Transtext(e)s Transcultures 跨文本跨文化 Journal of Global Cultural Studies 4 | 2008 Cultures in Transit Romany Issue(s): The Images of Romanian Gypsies at Home and Abroad Anca Balcanu Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/transtexts/251 DOI: 10.4000/transtexts.251 ISSN: 2105-2549 Publisher Gregory B. Lee Printed version Date of publication: 1 December 2008 Number of pages: 64-82 ISSN: 1771-2084 Electronic reference Anca Balcanu, « Romany Issue(s): The Images of Romanian Gypsies at Home and Abroad », Transtext (e)s Transcultures 跨文本跨文化 [Online], 4 | 2008, Online since 15 October 2009, connection on 04 May 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/transtexts/251 ; DOI : 10.4000/transtexts.251 © Tous droits réservés Cultures in Transit Romany Issue(s): The Images of Romanian Gypsies at Home and Abroad ANCA BALCANU In a country where the Roma minority was enslaved during the 18th and 19th centuries, where during Ceausescu’s era it did not have the right to exist and where calling someone a ‘tzigan’ is worse than insulting someone’s mother, being a ‘gypsy’ cannot be easy. As a European country belonging to the European Union, Romania has to ensure equal chances for all its citizens, no matter what ethnic group they belong to. Reality is far from the written rules – some Romanians are more equal than others. Discrimination against the Roma minority goes beyond Romanian borders. Italy, France and other EU countries reject the difference of a people that does not have the same notions of social life. Discriminated against, but cherished; for ‘gypsy’ culture (music, rituals, ways of dressing) inspires and attracts people looking for a joy of life and a freedom of spirit it seems to provide. Between the rejection of individuals and the acceptance of their culture, at the crossroad of their history and the place they are allowed to have in History, the way the Roma are perceived today gives a powerful insight into the Romanian mentality. My paper will try to show the duplicity of this image as it is presented in the Romanian medias – newspapers, magazines, TV channels, web sites – there where the ordinary Romanian gives and receives the projection of him/herself as he/she conceives it. ŢIGÁN, -Ă, ţigani, -e, s.m., adj. I. S.m. 1. Persoană ce face parte dintr-o populaţie originară din India şi răspândită în mai toate ţările Europei, trăind în unele părţi încă în stare seminomadă. 2. Epitet dat unei persoane brunete. 3. Epitet dat unei persoane cu apucături rele. II. Adj. (Rar) Ţigănesc. – Din sl. ciganinŭ. Cf. rus. ţâgan. [Gypsy, gypsies n., adj. I. n. 1. Person belonging to a population that has its origins in India and that has spread through almost every country of Europe, living in some parts in a semi-nomadic way. 2. Name given to a brunette person. 3. Name given to a person Romany Issue(s): The Images of Romanian Gypsies at Home and Abroad with bad habits. II. Adj. (rare) bohemian, in a bohemian manner – from the sl. ciganinŭ. Cf. rus. Ţâgan.] 1 ŢIGĂNÍ, ţigănesc, vb. IV. Refl. A insista mult (şi în mod dizgraţios) pentru a obţine ceva; a cere ceva cu încăpăţânare; p . ext. a se târgui, a se tocmi (mahalageşte). – Din ţigan. [To be, to act like a gypsy, v. Reflex., To insist a lot (and in a disgraceful manner) in order to obtain something; to ask something stubbornly; (extended sense) to bargain, to haggle (in a vulgar way) – from Gypsy] 1 May 2007. The president of Romania, the new member state of the European Union, harassed by the questions of a reporter during his private activities, called her a “filthy gypsy”. The next day, in front of the Parliament, members of the Romany minority protested against what civil society and the press considered as discrimination. The representative of the Romany minority in the Romanian Parliament stated in the following days that the President made this observation during a private conversation, in a private place, while he was nervous, and that it could not be described as a racial and discriminative statement against the gypsy minority.2 Most Romanians, he explained, use the term ‘gypsy’ (ţigan) in a pejorative sense when they are angry. This negative and discriminatory meaning of the word is accepted by the Dictionary of the Romanian Language of the Romanian Academy. November 2007. Ilie Măilăţ, a Romanian immigrant, robbed an Italian woman, seriously injuring her and abandoning her in a deserted place where she died after three days of suffering. After discovering Măilăţ was a Romany ethnic, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Adrian Cioroianu (a historian and politician), said during an international press conference that “all gypsies who are breaking the law must be deported to the Sahara desert”. During the press conference organised two days later in order to give an official apology, he still insisted on saying that “perhaps the deportation of the gypsies will not happen too soon”.3 Neither Băsescu nor Cioroianu resigned. Moreover, the two episodes weren’t isolated. Ironically, they happened during the “Decade of Roma Inclusion”.4 1 http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=TIGANÍ [12/04/2008]. 