent perspective on the current socio-political challenges, and therefore,

may have a positive impact on the drawing of appropriate policies for combating them.

The main theoretical perspectives on social closure will be outlined, focusing on two

strategies of social exclusion based on race and ethnicity. Even if, scientifically speaking,

the term race is not proper if we speak about humans, the concept will be used in the

context of people’s actions that target groups of racist manifestations – at this level, race

becomes a cultural construct, independent from the biological standpoint.210

Finally, the chapter attempts to clarify the connection between the social status of a

group early on and its social exclusion later on.

210 Eriksen, Thomas, H (1996): Ethnicity, Race, Class and Nation; in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds.): Ethnicity; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 29.

62

CHAPTER 7: THE ROLE OF THE STATE IN PROCESSES OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION

7.1. The Theory of Social Closure

When trying to understand the structural inequalities of a certain group as a result of

historical processes and social actions, the theory of social closure211 founded by Max

Weber, and developed by Frank Parkin, appears as a suitable theoretical tool.

Weber, who first made the differentiation between open and closed relationships, refers

to social closure as the process by which social collectives seek to maximize rewards by restricting access to rewards

and opportunities to a limited circle of eligible members.212 These rewards can be understood as resources, privileges, power or prestige. The actions

of distinct social players for monopolizing them lead to social exclusion, placing certain

groups in disadvantaged positions, at the bottom of the social ladder, or even outside the

social system.

Closure, therefore, refers to social confrontations for monopolizing chances, privileges

and resources and by doing so, restricting the participation of certain groups in the social

system.213 As a result of closure, the phenomenon of social exclusion designates inferiority

in rights, status and opportunities, combined with rejection and the impossibility of

escaping from a system based on inherited inequalities.214 The concepts social closure and

social exclusion will be used interchangeably for designating the same phenomenon: the

placement of certain groups through specific strategies outside or at the bottom of a given

social system.

211 Weber is seen as the founder of the theory of social closure, but he placed the approach only in an economical context. Weber’s theory was further developed by Frank Parkin (1972, 1974, 1979), Randall Collins (1971, 1975, 1987) and Raymond Murphy (1984, 1986,1988), who developed it in a more general theory, applicable on all relations of social dominance. For details see Mackert Jürgen (2004): Die Theorie Sozialer Schliessung. Tradition, Analysen, Perspektiven. (The Theory of Social Closure. Tradition, Analyses, Perspectives); Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden. 212 Weber, Max (1968): Economy and Society, edited by Roth, Guenther and Wittich, Claus; Bedminster Press, New York: 342, cited in Parkin, Frank (1974): The Social Analysis of Class Structure; The British Sociological Association, London: 3. 213 Mackert Jürgen (2004): Die Theorie Sozialer Schliessung. Tradition, Analysen, Perspektiven. (The Theory of Social Closure. Tradition, Analyses, Perspectives); Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden: 19. 214 Esman, Milton J. (2004) An Introduction to Ethnic Conflict; Polity Press; Cambridge: 120-121.

63

In the following paragraphs we will operate with parts of this theoretical instrument, in

order to be guided for the proposed approach: to identify the strategies, the actors and the

mechanisms behind processes of social closure and structural exclusion of certain groups.

7.1. Strategies of Social Exclusion

For justifying the monopolization of specific, usually economic opportunities, Weber

stresses that dominant groups tend to exploit any distinct trait, such as language, race,

class, religion, social origin or descent, in drawing strategies of social exclusion.215

Another important characteristic and, as Parkin puts it, the most effective way of directing

privileges to one’s own group and closing out the participation of others, is the

enhancement of group distinctiveness’ as opposed to individual distinctivess’.216

Thus, exclusion strategies are easier to follow when the victim group can be defined as

foreign, the justificatory basis of exclusion and of economical monopole being founded on

certain particular social, cultural or physical group features.217

7.1.1. Race and Ethnicity as Targets in Social Exclusion Originated in the hierarchies of decision-making power and in the early social division of

labour, most applied strategies of social exclusion of groups are built on perceived

differences, whereby race and ethnicity are two of the most important closure features.218

The literature on early racial and ethnic relations underlines that racial categorization was

mainly constructed around skin colour or facial features. Most common, there is the

imagined black/white dichotomy that defines the inferiority of superiority of individuals.219

While racial features are perceived as inherited and place people in biologically distinct

215 Weber, Max (1968): Economy and Society, edited by G.Roth and C.Wittich; Bedminster Press, New York: 342, cited in Parkin, Frank (1974): The Social Analysis of Class Structure; The British Sociological Association, London: 3. 216 Frank, Parkin (2004): Dual Closure; in Mackert Jürgen (ed.): Die Theorie Sozialer Schliessung. Tradition, Analysen, Perspektiven. (The Theory of Social Closure. Tradition, Analyses, Perspectives); Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden.33. 217 Young, Iris Marion (2007): Structural Injustice and Politics of Difference; in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 64. 218 Ibid: 81. 219 Ibid: 69.

64

sections of humanity, cultural features such as language, dress, cultural values and so forth

mark the differences between groups in terms of ethnicity.220

Charles Mills emphasizes that even if racial categorization often has a cultural

dimension, it is not the culture of racialized groups that first places the people in inferior

positions, but their physical distinct features that often lead to the failure to recognize the

people’s humanity.221 As Anthony Appiah stress: “It is not the black culture the racist

disdains, but blacks.”222

Therefore, whereas in exclusion processes race is seen as an unchangeable treat, and

leads to inescapable positions in an imagined biological hierarchy (racism), the one single

“chance” for ethnic minorities to be accepted in a social system is acculturation.223

Therefore, even if there is a high risk of conflict, the ethnocentric rapports are more

flexible than those that imply constructed racial differences.

To summarize, the crucial difference in drawing strategies of exclusion in ethnic and

racialized relations is that while the culture of certain ethnic groups may not be recognized

as equal with others, the defining characteristic of racism is the failure to recognize the

very humanity of the racialized group.224

7.2. The Role of the State in the Process of Social Exclusion

Referring to the main actors that develop strategies of closure and promote the social

exclusion of certain groups, Parkin’s theory of social closure further sheds light not only

on the dominant group and the ruling class, but also on the role of the state as an actor in

their exclusion.225 In the first instance, for understanding the social dynamic of an excluded

group, Parkin calls attention to its early official status in the society over time. He sustains

that:

220 Mills, W. Charles (2007): Multiculturalism as/and/or Anti-Racism? in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 101. 221 Ibid: 94-95. 222 Appiah, Anthony (1997): Multicultural Misunderstanding; New York Review of Books: 36, cited in Mills, W. Charles (2007): Multiculturalism as/and/or Anti-Racism? in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 101.94-95. 223 Mills, W. Charles (2007): Multiculturalism as/and/or Anti-Racism? In Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 101. 224 Ibid: 94. 225 Parkin, Frank (1979): Marxism and Class Theory; A Bourgeois Critique, Tavistock, London: 89-116.

