Urgent communication – The Anti-Roma Europe Does Not Take a Break!
On July 18th in Italy, a 15 months’ year-old Roma baby was wounded by a compressed air pistol shot. Our sister Lapadat Cerasela has already felt in her own skin the reality of something that, sadly, will accompany her the rest of her life as it does accompany the lives of more than 12 million Roma in the European continent: the harsh reality of anti-gypsy racism.
We ask you, Europe, what is it about the Roma body that makes it the target of multiple forms of attacks and killings?! What does it make us “the killable objects”? Is it your long historical legacy and image about us as ‘savages’; ‘animals’; ‘non-humans’ that need to be controlled, disciplined and killed? Will our questions help? They tell us, be careful, that Europe is not a whole. Why then, when it comes to Roma lives, one part of Europe attack, persecute and kill, while the other side attends indolent, passive and arrogant position? We have said it: we know the answers. However, we continue appealing to the sectors of our society that are in a position to fight by our side, reminding them: what is happening is also their problem, and sooner or later will also affect them.
Here and now, We strongly condemn the existence of such racist Europe. It is not a mere proclamation, nor a mere speech. We condemn it for the suffering of millions of human beings who are oppressed and treated as scum while, hypocritically, human rights are raised to point out what happens outside their borders. Our condemnation is not an option; we do it because we must survive.
Photo credit: THÉM ROMANÓ