2 CDI, “Reprezentantul rromilor în Parlament: Băsescu nu e rasist” [Romany representative in the Parliament: Băsescu is not a racist], Romania liberă, May 23rd, 2007, www.romanialibera.ro [25/04/2007]. 3 Costel Oprea, “Cioroianu recidivează” [Cioroianu reoffends], România liberă, 13 November 2007, www.romanialibera.ro [27/04/2008]. 4 “The Decade of Roma Inclusion” is a human rights initiative to which governmental, corporate and non-profit organi)ations in the European Union, Romania and the United States are committed. The Decade is from 2 5 to 2 15. 跨文化 Transcultures 65 Anca Balcanu In what follows, I will analyse the manner in which the Romany minority is perceived in the Romanian press. As the subject is both broad and important, the analysis must be limited in time and space. I will therefore mainly deal with the written daily press. My theoretical framework will be supported by extracts from two weekly papers and a Fulbright conference that opened the Decade of Roma Inclusion in 2005.5 My research focuses on a time period of 13 months, from the beginning of April 2007 to the end of April 2008. I chose this particular period first of all because of the two episodes described above. Secondly, as 8 April is International Roma Day, it seemed logical to examine the manner in which the press covered the event for two consecutive years. Finally, I wanted to observe the way the Romanian Romany community was seen after the country joined the European Union. I analysed the online archives of three Romanian daily newspapers: Evenimentul zilei [The Event of the Day], România liberă [Free Romania] and Adevărul [The Truth]. They are influential general newspapers with a national distribution.6 Apart from having a large audience among Romanians, they are all over 10 years old and are also seen as the ‘traditional’ newspapers. The weekly opinion papers I studied were Dilema veche [The Old Dilemma] and Revista 22 [22 Magazine].7 I chose these as I wanted to see the manner in which the Roma minority is represented in the milieu of the elite, as the general public perceives these two magazines as being particularly sophisticated and elitist. Dilema veche is a weekly cultural magazine focusing on thematic editions, with the accent on essays, debate and literary journalism.8 The second publication, Revista 22, is an independent weekly political analysis and cultural newspaper that is published by the first Romanian NGO, Grupul pentru dialog social [The Group for Social Dialogue]. It defines itself as “the best weekly Romanian newspaper of political culture”.9 The manner in which the information and the materials were researched and collected also requires some explanation. Even though it is politically correct in 5 Ful1right Commission, Transcripts of the ,romoting Human Rights for the Roma conference, 1 Aune 2 5, http://1ucharest.usem1ass0.gov/Ful1right/Roma_Conference_Strategies_en.html [17/ 5/2 8] C According to -RAT DBiroul Român de Audit al Tirajelor [The Romanian Audit 7ffice of Newspapers Circulation]E, 1etween April 2 7 and April 2 8, the three mentioned papers had an average distri1ution of: 27,939 Dout of 45,872 printed copiesE Adev.rulG 59,484 Dout of 79,429 printed copiesE Evenimentul )ileiG 79, 4 Dout of 1 2,84 printed copiesE Rom9nia li1er., www.1rat.ro [ 5/ 5/2 8]. 7 According to -RAT, 1etween April 2 7 and April 2 8, Dilema veche had an average distri1ution of 8, C9 copies out of 13,28C printed copies, www.1rat.ro [ 5/ 5/2 8]. Revista 22 isnHt registered in the -RAT and its distri1ution num1ers arenHt availa1le. 8 http://ro.wiIipedia.org/wiIi/Dilema_veche [ 5/ 5/2 8]. 9 http://www.revista22.ro [ 5/ 5/2 8]. 66 Transtext(e)s 跨文本 Romany Issue(s): The Images of Romanian Gypsies at Home and Abroad Romanian language to speak about a ‘Rroma’ or ‘Roma’ minority, most Romanians use the word ‘ţigan’.10 For this reason, I searched the newspaper archives for the words “rom”, “rrom”, “Romanes”, “romi”, “rromi”, “ţigan” and “ţigani.” Such a distinction is a very important parameter, as the analysis of the Agenţia de monitorizare a presei [The Media Monitoring Agency] showed in its 2002 report. Mircea Toma, the director of the Agency, suggested that even though the centuries- old negative stereotypes about gypsies cannot be easily changed, something may be modified in the way in which the stereotypes are perceived. It is wrong to associate the word ‘ţigan’ with every piece of news or information about the Romany minority, and journalists and the mass-media have to actively change this perception.11 Between 1 April 2007 and 30 April 2008, the newspapers subject to analysis published the following number of articles: Total articles Adevărul 132 Evenimentul zilei 186 România liberă 83 I separated the articles according to two criteria.