Gypsy. An ethnic group or a social condition?

History books and lessons tend to overlook almost completely the history of Roma people and the discussion about the 500 years of slavery the community endured has only just begun. Where does the term “gypsy” come from and why is not the right word when we are talking about Roma people? How many people use it without knowing the history behind it?

The word Gypsy was taken from the Romanian Low Countries (Țările Române) in the 1300s and designated a social condition, of a slave, not an ethnic group.
Slaves were not perceived as human beings, but as objects traded between the masters in whose possession they were. They had no autonomy.
Initially, the Roma were slaves to the Romanian rulers because they needed cheap labour. Slaves at the court were divided into two categories, some were skilled in various crafts, such as blacksmithing, and others were cultural slaves, represented by minstrels and clowns.
The clowns operated according to strict rules and ridiculous dress and were always around the ruler, playing an important role in entertaining the master, his family and subordinates. Their duties were well defined, as were the jokes they could play.
In return for their work, lords were only obliged to clothe and feed their servants.
The social condition of slaves was pitiful. They could be beaten, sold or killed at the discretion of their masters. If a free person married a slave, he or she attracted the free one to the slave ranks, as well as the resulting children.
Depending on his own interest, the master could allow the slave the right to marry, including the right to annul the marriage without his knowledge and to break up the family.

If a slave killed another person’s slave, he was sentenced to death, but the sentence was not carried out, the one who killed taking the place of the one killed.
Among the groups of gypsy slaves, some were recruited to be appointed group leaders, also known as Juzi domnești. These judges were assigned to the counties and their main task was not to let any slave leave the county and to look for those who had run away and hand them over to their masters.
Those who fled were given the harshest of punishments, such as walking în the streets while the passers-by were encouraged to spit on them, hanging by ropes in the stables over animals or being tied up and thrown into the raging waters with the promise that if they survive, they will be freed. In  winter, they were thrown naked în the snow or frozen rivers.
Gypsy servants from the manor courts made up the staff of servants, seamstresses, maids and randais.
The utterly inhumane treatment of slaves was experienced in the gentry families from the earliest ages, with fathers encouraging their offspring to whip and torment the children on their property.
Physical violence against servants was not only carried out by men, but often even women in the gentry practised these cruel acts.
Young Roma girls were forced to have sexual relations with their masters.
However, according to Emmanuel Pons’ study From Robie to Asimiliare, after the ruler, the Romanian Orthodox Church owned the largest number of slaves. The servants of God provided this institution with the resources it needed to exist, building the monasteries Romania is proud of today. In the Romanian archives of all times, the 6th chronological document refers to a donation of slaves, a document that attests for the first time the existence of Roma in Romania in 1385.
In 1388, Cozia Monastery received three hundred villages of gypsies from the ruler Mircea the Elder.
About 500 years later, in 1855, Grigore Alexandru Ghica, the ruler of Romanian Country, impressed by a tragic love story between a slave and a French girl, drafted a bill that provided for the release of all Roma slaves.
The official end of slavery came in 1856 and a few years later, in 1891, Mihail Kogălniceanu gave a speech at the Romanian Academy entitled “The destitution of the Gypsies, the removal of the Bohemian privileges, the emancipation of the peasants”.

If some of us still view this sad historical period with skepticism, the following quote from the speech strongly supports it.
“[…] in my youth I saw human beings wearing chains on their hands or feet, some even iron horns ringed round their foreheads and tied by columns around their necks. Cruel beatings, starvation and smoking, imprisonment in private prisons, thrown naked into the snow or into frozen rivers, this was the fate of the wretched gypsies![…] Before the question of the deportation of the gypsies had entered the councils, the reform plans of the landlords, it began to stir up by the partial initiative of the gypsy masters themselves. Many of them […] disowned and forgave their gypsies. I use the word forgiveness, which we find in all acts of disobedience; but the reform was too difficult, it offended too many interests to be carried out with ease.” (Mihail Kogălniceanu)
At the time of the disenfranchisement, the slave owners received a compensation of ten galleons for each gypsy.
Seeing themselves free, many Roma left the country for neighbouring countries, while others were “thrown” to the fringes of Romanian society.
Uneducated and deprived of any material possessions, they continued to suffer discrimination, culminating in their deportation to extermination camps in Transnistria during the Second World War by order of Ion Antonescu.
In conclusion, for centuries Roma slaves were a source of income for the Romanian Orthodox Church, landlords and rulers.

