Gypsies face new battles in Russia
Published 27 October, 2008, 06:34
A recent report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance shows Russian attitudes to Roma gypsies have become more hostile in recent years. Many Russians perceive them as criminals and drug dealers, but there are some who are interested in maintaining the hostile attitude because of to land ownership issues.
The Tomovich family have lived in their house in north-western Russia for 20 years, but they don't know how much longer they'll be staying. It might be made of bricks and mortar, but on the city map it doesn't exist. By Russian law it could be demolished at anytime.
Around 2,000 other people in the same gypsy community in the town of Chudovo are in the same boat.
“They tore down eight houses built by young people who’d separated from their parents, and the authorities say they'll be pulling down our houses as well,” says middle-aged Elizaveta Tomovich.
Gypsies came to the town of Chudovo in the 1980s. Soviet law prohibited them from roaming and local authorities allowed them to stay. At that time the land was not needed. Now a new construction development plan is being worked out for the town and the region.
There have been over a dozen similar cases throughout Russia, but the issue of land ownership is just one of the problems facing the country's gypsies. According to the latest census, there are 200,000 gypsies in the country, but there are estimates the number could be up to a million.
Twenty per cent go on to higher education, but the majority hardly make it through middle school, often because they do not speak Russian.
Many find themselves unemployed, especially as their traditional crafts like tinplating are no longer valued.
Ethnologist Nadezhda Demeter says that now gypsies are only perceived as drug sellers – nothing more. “However, the percentage of those involved in criminal business is the same as with other nationalities,” she says. “Russia used to be friendly to gypsies, and Russian literature and music were influenced by gypsy culture”.
Gypsies say their nation is alive as long as their songs are alive, but the lack of interest in gypsy folk music in modern Russia represents an additional challenge to the community.
The Buzylev family has been performing gypsy folk songs around the country since the 1940s. In Soviet times gypsy culture was embraced.
Mikhail Buzylev has launched a gypsy music project to help aspiring musicians get on stage. If people hear more gypsy songs and not only criminal reports, he says, attitudes will improve and young Roma perhaps will have a better chance of finding their place in society.
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