LJUBLJANA; marec 2014
Vsako
leto okrog 21. marca mreža UNITED koordinira vseevropski akcijski teden proti
rasizmu in poziva mednarodno skupnost k odpravi rasizma, diskriminacije in
nestrpnosti. Letos se je Zavod Voluntariat pridružil kampanji z obravnavo
vprašanja o diskriminaciji Romov v Sloveniji in opravil razgovor s g. Harisom
Tahirovićem,
predsednikom in vodjo Romskega Informacijskega Centra Anglunipe (RIC), s sedežem
v Ljubljani. RIC se trenutno razvija kot pomembno informacijsko, socialno,
izobraževalno in kulturno središče za zadovoljevanje potreb romske skupnosti v
Ljubljani in okolici. Cilj razgovora je bil reševanje očitno spornega vprašanja in hkrati izvedeti
več o bogati in dolgo spregledani kulturi in zgodovini Romov, ker smo trdno prepričani, da
sta znanje in empatija ključna za odpravo vseh oblik rasizma.
V tem članku poročamo o pogledu
g. Harisa Tahirovića
na to tematiko in glavne težave, s katerimi se Romi soočajo v Sloveniji, glede
na njegove izkušnje kot vodje Informacijskega Centra Anglunipe in aktivnosti,
ki se tam opravljajo. Pomembno je poudariti, da Tahirović sam ne želi
podajati obtožb
proti komerkoli, temveč ponuja zgodovinski in sociološki pregled položaja Romov
iz njihovega vidika, povzema glavna vprašanja, ki jih tarejo in teme, s
katerimi se njihova skupnost sooča.
Po podatkih Urada Republike
Slovenije za narodnostne manjšine naj bi v letu 2004 6.448 članov romske
skupnosti živelo v Slovenij, medtem ko je 3834 ljudi navedlo romski jezik kot
njihov materni jezik. Kljub uradnim podatkom se ocenjuje, da med 7.000 in
10.000 Romov živi v Republiki
Sloveniji, večino od njih v Prekmurju, na Dolenjskem, v Posavju in v
Beli krajini. Po podatkih RIC-a so številke še višje, saj naj bi 12.000 Romov
živelo v 121 naseljih v Sloveniji. Uradni podatki kažejo, da približno polovica
romske populacije živi v zidanih stanovanjskih hišah, medtem ko drugi živijo v
zakloniščih, kabinah, prikolicah in zabojnikih. Življenjski standard,
izobraževanje in zaposlovanje so področja največjih težav Romov, saj je nezaposlenost
okoli 98-odstotna. Brez dvoma sta brezposelnost in diskriminacija povezana
dejavnika, ki prispevata k težkemu položaju Romov v Sloveniji.
Tahirović izpostavlja dejstvo, da je diskriminacija glavni
problem za romsko skupnost, in kar je še pomembneje, da ima svoje korenine
globoko v preteklosti. Od druge svetovne vojne in v času nacističnega genocida,
je bila udeležba Romov na dogodkih vedno prezrta od "uradne"
različice zgodbe. V zvezi s tem vprašanjem je zelo pomembna dejavnost
Informacijskega Centra zbiranje imen in izkušenj Romov, ki so se borili, ki so
umrli in ki so bili deportirani v nacističnih koncentracijskih taboriščih med
vojno, z namenom, da bi opozorili na ta del žrtev, ki jih večina zgodovine
ignorira.
Nevednost in molk o Romih sta
privedla do dojemanja, da, glede na Tahiroviće besede, "so [druge narodnosti] žrtve, ne oni
[Romi]" in dve deli sta nastali leta 2011, da bi osvetlili fenomen (čeprav
je bil objavljen samo prvi del): "Tudi bog je umaknil svoj pogled Ciganov / Romov" in " Kraintike Sinti estraiharia",
obe je napisal Rinaldo Diricchardi Muzga. Ti dve deli, poudarja Tahirović, sta pomembni, da se dokaže, da niso Romi le sodeloval
v konfliktu, ampak da so bili tudi žrtve in si zaslužijo, da se jih spominja,
toliko kot katero koli drugo žrtev.
