Română

Although this year there were more candidates self-identified as Romanis, namely seven, the parliamentary elections of 30 November 2008 from Romania concluded with the same results as the previous ones. Nicolae Păun of the Roma’s Party, the only Romani organization with an infrastructure capable of ensuring a minimum self-promotion and mobilization in the territory, won in a relaxed manner the post of deputy assigned by law to each minority. A post thought to ensure a minimum presence in the political life for the minorities comprising several thousands persons, which becomes a bad joke if it is taken seriously considering the actual share of the Romanis as 10-15% of the population of Romania. Even a theoretical transposition of this share in Parliament would mean around 50 seats. The other one, since there is another one, is the maverick Mădălin Voicu who often appears on television talking about whatever you want him to talk. An adecuate positioning in the Social Democratic Party secured him another mandate for this term. The novelty of this year’s elections was the registering of other candidacies, besides the usual two.

Romanis with various backgrounds and various perspectives for the future, enrolled in various parties of the non-Romanis. Some of the affiliation options have raised many questions, since we are talking about extreme right parties, which boasted that, in case they win the elections, they will gather the Romanis in the stadiums and they will apply them "certain treatments."

Anyway, the basic idea was that these seven candidates will fight for the rights of Romanis from the perspectives available in the majority’s society, they will do justice for the Romanis with the majority’s weapons, something like the exploits of Akira Kurosawa’s seven samurai. This from a theoretical point of view, since in concrete, as seen in the electoral campaign and election’s results, the situation reminds rather of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs paradigm. Candidates could not produce a message for the perspective of the Romanis and implicitly mobilize them to vote, it did not appear yet a public vision that  would truly represent the Romanis. Something that aroused  the interest this year among the non-Romanis was the election of Barack Obama as the president of U.S.A. Some candidates quickly promoted themselves as the local Obamas, afterwards all of them were named in an article as "the 7 Obama of Romania” (although some of them look rather "White", corresponding  to the variations of the Romanis’ features). Neither this point of view did become interesting and mobilizing among Romanis.

This while the local majority itself have its own problems concerning their identity public, it is complicated to communicate with them, they are immobile and they are waiting for solutions the Western European Prince Charming like the heroine from that fairy tale dismissed by the feminist movement. In their case, they assumed publicly another  identity than their own, a new identity that they fail to assimilate. They imagine themselves different, but they don’t know how to wear the new coat, they have no autonomy in doing things, they cannot think on their own, they cannot be original, they have to peep all the time to those whose identity they assumed in order to se what to do next. In addition to the difficulties that require the absence of a self-confident dialogue partner, their current situation should give thought to ways in regards to bringing the public the identity of the Romans.

When they renegotiated their Europeanness in the 19th century (after they were included for many centuries in a state belonging to another cultural space), the local non-Romani majority was never confident in their ability to create a local European society according to their outlook and their way of life. They defined the idea of European as being limited only to the society from Western Europe, the role of the Balkanites remaining limited at copying the "good manners" of the West. The fact is that they made the identity renegociation during the modern times, perceiving the idea of identity through the nationalist concepts, understanding it just as unspoiling, unmingling and as a continuity along time of externally visible features. From this perspective, the Westerners are the pure Europeans who have developed their culture restfully, and the Balkanites are altered Europeans, adulterated because of too much contact with the local Turks and Romanis.

But it’s not really like this. The Iberian Peninsula, another case of the Europeanness’ renegotiation, was more lucky, just because it has renegotiated its European status before the era of the nationalisms. It was enough the allegiance to the same religious community (the notion of public identity of that moment) in order to be Europeans. Nobody gave a thought whether they would be some adulterated and incapable Europeans, while the Iberians themselves had no inferiority complexes, although their territory was really laid waste at that time, they did not have visible achievments to boast about.

An important role played also the fact that, in the 15th-16th centuries, there was not a similar difference of power and prestige between the ”pure” Europeans core and the former Muslim rulers, like that from the 19th century, difference that caused the Balkanic elite's unconditional amazement about the Western Europe. The moment coincided in time with the worldwide changes resulted from the modernization and the establishing of the highest status for the Western Europeans, by creating the notion of” White”. Consequently, the renegotiation of the European status was shaped by a strong modernization, perceived as a "Westernization", and a self-identification as White Europeans (in order to benefit from the status of those from Western Europe).

They remained trapped in a lanscape outside of history, they neither assumed their own identity (and enrich Europe with it, the way the Iberians did), nor they  managed to become something else, repeating the mantra "adaptation to European values" as if it would be a Sisyphean task. They developed a public image of a Snow White with a glorious origin, but with a cruel fate that forced her to live together with the Obamites, always concerned to keep an unblemished image and to sweep under carpet the "Balkan garbage".

The contemporary Balkans are one of the few places on Earth where the natives speak contemptuously about themselves, among themselves or together with non-Balkanites, associating the names Balkans, Balkanism, Balkanite, Balkanic with backwardness, abnormality, unforeseableness, dangerousness and other prejudices. . They equalized, because of too much amazement, the Western Europe with the idea of Europe, forgetting that they are too a part of Europe, never thinking about claiming their self, they way it is, as a true European one.

1)    Zoltan Petru, Cei 7 Obama ai României
2)    I have developed the idea in the article Rom/Gypsy, the identity vs. the image.