By Peter Annear
PRAGUE — The murder of a Romany man late last year — he was thrown from a window by a group of marauding racists — tragically focussed attention on the problems faced by the Romany national minority, commonly referred to as Gypsies, in the new Czechoslovakia.
At least some Romany groups believe that members of the police force and others associated with the government are complicit in this type of racist violence, which has become a feature of Prague street life over the last two years.
The recently formed Romany National Congress (RNK) and the Romany Association for Youth and Children have focussed attention on these and other problems and have initiated or planned a wide range of language, cultural and community development programs the government itself should run. But while the programs are ready, in many cases government funds are not forthcoming.
A distinct national group which migrated from the Indian subcontinent beginning a thousand years ago and now constitutes a large population across central and eastern Europe, Roms have been forced to the bottom of the social scale.
Racist stereotyping and discrimination are common. According to one Czech expert, institutionalised racism, including discrimination by legal authorities and the constant media refrain that all Gypsies are thieves, contribute to the growing problem.
Many Roms today live the hand-to-mouth existence of social outcasts, suffering unemployment, homelessness, lack of hygiene and lack of education, especially in the Slovak republic, which includes two-thirds of the country's 600,000 Romany people. Because of declining economic conditions in Slovakia, Roms have been moving into the Czech republic since the 1970s.
Eighty-five per cent of the country's Romany population — Slovak Roms (70%) and Hungarian Roms (15%) — have been sedentary for two or three centuries. The remaining small group of Vlaxi Roms have been nomadic.
After the war, during which thousands of Czech Roms had been exterminated and Slovaks assigned to labour camps, an influx of Roms into Bohemia and Moravia ran into the strong arm of the state, which forced them to stay put and take jobs and caused dramatic cultural changes.
Life may not have been particularly good under the former regime, say representatives of the RNK and the Association of Youth, but things may now be worse. Ladislav Milo points to the example of apparent police toleration of racist violence as one clear example.
"We won't name names, but there are political parties, some members of the government and people in high places supporting [the racists]. It is clear that there are many ex-police and ex-STB [secret police] agents among them, and they are supported even if not m the Ministry of the Interior, who encourage them."
Often, Roms are the victims of the social transformation occurring here. One example is the increasingly common eviction of Romany families from rented accommodation that may have been returned to former owners under property restitution laws. In many cases, the evictions are illegal, and some have been overturned.
Because they are a group without property or access to it, development of the Romany nation is dependent on state support. Furthermore, while previously everyone at least had a job, now unemployment of up to 66% has funnelled many within the community into a semi-criminal existence.
"No person anywhere will let their children go hungry", Milo said in an angry tone. "Children are highly valued in the Romany community because they are the future. You may go into the street and see Rom children dirty or with no shoes, but it is sure that for all those children there is a mother somewhere struggling to get food. And if she does not have a job and does not have money, she will steal it. So the economic reform is also responsible for the criminality."
The policy of assimilation under the old regime had its own problems because Roms where not given the chance to achieve the same levels as others. Advancement required knowing someone at a high level. More importantly, Romany children began to lose their language and their cultural heritage.
On top of this, language difficulties created problems in the education system. Lacking good Czech or Slovak because families speak the Romany language, the children often do not understand what is needed in primary schools; they are shuffled into special schools and from there are eligible only for limited apprenticeships. Few attain the higher school certificate that can open the way to better jobs. Most end up unemployed or as unskilled labour.
The employment situation has been worsened by the current governments' failure to cooperate. The Czech government is yet to issue funds approved in the budget, although in Slovakia finance has been allocated to community reconstruction. The problem is further entrenched by the monetarist policy of the federal government, which refuses to allocate sufficient funds to general public works that could provide jobs.
While Czechoslovakia's much talked about though not much observed Declaration of Human Rights includes provisions under which Roms would be recognised as a national minority, the Romany nation has not yet been given constitutional recognition along with other minorities. A new constitutional draft is in preparation.
Political recognition is an equal concern. Now there are 20 different Romany political organisations where two years ago there was only one, the Romany Civic Initiative (ROI). The ROI promised heaven and earth, said youth representative Jan Rusenko, but delivered on not one of its original aims. The ROI is a member of the Slovak government headed by the centre-right Christian Democratic Movement.
The RNK was formed in response to the failures of the ROI, which, it is claimed, is losing members rapidly. Why have the Romany ked rhetorically. Because no other political party in the country is interested in the Romany question.
Nonetheless, the Romany organisations lean towards those existing parties that have a social welfare program, including left parties, because in the current economic situation the Roms have suffered most.
The RNK and the Youth Association have embarked on an ambitious program of community and cultural organisation that includes an experimental bilingual school, youth centres for social, cultural and educational activities and pressuring the government to meet Romany needs. Left to fend for themselves, the Romany groups certainly have their task cut out for them.
[Secretary to the Romany Association for Youth and Children of the Czech Republic Jan Rusenko, adviser Ladislav Milo, and Coordinating Commission member Roman Fedak were interviewed by Slavina Novakova, Adam Novak and Peter Annear.]