65

In all known instances where racial, religious, linguistic, or sex characteristics have been sized

upon for closure purposes, the group in question has already at some time been defined as legally

inferior by the state.226 As Parkin emphasizes, the state plays a major role in drawing strategies of exclusion,

enforcing the separation lines of physical or cultural features drawn by ruling classes and

dominants groups, through institutionalized rules. In the following section we will first

look at the involvement of the state in the racialized strategies of exclusion and then we

will turn to the institutionally induced ethnic violence.

7.2.1. The State’s Mechanisms in Exploitation through Racialized Relations

The processes of racialization originate in the division of labour, in different forms of

exploitation, the most prominent being slavery.227 Engels states that slavery is a form of

the first great division of labour that occurred as a result of the increased productivity of

work. This exploitation form had a great impact on the social setting, polarizing the people

in slaves and their masters, the exploiters and exploited.228

Due to nonconformity to a normalized body aesthetic and being targeted as foreigners,

certain minority groups were in the past constraint by states, ruling classes or dominant

groups to carry out the physical, dirty or servile work, being stigmatized, segregated and

labeled as inferior and as non-human.229 The denial of slave’s humanity placed many

groups outside any social class, the racialized people being rather perceived as “beasts in

human shape”,230 “as an intermediate link between white humanity and the rest of the

animal kingdom, or as fully-fledged members of that kingdom”.231 Hence, due to a distinct

body aesthetic, certain groups were not only placed at the bottom of the social system, like

in the case of ethnic groups, but were totally excluded from it, since their humanity was

226 Ibid: 96. 227 Young, Iris Marion (2007): Structural Injustice and Politics of Difference; in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 69. 228 Engels, Friedrich (1972): Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State, Chapter IX: Barbarism and Civilization; International Publishers, New York: 217-237. 229 Young, Iris Marion (2007): Young, Iris Marion (2007): Structural Injustice and Politics of Difference; in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 69. 230 an Englishman wrote in the seventh century about the Native Americans “ We look upon them with Scorn and Disdain and think them little better than Beasts in Human Shape”, cited in Mills, W. Charles (2007): Multiculturalism as/and/or Anti-Racism? in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 95. 231 Mills, W. Charles (2007): Multiculturalism as/and/or Anti-Racism? in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 95.

66

denied. In this early form of class society, slaves were property of the state or members of

the ruling class, held against their will, doing hard labour from which owners accumulated

profits.232

Identifying the implication of the state in shaping structural inequalities, Young

explains that while slavery has been practiced throughout the world at various times, this

overt discriminatory practice was largely legalized by states.233 The racialized relations in

form of slavery confirm Parkin’s theory of social closure, indicating the crucial role the

state plays in promoting and facilitating exclusionary practices on certain groups. Slavery

was, therefore, a form of social exclusion, based on racialized inequalities and having an

economical scope: to maximize profits for states and for members of the ruling groups.

7.2.2. The State’s Mechanisms in Inducing Ethnic Violence

Another form of group exclusion is marked by violent actions leading to ethnic

extermination or ethnic cleansing. Esman explains that, like in the case of racial

differences, the dominant groups “invent and popularize reasons, biological or cultural, to

demonstrate the superiority of their people and the inferiority of the other, which justifies

their dominant status”234 (...) treating entire communities with “unimaginable cruelty on

individuals who are held to be collectively guilty of the presumed offenses that occasion

such draconian punishment”.235

Emphasizing the role of the state in this kind of closure processes, Esman shows that

intimidation and oppression of certain groups are often sustained by the police or by

judicial forms of the state, being enforced by laws that institutionalize inferiority,

producing a spirit of resignation among the oppressed people.236

Violence against certain ethnic communities is a method of enforcing exclusion, involving

attacks and mobs, often exercised by state’s agents.237 And even if the state is not directly

involved in such hostilities, Parkin sustains that, in fact, the hierarchical stratification of

232 Young, Iris Marion (2007): Structural Injustice and Politics of Difference; in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 69-70. 233 Young, Iris Marion (2007): Structural Injustice and Politics of Difference; in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 69-71. 234 Esman, Milton J. (2004) An Introduction to Ethnic Conflict; Polity Press, Cambridge: 120. 235 Ibid: 123. 236 Ibid: 121-122. 237 Ibid: 122.

67

cultural groups occurs exclusively through the action of the state, which allows a group to

exclude another one.238

7.3. Reproducing Patterns of Social Exclusion

While the theory of social closure underlines the role of the state in the historical processes

of social exclusion, Parkin fails to explain how state-induced exclusion influences the

target groups over time, that is to say, even after discriminatory practices have become

illegal. How can an early-institutionalized categorization of people based on racial or

cultural lines lead to structural processes, where currently there is no institutional rule

against a certain group?

Young explains that although over time, political and legal disadvantages may be

reduced, the formerly institutionally excluded groups remain at the bottom of the economic

and social hierarchy, their inherited disadvantages continuing to keep them as victims in

the struggle over distribution of power and resources.239 Referring to the consequences of

the early racialized work relations, Young states: “While chattel of slavery was abolished

(…), racialized positions in the social division of labor remain.”240 In other words the

formerly oppressed group that occupies the lowest status, continues to be segregated by the

dominant group.241 Therefore, even if discriminatory state induced rules no longer exist,

the new social order does not lead to a prompt social inclusion, but to a subcategory of

second-class citizens.242 Young explains the mechanism of perpetuation of previous

patterns of social closure by pointing out that:

238 Frank, Parkin (2004): Dual Closure; in Mackert Jürgen (ed.): Die Theorie Sozialer Schliessung. Tradition, Analysen, Perspektiven. (The Theory of Social Closure. Tradition, Analyses, Perspectives) Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden: 51. 239 Young, Iris Marion (2007): Structural Injustice and Politics of Difference; in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 70-71. 240 Ibid: 70. 241 Young, Iris Marion (2007): Structural Injustice and Politics of Difference; in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 70. 242 See Frank, Parkin (2004): Dual Closure; in Mackert Jürgen (ed.): Die Theorie Sozialer Schliessung. Tradition, Analysen, Perspektiven. (The Theory of Social Closure. Tradition, Analyses, Perspectives); Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden.

68

(…)even in the absence of explicitly discriminatory laws and rules, adherence to body esthetic,

struggle over power, and other dynamics of differentiation, will tend to reproduce given

categorical inequalities unless institutions take explicit action to counteract such tendencies.243 Parkin states that the social exclusion of a group appears as relievable when this group is,

or previously was, weakened by the state policies.244 Therefore, the target groups for

structural disadvantages, even in the absence of explicitly discriminatory laws, are those

that already are vulnerable, due to former institutional practices and of physical effects of

past actions and policies.

