BALKAN Nationalism AFTER1989
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BALKAN NATIONALISM BALKAN NATIoNALISM AFTER 1989 TETSUYA S AHARA Since the end of the 1980s, a growing tendency of nationalism has domi- nated Balkan society. Most observers of Balkan affairs have fixed their eyes on phases in which mutually antagonistic, usually violent, nationalist movements have clashed and collided with each other. By doing so, they tend to neglect more subtle, but at the same time hazardous to daily life, aspects of the phe- nomenon. What must be seriously reconsidered now is the “other side of the story” of the “Balkan tragedy.” Concretely speaking, the question lies in how the social situation of ethnic minorities has changed in these past ten years. In this paper, firstly, the author tries to find out a common tendency of nationalist pressure that threatens the existence of the Roma community in the Balkans as a whole. Then, the examination will focus on the distinctive features of nature of the contemporary Balkan nationalism. Finally, the effect of the “humanitar- ian” intervention will be brought into inquiry. THE DETERIORATION OF THE SOCIAL SITUATION OF THE ROMA The Roma are a European ethnic group with their own unique history and culture.1 Eastern Europe, especially the Balkans, is the most densely pop- ulated area of the Roma people. The number of Roma in Europe is estimated to be some eight million.2 They are more numerous than such Balkan “nations” as Albanians, Bosnians, Slovenians and Croatians. However, their ethnic rights, even their right of existence, are not properly respected and have not got prop- er protection. The Roma are a diasporic people. They reside in almost every part of Eastern Europe, both in urban and rural areas. Their pattern of habitation is analogous to such peoples as Jews and Armenians. In contrast, however, the 1 We must be careful in defining the Roma an ethnic group. As a Yugoslav researcher points out, there is a much wider gap between self-identification and identification given by oth- ers for the Roma than for other groups (Aleksandra Mitrovic, “Social Position of the Roma in Serbia,” in Center for Anti-War Action, ed., The Roma in Serbia (Beograd, 1998), p.22). In the case of the Stolipinovo Roma, while those who confess the Orthodox faith identify themselves as Roma, the Muslims, almost without exception, claim themselves as ethnic Turks. 2 Ɇɟɠɞɭɧɚɪɨɞɟɧ ɤɨɦɢɬɟɬ ɡɚ ɩɪɚɜɚɬɚ ɧɚ ɦɚɥɢɰɢɧɫɬɜɚɬɚ, rľȻ »¸ÆÄÅ»¿ÇÀÄ Â¶Á¾Ì¾ÃÇÈ¸Ä (996, ɋɨɮɢɹ), Ñ.10. Almost half of the total European Roma live in the Balkans. Their number is estimated approximately at 4 million: among them, 90,000-100,000 are in Alba- nia, 40,000-50,000 in Bosnia & Hercegovina, 700,000-800,000 in Bulgaria, 30,000-40,000 in Croatia, 160,000-200,000 in Greece, 220,000-260,000 in Macedonia (FYROM), 1,800,000- 2,500,000 in Romania, 400,000-450,000 in Yugoslavia (including Kosovo), 8,000-10,000 in Slovenia, and 300,000-500,000 in Turkey. 117 TETSUYA SAHARA Roma do not have their own “national homeland,” and there is thus no author- ity to protect the Roma’s rights in the international political scene. The Roma people are almost defenseless both in the domestic dimension and in the inter- national context. That is, the Roma can be called one of the most vulnerable social elements in Eastern Europe, and we can see in them most vividly how difficult the life of a minority, or a defenseless people, is. They are, in a sense, a measure to assess the degree to which respective societies realize the principles of pluralism and democracy. There is no doubt that the Roma are one of the most oppressed victims of the political and social transitions in the Balkans, especially in the former so- cialist countries, in the 1990s. They are deprived of most of their original rights and are directly threatened with extinction by the surrounding ethnic majori- ties. Roma throughout the Balkans have been subjected to beatings and other cruelty and ill-treatment including by law-enforcement officers. Usually such treatment is racially motivated, and many human rights advocates in fact re- gard the ill-treatment of the Roma as one of the major human rights problems in the Balkans.3 After 1989, in most of the Balkans, the transition period was accompanied by negative side-effects such as increase in crime rates, high unemployment and the demoralization of society. In such complicated circumstances, the ones who suffered the most were the Roma. In all the Balkan countries, the Roma are the most economically oppressed ethnic group. The unemployment rate of the Roma is usually several times higher than that of other ethnic groups. In addition to the economic difficulties, strong anti-Roma propaganda damaged the social position of the Roma even further. The major role in this negativity has been played by