Čeprav je danes diskriminacija
še vedno prisotna, je romska skupnost v Sloveniji priznana kot posebna skupnost
ali manjšina s posebnimi etničnimi značilnostmi, kot so lasten jezik, kultura
in druge etnične posebnosti. Urad za narodnosti ocenjuje tudi, da so razmere
med Romi, ki živijo v severovzhodnem delu Slovenije bistveno boljše kot tiste v
južnem delu, ampak na splošno, po mnenju Informacijskega Centra za Rome,
osnovni življenjski pogoji, kot sta voda in elektrika, v the naseljih niso izpolnjeni.
Številni Romi živijo v izoliranih, pogosto nelegalnih naseljih, daleč stran od
vasi in drugih skupnosti. Integracija z lokalnim prebivalstvom seveda ni tako
enostavna, v resnici se v mnogih primerih zdi, da lokalno prebivalstvo lažje
sprejme eno samo romsko družino kot večje romske skupnosti. Vendar pa se lahko
težave vedno pojavijo med lokalnim prebivalstvom in romsko skupnostjo, ki včasih
vodijo do lokalnih odborov, ustanovljenih z namenom izpodbijati prisotnost Romov v svojem
mestu, tako kot v primeru prisilne izselitve v Novem mestu leta 2004 in več
nedavnih dogodkov v Mariboru[1]. Na eni
strani se romske družine bojijo soočenja z lokalnim prebivalstvom uničenja
njihovih hiš: vsaka stran v polemiki obtožuje drugo za premik drugam in se
hkrati boji maščevanja od nasprotnika. To se dogaja predvsem v majhnih mestih
in vaseh, medtem ko je v Ljubljani diskriminacija manj zaznavna, zaradi
prisotnosti številnih ljudi iz različnih kultur.
Vendar pa je v času
gospodarske krize situacija Romov še slabša, kot pravi Tahirović, zaradi težav pri iskanju zaposlitve: če je za
lokalno prebivalstvo z ustrezno stopnjo izobrazbe težko najti zaposlitev, je to
za Rome postalo nemogoče. Kot prvo jim primanjkuje zadostna raven izobrazbe in
zahtevane kvalifikacij, kot drugo pa trpijo zaradi diskriminacije v družbi na
splošno. Poleg tega pravne in praktične ovire zaradi nedobljenega državljanstva
preprečujejo nekaterim Romom dostop do zaposlitve ali socialnih storitev.
Predsodki in diskriminacija so ključnega pomena in se izmenjujejo v tej
dinamiki: lokalno prebivalstvo verjame, da Romi izkoriščajo socialne pomoči in
iz tega razloga ne iščejo zaposlitve, hkrati pa delodajalci ne ponudijo nobenega
dela, ko izvedo, da je kandidat romske narodnosti. Toda kaj je vloga institucij
v tej situaciji?
To se je zdelo Tahiroviću najbolj pereč problem: odsotnost tistih institucij,
ki naj bi se neposredno ukvarjale z diskriminacijo Romov, ravno nasprotno,
izkaže se, da so včasih bolj diskriminatorne kot drugi subjekti, namesto da bi zagotavljale
neko obliko varstva osnovnih pravic Romov. Na nacionalni ravni je zagotovo
treba izvrševati zakonodajo: na osnovni pravni ravni se položaj in posebne
pravice romske etnične skupnosti razglasi z zakonom, v prihodnosti se pričakuje
tudi temeljni akt o romski skupnosti, vendar je še vedno v pripravljalni fazi.
Nacionalne institucije, kot so ministri in uradi za priseljevanje, ter tudi
mednarodne organizacije, kot je Evropska unija, imajo nekaj skupnega, ko gre za
ukvarjanje s položajem Romov: veliko
besed in obljub, in le malo konkretnih ukrepov za konkretno pomoč Romom. Tahirović pojasnjuje, da je generalna napaka v tem, kako so projekti
na splošno odobreni na evropski ravni in da to vpliva ne le na romske
organizacije: EU zagotavlja sredstva za organizacije,
vendar pa ne spremlja rezultatov in dejanskega vpliva ukrepov in pobud. Torej ko
organizacije, ki se ukvarjajo z romskimi vprašanji, potrebujejo pomoč, prejmejo
sredstva, vendar se splošno stanje in življenjske razmere Romov neposredno ne
spremenijo: uradna poročila kažejo, da so boljši rezultati običajno doseženi na
področju izobraževanja, socialnega varstva, kulture dejavnosti in
informacijskih storitev Romov, medtem ko je na področju stanovanjskih razmer,
zaposlovanja in ekonomskega položaja, situacija še vedno slaba. Nobenega pomembnega
premika ni bilo narejenega za reševanje konkretnih problemov Romov, kot so
življenjski pogoji in socialna integracija.
