Nine million citizens” “” “

Four times the population of Slovenia, double that of Ireland, more than that of Austria and roughly the same as that of Sweden: gipsies form a group of some 9 million people scattered all over Europe and are present in almost all the member states of the Council of Europe. There are in all eighteen million gipsies in the world. In Europe, two thirds of them have lived in the countries of Eastern Europe since the fifteenth century; some of these countries, in which they now represent 5% of the population, are about to become members of the EU. In Slovakia and Hungary there are roughly half a million gipsies; in the Czech Republic there are some 300,000; 400,000 in Serbia, almost 800,000 in Bulgaria, and between a million and a million and a half in Romania. In Macedonia they represent roughly 10 percent of the population. In Western Europe they are present in large numbers in Spain, Portugal and France. In Italy the gipsy population is estimated around 130,000. The annual meeting of the International Catholic Committee of Gipsies (CCIT) is due to be held at Bardejov in Slovakia from 12 to 14 March, on the theme “Verbal communication between Gipsies and Gagi” ( Gagi = Westerners). The choice of the venue is not casual: tensions between groups of gipsies and the security forces in Slovakia have risen in recent days: a number of incidents were reported in late February, including the looting of supermarkets, following the government’s decision to cut welfare benefits by 50% from 1st March. Some 90% of the gipsies in Eastern Slovakia are unemployed and live entirely on state handouts. SirEurope interviewed the president of the CCIT, the Italian Father Piero Gabella . “Verbal communication between Gipsies and Gagi” is the theme of this year’s meeting. Why this choice? “Never have so many words been spent and so much written as in our time. But those willing to listen and understand in depth are becoming ever less numerous. With the representatives of 20 episcopal conferences, many in Eastern Europe, we will therefore try first of all to understand how the Rom (or Romanies) and Sinti regard the dedication of many of our volunteers to them. We will try to create the presuppositions for a greater opening of the Rom/Sinti to the outside world, and of the outside world, by which I mean parishes, dioceses, movements and civil society, to the problems of this people”. What are the main difficulties of communicating with gipsies? “They are not only linguistic, but also relational. But nor would I underestimate the difficulties of communication with our own communities, the ones from which we come, those that have sent us among the gipsies to show solidarity with them and share their life. We must not take it for granted that our words and gestures shall be understood in the way we want. The result is not always the one we expected. Patient communication and preparation are needed”. Many Rom/Sinti live in countries that will enter the EU on 1st May… “I believe we are not preparing for a phenomenon that will certainly take place, i.e. a greater mobility of this people. Hitherto we have handled small numbers, for instance in Italy where some 130,000 gipsies are living. There are over 9 million of them in Europe. Are we ready for a more organic intermixture or do we want to continue to build ghettoes for gipsies to live in? Thought needs to be given to a coherent policy on these questions. They too are full citizens of the EU”. How do you judge, on the other hand, the commitment of the Church? “The Church too is dragging its feet. It’s a sore point. We have volunteers, men and women religious, some priests helped by keen laypeople who make a great effort to forge contacts and enter into dialogue with these people. But they don’t represent all our communities. Of course, the Church has not forgotten the Rom/Sinti. Within our Churches there are institutions in which these problems are discussed. But that’s not enough to prepare our communities to foster a sharing relationship with gipsies. In many Churches, however, bodies have been set up that dedicate themselves full time to pastoral care among the Rom and Sinti”. To come back to communication, what contribution can information make? “It can help to eliminate the prejudices that still exist about gipsies. It would be enough, for example, to bring home to public opinion the living conditions within a gipsy camp. But this is difficult because, at the end of the day, the overall judgement of gipsies remains negative. We are scandalized that a gipsy mother should breast-feed her own child in public, and then, at home, watch TV programmes in which young people subject themselves ‘live’ to plastic surgery: the images are eloquent”.