Even if there are no longer discriminatory policies, the social classes continue to act on

stereotypical assumptions that systematically reinforce the limited opportunities for

vulnerable groups and reproduce the social inequalities.245 Once the state tries to stop this

kind of tyranny and tries to integrate the excluded group into society, political problems

may emerge. At this moment, the dominant cultural group starts a conflict with the state,

since previously accepted exclusion practices are now regarded as illegitimate.246 The

protest against the new integration measures and the sharing of power expresses the

disappointment of even the lower social classes who feel deceived by the state and often

the state comes too late to protect the subordinate groups.247

So far we have understood that physical or ethnic differences are important indicators

for dominant groups in placing certain other groups at the bottom of the social system or,

like in the case of racialized relations, even outside of it. Second, we have seen that the

dominant groups and the state draw strategies of closure, in order to extract benefits by

their hierarchical relation to the others,248 many of the exclusion strategies being enforced

by institutional rules and laws. And third, even if legalized forms of oppression against

selected groups have came to an end, this does not mean that the previously oppressed

243 Young, Iris Marion (2007): Structural Injustice and Politics of Difference; in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 64. 244 Frank, Parkin (2004): Dual Closure; in Mackert Jürgen (ed.): Die Theorie Sozialer Schliessung. Tradition, Analysen, Perspektiven. (The Theory of Social Closure. Tradition, Analyses, Perspectives); Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden: 51. 245 Young, Iris Marion (2007): Structural injustice and politics of difference, in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, Frank, Parkin (2004): Dual Closure; in Mackert Jürgen (ed.): Die Theorie Sozialer Schliessung. Tradition, Analysen, Perspektiven. (The Theory of Social Closure. Tradition, Analyses, Perspectives); Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden. 246 Frank, Parkin (2004): Dual Closure; in Mackert Jürgen (ed.): Die Theorie Sozialer Schliessung. Tradition, Analysen, Perspektiven. (The Theory of Social Closure. Tradition, Analyses, Perspectives); Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden: 52. 247 Ibid: 51. 248 Young, Iris Marion (2007): Structural injustice and politics of difference, in Laden, Anthony Simon and Owen, David (2007): Multiculturalism and Political Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York: 81.

69

groups are now welcomed into the social system. They mostly remain at the bottom of

society, building a subclass of second-class citizens. Therefore, the fact that the

mainstream society excludes certain groups seems to be the result of earlier state measures

of exclusion, which continue to be followed by the society even when discriminatory

practices have become illegal. As displayed in Figure 11, once mechanisms of social

exclusion begun to come to play, official attempts to integrate previously stigmatized and

excluded groups cannot guarantee the liberal condition of justice, as long as the state

tolerates the intrusion of socially inherited handicaps and easements that directly affect the

individual’s capacity to perform249 (see Figure 11).

Fig. 11: Social Exclusion Based on Racial and Ethnic Differences

249 Frank, Parkin (1974): The Social Analysis of Class Structure; The British Sociological Association, London 8.

• Deìningforeignersonperceiveddiferences:

• Race• Cultural/ethnic

• Lawsandpolicies• Socialreproductionofformerpolicies

• Groupweakenesandincapacitytoredress

• Economicalbeneìts• Confrontationsforresources

• State• Rulingclass• Dominantgroup

ACTORS AIMS

STRATEGYMECHANISMS

70

CASE STUDY 2: THE SOCIAL EXCLUSION OF ROMA

The socially excluded Roma are the object of numerous discussions attempting to explain

their dramatic situation in Romania. Paradoxically enough, even if there is no institutional

rule aiming at segregation and social exclusion, because discriminatory practices are illegal

in Romania, a large part of the Roma community is burdened with the consequences of

inequalities and disparities in mainstream society and of daily stigmatization.

As we have seen in the Chapter 1 and Chapter 4, policies of social inclusion of the

Roma developed by the Romanian government and by a variety of international actors,

even if sustained by forms of affirmative action, have lead to no significant results and are

not able to offer equal opportunities and hope for the Roma community. Moreover,

promises of social inclusion over the next decades often disregard that a prerequisite of

social inclusion may imply a previous exclusion from the social system. While policies are

concentrated on the present and especially on the future developments, the political

discourse turns a blind eye to the past experiences that may, to a great extent, have caused

the socio-political inequalities the Roma community face today.

This chapter is guided by the theory of social closure, which states that even if there are

no overt discriminatory practices against a certain group, the causes of its social exclusion

are to be found in earlier discriminatory contexts provided by the state, which during a

certain period of time officially defined the group as socially subordinate.250

Turning to the case of social exclusion of the Roma, we look at their past status on

Romanian territory, attempting to identify possible key moments when this community

was officially defined as subordinate.

250 Parkin, Frank (1979): Marxism and Class Theory; A Bourgeois Critique, Tavistock, London: 89-116.

71

CHAPTER 8: THE ROLE OF THE STATE IN THE SOCIAL EXCLUSION OF ROMA

8.1. Racializing the Roma Minority - Slavery

The earliest written evidence of Roma on Romanian territory was recorded in 1385,

when Prince Dan I confirmed in a document the gift of 40 Roma families to two

monasteries. The Romanian historian, Neagu Djuvara, relates how, from the beginning of

their arrival across the Danube to the province of Wallachia, groups of Roma were

captured and immediately enslaved.251 Alone in Europe, Roma were enslaved on a great

part of the current Romanian territory, the Wallachia and Moldavia regions, serving the

ruling class, the church and the state.252

The manner in which Roma slaves were treated in these two provinces was not very

different from other societies based on the division of people into masters and slaves - they

were bought and sold like ordinary commodities and were considered to be the private

goods of their possessors.253 Mihail Kogalniceanu, a Romanian liberal writer described in

1837 his memories of Moldavian Roma slaves: On the streets of the Jassy of my youth, I saw human beings wearing chains on their arms and legs,

others with iron clamps around their foreheads, and still others with metal collars about their

necks. Cruel beatings, and other punishments such as starvation, being hung over smoking fires,

solitary imprisonment and being thrown naked into the snow or the frozen rivers, such was the fate

of the wretched Gypsy. The sacred institution of the family was likewise made a mockery: women

were wrested from their men, and daughters from their parents. Children were torn from the

breasts of those who brought them into this world, separated from their mothers and fathers and

from each other, and sold to different buyers from the four corners of Rumania, like cattle. Neither

humanity nor religious sentiment, nor even civil law, offered protection for these beings. It was a

terrible sight, and one which cried out to Heaven.254

251 Djuvara, Neagu (1995): Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările Române la Începutul Epocii Moderne (Between Orient and Occident. The Romanian Lands at the Beginning of the Modern Era), Humanitas, Bucharest: 289 252 The slaves were separated in “ţigani domensti”, belonging to the state, “ţigani mânăstireşti”, belonging to church and monasteries, and “ţigani boiereşti”, belonging to private persons, boyars (ruling class). It is interesting to note that at that time the term ţigan was used in Moldavia and Walachia for designating the slaves and for describing a certain social class. See Djuvara, Neagu (1995): Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările Române la Începutul Epocii Moderne (Between Orient and Occident. The Romanian Lands at the Beginning of the Modern Era), Humanitas, Bucharest: 289. 253 Djuvara, Neagu (1995): Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările Române la Începutul Epocii Moderne (Between Orient and Occident. The Romanian Lands at the Beginning of the Modern Era), Humanitas, Bucharest: 187-203. 254 Hancock, Ian cites Kogalniceanu (1987): The Pariah Syndrome: An Account of Gypsy Slavery and Persecution; Karoma Publishers, Ann Arbor: 16-17.

