KHETANES' LETTER TO THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

[Stoimen]

Amalale,

In the past 3 months, many messages have been distributed by Open Society Foundations on establishing a European Roma Institute (ERI)

Extended correspondences and long Skype meetings with prominent Khetanes members (academics, artists and activists) on the ERI issue, made me decide to send the following letter to the Secretary General's Special Representative on Roma related issues, Mr. Ulrich Bunjes: Letter%20to%20Ulrich%20Bunjes.pdf

Support

I considered it useful to pass on the deep concern "that Roma cannot afford to lose one more decade", "that the structure of ERI might imply top-down approaches", "that some people involved lack public support and might spread discord" and last but not least "that the position of the only political Roma institution, the ERTF, is at stake". "We Roma are puppets", I literally quote a leading Roma activist.

Though the arguments and facts I learned from a growing group of concerned Roma were convincing, I wanted to consult those people who did not participate in the discussion. That is why I broadcasted the text to all Khetanes members. Only if a majority would support, I would send the letter to Mr. Bunjes on behalf of Khetanes.

Only 1 member strongly opposed and another reaction was in favor of the text, but preferred me to send the letter in my personal capacity. All other reactions were positive to very positive and even enthusiast!

(P.S., added on 25 July 2015: when the deadline for reactions had expired, two more Khetanes members opposed. Thus in total 3 members were against. A large majority was in favour!)

That is why I decided to send the letter as a Khetanes' reaction to the Special Representative, CC to the Board of the ERTF, the President of the European Commission, the President of the European parliament, the office of the UN High Commissioner and the Information Officer of OSF.

My only interest is my motivation that comes from a word of 7 letters: justice.

Ashen Devlesa,

Els

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World Artists Initiative "Khetanes"

 

Waterschap 90, 5345 RA Oss, NL

 

Phone: [phone]

 

E-mail: [e-mail]

www.khetanes.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Ulrich Bunjes

Secretary General’s Special Representative

of the Council of Europe on Roma related issues                                               

Strasbourg – France

[e-mail]

 

NL, Oss, 13 July 2015

 

RACISM IS POLITICS, NOT CULTURE

 

 

Dear Mister Bunjes,

 

First of all, I send you my congratulations with your recent appointment as the Secretary General’s Special Representative on Roma related issues.

 

As a former Member of European Parliament, with Eastern Europe and Roma issues as priorities, I have met at certain occasions with your predecessor Mr. Schokkenbroek. After my leaving the parliament, in 2009, I initiated World Artists Initiative “Khetanes” (www.khetanes.org) in October 2010.

 

That was the very month that Mr. Jeroen Schokkenbroek marked as a turning point, because Roma issues became a European priority. I shared his feelings of satisfaction and joy about this momentum. However, almost 5 years later and 10 years after the start of the European Decade of Inclusion in Sofia (2005), I am afraid that we can only share our deep concern.

 

The position of Roma has far from improved, neither on a (inter)national, nor on a local level. The increase of populist and extreme right-wing parties has even widened the gap between the majority population and Europe’s largest minority. The influence of the many far right parties (e.g. Jobbik, Ataka), keep national governments from implementing strategies that would bring along changes. Instead of tackling problems like the economic and ecological crises, Europe faces stagnation due to the diversionary tactic of scapegoating millions of its citizens.

 

The parallels with the 1930s are frightening. Again Roma and Jews are in the forefront of Europe’s scapegoats. Both deal with threats and hatred, but Jews are socially and politically much better organized. They can even afford to hasten to help Roma, which happened - for example – when Zsolt Bayer, a Hungarian Fidesz founding member and friend of Prime-minister Orban, published a racist column in the Hungarian press (quotes: …these Gypsies are animals… At best, inarticulate noises emerge from their animal skulls). A third category of scapegoats are the hundreds of thousands of refugees from Asia and Africa, who – if they manage to cross the sea – literally land in desperate situations in camps.

 

Financial assistance is just one of the tools to break the vicious circles of poverty and exclusion that vulnerable people enter. Europe has funds, but from my own experience as a researching journalist and an MEP, I have proofs that these funds often disappear in imitation NGOs or in the pockets of individual swindlers. Very seldom funds are invested in the effective and innovative plans of grassroots.

