NYC benefit for Roma
The International Action Center and the Voice of Roma
sponsored an event called "Music and Dance for the Survival of
Roma" on Oct. 25 in New York. The highlight of the evening was
the Romani sounds of Ansambi Teodosievski, a renowned band from
the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.
As some of the audience watched and others danced, the band
members put heart, soul and 1,000 years of Romani
history--oppression, resistance and survival--into their
music.
The Romani left northern India about a thousand years ago,
went to Egypt and then spread throughout Europe starting in the
15th century. Their sojourn in Egypt led them to be called
"Gypsies," but they strongly prefer being called Romani.
Before the cultural performance, Sani Rifati, a leader of
the Voice of Roma, described the plight of the Romani living in
his home of Kosovo. One hundred thousand of their homes have
been destroyed, as have the homes of some 200,000 Serbs.
Under the NATO occupation, some 14,000 Romani houses out of
a total of 19,000 have been burned. No one has been charged
with arson in connection with burning Romani houses.
Rifati charged that "Roma are not recognized for human
rights by the U.S. and NATO."
NATO forces have occupied Kosovo since 1999. Because they
are people of color, the Roma have been singled out for racist
discrimination.
Rifati was introduced by Sara Flounders, co-director of the
IAC. Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general, also spoke on
the significance of Romani history and the widespread ignorance
of this history. Barry Lituchy, an activist and professor at
the City University of New York, talked about a recent trip he
took to Mitrovica in the northern part of Kosovo.
--G. Dunkel
Reprinted from the Nov. 4, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
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