72

For illustrating the Romanian context of the XIX century, when in the enlightened Europe

intense debates took place on liberty, equality and human rights, the 1818 Penal Code of

Wallachia continued to describe the status of the Roma as follows: “All Ţigani are born as

slaves” and “The Ţigani without a possessor become state property”.255

In the other province, Moldavia, the 1833 Penal Code also stipulated clauses for the Roma

slaves: Legal unions cannot take place between free persons and slaves. Marriage between slaves cannot

take place without their owner’s consent. (…) The price of a slave must be fixed by the Tribunal,

according to his age, condition and profession.256

At the time, in Wallachia and Moldavia, Roma were placed outside the given social

system, due to physical and cultural attributes of difference. Their bodily characteristics,

like skin color, or facial features, may have been decisive elements for targeting the Roma

as foreigners – a characteristic that, as we have seen, is pivotal in drawing strategies of

social exclusion. There was also an affiliation of Roma to a distinct culture - language,

clothing and social organization, but as Mills suggested, it is not the cultural differences

that first determine dominant groups to build inequalities and to deny the very humanity

minority groups, but the possibility to epidermalize257 their differences. Therefore, we can

state that group distinct body aesthetic lead to an early racialization of relations, this

mechanism transforming Roma for 500 years into language gifted working animals258.

The early presence of Roma on what is now the Romanian territory was marked from

the beginning by relations of domination and exclusion that adopted a predominantly racial

specific form. This is evident from historical literature. Therefore we can state that the

current stigmatization of Roma in Romania has its roots in this division of labour, namely

slavery. It is interesting to underline here not only the evident role of the state that

sustained and took advantages of Roma discrimination through the legalization of this

racialized social structure, but also the position of the Orthodox Church, which, as an

owner of thousands of Roma, fully participated in slave transactions, being unapologetic

about it.259

255 Ibid: 16-17. 256 Crowe, David M (1994): A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia; St. Martin's, New York: 113-114. 257 Fanon used the term “epidermalize” in Fanon Frantz (1967): Black Skins, White Masks; Grove Press, New York, 1967. See also Slaughter Jr., Thomas F (1983): Epidermalizing the World: A Basic Mode of being Black; in Harris, Leonard (ed.): Philosophy Born of Struggle; Kendall Hunt Publishers, Dubuque. 258 Cărtărescu, Mircea (2007): Die Zigeuner – ein Rumänisches Problem, (The Gypsies – a Romanian Problem); in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, November 29. 259 Cărtărescu, Mircea (2007): Die Zigeuner – ein Rumänisches Problem, (The Gypsies – a Romanian Problem); in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, November 29, 2007.

73

8.2. From Slaves to Second-Class Citizens

Eventually, after the revolution of 1848, under international pressure and thanks to the

newly established pro-Western Romanian elite, tendencies of slavery abolition were

recorded. After 500 years of racialized relations and institutionalized slavery, between

1855-1856 the Roma slaves became free in Moldavia and Walachia,260 where, as

Cărtarescu puts it, the common message of the newly enlightened owners to their slaves

was: Brothers, you are free to go where your feet take you!261 But as further social

developments show, this “generosity” merely paved the way for new tragedies. Referring

to this episode, Cartarescu goes on to note: (…) this slaves liberation occurred without the slightest logistical or psychological preparation,

wreaked unthinkable havoc. Hundreds of thousands of Gypsies were free to die of hunger. With no

money, clothing or livelihood, without a belief or a culture – with nothing but with their naked

humanity, they soon populated the prisons en masse. No one knows how many perished at the time

from so much freedom, or how many have died until today as a result.262

Also in this case, Parkin’s theory of social closure demonstrates its validity: even if state-

induced rules no longer existed after the abolition of slavery, the Roma were not therefore

automatically integrated into the Romanian society. They continued to occupy the lowest

social stratum, becoming a subcategory of second-class citizens.263

8.3. Institutionalized Measures of Acculturation

The greatest part of the current Romanian territory was defined in 1918 by the

unification of three main provinces: Moldavia and Walachia (which had already made up

the pre-modern Romanian state) and Transylvania. While in the two provinces the Roma

were confronted with a brutal form of social exclusion, the Austro-Hungarian Regime in

Transylvania applied converse policies. In the 18th century aggressive assimilation

programs launched by Maria Theresia, the Empress of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,

260 Djuvara, Neagu (1995): Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările Române la Începutul Epocii Moderne (Between Orient and Occident. The Romanian Lands at the Beginning of the Modern Era), Humanitas, Bucharest: 298-302. 261 Cărtărescu, Mircea (2007): Die Zigeuner – ein Rumänisches Problem, (The Gypsies – a Romanian Problem); in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, November 29, 2007. 262 Ibid. 263 See Frank, Parkin (2004): Dual Closure; in Mackert Jürgen (ed.): Die Theorie Sozialer Schliessung. Tradition, Analysen, Perspektiven. (The Theory of Social Closure. Tradition, Analyses, Perspectives); Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden.

74

affected the Transylvanian Roma. Known under the name of “the four great decrees of

Maria Theresia” or the “Gypsy Decrees”, the state policies prohibited the use of Roma

language – Romanes – together with all other cultural traits that defined the ethnical

affiliation of the group. The Roma were forced to give up their way of life in order to be

acculturated and assimilated. Not only the destruction of their cultural identity was the goal

of the decrees, but the total elimination of any physically distinct trait. Therefore,

marriages between Roma were also prohibited, the Roma being forced to marry only inter-

racially. A cruel aspect of the decrees stipulated that Roma children had to be taken from

their parents, in order to be educated in farming families.264 Even the name “Cigany",

which was commonly used for designating Roma in the Eastern part of the Empire, was

replaced by the Magyar terms like Ujpolgár (new citizen), Ujparasztok (new farmer) or

Ujmagyar (new Hungarian). The state’s aim here was not social exclusion, but this

procedure can hardly be called social inclusion either, as long as compulsory state

measures were used for it.

Therefore, all three provinces developed state policies targeting Roma as distinct

people. While in Moldavia and Walachia they were placed in a racialized category from

the beginning, their humanity being denied, in Transylvania, they were first categorized

due to distinct cultural traits. However, the policies that forced the Roma community to

marry only non-Roma, induced a state-constructed inferiority of Roma racial traits,

attempting to eliminate them.

Even if Transylvanian Roma were not the object of overt social exclusion, the aim of

the state to assimilate them and the brutal acculturation of the Roma as a group, denotes

clear discriminatory practices and displays state-induced violence. Therefore, while in

Walachia and Moldavia we have located, in the practice of slavery, a pivotal moment when

the state has placed the Roma in a context of racial subordination, in Transylvania,

through policies aiming at Roma acculturation and forced assimilation, we identified

another way in which the state placed the Roma in a context of ethnical and cultural

subordination.