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The sweet voice of a minstrel…

(Trec Țiganii)

 From the oldest times to now, Roma people were considered one the finest musicians, the first lute players. Even though their music has changed its sounds drastically through the ages, the way the ensembles are organised and the instruments used to play differentiate Roma artists from any other. From lute players at palaces to the religious manea that is popular today in many Roma Penticostal communities, the Roma music has evolved through the ages.

Since the time of kings and emperors, Roma have been known for their music and have always been in demand to entertain at various events and celebrations.

During the time of slavery in Moldavia and Wallachia, Roma musicians, also known as lute players (lăutari), enjoyed privileges that Romanian peasants did not.

The term “lute player” has echoed through the centuries and is a temporal landmark and a representative figure in the history of music.

When the Roma began migrating from India, they were culturally and musically influenced by the countries they crossed and these influences are still reflected in their music today at a linguistic and instrumental level.

The style of their music has oriental origins, but ranges from Indian rhythms and Turkish manea to Spanish flamenco.

According to Speranța Rădulescu, an ethnomusicologist, Lute music was built mainly on improvisation and the native talent of the Roma. At the beginning of their time in Romania, their music developed in courtyards of peasants and had a uniform character in that it did not take into account the cultural region of the country. The music was sung by voice and the accompaniment was produced ad hoc, with the blacksmith’s hammer and anvil, improvised spoons and drums.

During the communist regime in Romania, the Roma population was not considered an ethnic minority, therefore it was not possible to speak of a music that belonged to them and for this reason some Roma musicians claim that there is no traditional Romani music.

Professional Roma music, however, involves many instruments and people organised in ensembles or bands. It differs according to region. In multi-ethnic regions such as Transylvania, their music has Hungarian and Romanian influences, so it bears almost no resemblance to the music produced in the South area, where the predominant ethnic group is Romanian.

For centuries, Roma musicians have played a special role in preserving the traditions of other communities by playing at their events.

A case in point is the group Fanfara Transilvania from Cugir, in Alba county.

“We sing folklore from Transylvania and Moldova and sometimes at weddings we have to sing folklore from the regions (Banat, Muntenia, Maramureș), but in general we manage to sing folklore from all areas of Romania because it comes from our country,” says group leader.

The ensemble is made up of 10 members from generations of Roma musicians with family ties (brothers, cousins, uncles).

In order to keep the tradition alive in Cugir, every child is encouraged to learn to play the brass band instruments.

In the Gypsy tradition, at funerals, Roma musicians are present throughout the wake until the burial and their role is to keep the memory of the deceased alive and to keep the community united. The lyrics of mourning songs tell the story of the person who has passed into the eternal world and through the voice of the lute player, imaginary messages are conveyed and a dialogue is created between the deceased and their family.

Among the Roma population, music sometimes has the role of attracting them to houses of prayer. Some Protestant priests, also known as pastors, have turned church music sermons into Christian manele, which has brought the Pentecostal Roma together.

Traditional lute music deteriorated remarkably after the anticommunist revolution in 1989, when the public began to turn to a new musical genre that is still so controversial today, maneaua.

Many of the lute players have slowly moved from traditional sounds to modern ones and accommodated themselves to this new trend.

Since the distant past, Roma have often had to adapt to the conditions and policies imposed by a particular territory. They have thus come to adopt the beliefs, music and way of life of the place where they settled.

Just as every part of the world has its own culture, traditions and customs, there are differences in melodic and rhythmic structures in music from one region to another.  It is therefore almost impossible to define the parameters of a musical style that belongs exclusively to the Roma minority.

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What is Pata Rât?

