ROMA IDENTITY CRISIS
Surviving - a national trait and a national problem
Ivo Koychev December 1st 2007

Let us now speak about the gypsy ethnicity. In the context of everything that I described in part one of this article, the gypsy ethnicity, which is a part of the Bulgarian nation (650 000 to 850 000 people), has also not been insured against the crisis in our national identity. That’s why I want to point out the key problems, which can be seen today in the gypsy community as a whole.

One of the big problems of the gypsy ethnicity, related directly to the gypsy identity, which the gypsy community can not yet deal with, is its subculture, which is closed, marginalized and not integrated into society as a whole.

When we are speaking about the culture of the gypsy ethnicity, we must include the totality of the spiritual and material values which the gypsy people have created it in their historical development. We must see what their status has been, in the community, the social and the spiritual life, in a historic perspective, e.g. the level of their historic development as a community.

There are different opinions and statements concerning the background of the gypsies. In the present article I will not elaborate on this aspect. I receive that the gypsies come from India and that they have been a big caste in society, having a specific status, connected with music, dancing and doing religious rituals. Today, they this “a show business”.

The gypsies had never had a leadership hierarchy, so as to unite them and make them a true community, as well as to help them integrate in the then society. Even back then the gypsies have been called “free people” or “people of the spirit”. They have been inwardly divided in different communities, without having a wholesome integrity. Their way of life and existence have been “living for the day”. This can be seen in the present moment too.

When the national self-consciousness of a given ethnicities is closed in its own subculture and tradition, this positions it in a position of Nomadic existence.

The gypsy way of life has been strange, not understood and contrary to the values of the christian culture in the whole of Europe at that time. That’s why, the gypsies have been despised, persecuted and killed. Everywhere they have gone, they have lived with a nomadic mentality, which clearly revealed their nomadic culture and perception of life. This has clearly distinguished them from the common culture of the nation in which they were residing.

When a culture is closed in itself and has a negative attitude towards the value systems of the other cultures, it cannot integrate into society. The problem of the gypsy ethnicity is not a crisis in its identity, but rather a lack of development of that identity, which is another aspect of the crisis in our national identity.

The nomadic mentality continues to influence negatively the life of the gypsies. One of the main things, which all of us must understand in a national aspect, concerning the Bulgarian gypsies is that in order for them to integrate, they must change their nomadic mentality of life.

I believe that the gypsies must experience their spiritual revival in the context of our national culture. First they must integrate into the culture of our nation, so that they can be integrated in society as a whole.

Here are several areas in which we must help the gypsies to integrate:

- We must give the gypsies some privileges, not in a social, but in an educational aspect

For the gypsies it is necessary, in the framework of about fifteen years, to have a national strategy and financing in the area of education. This strategy will help the gypsies to not only receive some intellectual level for integration into society, but also to enrich themselves spiritually within the context of our national culture. According to me, the integration of the gypsies will not become a fact with social programs, but with educational strategies.

Let me give you an example for a similar strategy towards the Muslim population during the communist regime. The Muslims had great educational privileges concerning their acceptance in the public institutions of higher education. Every University in our nation accepted a certain number of young men and women from a Muslim background without an entrance examination or, if there was such an examination, these Muslims had some privileges in spite of their results from the examination. This created in this ethnicity highly educated intellectuals, which now integrates the Muslim population in all spheres of society.

Let us ask ourselves the following question:

Do the gypsy people have intellectuals, which can become a bridge for their integration into society?

When intellectuals are lacking in a given ethnicity or in a national aspect, the first thing that will be lacking will be the spiritual and moral values. It is not a coincidence that in the foundation of every prospering society we can find progressive intellectuals.

- We must stimulate the participation of gypsies in all spheres of the social and political life of our nation.

Today, there is a national crisis of leadership in our nation, which has affected the gypsy ethnicity as well. We can see in the present historical transition, that the gypsy society is not adequate towards the changes which time requires from them. The main reason for this is the lack of true leaders-reformers amongst this society.

That’s why, we can seen such strange pseudo leaders like “king” Kiro, Tsvetelin Kanchev and others being raised, who don’t have anything in common with the values of democracy. I don’t believe in ethnic leaders and ethnic political parties, because this is destroying the national integrity. My own background is from the gypsy ethnicity, but in my heart and in my mentality I am a patriot. My nation is Bulgaria and everything that I have in my heart towards the prosperity of the gypsies has an attitude towards the national integrity and not only towards some ethnic community. I believe that the national integrity is more important that the rights and privileges of one ethnic minority or another, of course if this is not violating the rights and freedoms of the human personality.

The ethnic political parties close the ethnic societies in their subculture, controlling them through fear and confronting them one against another. Such political parties as “Attack”, “VMRO” (presenting themselves as moderate nationalistic political party), DPS, Euro Roma and others, divide our nation ethnically and do not work for its integrity. That’s why, a new national strategy on a political level is needed, which can envelop the whole civil society and work for our national integrity.

Political parties, which are working for the national integrity must open their offices and start attracting the educated gypsy young people to work for the national cause. If this becomes a fact, we will see many gypsy communities in the different cities integrate into society.

- Revival and development of the culture of the gypsy society

I believe in the revival of the gypsies in a cultural aspect, through the raising of young talents in every sphere of the culture – poetry, music, cinema, science, sport and others.

Through the ages, the gypsy culture has been assimilated in many aspects by the cultures of the different peoples, where the gypsies had gone through. Often, when we speak about the gypsy culture, we cannot see an authentic gypsy culture, but a mixture of different Arab, Serbian-Greek, and in smaller aspects - Bulgarian elements.

My dream is to see gypsies, who can play classical music or fill the stadiums, playing rock music. My dream is also to see gypsy young people, who can have influence in the sphere of sport and science. Why should we be limited only to the development of our individual ethnic culture, which doesn’t have anything to do with our national identity?

Combat against racism and xenophobia

Because there is a crisis in our national identity, the Presidency, the National assembly, The Government and all the other institutions on the country should raise true moral and spiritual values and thus assist the integration of our nation.

Let me give you an example with the nation of Singapore, which at present is in the fourth place in the world in the sphere of economic growth. This nation has accepted five key values, called “common national values”, which can be seen in the book of Samuel Hennington: “The clash of civilizations”. These values are:

1. The integrity of the nation above he ethnic communities. The society above the individual (despite their ethnic background)

2. Family as a main unit in society.

3. Respecting and supporting the individual (despite of their ethnic background)

4. Consensus instead of confrontation

5. Racial and religious harmony

When these values become a part of the mentality of our nation, and this includes all ethnicities, the racial or ethnic clash will be reduced to a minimum.

About the author:

Ivo Koychev is founder and president of “Roma Destiny” National Media, which has as its purpose to reach the gypsy ethnicity in our nation, and to help for its transformation in a spiritual, intellectual and social way, so the gypsies can find their true identity and destiny and integrate successfully in our present society.

Ivo Koychev is also the founder and senior pastor of “Life in Glory” Apostolic Christian Center – a unifying center, where people from different ethnicities in Bulgaria are gathered to work together in unity, for the betterment of society.