Commentary: Romani people who won't take a look at themselves harm everyone

During discussions on the website of the Romea news server (www.romea.cz), the debates between pro-Romani and Romani activists have often returned on various occasions to the topic of legitimacy – who can and should "speak on behalf of Romani people" or "represent Romani people" in the Czech Republic? The Editor-in-Chief of the Romano hangos periodical, Pavel Pečínka, has reached out to a circle of his regular contributors with questions that can all be summarized under the basic question of: Who can speak "for Romani people"? News server Romea.cz is gradually publishing the responses submitted to him by selected authors. Below is the translation of the response submitted by iDNES.cz editor Patrik Banga.

I don’t consider anyone a representative of Romani people with the right to speak on our behalf, Emil Ščuka is no longer publicly active. Otherwise, of course, the list of would-be representatives would be too long to give here. I admire anyone who keeps up with the times and looks for the flaw elsewhere than in the concepts of discrimination and racism, which have been repeated 100 times over. Those people are the future leaders who might perform a different service for Romani people than the previous ones have. I would like them to be more visible.

Under what criteria should Romani activists appear in the media "on behalf of Romani people"? Romani activists should present their opinions with their faces uncovered and under their own names instead of stupidly chattering online. Then they should say whatever they like. However, they should be warned – unless they have been elected or named as the head of a local community, they should kindly speak only for themselves, like I or [Drahomír] Radek Horváth do.

Which activists are harming Romani people? According to some, I myself am harming Romani people. In my opinion, everyone who is incapable of taking a look at their own ranks does harm to Romani people. Readers can choose for themselves.

I really don’t know how how to find a way to determine who the real representatives of the Romani people are and how they can get respect. In my opinion, neither the current environment nor the times are appropriate for that. We must wait a few more years.

Should Romani people present a united front in the media? How can this be achieved? For God’s sake! In the Czech Republic there are approximately 250 000 Romani people. How do you want to get them to speak uniformly when they don’t negotiate with one another and are not under the umbrella of a single organization? A political party and everyone voting will raise us up. Then we will speak in unity. Until then, everyone can say what he or she likes.

What about tradition? What about the bygone respect for the opinions of elders, women’s equality, the acceptability of diverse opinions among Romani people? If traditions had been respected as they should have been, we would not have Romani drug addicts or hookers and many young Romani people would not have problems with the law. Is that how it is? No. Not long ago a Romani woman who is younger than I am criticized me publicly, but I didn’t jump out of a window over it. There definitely should exist diversity of interests and opinions, along with a certain dose of decency and respect for elders.

Published with the agreement of the author. Originally published in Romano hangos number 17.