Many of you probably haven’t heard of Pata Rât until this article. Pata Rât is a neighborhood in Cluj-Napoca, located right next to the city’s landfill. It was born, if you can say so, about 15 years ago, when the Cluj authorities evicted the Roma people who lived in the Coastei area, moving them to an unsanitary border area of the city, where it is not possible to live not even today in decent conditions. About 2,500 souls live here, in a toxic environment, a few meters from the toxic waste that comes from all over the territory of Cluj.

Thus, Radio Pata was born. As a spiritual healing for these people struck by fate, but also as a cry for help to the authorities who, although they promised that the Pata Rât would disappear and that people would get houses back in Cluj, this has not happened yet.

Radio Pata is a project initiated by the AltArt Foundation for Alternative Art in partnership with the Community Association of Roma from the Coast, the Center for the Study of Democracy Association, the General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Cluj and the BIT Teatergarasjen theater (Norway).

The community radio with a 24/7 streaming, created for the communities of Pata Rât, the area of Stephenson Street and Meșterul Manole, it wants to contribute to the inclusion of vulnerable groups in these areas through the right to information, the opportunity to assert their identity, to self – organize and demand their rights before the authorities, by accessing social services designed to help them.

In addition to the schedule and activities, Radio Pata actively contributes to the development and fundraising necessary to build a community center so indispensable to the community here. Children need a place to play that is not among the garbage, women need a meeting place, a place to socialize. A few pennies were raised and a 36 square meter container was bought, but there is still a lot of work to do.

In order for the center to be functional and not just a house, they need educators, specialized trainers, facilitators, and all of this costs money. One hour of activities costs approximately 300 lei. These people want nothing more than a better life for themselves. And Radio Pata, initiated by the AltArt Foundation, has a main purpose for this community and this is the community center called “Khetane”, which in the Roma language means “together” and which contributes to breaking the cycle of poverty and helping marginalized people to get out of this hostile environment, to have a new purpose.

In 2013, the community had another center like this, built from construction materials from demolitions. It was 25 square meters. They received donated computers, and the children did their homework there, using the internet also purchased with donated money. It wasn’t much, but to those people it was everything. Halloween parties, birthdays, even baptisms were held there. Practices were held for dance competitions. A small park with a small playground has also been set up in front. On the walls, photos of the residents of Pata Rât were placed, to make it even more familiar and to feel that the place belongs to everyone. But the beautiful dream ended after four years. The lack of financial resources led to the deterioration of the cottage, which was filled with moisture and mold, the roof broke and there was no money left to repair it.

That is why building a new community center is so important, and this is one of the most important goals of Radio Pata. From the list of items needed to equip the center are: tables, chairs, computers, various office furniture items are essential, so anyone who wants to make a donation for this purpose is welcome, even encouraged. For many years, more than 1000 children from Pata Rât have been playing on the road where garbage trucks pass, which serve the waste from the entire city of Cluj-Napoca, and the proper functioning of the Khetane community center is imperative for them. There are hundreds of mothers who have never had access to a washing machine, and hundreds of sick old people who have no access to medication or even drinking water. That’s why every donation counts.

Alex Fechete, the man who made his wings out of broken things and rose above those who hurt him

One of the “angels” who made even these small achievements possible, but so big for the people of Pata, is Alexandru Fechete, who also works at Radio Pata, as a speaker. He is also called Pepe, which is why the show he moderates is called “Pepe asks”. Alex is an activist and social worker from Cluj-Napoca. At just 38 years old, his life looks like a movie script, and not just any movie, but an Indian drama starring Raj Kapoor. Born to a minor mother, who soon divorced his father and sent him to live with his grandparents, “Pepe” did not have a very happy childhood. He was kicked out of the studio where he lived with his grandfather (who had also divorced his grandmother in the meantime), and they went to live together on the Coastei.

He had a hard time keeping up with his studies and not because he didn’t like it, but because the teachers labeled him from the first moment he said he was of Roma ethnicity. They put him in the last desk, alone, and he always got bad grades, not because he never studied but because they did not like him.

