However, racist and Hate speech skyrocketed on social media in time COVID-19 pandemicwith some blaming the Roma – Romania’s largest ethnic minority – for the spread of the virus.
“Hate speech especially emerges in times of crisis” Csaba Ferenc Asztalos, President of National Council on Anti-Discrimination, Romania’s Anti-Discrimination and Equality Agency. “Less resources, more stressful society, more competition, and then people use stereotypes, misinformation, to gain or maintain economic or political power. In that context, Roma is the target of prejudice.”
The legal force is questioned
Many wonder if the law, which has not been conclusive so far, is effective in curbing hate speech. A former member of parliament, who leads the law, Daniel Vasile, considers it essential, to protect the basic human rights of the Roma minority in Romania.
“This law is intended to punish the dehumanization of people – when people are no longer considered human,” Mr. Vasile said.
“There are expressions of hatred based on the perception that Rome is not really human. So you need a legal mechanism to protect our fundamental rights, namely our right to life.”
© UN Photo / Patric Pavel
A rural Roma community located 60 km from Bucharest, Romania.
Out of the net, out of the way
The standard of living in Romania has increased rapidly in recent years, with some of the highest rates of economic growth in the European Union. However, many Roma still suffer from economic and social exclusion, in addition to hate speech and discrimination.
Around Romania there are signs of Romans living off the gridwhere social services and facilities are scarce or nonexistent.
“Lack of infrastructure brings bad education, and bad education brings bad jobs, or no jobs, etc. If you go to a Roma community even today, you will understand what it is. , because there is the ultimate resource,” said Ciprian Necula, a journalist and human rights defender who has devoted much of his life to changing the story of the Roma people.
“You know, you can see (that) the road is ending, the electricity is ending, the water is ending, all the resources are ending,” whenever you get close to a Roma community, he says. he added.
These inequalities have gripped Romanian society for hundreds of years. “Basically, Rome was a slave in 14th century Romania. And that is the history of Rome for the next 500 years. We have been slaves for 500 years and nothing else,” said Mr. Necula.
The anti-hate speech laws, along with many other efforts by human rights defenders, to address some past injusticeslimit hate speech and discrimination in its current manifestations, and pave the way for a better future.
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Write a new script
“I have had to fight with what history has brought into my life, the box that history puts me in, and the fact that to be born a Roma woman in Romanian society is not the winning ticket, “Alina Serban said.
Ms. Serban is an actress, and the first in her family to not only finish high school but also go on to university. She is also the first Roma woman in Romania to be highly regarded as a theater and film director.
Ms Serban, whose play has appeared on stage at the Romanian National Theatre, says she was driven to succeed in part because of the need to represent her community, but is open about her origins. is a double-edged sword.
“If I make a mistake, it’s ‘ah, those are gypsies, I know you’re going to behave this way,’” Ms. Serban explained, noting that anyone else would be given a second chance.
“With majority opinion, if you live in this society, it is almost impossible to have anti-gypsy sentiment,” said Daniel Vasile, a former lawmaker. violence.
Victim and beaten
“I want to cooperate and communicate with them,” said Andrea Dragomir, who was arrested by security guards at a hypermarket in Brasov, her hometown in 2020, when she was 18 years old.
Her case made headlines after a national news organization posted her story on the Observator Antena1 Romania channel.
Ms. Dragomir said she was suspected of stealing, simply because she was from Roma. She was then insulted and beaten, and surveillance cameras discovered her misconduct, clearly recording the abuse.
“The chief of police came, he was very angry, said that I stole,” Ms. Dragomir recounted. “Then came a series of very ugly insults, telling me I was Roma, that I was a gypsy and stealing gypsies. The aggression that followed was the beatings that followed,” said Ms. Dragomir.
Such actions are what prompted legislative action. “We need to define these behaviors based on racism and hatred towards the Roma people. Mr. Vasile said.
© UN Photo / Patric Pavel
An impoverished Roma family on the streets of Bucharest, Romania.
Lessons Learned
Human rights defenders such as Ciprian Necula and Csaba Ferenc Asztalos do not believe the law will be particularly effective in eradicating deep-seated prejudices against Roma.
They argue that more education is needed – along with dialogue between communities – to bring about fundamental changes, both in cultural attitudes and in social acceptance.
“You have been educated in such a way that you don’t even know that you are being racist. That is the problem,” said Mr. Necula. “I am not saying that you should be blamed or blamed for that. What I am saying is that we, first of all, need to be educated, and this aspect of prevention, education, etc. does not exist yet. “
A question about education
When asked whose responsibility it is to educate people in Romania, Ms. Serban had this to say: “Educating the people does not depend on me. Other Romans, non-Romans, do it, questioning their prerogative. Being a racist is certainly easy, more than vice versa, aware of your privileges, suspicious of racism. ”
United Nations human rights experts have warned of the high levels of hate speech that turn the people of Rome so cruel, including Special Rapporteur on Minority AffairsFernand de Varennes. They also called for more education about the murder of nearly half a million Romans during the Holocaust.
“To solve a problem, you need to face it. You need to be blunt, Romania has a big problem with racism, with structural racism,” said Mrs. Serban. “And if we say we have no problem and that Roma are the problem, we will get no points, and Situations like the Holocaust can definitely happen again. ”
UN photo / Manuel Elias
United Nations Holocaust Memorial: “75 Years After Auschwitz – Holocaust Education and Remembrance for Universal Justice”. (January 27, 2020)
These days, many people are thinking about preventing a repeat of the tragedies of World War II.
Activists believe legislation, dialogue, education – and hopefully – will be essential.
“My biggest reason for going on is light in the eyes of those who see me working, see my work. That light means hope,” says Ms. Serban of her performing career, which often carries messages of social justice against many forms of discrimination. That light, means that they are being seen “as a Roma, as a community, as a collective:“ I see you. I respect you. I feel for your pain. ‘”