Če povzamemo, Tahirović nam je dal opis splošnega položaja Romov v Sloveniji
in pogled o tem, kaj je še treba storiti za njegovo izboljšanje. Zdel se je
pesimističen glede dejstva, da bodo nekatere spremembe izvirale iz družbe kot
celote, ne zaradi slovenske družbe same po sebi, ampak zato, ker morajo
posamezniki najprej spremeniti svoj odnos.
Ker uradne institucije še vedno ne pomagajo dovolj v tem smislu, se mora sprememba
nekako začeti od znotraj, s tem da izve več o drugih kulturah in z bojevanjem
proti predsodkom, in to je razlog, zakaj organizacije, kot je Informacijskega
center Romov, še naprej delujejo.
United
Against Racism
Every year around 21st
March, the UNITED network coordinates the European-wide Action Week against
Racism and calls upon the international community to bring an end to racism,
discrimination and intolerance. This
year, Zavod Voluntariat joined the campaign by addressing the issue of the
discrimination against Roma people in Slovenia and interviewed Haris Tahirović, the President and Head of the Roma Information
Center Anglunipe (RIC), based in Ljubljana. RIC
is currently developing as an important informational, social, educational and
cultural centre for meeting the needs of the Roma community in Ljubljana and
surroundings. Our aim with the interview was to tackle an
evidently diviside issue and to find out more about the rich and for long-term
ignored Roma culture and history, because we strongly believe that knowledge
and empathy are the keys to undermine every form of racism.
In this article, we will report Haris Tahirović’s point of view on the
subject and the main problems that Roma people are going through in Slovenia,
according to his experience as Head of the Information Centre Anglunipe and the
activities it is carrying on. It is important to underline that Tahirović himself does not want to make an accusation
against anybody, but he provides an historical and sociological overview of
Roma people situation from their perspective, the main issues they have to face
and the subjects this community confronts.
According to the Slovenian Office for National
Minorities, supposedly 6448 members of Roma Ethnic Community were living in
Slovenia in 2004, while 3834 people stated Roma language was their mother
tongue. Despite official data, it is estimated that between 7000 and 10000 Roma
live in the Republic of Slovenia, the majority of them in Prekmurje, Dolenjska,
Posavje and Bela Krajina. RIC provided even higher numbers, stating 12000 Roma
people live in 121 settlements in Slovenia. Official data shows that around
half of Roma population lives in brick houses, while the others live in
shelters, cabins, caravans and containers. Living standards, education and
employment are the areas of greatest problems for Roma people, with unemployment
at about 98%. For sure, unemployment and
discrimination are intermingled factors that contribute to the difficult
situation of Roma people in Slovenia.
Tahirović highlights the fact that discrimination is the main problem for the
Roma community and, more importantly, it has its roots deep in the past. Since
the Second World War and during the Nazi Genocide, the Roma participation to
the events has always been ignored by the “official” version of the story.
Concerning this issue, a very important activity of the Information Centre has
been to collect names and experiences of Roma people who fought, died and were
deported in Nazi concentration camps during the war, in order to draw
attention on that part of the victims that has been ignored by mainstream
history. Ignorance and silence about Roma led to the perception that, according to Tahirović words, “they [other nationalities] are the victims, not us
[Roma people]” and two works were born in 2011 to throw light on the phenomenon
(although only the first one was published): “Tudi bog je umaknil svoj pogled od Ciganov/Romov” and “Kraintike Sinti estraiharia”, both
written by Rinaldo Diricchardi Muzga. These works, Tahirović underlines, are important to prove that not only Roma
people participated in the conflict, but that they were also victims and
deserve to be remembered as much as any other victim.
