First edition this year of the Gypsy Spirit award held in the Czech Republic, an initiative realized by the ministry for Human Rights whose aim has been to highlight examples of integration of the Rom community and recognize the merits of those who have worked with dedication towards this objective.
The idea was imported from Slovakia where the Gypsy Spirit took place with success around the first half of the year. Furthermore, in the ex confederate state, fundamental support towards the project was given, as general partner, by Slovenske elektrarne (Enel Group) – and this also goes to show how important this theme is from an enterprise’s social responsibility point of view.
In both countries, however, reasons for stimulating Rom integration already exist. The citizens who belong to this ethnic group, in fact, represent not only the largest minority – half a million of people in Slovakia and, more than 300 thousand in the Czech Republic – but also one of the most urgent social problems to be dealt with.
The majority of Czech and Slovakian Roms live in extreme poverty, nearly always in a conflicting relationship compared to the rest of the population and, in any case, in a state of social alienation. The Roms are often segregated into city ghettos or even village slums on the verge of society – as is often the case in eastern Slovakia.
The situation is so dramatic that some refer to it as a time-bomb, a danger that is becoming more serious due to the grave tensions caused by the economic crisis of the last months.
A seriously urgent problem that weighs on the governments of Prague and Bratislava, just as much as on all the countries of the New Europe, to which Brussels cannot remain insensible.
Just last April, in Prague, Vladimir Spidla, ex EU commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, presented the new “European Platforms for Rom integration”. On that occasion, the commissioner explained:” We need constructive policies that give to the Roms a possibility and not simply repressive policies, which increase poverty and social exclusion.”
The Gypsy Spirit project in itself, cannot solve this situation, but it does represent an important stimulus towards the integration and social development of Roms.
The fact that Human Rights Minister Michael Kocab asked to have Vaclav Havel to preside over the jury of the Gypsy Spirit, is quite significant. The hero of the velvet revolution, with his personal life-history, his strong humanistic background and authoritativeness, is still today a real leader, able to set great political goals that may even seem utopian.
The last evening of the Gypsy Spirit, during which the prizes were given, took place at the Pražská křižovatka, a cultural centre in the heart of Stare mesto, on the restored ruins of St. Anne’s Church, which is now the seat of Havel and his wife Dagmar’s Vize97 foundation.”I am pleased for this initiative to take place right here, in a place, which we believe, represents the values of understanding, communication and dialogue”, said the ex president.
Together with Havel, in the jury, were other personalities, among them: minister Kocab, the EU commissioner Vladimir Spidla, the Osce Rom adviser Andrej Mirga and the Slovakian deputy Magda Vášáryová, who is one of the main supporting members of the Gypsy Spirit project in the ex confederate state.
The evening was enlivened by the colors, the music and exuberance which are the most genuine expression of the tradition and culture of the Rom people.
The event, in fact, ended with a festive atmosphere, with Havel participating in the dances, allowing the Roms to drag him into a sort of ring a ring a roses with the rhythm of the Gypsy.cz “Romano hip-hop.”
Acknowledgements for the various categories, went to Český západ, a non-government association which operates in favor of Rom integration in western Bohemia, to the Brno Rom culture Museum, to a primary school in Svitavy-Lačnov in South Moravia (a wonderful example of how, among children, the ethnic barriers do not exist), to the Rom Scholar and activist Ladislav Goral, founder of the Romani Language Course and Culture at the Charles University in Prague.
The last acknowledgement was given by cardinal Miloslav Vlk, archbishop of Prague, during a moment of understandable emotion – The Intensive Care Unit doctors and all of its personnel from the Ostrava hospital, deserve it. They have saved the life of Natalka, a three-year old Rom child who was a victim last April in Vitkov, in north Moravia, of an incendiary attack – during which four extremists of that region, destroyed her family house. Eight full months in hospital were needed to save her life, the first of which, in terrible conditions with second and third degree burns on over 80% of her body. A child who is destined to bear the devastating signs of this Calvary, but whom the doctors were able, just a few days ago, to deliver back into the loving arms of her parents.
The evening came to an end with a declaration by Minister Kocab: “The Gypsy Spirit wants to demonstrate that when our heart longs for something, it can achieve great things”.
By Giovanni Usai