They want to give us the idea that liberation is some kind of one-time act. Actually, it’s a process that never ends completely. It has to be maintained and fought for, sometimes not just metaphorically fought for but for real.
But what, in the case of the Rom, the Gypsy, is liberation? That is the first question we must ask ourselves. Is it being the same as the Gadje? The same rights for sure but do we really want to emulate them? That is not liberation but walking straight into slavery.
Too many of ours, when ending up with a “mainstream” job or such, emulate the Gadje in such a way that they relinquish all that what makes them Rom. They deny their ethnicity, remove themselves from the community often, and their children give up all the Customs and Traditions of our Culture, cultural Taboos are broken, and also, if they ever spoke it, the Chib is abandoned. That is not liberation. That is self-ethnocide, very much akin to suicide.
Romani-Gypsy art is, today, being presented as “art”, and I use that word in a very loose sense now, as “mainstream” art created by Gypsy artists, in various modern ways and media. But that is not Gypsy art or Gypsy crafts. It is the same as what Gadje artists do, only difference that it is produced by Rom. You can see that garbage – for much of it cannot be described in any other way – in many a special gallery right now, such as Kai Dikhas in Berlin. To present that as “Gyspy Art” is laughable. One would not call it Jewish art if created by a Jewish artist neither Indian art if created by an Indian. Gypsy art and Gypsy crafts is something that is cultural to a great extent.
In order to liberate ourselves, as a People (and as individuals of the People) we have to take a different approach, namely that of resurrecting our Culture and all that goes with it rather than the opposite and submerging ourselves in the ways of the Gadje. There are, at least, as far as we – the Rom – as a People, are concerned, several aspects to liberation.
Mental: We need to rid ourselves first and foremost off the victim mentality and off the victim culture emulating, at least that is the attempt by the “leaders”, the Jews. Yes, like the Jews our People have suffered in the Holocaust and they have suffered persecutions and pogroms and were kept as slaves by church and state in the Balkans. But this victim thing is being turned into a cultural crutch in lieu of our Culture proper because so many of those “leaders” wouldn’t know our Culture proper if it bit them in the proverbial.
Physical: Are we free physically? For most of us the answer, I am sure, would be yes, for we are not held as slaves or such.
Societal: Freedom from Gadje society and not our own. But many of our young are breaking away from our own society wanting the freedom the Gadje enjoy not realizing that by doing so they destroy and enslave themselves.
Political: What does political liberation mean?
First of all we may have to stress what it does not mean. It does not mean creating our own country somewhere akin to Israel for that would mean displacing some other people. It also does not mean setting up political parties in the various countries playing the Gadje political game, as that will never, ever, get us anywhere, not does it bring us forward one iota if members of our community become members and even politicians of any particular political party of such a country. We see that every time this happens all that results from this is another Rom who is becoming more or less just like any Gadje politician because he or she will have to toe the party line. Political emancipation can only come through effective pressure organizations of our People by our People without Gadje involvement and run by persons of our community of the highest integrity. So far, alas, we are serious lacking those persons in such positions. So far the majority of national and especially the so-called international organizations are run by persons with low ethics whose interest is mostly power, money, position and worse and who have no interest in the grassroots of Amare Chel.
Spiritual: Liberating ourselves from Gadje religion and spirituality. Gadje religions, especially the three Abrahamic “faiths”, those that claim to have the only true God and the only way to “salvation”, are all designed to enslave people and us especially. Once a certain sector of those three “faiths” enslaved the Rom physically – men, women and children – and now it does it spiritually and culturally.
Education: Education is necessary but on whose terms? Gadje schools does more harm than good to Amare Chave especially as and when the cultural needs cannot be met.
In addition and conclusion: If we really wish to liberate ourselves as a People we need to throw away the Gadje rule book as well as the Gadje book, or books, designed to enslave. Especially the book, or books, claimed to be “The Word of G-d”. And, as indicated in the title, liberation and emancipation is not some kind of one-time act but will have to be worked at all the time and also fought for, and this fighting could take many different approaches. It will not be something that will be handed to us by the Gadje on a silver platter. Far from it. In the same way that the capitalist will not hand workers’ rights to workers without a fight on the side of the workers collectively as a union.
Michael Smith
redaktionen@dikko.nu
Att vara en oberoende tidning kostar pengar så vill du hjälpa oss med att betala vårt fika får du gärna swisha en slant till 123 242 83 40 eller bg: 5534-0046
Vill du annonsera eller sponsra, synas eller höras i våra media?
Kontakta oss på redaktionen@dikko.nu
eller ring 0768 44 51 61
IBAN: SE19 9500 0099 6042 1813 4395
BIC: NDEASESS