Wise and transparent funding is important, but it must go hand in hand with combating xenophobia. Two other major tools to break the vicious circle of poverty and discrimination are an independent administration of justice and political participation on the basis of equality. Aren’t these the two main pillars of the Council of Europe?

 

Regarding independent administration of justice:

 

Violence and arson are considered to be crimes, but stabbing Roma and setting their houses on fire are acts that occur so frequently now, that our standards seem to be changing. We are getting used to physical aggression and moreover we tend to accept the verbal violence in media and politics. How come that the ruling GERB party in Bulgaria could remain in power, November 2014, thanks to the political support of 19 MPs of the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria, a new far right party that openly advocates the rebuilding of concentration camps?

 

Apparently there are humans and humans; there are first- and second-rate Europeans. Violations of rights are no longer seen as violations once the targeted people are no longer seen as humans!

 

 

Regarding political participation on the basis of equality:

 

European political institutions like the Council of Europe, the European Commission and the European Parliament, are the most appropriate institutions to eliminate the apartheid by guaranteeing political representation according to the principle of “one man – one vote”. When I was a MEP, I had 2 Roma colleagues on a total of about 750 MEPs. One represented Fidesz and was a token member. The other Roma MEP was a lawyer by profession and very active, but she had to flee from Hungary and is now a political refugee. Today again only 2 MEPs introduce themselves as Roma: the Fidesz-representative and Soraya Post from Sweden. Two Roma represent 12 million people within the European Union.

 

That is why the European Roma and Travellers Forum, hosted by the Council of Europe, is essential and indispensable. I know that during the first decade of its existence, some tensions occurred, but every brave new step has its teething troubles. Last November a completely new ERTF board has been elected and installed, with prominent academics on board like Agnes Daroczi, one of the Romani elders. The very first problem they deal with, is that the CoE hosting contract with the ERTF expires. The one and only political body in Europe that has been giving the floor to Roma, Sinti and Travellers, aims to stop its cooperation with the ERTF in the midst of an increase of far right that implicitly is a threat to all humans who believe in the constitutional state.

Instead of renewing the contract with the ERTF, the Council of Europe has the intention to become the partner of George Soros in establishing the European Roma Institute.

 

Mr. Soros is a businessman, a multimillionaire, a philanthropist and the leader of an NGO. He is not a political leader, not a statesman, not a diplomat. I suppose that Mr. Jagland would never start a partnership with e.g. Bill Gates. Money is important, but it should not become a decisive factor in international relations and democratic structures. As soon as we allow money to play that role, we sacrifice our dearest values of the state of law. Then these values end on the market and become the property of the highest bidder.

 

 

Regarding Khetanes, or empowering identity:

 

When I entered the European Parliament in 2004, I stopped working as an artist. I focused on the situation in post-communist countries, on the abuse of funds and on the violations of rights. My position as an MEP protected me, when I was criticizing Mafia or actively helped opening the files of the Darzavna Sigurnost, the former Secret Service in Bulgaria. I visited tens of ghettos and published on the misery, but I also underlined the successes of good practices that I witnessed on grassroots’ levels. Unfortunately the distance between officials and activists on the ground is huge. During my mandate, I did my utmost to bridge that gap by inviting sincerely engaged Roma activists to come over to the Parliament in Brussels or Strasbourg. Not to perform music but to share their ideas and forward effective approaches. Of course my one MEP’s office could not compete with the facilities offered by the CoE, but I paid a contribution in realizing a closer cooperation between the authorities and the people on the ground.

 

At a few occasions, I also invited artists to advocate Romani rights. Their performance as ambassadors, rather than as artists, was quite successful. My colleague MEPs urgently needed images different from the beggars they could see out in the street. Racists are not necessarily skinheads. They can be intelligent and kind-hearted people, they can even be MEPs, who are not aware of the stereotypes their brain has been filled with.

