Vol 2, No 8 2001 pp. 491 - 516
UDC 323.15:327.58(=914.99)(4)
POLITICAL AND LEGAL POSITION OF THE ROMANIES
IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE
Goran Bašić
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Commission for Studies of Life and Customs of Roma
Abstract. The Romanies are perhaps the last European nation tending to be represented as a self-determining political nation. They have lately been trying to articulate their national goals such as: all the Romanies have to gather together in a unique movement, their national myths and institutions have to be identified, their collective rights have to be protected, their minority status has to be acknowledged, their poor social, economic, and education status has to be improved and the like.
Europe was not always ready to understand the problems of the Romanies. Now the awareness of the urgent need to help the Romanies successfully and to integrate them into the society swiftly has been awakened. Thus, the idea of the Romanies as a non-territorial European minority has been accepted. Following this line of thinking, three subjects have to co-ordinate their activities when decisions on the position of the Romanies have to be made:
1. International institutions and organisations (CE, OEBS, EU),
2. National states regulating the rights and obligations of their citizens by internal codices (Germany, Finland, Macedonia, and Hungary acknowledged the status of the Romanies as the national minority; Slovakia enabled participation of the Romanies in the bodies of authorities; the governments of almost all the countries of the Southeast and Central Europe adopted programmes of integration of the Romanies population), and,
3. Regional and local bodies of authorities that can contribute to the improvement of the actual position of the Romanies by consistent respect and effectuation of the regulations of their constitutions and laws.
The problems related to the status and development of the national idea of the Romanies can be expected particularly in contemporary societies where assumptions of ethnic toleration are endangered by politization and political instrumentalization of ethnos. The ethno-political engineering, and mere exploitation and misuse of ethnocentrism respectively, are based on prejudices, misconceptions and inherited ethnic divisions, which are strikingly felt when Romanies are in question.
Key words: Self-determining Political Nation, Ethno-political Engineering
POLITIČKO-PRAVNI POLOŽAJ ROMA
U CENTRALNOJ I JUGOISTOČNOJ EVROPI
Romi su, verovatno, poslednji evropski narod koji nastoji da svoj etnički identitet prevede u formulu samoopredeljive, političke nacije. Poslednjih decenija, Romi teže artikulaciji nacionalnih ciljeva koji se odnose na okupljanje svih Roma u jedinstven pokret, identifikaciju nacionalnih mitova i institucija, zaštitu kolektivnih prava, priznavanje statusa manjine, unapređenje lošeg socijalnog, ekonomskog, obrazovnog stanja i drugo.
U Evropi, u kojoj često nije bilo razumevanja za probleme Roma, sazrela je svest da Romima treba pomoći kako bi se uspešno i brzo integrisali u društvu. U tom smislu prihvaćen je koncept da su Romi neteritorijalna evropska manjina čiji položaj se rešava se uz koordiniranu delatnost tri subjekta:
1. Međunarodnih institucija i organizacija (SE, OEBS, EU)
2. Nacionalnih država koje unutrašnjim kodeksom normi regulišu prava i obaveze svojih državljana (u Nemačkoj, Finskoj, Makedoniji, Mađarskoj Romima je priznat status nacionalne manjine, u Rumuniji, Češkoj, Slovačkoj omogućena je participacija predstavnika Roma u organima vlasti na svim nivoima, a vlade u gotovo svim državama u Jugoistočnoj i Centralnoj Evropi, usvojile su program integracije Roma)
3. Regionalnih i lokalnih organa vlasti koji doslednim poštovanjem i sprovođenjem odredbi ustava i zakona mogu da doprinesu unapređenju faktičkog položaja romske populacije.
Problemi u vezi sa statusom Roma i razvojem nacionalne ideje kod Roma mogu se očekivati posebno u savremenim društvima u kojima su pretpostavke etničke tolerancije ugrožene politizacijom i političkom instrumentalizacijom etnosa. Osnova etno-političkog inženjeringa, odnosno puka eksploatacija i zloupotreba etnocentrizma, zasnovana je na predubeđenjima, predrasudama, zabladuma i nasleđenim etničkim podelema, koje su upečatljivo prisutne kada su Romi u pitanju.
Ključne reči: samoopredeljiva politička nacija, etno-politički inženjering