April 8th - international day of Romani Gypsies.
international |
racism & migration related issues |
other press 
Wednesday April 09, 2008 00:00
by euro-knacker
You have a few minutes left to enjoy this year's international day of the Romani nation or the Roma.
They're not Romanians.
There are approximately 15 million people of the ethnic group worldwide, and surprising and no doubt shocking as it may seem, they are often not made as welcome as they undoubtedly are in Ireland.
Historically despite their undoubted influence on many musical traditions including flamenco, bolero, zidane or gypsy jazz as well as classical composers such as Liszt, Btrahms & Barton - they have often been the focus of persecution.
Estimates vary on how many were killed in The Holocaust :- "Ian Hancock, director of the Program of Romani Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, proposes a figure of up to a million and a half, while an estimate of between 220,000 and 500,000 was made by the late Sybil Milton, formerly senior historian of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum"
If you can read french you can learn all about their day and them here http://journee-mondiale-rroms.org/
If you can read English you can read all about them & perhaps tell any you meet you know all about their importance to European identity and civilisation & are lobbying for their ethnicity to be respected & that the Gardai be properly trained in diversity issues relating to them & other minority groups.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people