 

This brought me upon the idea to initiate “World Artists Initiative “Khetanes” in October 2010, when I had stopped to be an MEP and became an artist again. Today Khetanes has close to 1100 members from 59 countries, 85% being Roma and Sinti, the others are non-Roma, Jews and (Afro-)Americans. The real number of members must be estimated on 10.000, thanks to the many orchestras or theatre companies that share one member’s page. We do not only invite artists to join Khetanes, but also renown academics and well-known journalists. All together (khetanes) we form a network to empower Roma communities, to inform non-Roma and to fight all expressions of xenophobia. Art is our main tool, because we appeal to people’s imagination in order to make them better understand their fellow-men. For this we use music, film, theatre, visual art, dance and combinations of those, which we link to the academic support of “our” scholars: experts on language,

 

legislation, history, pedagogics, health and agriculture. No one at Khetanes is paid. We are all volunteers. The whole network has been built with a very modest budget. In 5 years we invested 10.000 Euros from our own pocket, but many ten thousands of unpaid working hours. We applied in vain for grants. Apparently there are no funds available for the preservation of a Roma cultural identity. (Isn’t it strange that Flamenco dance and music have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage, but not as a Romani achievement?)

 

 

Identity is a complicated phenomenon. It deals with ethnicity, religion, place of birth, nationality, traditions, sexual orientation, education, political preferences… It is much more than a border / banner issue and it is invariably a very personal thing! Identity cannot be measured and expressed in percentages, like the Nazis did.

Neither is identity a label that can be put on people’s forehead. Politicians tend to label Roma as their voters, while religious organizations try to label Roma as e.g. Jehova’s witnesses. Identity, however, is something that humans have to define and develop all by themselves, taking into account that one universal Roma culture does not exist.

 

The empowering function of art coincides with the search for one’s identity, which is a bottom-up process. Khetanes helps people to strengthen their personality in times of group thinking, hate speech and aggressive mobs, prejudice in media and paternalism in politics; Khetanes will never “label”!

 

 

Regarding ERI, the European Roma Institute:

 

When I learned about the plans to establish ERI, I commented in written, asking the initiators why they re-invented the wheel. In the 5 years to come, ERI plans to invest 5 x 600.000 Euros = 3 million Euros in the start-up phase. That is an exorbitant price. In one of my comments, I offered the initiators to work together and to profit from the many good works already done by Khetanes. However, having read all information so far, I have come to the sad conclusion that ERI and Khetanes are totally different. Khetanes does not institutionalize art within a political context, i.e. the Council of Europe. Khetanes artistically encourages Roma to rise and enter economic and political arenas themselves.

 

Studying the names in the Alliance, I also came to the understanding that the proponents form a rather close circle of people who already cooperate in associated NGOs, or are family members, or turn up as individuals and as leaders of an NGO. On top, not all of them have an undisputed reputation. This implies the risk of discord being spread.

 

Most worrying is the fact that ERI as the new partner of the CoE might weaken (or even annihilate) the only political stage that European Roma have, the ERTF. Politics is a profession, no NGO. It is a responsible and often difficult profession, in which delegates are held accountable for the decisions they make and it is a profession that regularly demands judicial review and legislating activities. On an almost daily basis, checks and balances are needed. In brief: politics is a job that cannot be taken care of by a cultural institute!

 

I regularly stated that the discrimination of Roma deals with the phenomenon of borders rather than with ethnicity. The half million Luxembourgers have borders, the 12 million Roma don’t. Belgians, Swedes, Fins, Estonians, Maltese, all have borders and a nation-state. The Roma have no nation-state and – consequently - no proper representation. This anachronism of a globalizing world on the one hand and political representation based on nation-states on the other, is a purely political problem that cannot be solved by a cultural institute! Not even if that institute upgrades itself to a political ombudsman, issuing cultural “passports”.

 

Urgently needed is access to parliamentary seats and other responsible jobs in the administration. This can only be realized by the EC, the EP, the CoE and similar institutions. The hundreds of artists and academics of Khetanes are ready to help, but we cannot replace the professionals who are in charge of and responsible for this change for the better, this change for the sake of justice!

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Els de Groen, writer, poet, painter, researching journalist

Initiator of World Artists Initiative “Khetanes”

Former MEP (a.o. member of the LIBE committee)  

 

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After two months of silence, our Khetanes team decided to send a second letter as a reminder of the first:

World Artists Initiative "Khetanes"

 

Waterschap 90, 5345 RA Oss, NL

 

Phone: [phone]

 

E-mail: [e-mail]

www.khetanes.org

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Ulrich Bunjes

Secretary General’s Special Representative

of the Council of Europe on Roma related issues                                               

Strasbourg – France

[e-mail]

 

NL, Oss, 15 September 2015

 

Re: our letter of 13 July 2015

 

 

Dear Mister Bunjes,

 

 

Two months ago, on 13 July 2015, World Artists Initiative “Khetanes” sent you a letter regarding the cooperation between the CoE and the European Roma Institute (ERI), cc to the Presidents of the European Parliament and the European Commission and the UN High Commissioner.