He also got beat up at school, as it was still a time when teachers were not afraid to physically show their dislike of certain students. But he didn’t give up. He continued his studies in the evening and managed to finish high school in 2012. In the meantime, his grandfather also died, and thus, Alex Fechete also ended up being evacuated from Coastei, with the final destination of Pata Rât.

This is also why Alex is fighting so hard for the rights of the people of Pata Rât, who were all unjustly evicted in the dead of winter, just before Christmas. Now he is studying for the BAC and wants to go to college, in Theology, where they also have a specialization in Social Assistance, which would fit him like a glove in his goals of helping the Roma people of Pata. He has already worked for four years as a community facilitator in the Pata 1 project, and now he is working for the Pata 2 project, in which 31 families are to be moved to the city, in several but different places, to follow various examples and can learn from other people how to have a better life.

He tries to pass this through his radio show, “Pepe asks”, where he invites people from the Pata Rât community to talk about them, about their dreams, about their plans and achievements, in the hope that they will positively influence others as well.

But this is not Alex’s first and only mass-media job, he also worked in 2014 for the British television Channel 4, where he was the narrator of three of four episodes of the documentary ”The Romanians Are Coming!”.

In the summer of that year, he agreed to be part of a reality show, where he was followed around by camera men in his attempts to find a job in London. At last he found one: at a vulcanization of an Indian man. It was hard for him, however, to be constantly followed, filmed and, on top of that, being asked questions during the filming.

But it was not in vain, because in that fall he received the proposal to be the narrator of a documentary whose main idea was the “siege” of the Romanians in the United Kingdom. “The Romanians are coming” was the name of the documentary and it was a TV project that did no honor to our people. We were described as thieves, lazy and other unflattering words. But Pepe did his job well and was amazed by the fact that he did not feel humiliated for a second, on the contrary, he then declared that he felt more discriminated in Romania than in England.

Alex Fechete has one big dream left! That of changing the history book and putting at least one page in it about the history of the Roma people in our country. He believes that it is important to know the episode of the Holocaust during the Second World War and the way the Roma people were taken to Transnistria, put to hard work without the minimum of decent living conditions.

Linda Zsiga: From the landfill, to the European Parliament

Another particularly important person for the Pata Rât community is Linda Greta Zsiga, also an activist for Roma rights. Also, she has a show on Radio Pata, called “Roma among us”, in which a series of problems facing the Roma community are discussed.

She was born in Cluj-Napoca, in a family with six children, from two parents who did not graduate from middle school. In the 10th grade, she married the man who is still by her side today, Silviu Zsiga, also a reporter at Radio Pata. Soon she realized that she could not do both household chores and learning, so she dropped out of high school, although she was a very good student. Immediately her first child is born, then her second, then two more. Linda soon became a young, housewife mother, as her husband’s income ensured a decent living for all of them. Things did not go badly until one fateful day in December in 2010, when dozens of Roma families were forcibly evicted from Coastei and taken to Pata Rât. Just like a few decades ago, when the Roma were put on a train and taken to Transnistria, with the promise of a better life.

Then she felt like her whole life had collapsed, but that’s how Linda’s fight for justice, for the Roma, for the right to equal opportunities began. They received support from many NGOs, human rights organizations to establish the “Community Association of Roma from the Coastei”. Thus, many doors were opened for her, in the City Hall, where she sat at the table with people who listened to her steps, what she wants to change, how she wants to help. But not much has changed!

Many times she cried and wanted to give up, but she didn’t! And now she is glad! She was also lucky to have an understanding husband who does the housework when she is away at trainings, at meetings for Roma rights, the first steps in activism, etc. She also reached the European Parliament where she gave speeches in English about the problems of the Roma people from Pata Rât, she was everywhere in Europe supported by Amnesty International, but although she was listened to with interest, not much has changed yet, and it is still a lot of work to do!

But Linda will continue the fight! No one deserves to live in such unhuman conditions. Activist Linda Zsiga’s dream is to end the Pata Rât, this ugly stain on the beautiful cheek, treated with quality creams, of a five-star city.

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