264 See Rombase Didactically edited information on Roma. http://ling.kfunigraz.ac.at/~rombase/cgi-bin/art.cgi?src=data/ethn/groupsat/at-bgld.en.xml&xanchor=a1#a1 Fraser, Angus (1992): The Gypsies; Blackwell, Cambridge, or Mayerhofer, Claudia (1999): Dorfzigeuner. Kultur und Geschichte der Burgenland-Roma von der Ersten Republik bis zur Gegenwart, Village Roma. Culture and History of Burgenland Roma from the First Republic until Nowadays); Picus, Wien.

75

8.4. First tendencies of Roma Ethnic Self-Awareness in Romania

Together with their status as people, at the end of the 19th century, when the pre-modern

Romanian state emerged through the unification of Moldavia and Walachia, the Romanian

Roma gained popularity as musicians, as skilled artisans, and as subjects of romantic

literature. They generally occupied a low place in the social scale, but compared to their

status on the same territory during the preceding five centuries, their official position was

now improved. Due to a considerably increased territory after 1918, the newly born

Romanian Nation-State consisted of a greater ethnical composition and in this context a

sense of Roma ethnic self-awareness first emerged. A newly established Roma elite set up

associations,265 opened Roma Journals,266 and even organized national and international

conferences in Bucharest, placing great emphasis on education, health-care, and countering

the disintegration of Roma culture and traditional professions.267

8.5. The Roma Genocide

But the modest tendencies in Roma emancipation and social inclusion where annulled

very soon, during the Nazis’ assumption of power in Europe. After the implementation of

the idea “to protect the German Blood and Honour”, beside the Jews and persons with

psychical disabilities, Roma became victims of the Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken

Nachwuchses.268 The main instrument of this law was compulsory sterilisation. The idea of

the inferiority of the Roma people was transformed into “irrevocably inferior”, in the Nazi

racist ideology269, and at last, the “Gypsy Problem” finds its “final solution” in the

extermination of Roma in Germany and other territories under the German occupation.

In 1940, after Romania hat entered the German camp, the newly established military

regime of General Antonescu made Romania “Hitler’s favourite ally.”270 In a public

265 e. g. The General Union of Romanian Roma or General Association of Romanian Roma. 266 e. g. Neamu Ţigănesc (The Roma Kinship), Glasul Romilor (The Voice of the Roma), or Timpul (The Time). 267 Crowe, David M (1994): A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia; St. Martin's, New York: 127-131. 268 Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring. 269 Thelen, Peter (2005): Roma Policy: The Long Walk Towards Political Participation, in: Roma in Europe. From Social Exclusion to Active Participation; Skopje: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung: 19. 270 Crowe, David M (1994): A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia; St. Martin's, New York: 132.

76

speech, Antonescu declared: “mice, rats, crows, Gypsies, vagabonds and Jews don’t need

any documents”.271

In the first year of World War II, along with the Jewish population, more than 25000

Roma (half of them children)272 from the region around Bucharest were deported to the

Transdnistrian extermination camps, in the eastern Moldovian region, part of the Soviet

Union at that time. It is estimated that during Antonescu’s fascist regime (1940-1944),

approximately 36,000 Roma were exterminated by the Romanian state.273 Due to a lack of

wartime records, it is difficult to say how many Roma died in Europe as direct victims of

the holocaust.274 However, as is also the case today, there was never a clear estimate of the

number of Roma in Europe in the first place.

8.6. How to deal with the Past?

In 1982 the German Chancellor Helmuth Schmidt made an official apology on behalf of

the German nation and recognized the Roma genocide: “We commemorate all the Roma

who were victims of the systematic genocide in Nazi-occupied Europe”.275

In 2007, President Băsescu also publicly apologized for the Romanian state’s role in

deportation of Roma to Nazi death camps: The authorities were merciless. They took the Roma from their homes, from the towns and army

and sent them far away, in order to obtain a pure nation. (…) We must tell our children that six

decades ago children like them were sent by the Romanian state to die of hunger and cold.”276 Nevertheless, like in the case of Roma slavery, no extended debated succeeded277. This

may be one reason why the current public opinion still oscillates between considering

General Antonescu a war criminal or a national hero.278

271 Ibid: 133. 272 See The International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania (2004): Final Report: 288: http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:wZsTnRwLaq0J:www.ushmm.org/research/center/presentations/features/details/2005-03-10/pdf/romanian/chapter_08.pdf+exterminarea+romilor+de+catre+regimul+antonescu&cd=3&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=ch&client=firefox-a 273 Crowe, David M (1994): A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia; St. Martin's, New York: 135. 274 It is estimated that 500.000 Roma were exterminated in Europe due to the same racial madness that lead to the extermination of the European Jewry. 275 Rose, Romani (2007): Roma and Sinti – Human Rights for Europe’s Largest Minority, Heidelberg, Central Council of German Sinti and Roma; Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma: 22. 276 Divers Bulletin no. 40(283)/10/29/2007: Romania's President Apologizes for State's Role in Deportation of Roma: http://www.divers.ro/eveniment_en?wid=37646&func=viewSubmission&sid=7920 277 While no major official public debates occurred, Romanian media exposes the controversial historical view on general Antonescu. For example see the article concerning the retrieval of Antonescu’s honor in

77

8.7. The Vicious Cycle of Roma Social Exclusion

Starting from the premise that every problem has its own unique history, and that only

this history allows a proper understanding and an appropriate point of view for developing

suitable solutions, this chapter was guided by the theory of social closure and attempted to

locate relevant junctions as to when Roma were put into an institutional context of social

exclusion, which was created and maintained by the state.

Roma were prevented rather than encouraged from integrating into the institutions of

the majority culture and currently they continue to be the easy targets of most racially

motivated acts of violence.279 Although over time, political and legal disadvantage have

been reduced, Roma have mainly remained at the bottom of economic and social

hierarchy, being confronted with structural processes that produced and reproduced

segregation. Their inherited disadvantages may as well have played an important role in

their current social exclusion, continuing to keep them victims in the struggle over

distribution of power and resources.

The state, in all its temporal and spatial configurations, played a crucial role in the

social exclusion of Roma by supporting slavery during 500 years and conducting processes

of ethnic and racial cleansing during World War II. Therefore, the choice of criteria in the

social exclusion of Roma is not arbitrary today, the closure strategies being preceded by

legal definitions of Roma as a subordinate group. The social exclusion that is rooted in

racialized inequality determines that discrimination and stereotyping persist, hindering

marginalized Roma to develop and to exercise their rights and their capacities.