Although discrimination
today is still present, the Roma Community in Slovenia is recognized as a
distinct community or a minority with special ethnic characteristics, such as
its own language, culture and other ethnic specificities. The Office for National
Minorities also assesses that the conditions among the Roma living in the
northeast part of Slovenia are significantly better than those in the southern
part but in general, according to the Roma Information Centre, basic living
conditions do not seem to be satisfied, such as water and electricity in the
settlements. Many Roma live in isolated, often illegal settlements, far away
from villages and other communities.
Integration with the local population is not simple of course; in fact,
in many cases, it seems easier for a single Roma family to be accepted within
the local population than for a bigger Roma community. But issues can always
arise between the local population and the Roma community, sometimes leading to
the formation of local committees with the aim to challenge the presence of Roma people in their town,
like in the cases of forced evictions in Novo Mesto in 2004 and the more recent events in
Maribor[2]. On
their side, Roma families are afraid of confronting the local population and to
have their house destroyed: every side of the controversy has accusations to
move to the other and, at the same time, fears retaliations from the opponent.
This happens especially in small towns and villages, while in the capital
Ljubljana the discrimination is less perceived, due to the presence of many
people from many different cultures.
However, in times of economic crisis the situation for
Roma people is even worse, Tahirović said, due to the difficulty in finding a job: if it is hard for local
people with an adequate education level to be employed, for Roma people it
becomes impossible. First, they lack the sufficient level of education and
required qualification and second, they suffer from the discrimination in the
society in general. Moreover, the legal and practical obstacles resulting from
lack of citizenship prevent some Roma from accessing employment or social
services. Prejudice and discrimination are crucial and interchangeable in this
dynamic: the local population believes that Roma people take advantage of
social aid and for that reason do not search for a job; at the same time,
employers do not provide any job when they discover that the candidate is of
Roma ethnicity. But what is the role of the institutions in this situation?
This seemed the most important issue to
tackle for Tahirović:
the absence of those institutions that should deal directly with Roma
discrimination and that, on the contrary, prove to be sometimes more
discriminatory than other subjects, instead of providing some form of
protection of Roma people’s rights. At national level, the legislation needs
for sure to be implemented: at the basic legal level, the status and special
rights of the Roma Ethnic Community is declared regulated by law and a basic act
on Roma Community is expected in the future, but is still at the preparation
stage. National institutions such as ministers and immigration offices, but
also international organizations, such as the European Union, have something in
common in dealing with the Roma situation: many words and promises but a few
concrete actions to help concretely Roma people. Tahirović explains that this is a general flaw in the way
projects are approved at the European level in general and that is affects not
only Roma-related organizations: the EU provides money to the organizations but
it does not monitor the results and the actual impact of actions and
initiatives. So, when the organizations which deal with Roma issues need help,
they receive funding but the overall situation and living conditions of Roma
people is not directly tackled: official reports show that better results are
usually achieved in the field of education, social security, cultural
activities and information services of Roma, while in the field of residential
conditions, employment and economic status, the situation is still poor. No
important move is done to challenge Roma concrete problems, such as living
conditions and social integration.
In conclusion, Tahirović gave us a description of the overall situation of
Roma people in Slovenia and of what is still to be done to improve it. He
seemed pessimistic about the fact that some change will come from the society
as a whole, not because of the Slovenian society in itself, but because
individuals have to change their attitude first. Since official institutions
still do not help enough in this sense, the change must somehow start from
within, by getting to know more about other cultures and by fighting
prejudices, and this is why organizations such as the Roma Information Centre
keep on working.
[1] Odprtje prve romske restavracije v Sloveniji »Romani Kafenava«, v
Mariboru, se srečuje z močnim političnim nasprotovanjem lokalnega prebivalstva
že od samega začetka, tudi mestni svet je preprečil socialnemu podjetju najem
bivše picerije za svojo dejavnost. Otvoritev bo predvidoma v aprilu 2014. Za
več informacij: http://romani-kafenava.si/
[2] The future opening of the
first Roma restaurant in Slovenia, ˝Romani Kafenava˝, in Maribor has met a
strong political opposition on the part of the local population since the very
beginning, with the town council preventing the social enterprise from renting
a vacant pizza restaurant for its activity. The opening is expected in April
2014. For more information: http://romani-kafenava.si/
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