the mass-media. A perception of the Roma as “criminals” was widely promoted by radio, television, and newspapers. The most wide- spread stereotypes were: the Roma are lazy and irresponsible - they are not able to engage in long term employment; the Roma are bad parents - they abuse their wives and sell their children; the Roma have low morality - they are brothel- keepers, prostitutes and drug dealers; the Roma are a criminal group -x they are murderers, burglars, rapists and thieves.4 The last stereotype notion de- serves special attention. Several surveys on public opinion reflect the view that Roma activities are the main reasons for crime. The Roma were described as thieves, black marketers, swindlers, and murderers.5 In a study on the image of the Roma in the Balkan media, Mariana Lenk- ova points out that, despite a common hostile attitude shared by the media of all the Balkan countries, Bulgaria and Romania are the worst cases.6 3 International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Annual Report 1998, http:www.ihf- hr.org/reports/ar98 4 Turks, Pomaks and Roma in Bulgaria after 1989. 5 Mariana Lenkova, Black & White v/s Diversity, The Image of the Roma in the Balkan Media, www.grocities.com/Paris/5121/blackandwhite.htm 6 Ibid. 118 BALKAN NATIONALISM There are constant references to the ethnic origin of the criminals whenev- er a crime has been committed by the Roma in Bulgaria. Bulgarian media has a strong tendency of presenting Roma criminals as “blood-thirsty sub-humans,” who commit crimes which no Bulgarian would ever commit. The Roma are also described as inborn thieves; the most popular profession of Roma is bur- glary. Thus, on the basis of such distorted information, the mass-media strength- ens the traditional anti-Roma image.7 The popular notion that the fall of the communist regime would remove the barrier to European standards of life in the Balkans came true only in the sense that the crime rate rose to that of Euro- pean levels. The media used this to reinforce the sense of Bulgaria as a nation victimized by Roma criminals, and thus encouraged widespread hostility to- wards the Roma. The situation in Romania hardly differs from that of Bulgaria. The Romanian media is characterized by a profound “hate speech” against the Roma. The Roma are presented as criminals who have an innate propensity towards asocial behavior, and the public is led to believe that all Roma are criminals and dishonest people who cannot be trusted. Although there are differences in intensity, the Balkan media in general acts to reinforce a widespread and deep prejudice in the respective societies against the Roma. After examining the situation, Lenkova poses a deep con- cern that the tendency of the media to adopt the prevalent anti-Roma attitudes may lead to open conflicts between the Roma and non-Roma.8 This fear could hardly be considered groundless, and in fact such conflicts have already been occurring in almost all parts of Balkan society, as we will see later. The creation of these stereotypes has not only been provoked by the me- dia. Political figures and law-enforcement officers play their roles as well. Nationalist-oriented political parties as well as former communists have uti- lized the negative image of Roma as a tool to encourage a sense of victimization of the nation, and to stir up fear of a national crisis. Law enforcement officers, especially the local police, brutally persecute the Roma population. Crimes in which Roma are involved are apt to be distinguished as a “Roma case,” and are also apt to be prosecuted more severely than the crimes committed by mem- bers of other ethnic groups. They intentionally disseminate anti-Roma propa- ganda not only to justify the use of force, but also to discredit any allegations that its use is abusive.9 The local administration authorities are also committed to discriminative policy toward the Roma. The International Helsinki Federa- tion for Human Rights describes the maltreatment of Roma in Albania as fol- lows: The major problems of the Albanian Roma included arbitrary police harass- ment in various forms such as beatings in public and in detention, and extor- 7 Kamelia Angelova, “The Portrayal of Ethnic and Religious Minorities in Bulgarian Main- stream Print Media, Oct. 1997-March 1998,” in ACCESS, Balkan Neibours, News Letter 1998 3, pp.34-35. 8 Lenkova, op. cit. 9 Amnesty International, AI Index EUR 15/04/94 Distr: SC/PO. 119 TETSUYA SAHARA tion. While relations between the Roma and the Albanian majority population were not characterized by violent racism analogous to that in many other east or central European countries (e.g., Bulgaria and Slovakia), the Roma were often discriminated against by municipal authorities responsible for social ser- vices, the provision of municipal infrastructure and health care.