FOLLOW-UP PROTESTS AGAINST RACIST BOOK

[Stoimen]

Sarenge,

Second half of October 2012 we posted the page below on Khetanes. It is from a book by Professor Géza Jeszenszky, a historian, also a welknown Hungarian politician and internationally active.

In Professor Jeszenszky's book, that students at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Corvinus University in Budapest, Hungary, are required to study(!), Roma are called mentally ill.

Quote from the book: "The reason why many Roma are mentally ill is because in Roma culture it is permitted for sisters and brothers or cousins to marry each other or just to have sexual intercourse with each other." This so-called Romani practices are linked to poverty and crime.

 

The quote can be found on page 273. In this blog also the other pages from the chapter can be read. See further below and click right to enlarge the text!

 

The book by Professor Jeszenszky, current ambassador for Hungary to Norway, provoked worldwide protests. Also World Artists Initiative "Khetanes" sent letters of protest, to the author, the Corvinus University, the Hungarian Embassy in Norway, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

This blog is meant to update you on the answers and new letters or steps. The International Romani Anti-Defamation League, part of Khetanes, takes a lead, but all Khetanes members are invited to join and to co-sign!

 

Thank you!

[Viola Hinz-Hassan Pour Razavi]

Thank you for the information!!!

[Stoimen]

Normal Abnormalities:

In all peoples on earth abnormalities can be found. To a certain extent one might even say that it is normal that isolated abnormalities occur. We must, however, refrain from generalizing, by turning abnormalities into normalities! Generalizing means discriminating. Generalizing also creates new stereotypes. We already had the lazy Gypsy, the dirty Gypsy, the stealing Gypsy. If it comes to Prof. Jeszenszky and his supporters, we will soon have the fucking-his-sister Gypsy.

I liked Dr. Ian Hancock referring to Royal Families. In these families it is not uncommon that cousins marry cousins to keep power and money. Sorry for my very hard cynism, but wouldn't this be one more reason for Roma to do the opposite?

I know that the poorest Roma families sometimes give up moral and cultural principles. I have seen that myself in Bulgaria, where two brothers forced their sister to work as a prostitute in Germany. The father, too weak to protest, fled from the house.
One of my books is about Bulgaria. I know the ghettos, I have seen children losing their brains, getting crazy because of all the problems: no proper food, no hygiene, no roof, no heith, no nothing.

Yet, I believe that it has no use to argue about this with Prof. Jeszenszky. He lacks the intelligence and the imagination to understand what is happening on the ground. He will add all bad examples to his data, to his "proofs" of consanguineous relations and other misbehavior.

The weakest part in Jeszenszky's "defence", is the total absence of proofs and research on a scholarly level.

[Stoimen]

ANSWER FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, CHEF DE CABINET OF PRESIDENT BARROSO, ON OUR LETTER OF PROTEST:

 

Dear Ms de Groen,

On behalf of Johannes Laitenberger, I would like thank you very much for your letter of protest informing about the content of the book "Post-communist Europe and its National/Ethinic Problems: a course-pack" dealing with the situation of Roma minority. Please be assured that Mr Laitenberger has taken careful note of it. We have passed it to the Directorate General JUST (responsible for these issues) for an appropriate follow up.
Please don´t hesitate to contact me in case that you should not receive a reply from them soon.
Kind regards,
Magdalena Frouzova


Expéditeur: Artists Initiative <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>>
Date: 1 novembre 2012 22:51:29 HNEC
Destinataire: <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>>
Cc: Artists Initiative <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>>
Objet: Letter of protest against racist book
Dear Mr Johannes Laitenberger,

Please, find enclosed our letter of protest, signed by numberous Members of Khetanes on behalf of all.

Yours sincerely,

Els de Groen

Member Main Board, writer, former MEP

PS: DIRECTORATE GENERAL JUST = DIRECTORATE GENERAL JUSTICE

[Qristina Zavačková Cummings]

Dr. Jeszenszky,

My name is Qristina and I am Roma. I don't suppose either of those things matter to you, but I have a few things I want to say.

The words you wrote in your book are racist, defamatory, and bigoted, as well as simply incorrect. The book is there, in print - proof that you wrote it and proof that it was published. The book was published only three years ago (in 2009), but you claim that you would not publish now; you claim that your words were taken out of context, that they were taken from the works of others, directly, yet there are no citations and no support for these claims.

You say it's just one small paragraph contained in one book.

It wouldn't matter if it were only one sentence out of a set of encyclopedia;

words are damaging.

[click here to read the rest]

[Qristina Zavačková Cummings]

I am still working on the replies to Jeszeneszky, but I have a lot of work at the moment ... going as fast as I can.

[Viola Hinz-Hassan Pour Razavi]

Again, thank you Qristina!!!!!

[E-Médi@ Concept]

The whole chapter :

[E-Médi@ Concept]

To read the previous pages (right click, to enlarge, each of them).

[Qristina Zavačková Cummings]

Jeszneszky's main arguments:

1. His "record" and titles "ambassador" etc., absolve him from taking responsibility for the offensive paragraph, and in fact for the rest of the book.
2. Scholarly articles support his claims: except the two he quotes as proof are inconclusive and cannot state for certain that consanguinity is a factor in genetic mutations.
3. The chapter is "objective and acclaimed by Roma experts and politicians".
4. His anti-Semitic standpoint is offered as proof that he holds no racist views towards the Roma - even though the two communities are completely separate and treated completely differently in Hungary and the rest of Europe.
5. He offers research from Bulgaria on genetic disorders and Roma. This research is also presented in a racist manner: "Ivo Kreminski points out that the number of genetic diseases has increasedamong Roma people mainly because of incestuous relations". The situation of Roma in Bulgaria can be considered very similar to that in Hungary - and in the research quoted by Jeszenszky the author blames most of the genetic disorders found in newborns on the incestuous relationships of Roma families - a complete theoretical jump in argument with no solid ground.
6. The second cited evidence is from a women's program regarding incest and domestic violence. According to the author "Incest and sexual assault  Information on the prevalence of incest is very limited" yet she goes on to state that incest happens in the "Gypsy" population much more frequently than in the non-Roma population. The author uses three out-of-context narratives reportedly from victims of such situations. However, the number of respondents in the study; the location and timing of the study; and the overall outcomes were not shared.

This is all so frustrating. Not only is Jeszenszky using his political power and position to mitigate any claims of racism (with such a disgusting "poor me" attitude), he is also backing up his argument with faulty scholarly research and invalid logic.

It seems so useless to argue with such a privileged and powerful (white) man. A man who cares more about his reputation than the potential damage he is doing to the character of an entire ethnic minority.

me but xoljasaljuvav~

[Viola Hinz-Hassan Pour Razavi]

If you want to find a study which backs your view, you will find it, I think for all views you can imagine and you will always also find the opposite. He is withdrawing himself behind the strange ones he found. When I remember one has only very small number of participants, so I think it can't give evidence. And he is withdrawing behind other persons (other "big names") who try to give him a good testimonial. But anyway I started reading the complete chapter posted above, but I am not through yet, and I cannot see that he has a positive stand towards Roma-people.