The Roma, which were denied civil and political rights by the state over extended

periods of time, became the natural target for exclusion from the mainstream society, even

in the absence of official rules discriminating against this group. The reproduction of

discriminatory attitudes and their own inherited vulnerability are important mechanisms

Gândul, 07/05/2008: The General Antonescu can’t be rehabilited, or Evenimentul Zilei, 24/08/2008: 23 August, between catastrophe and escape.referring to the birthday of the communist regime in Romania, when General Antonescu was executed. 278For instance, when the Romanian public television conducted the series “Mari Români” (Great Romanians), and asked the public to vote the 100 greatest Romanians, Antonescu was designated by the public as the sixth greatest Romanian of all times Details on the project are available at: http://www.mariromani.ro/ 279 Barany, Zoltan D (1994): Nobody’s Children: The Resurgence of Nationalism and the Status of Gypsies in Post-Communist Eastern Europe; in Serafin, Joan (ed.): East-Central Europe in the 1990´s, Westview Press, Boulder, San Francisco, Oxford: 239.

78

that imprison a large part of the Romanian Roma in the vicious cycle of helplessness and

hopelessness.

Finally, the state appears as an active actor in the every day social exclusion of Roma,

since as Parkin showed, through its action allows the mainstream society to exclude the

vulnerable groups.280

280 Frank, Parkin (2004): Dual Closure; in Mackert Jürgen (ed.): Die Theorie Sozialer Schliessung. Tradition, Analysen, Perspektiven. (The Theory of Social Closure. Tradition, Analyses, Perspectives) Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden: 51.

79

III. OUTCOMES AND VERIFICATION OF THE HYPOTHESES

We have been moving on one axis, from the present to the past, and on another from the

periphery to the centre. Two structural issues that we have hypothesized to be two of the

key aspects that challenge the current efforts to integrate the Roma have been intertwined

with these movements through time and space: the Romanian national self-understanding

and the nature of the social exclusion of Roma.

This chapter will first discuss the outcomes that this analysis of the Romanian national

self-understanding deliver, and then move on to the results delivered by the examination of

social exclusion of Roma. The second section of the chapter aims at verifying the

hypotheses formulated at the beginning of the research.

CHAPTER 9: DISCUSSION OF OUTCOMES

9.1. The Concept of Romanian Nationhood and the National Self-

Understanding

In the absence of a robust political expression, able to exprime the national feeling and

having no institutional achievements to take esteem in, the only source of national pride for

the Romanians was to be found in the past: in the primordial attachments in the people’s

inherited racial, linguistic and cultural identities, in the imagined consanguinity and in

through kin connections. The ethno-cultural frontier was not only imagined for separating

Romanians from their territorially external Magyar or Slav neighbors, but also from their

internal ethnically different groups.

The conception of the Romanian nation is clearly ethnic, establishing the jus sanguinis

as membership criteria. Looking at the specificity of Romanian nationalism, beside its

obvious ethnic nature, we observe a strong irredentist character. The national idea was

promoted in all provinces by a revolutionary act, and found its common expression in the

desire for liberation from foreign rulers: the Ottomans and their Phanariot princes in

Wallachia and Moldavia, and the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in Transylvania. Aiming to

transfer sovereignty from the foreign rulers to the people, there was only a single formula

80

able to fire Romania’s imagination: an ethnic irredentist nationalism.281 This aspect

furthermore accentuates the opposition against all those who are perceived as foreigners.

National membership based on jus sanguinis combined with the ethnic and irredentist

nationalism set clear boundaries separating the Romanians from all those who do not share

the same blood, language and culture. Therefore, for Romanians, the ethnic groups who

share the same citizenship yet not the national characteristics are first perceived as being

foreigners and as not truly being Romanians. In respect thereof, when speaking about the

Romanian population we may differentiate between the demos and the ethno nation282,

between “true” Romanians and the undesired possessors of Romanian citizenship. This

leads to ethnic tensions marked by hostility and reciprocal lack of trust.

The exclusionary conception of Romanian nationhood has determined the tracks along

which Roma, as a distinct cultural group, are marginalized and perceived as foreigners, in

spite of their Romanian citizenship. The Romanian nation state generates exclusion of all

who do not share Romanian blood, language and culture (see Figure 12).

Fig.12: Outcomes: The Concept of Romanian Nation

281 Sugar, Peter (1969): Eastern and Domestic Roots of Eastern European Nationalism, in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds.): Nationalism; Oxford University Press, Oxford: 175. 282 More on the differences between inclusive and the exclusive concepts of nation in Basta Fleiner, Lidija, R. (2008): Trust and Tolerance as State-Making Values in Multicultural Societies. Paradoxes and Chances of federalism as a Conflict-Management Tool; Eleven International Publishing, Utrecht: 77-82.

PrimordialAttachment• Blood,language,

culture

MembershipCriterion• JusSanguinis

Differencebetweencitizenandmemberof

thenation

Nationalism• Ethnicirredentist(doubleaversionto

foreigners)

Relationswithnationalminorities

• Lackofacceptanceandtrust

Exclusion

81

9.2. Understanding the Tradition of Social Exclusion of the Roma in Romania

In the labyrinth of defining, enforcing and separating patterns of identity, all non-Roma

communities of Romania have a common ground manifested in the animosity toward the

Roma.283 While the German or even the Hungarian minorities (as former ruler) are

considered “accepted foreigners”, the Roma are invested with an additional degree of

otherness.

This analysis of the nature of social exclusion of Roma has revealed actors and complex

mechanisms responsible for the production and reproduction of social exclusion. The

current social exclusion of Roma, which originated in historically racialized relations of

slavery and in constant attempts of the state to acculturate and even exterminate this

minority, continues to be reproduced even in the absence of explicitly discriminatory laws.

The Romanian society therefore perpetuates old patterns of exclusion, previously drawn by

the state. The inherited inequalities have considerable weakened the Roma minority,

inhibiting their ability to develop and exercise their capacities and increasing their

isolation. Their vulnerability further transforms them into easy targets of social exclusion,

drawn on deep roots of racial and social boundaries (See Figure 13).Draw, generate

Fig. 13: Outcomes: The Social Exclusion of Roma

283 Bran, Mirel (1995): New Xenophobia in Europe; Kluwer Law International, London: 287.

TheState• Tracedpatternsof

exclusion(slavery,genocide,acculturation)

OriginofSocialExclusion

• Racializedrelations

Society

• Reproducesgivenpatternofexclusion

TheState• "Allows"social

exclusionandenforcestheseparationlines

Romaminority• Weakenedby

inheritedinequalities

Vulnerability• Leadstonewpatterns

ofexclusion

82

Due to of poor economic and social representation, and former institutionalized and current

informal discrimination in most aspects of social life, Roma are not only seen as belonging

to a distinct ethnic group, but they have built in time a distinct economic and social class.

The wide social inequalities the Roma face, lead to the identification of an additional

barrier between Roma and the Romanian majority, as well as between Roma and the other

national minorities of Romania, drawn not only on an ethnic foundation, but also on a

racial and a socio-economical one. Multiple and reproduced patterns of social exclusion

continue to isolate the Roma community (See Figure 13).

CHAPTER 10: VERIFICATION OF THE HYPOTHESES

The guiding research question of this study attempted to find out why have the national

and international strategies for improving the living conditions of Roma in Romania, and

finally for including them into Romanian society remained a “pleasant fiction”284?

