Romani Men and Romani Women Roma Human Rights Movement: A Missing Element
27 May 2004
Azbija Memedova1
"In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed. This means that we are going to have to learn to think in radical terms. I use the term radical in its original meaning - getting down to and understanding the root cause. It means facing a system that does not lend its self to your needs and devising means by which you change that system".
Ella Baker, 19692
If you are already wondering why I'm starting this article about Roma and the Romani women's human rights movement with a quote from Ella Baker, the answer is very simple: Ella Baker (1903-1986) is one of the most important African American leaders of the 20th century and perhaps the most influential woman in the Civil Rights Movement. She was an activist whose remarkable career spanned fifty years and touched thousands of lives. Her life story allows us, on the one hand, to understand how other oppressed people fought for their rights and on the other, to learn how she and her female counterparts fought for changes within the predominately male civil rights leadership circle!3
The effort to learn and understand more about the Civil Rights Movement is especially needed in this historical moment for Roma and Romani women when we are finally on the "agenda". Yes, a lot of interest from the international community is directed to us. There are lots of efforts for systematic changes (mostly because of EU accession requirements) to integrate Roma into the mainstream societies. Simultaneously, however, racial discrimination against Roma is more intense than ever.
Reading about Ella's life, I was surprised when I read the following: "…the period that is most important for all of us is the period when we began to question whether we wanted in...?" They realised that the struggle was much bigger than getting a hamburger at the lunch counter. It was not enough for "black people" to acquire education and be accepted in the American society. It was about full dignity as human beings.
I hope that Romani intellectuals and strategic thinkers will soon be focusing on the current development of the Romani social and political movement in the context of the global changes taking place in our lifetime and will articulate the basic concepts of our struggle. Do we want to "go in" and are we ready to overcome the existing diversities in approaches and visions for integration? Do we have the "required" capacities defined by the majorities? What is our definition of different, more inclusive societies?
Or do we have other ways of getting in?
We, the Romani men and women, believe that we are part of the (Roma) civil rights movement, which is seeking to change the position of Roma in society. If the radical change for Ella was an ongoing process of debate, consensus-building, reflection and struggle, what is the Roma definition of a radical change? Maybe it is similar to Ella's conception in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement context? If so, we are not there yet.
In addition to the many other aspects of Roma rights, it is worth mentioning the role of the women in this movement. As you can see from the first sentence, Ella Baker is not described as a women's human rights activist or leader, but as the "most influential woman in the Civil Rights Movement". Around 1965, those who were fighting for freedom started a great deal of questioning about what was the role of the women in the struggle. Ella believed that " ...wherever there has been a struggle, black women have been identified with that struggle..."
The first generation of Romani activists (men) and/or "leaders", according to their professional and ideological discourse, have spoken about discrimination and racism against Roma but without a gender perspective. Baker and her colleagues were convinced that "racism had infected every major social problem of the 20th century, among which is the oppression of women".
After long years of (Roma) civil and political movement, unfortunately, the absence of the gender perspective is still all too evident. Gender issues remain very under-emphasised in human rights discourse about Roma. I deeply believe that when one genuinely believes in the human rights cause, he or she should recognise (and address) every violation of the rights of the human being, man or a woman.
Why have Romani (men and in some cases women) human rights activists not been able to (and some of them still cannot) appreciate the specific situation and needs of Romani women? Is it because of lack of understanding of the human rights philosophy? Is it because of lack of knowledge about the distinction between individual and collective rights? Or is it because of the segregation of Roma which did not allow any influence from the modern world to challenge the so called "Roma tradition" that in many cases is oppressive for Romani women and especially for Romani girls? Is it about fear of losing something like, for example, the male supremacy?
Once somebody told me that the real loser is the one who doesn't give but selfishly keeps everything for him/herself. If we cannot deal with selfishness, we cannot be "winners".
Also, there is a tremendous need for both Romani men and women activists to look back and not only to remember where we have been but also to understand why we have been there. Only in this way can we see where we are going. Why and how have Romani women activists started their work?
The first Romani women activists who had their background in the Romani political and social movement started building, step by step, and from the bottom up, the national and international Romani women's movement and a new kind of leadership that aims to create a space for a better life for those "marginalized among the marginalized"!
During that growth, the Romani women activists had (and still have) to explain to both the larger society and their own community why they need to organise themselves and address their rights situation!
It was very hard to speak about violence and other human rights violations of Romani women at the beginning. There was a fear that when speaking openly about these issues, the community in general would be blamed by the non-Roma. Ella Baker's life can also help us understand this phase of our movement: She has refused to talk about certain aspects of her life and according to the explanations of some psychologists, in her case, the "shielding was from public view and scrutiny, not only from her oppressors but often from friends and colleagues as well".
Time and knowledge were needed to address the real "root causes" and to speak openly. In some countries (Macedonia, Hungary, Serbia) there are some progressive waves coming mostly from younger Romani activists. These up-and-coming activists have begun to confront the patriarchy and oppression coming from inside. However, there are still cross-generational barriers that remain a challenge for all of us.
Where do we go from here, Romani men and women? First of all, we have to review our understanding of human rights. I'm convinced that always when I advocate for Romani women's rights, I advocate for the rights of Roma! We cannot achieve much in our struggle if we don't recognise that Romani women are victims of intersectional discrimination based on sex as well as ethnicity. Therefore, we have to overcome the existing misunderstanding between the Romani women's rights defenders and Romani men (and in some cases women) activists who think that Romani women's rights are an undistinguishable part of Roma rights and do not need separate attention. A step forward should be a wider understanding of the fact that when we speak about gender, we don't speak about women but about the relations between men and women in all aspects of life, including the fundamental rights of the individual.
We, the Romani men and women, are part of a struggle for a better life. We have the same goal - a better life for Roma, men and women. It is not just about a better status in society, better education for all, but it is more about the respect for human dignity as Ella said. And respect should first come from inside the community. Romani men have to recognise the multiple factors contributing to Romani women's inequality and address them at all levels as the Romani women activists do. Only in this way can we speak about a real human rights movement. There are some positive steps in this regard, but we have a long way to go.
The second issue that needs immediate consideration is the attitude of the international organisations and donors towards the Romani women and the place of Romani women's rights issues within their programmes. The latest developments in this regard are not promising: the lack of cooperation among the donors creates confusions and conflicts among different Romani women's groups both on national and international level. Do we feel responsibility for this situation? I hope that we all do. Can we find another way or other ways? I think that we have only two possibilities: to advocate for "centralisation" of donor's power (which I don't think is a manageable and democratic approach) or to find a way to coordinate our own work in order to have (in)direct impact on the international community. The second one requires personal development (capacities) for understanding and integrating new concepts.
Another challenge that we all (men and women) have to deal with personally, is the issue of honesty about our own weaknesses and strengths and responsibility (in its deepest, religious sense) for the path that each of us is leading.
Allow me to conclude as I have started, with Ella Baker:
"…one of the things that has to be faced is the process of waiting to change the system, how much we have got to do to find out who we are, where we have come from and where we are going…"
Endnotes:
- Azbija Memedova, a sociologist, has been Coordinator/Manager of the Roma Center of Skopje since 1998. She serves as a consultant to the OSI Network Women’s Program Roma Women’s Initiative. Ms Memedova is a member of the board of directors of the European Roma Rights Center.
- Grant, Joanne. Ella Baker. Freedom Bound. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1998.
- Ransby, Barbara. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement. Chapel Hill & London: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