 

That same day, we received a confirmation of receipt that said that you were out of office but would be back again on 15 July, after a public holiday.

 

On 7 September, RomArchive distributed a letter of support for the European Roma Institute (ERI), in which is explicitly stated that ERI is backed by the Council of Europe, the Open Society Foundations, and the Alliance for the European Roma Institute.

 

Studying the names of individuals and foundations that participate in ERI, OSF, RomArchive and the Alliance for the European Roma Institute, we repeatedly come across the same names. Moreover the support for ERI is multiplied by adding up the names of staff members and chairs and those of their organizations.

 

From the 4 Roma organizations that support the Alliance, 2 are also partners of RomArchive, while staff members of all 4 supporting organizations are curators or advisors of RomArchive, or Chair of the RomArchive Advisory Group (Nicoleta Bitu). Others combine their work for RomArchive or the Alliance with work for OSF or with OSF linked organizations (e.g. Zeljko Jovanovic, Andrzej Mirga).

 

This combination of functions justifies the conclusion that proponents of ERI attach great importance to a solid cooperation by supporting each other’s and common organizations. But it also reveals that the total number of proponents is considerably lower than one would think at first sight.

 

Worrying is the phenomenon of family ties and friendships in the Alliance, RomArchive and ERI. Embracing nepotism may be the quickest way to the creation of cultural monopolies, it is the longest road to the elevation of oppressed Roma and Sinti living in the Diaspora. The Romani leaders they need, are altruistic and militant.

 

Before and during the Decade (2005-2015), millions of people have taken a dislike to the ambitious careerists that rather represent their own family and gangs than the nation they claim to defend. Due to their access to funds and their selfish attitude, they risked and still risk to be part of the Gypsy Industry, that turned good projects into fake ones, boosted corruption and frustrated people who depended on them. Quite some Khetanes members could give evidence.

 

ERI can be useful, if the initiators renounce cultural monopolies and top-down approaches by cultural elites, if it opens up its doors for the talents, skills and needs in the Diaspora, if it understands that the preservation of a culture at stake is a matter of conscience and thus of human rights, which derives much more than excellent exhibitions. It urgently demands political awareness and thus a permanent focus on the fight for equality. ERI as an NGO can never replace the ERTF!  

 

Noticing that the RomArchive letter, distributed by OSF on 10 September, also mentions support from the Council of Europe for ERI, we assume that you have not yet taken into consideration all our arguments in our Khetanes letter of 13 July 2015.

 

Khetanes includes over 1100 participating members. Some participants are individuals, other participants represent a full orchestra, band, theatre-ensemble or an NGO. Only a relatively small number of Khetanes members is involved in ERI, ERI’s Alliance, OSF and/or RomArchive. A majority, however, has forwarded the questions in our letter of July and will highly appreciate a clear and satisfying reaction.

 

We do have inside information about the formal independent evaluation, that was done 3 years ago, on the CoE – ERTF mutual collaborations. The evaluation covers a period of 10 years and led to recommendations that to this very day have been totally ignored.

 

Still, it is not our intention to criticize the Council of Europe: the only political body that offers a platform to Roma, Sinti and Travellers in Europe. Our approach is constructive! We, artists, writers, activists, historians, lawyers, researchers and other scholars, most of Romani descent, strongly support political, social and cultural participation at all levels and in full transparency of the Romani people in Europe.

 

 

Looking forward to your urgent reply, we remain,

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Els de Groen

 

Writer, poet, painter, researching journalist

Initiator of World Artists Initiative “Khetanes”

Former MEP (a.o. member of the LIBE Committee)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stoimen]

The only (automatic) reply that we, World Artists Initiative "Khetanes", ever received from Mr. Ulrich Bunjes:

Artists Initiative
Van: "BUNJES Ulrich'<[e-mail]È
Datum: maandag 13 juli 2015 12:15
Aan: "Artists Initiative" <artists initiative{à,ziggo.nl>
Onderwerp: Automatic reply: Letter to the Secretary General's Special Representative on Roma related issues,
Mr Ulrich Bunjes
Unfortunately I cannot respond to your mail right now. I will be back in the office after the public holiday on 15 July 2015.