The two hypotheses suggested that analyses of the concept of Romanian nationhood and

the history of Roma social exclusion on Romanian territory, would deliver valuable

insights into explaining the failure of the project aiming at Roma integration. In the

following paragraphs both research hypotheses will be addressed in turn.

10.1. To what extent does the concept of the Romanian nation-state challenge

the attempts of Roma integration?

The first hypothesis argued that one of the main factors hindering a successful integration

of Roma is the Romanian conception of the nation state. The results of the study seem to

confirm that the Romanian conception of nationhood influences, on a basis of imagined

consanguinity and kin connections, who does and who does not belong to the nation. This

restrictive principle primarily excludes ethnic differences and it is not favorable for the

284 The term was used in 1998 by the European Roma Rights Center, for describing the human rights situation of Roma in Macedonia. For further information see European Roma Rights Center, The Country Reports Series No. 7 (1998): A Pleasant Fiction. The Human Rights Situation of Roma in Macedonia. http://romawomeninfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=251%3A2009-09-01-09-56-16&catid=107%3A2009-09-01-09-52-41&Itemid=249&lang=en

83

ethnically distinct Roma, placing them in the role of the ethnically marginalized

“foreigners”.

It is the very nature of Romanian nationhood that excludes the Roma from the

nation, its ethnic understanding falling short of bringing ways for acceptance and

integration. The validity of the first hypothesis is confirmed therefore, by the ethno-

nationalist logic that is opposing to any efforts aiming at integrating the ethnocultural

distinct Roma, excluding them.

10.2 To what extent does the historical evolution of the relations between the

Roma and the majority society hinder the process of Roma integration?

The second hypothesis asserts that another major factor posing considerable barriers to

the integration process is found in the specific historical evolution of the relations between

Roma and the majority society. This hypothesis required a deeper historical focus on the

social status of the Romanian Roma on the Romanian territory. The approach identified

decisive moments when Roma were put by the state into a context of inferiority and

therefore were officially excluded from the given social system. These power relations

created structural inequalities that, due to later informally reproduced social exclusion,

continue to isolate the Roma community. Victims of the reproduced patterns of

discrimination and of their own inherited vulnerability, Roma continue to be an easy target

for social exclusion, this vicious cycle representing a major barrier for any effort aiming at

Roma integration.

The idea that early strategies of state-induced exclusion, continue to be informally

reproduced, even if this is not legal anymore, delivers a comprehensive explanation for the

major barriers that historical evolution of the relations between the Roma and the majority

society pose to the integration process.

Both hypotheses have contributed to our understanding of the roots and the complex nature

of Roma exclusion based on class and ethnicity. The following figure distills the main

findings of the research, underlying the barriers in implementation strategies of integration

(see Figure 12).

84

Fig. 14: Verification of Hypotheses: The Concept of Romanian Nationhood and the History of Social Exclusion of Roma as Barriers in Implementing Strategies of Integration

The research question – why the national and international strategies for improving the

living conditions of the Roma in Romania,\ and finally for including them into Romanian

society have remained a “pleasant fiction”285? – finds two valuable answers in the

exclusionary concept of Romanian nationhood and the perpetuating mechanisms of social

exclusion. These domestic particularities are major factors that generate and enforce

patterns of exclusion, therefore holding back any attempts to integrate the Roma minority.

285 The term was used in 1998 by the European Roma Rights Center, for describing the human rights situation of Roma in Macedonia. For further information see European Roma Rights Center, The Country Reports Series No. 7 (1998): A Pleasant Fiction. The Human Rights Situation of Roma in Macedonia. http://romawomeninfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=251%3A2009-09-01-09-56-16&catid=107%3A2009-09-01-09-52-41&Itemid=249&lang=en

BarriersofRomaIntegrati

on

HistoryofSocial

ExclusionofRoma

• Oldmechanismsofclosurecontinuetogenerateandtoreproducesocialexclusiononsocio‐economicalboundaries

Conceptof

RomanianNationhood

• ThelogicofethnicnationalismexcludesRomafromthenationonbasisofethno‐culturalboundaries

85

IV. CONCLUSION

At this time in history state policies towards minorities are evaluated in a global context

and by global standards. While the principles followed in Western democracies in terms of

the accommodation of national minorities may be to a great extent transferable to other

states, however, in some circumstances, it seems challenging to “import” values and

policies, from one country to another, without adequately addressing certain local

specificities and case-particular priorities. There are situations, which have no comparable

experience to the Western models, and the Western models are not able to deliver

appropriate answers. In respect thereof, the literature on minorities and multiculturalism

refers to the case of the Roma as one of the so-called hard, or anomalous cases,286 with no

analogue model among Western democracies.

The case of the Roma minority appears as complicated from various points of view:

the Roma are a culturally distinct group that build the largest European minority, have no

kin-state, are spread throughout many countries and form no majorities in any region. The

lack of a territorial concentration and their own state that could represent their interests,

may deliver valuable answers in regard to their vulnerability as a group and to the history

of discrimination and exclusion that marks the Roma presence in many parts of Europe.

The complexity of the Roma case is further reflected in the Roma position as a distinct

ethic group, which in many countries overlaps with Roma position as a distinct social

class. That picture of crosscutting elements drawn on cultural, racial and social lines

reveals a multifaceted hybrid of affiliation and exclusion patterns, where standardized

policies and discourses may fall too short. Therefore, we argue that a major task facing any

multicultural agenda, which aims at Roma inclusion, must evaluate on a country-by-

country basis the local circumstances that have previously led to exclusion of the Roma.

As this study has revealed, one of these local particularities that works against

attempts at integration may be the local concept of the nation, which plays a very

important role in holding a society together or fragmenting it. The resistance of Romania to

ethnic neutrality is a burden of proof that at the moment, the state is unable to keep its

integration promises. A condition indicating that the state would have the will and the

286 See Kymlicka, Will (2001): Western Political Theory and Ethnic Relations in Eastern Europe, in Kymlicka Will and Oplaski, Magda (eds.): Can Liberalism be Exported? Oxford University Press, Oxford.

86

capacity to offer fair terms of integration for the culturally distinct Roma would imply

what Walzer calls “a sharp divorce of state and ethnicity”.287

The Romanian population continues to be divided into a privileged majority and

exceptional minorities,288 according to the ethnic nature of the nation state. This fact is

anchored in the Romanian constitution, which differentiates, as we have seen, between the

“Romanian people” and the “Romanian citizens”.289

From this point of view, the Romanian reality has many parallels with most Eastern

and Central European states, which have built their nation-state on a similar ethnic

exclusionary basis. Coincidentally or not, the largest Roma communities live in this part of

Europe, and it is also here that they are confronted with the highest degrees of

discrimination and segregation.

However, in order to better understand why the case of Roma is often seen as a hard,

one, and at the same time to reveal a second aspect that seems to disfavour their

integration, we need to look deeper than to the ethnocultural threats, which only seem to

supplementary accentuate the isolation of many Roma communities.

Even if the current challenges that the Romanian Roma face may appear comparable

with those faced by other Roma in other countries, especially in Eastern Europe, the very

roots of the problems are generally different in almost each country, and therefore, call for

different approaches of intervention. For instance, addressing the social exclusion of Roma

in Romania – where the phenomenon is rooted in centuries of slavery and therefore Roma

were not recognized as human beings – may require a totally different approach than in the

case of the social exclusion of Roma in another country like for example, in Serbia, where

the phenomenon is rooted in the misrecognition of the equal worth of Roma culture. As

this study has revealed, the very causes of social exclusion play a crucial role in the current

dynamics of the phenomenon, and dealing with their roots rather than with their

consequences may fill an appropriate agenda aiming at Roma inclusion.

There are several local aspects that can be identified as posing resistance to the

policies aiming at Roma integration. However, when looking only at these two just

mentioned Romanian particularities – history of social closure (slavery) and conception of

nationhood (ethnocultural) – one could argue that it may be pointless to draw multicultural

287 Walzer, Michael (1994): Comment, in Gutman, Amy (ed.) Multiculturalism; Princeton University Press, New Jersey: 99-103. 288 Ibid. 289 For instance, Art. 4 stipulates: “The State foundation is laid on the unity of the Romanian people and the solidarity of its citizens.” Romanian Constitution (2003): Article 4 - Unity of the people and equality among citizens.

87

policies in a state that does not accept and does not trust a part of its own citizens.

Furthermore, it is difficult to get public support for multiculturalism policies when the

group that should beneficiate from them is perceived as illegitimately resident, or even not

worthy in terms of race. This picture allows a glance at the risks that multicultural policies

may pose in an inappropriate environment, which is marked by lack of understanding, trust

and mutual respect. In this case, drawing upon and trying to implement multicultural

policies means more than designing a pleasant fiction, but, paradoxically, that may even

lead to reverse consequences, which are able to further inflame the aversion against a

certain vulnerable minority.290

Once we have recognized some of the difficulties that Roma integration in Romania

poses and that imported policies may fall too short in addressing it, it became clear that a

suis generis approach that addresses a variety of needs-specific measures has to be worked

out. These may include approaches such as dealing with the past,291 which may help

societies to break out of the cycle of violence and exclusion, by redefining the power

relations within society and creating a minimum ground of trust and acceptance. There

may be steps to be taken by the Romanian government in recognizing the Roma as equal

partners in drafting strategies of integration. And there has to be not only encouragement

to Roma to integrate, but also frameworks have to be developed in order to convince the

mainstream society to allow the Roma to integrate. Therefore, the policies of integration

have to take in consideration also the actions of the dominant society.

It is not clear whether the multicultural discourse can address such deep-rooted causes

for lack of trust and acceptance,292 as we have identified in the Romanian case, but it is

clear that these values are sine qua non for a successful implementation of integration

policies. The question is therefore not whether multicultural policies are the appropriate

measures in drafting strategies for integrating the Roma minority, but rather what steps

290 An example in this sense may be delivered by the measures of affirmative action in area of education, implemented in the early 1970s, by the American government, as a helping hand for the vulnerable African Americans, in order to overcome the handicaps resulted by the legacy of institutionalized racism. Beside the fact that these measures have failed to reach large parts of the African-American underclass, they have been regarded as reverse discrimination, waking up sentiments of injustice among many White males and therefore, resentments against African Americans. More on measures of affirmative action in Esman, Milton J. (2004): An Introduction to Ethnic Conflict, Polity Press, Cambridge: 185-189. 291 More on the concept of “dealing with the past”, in Sisson, Jonathan (ed.) (2007): Dealing with the Past in Post-Conflict Societies: Ten Years after the Peace Accords in Guatemala and Bosnia – Herzegovina, Conference Paper 1; Swisspeace Annual Conference 2006, Berne. 292 More on the role of trust and tolerance in multicultural societies, in Basta Fleiner, Lidija.R. (2008): Trust and Tolerance as State-Making Values in Multicultural Societies. Paradoxes and Chances of Federalism as a Conflict-Management Tool; Eleven International Publishing, Utrecht.

88

have to be taken next in order to create conditions for these policies? How to develop

sustainable measures for properly addressing this particular context?

Looking over the Romanian debate on Roma integration, it is difficult to estimate to

what extent the policies adopted in recent years have improved or declined the status of the

Roma in the Romanian society. However, we are inclined to believe that a clear outcome

of those policies would be that we become more aware of the specific questions the Roma

integration poses.

89

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Vita

Education

2010 Master of Arts in Social Science with major in Political Science and minors in Sociology and Social Politics, and Science of Media and Communication University of Fribourg

2009 Dealing with the Past in Post-Conflict Societies – A holistic Approach Center for Peacebuilding – Swisspeace. Training course

2008 Transcend Method for Conflict Transformation in Peace Processes Institute for Integrative Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding - The Art of Peace. Summer Academy Berne/Vienna

2008 Mediation and Other Methods to Foster Democratic Dialogue Central European University Budapest in co-operation with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York, and Hamline University School of Law, Minnesota. Summer University

2007 Old Europe, New Europe, Non Europe – Re-shaping the European Union at the beginning of the 21st century Øresund University (Lund, Sweden). Summer University

2006 Federalism, Constitutionalism and Democratic Governance in Multicultural Societies Institute of Federalism (Fribourg). Summer University

2001 Licence diploma in Journalism and Public Relations The West University of Timisoara (Romania)

1996

High School leaving examination in Economics und Public Administration

Surname, name Gabriela Maria Mirescu

Nationality Romanian

Date and place of birth

August 16th, 1978 Timisoara, Romania

Contact Av. Jean Bourgknecht 6 1700 Fribourg , Switzerland Email: [email protected] Tel: ++41 76 542 71 70

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Work Experience

2009-2010

Rroma Foundation, Scientific Collaborator

2007-2009 Institute of Federalism's International Research and Consulting Centre, Switzerland, Assistant Fellow

2006 Institute of Federalism, Voluntary Assistant in the Summer University Project

2003-2007 Multimedia Centre and Library of the Centre for Study and Research on Foreign Languages, University of Fribourg, reception and consulting service in using material in order to achieve knowledge’s in foreign languages

Languages

Romanian Mother tongue

German, English, French

Fluent

Italian, Spanish Basic knowledge

Swiss German Dialects

Very good understanding competencies

Research Interests

Conflict Dynamics/Conflict Transformation in Multicultural Societies

Human/Minority Rights

Local Governance/Decentralisation/Power Sharing

Mechanisms of Social Exclusion/Inclusion

Democratic Governance and Social Capital

Publications

Decentralisation and Access to Justice; co-author with Sarah Byrne and Sean Müller. Project mandated and financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Institute of Federalism, Fribourg, 2007

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Declaration of Authorship

Hiermit bestätige ich, dass ich diese Arbeit selbständig verfasst und keine anderen als die

angegebenen Quellen verwendet habe. Passagen, die sich auf verwendete Quellen

beziehen, sind als solche gekennzeichnet.“

Gabriela Mirescu Fribourg

3.03.2010