Most people in Italy will tell you that a large percentage of crimes in the cities are committed by people from places like Romania. When a complaint is made to Romania, both government authorities and private citizens alike blame Gypsies.
Very few countries hate the Gypsies the way Romania does. These so-called immigrants from northern India were enslaved in Romania until the middle of the 19th century. Another country that hates the Gypsies is the Czech Republic, which claimed that it was Gypsies with Czech passports that were abusing assylum laws in Canada.
Coming back to Italy, tourists are warned about Gypsy thieves and pick-pockets and a particular modus operandi. One morning while walking up the Spanish Steps, I witnessed a botched pick-pocketing incident. A Chinese couple were walking down the steps, when a girl with a baby approached them to beg. While the couple were distracted, another woman tried to snatch the man's wallet. The couple managed to hang on to their belongings, while a crowd watched. A friend of mine asked them to dial 113 and call the cops.
The thieves in question were anything but Gypsies. They spoke Romanian and were very much ethnic Romanians. I am quite sure if the police told the Romanian authorities about this group, they would have been told that the thieves were Gypsies, implying that the Romanian Government was helpless.
I haven't had much interactions with Romanians, except those from Moldova, but I am sure that 95% of the people of that wonderful country are honest and decent human beings but I think Romania needs to accept responsibility for the bandits in the lot and not always pass the buck on to the Gypsies.
Please Note: I write the word Gypsies here and not the politically correct term 'Roma' so that I don't confuse readers.
Very few countries hate the Gypsies the way Romania does. These so-called immigrants from northern India were enslaved in Romania until the middle of the 19th century. Another country that hates the Gypsies is the Czech Republic, which claimed that it was Gypsies with Czech passports that were abusing assylum laws in Canada.
Coming back to Italy, tourists are warned about Gypsy thieves and pick-pockets and a particular modus operandi. One morning while walking up the Spanish Steps, I witnessed a botched pick-pocketing incident. A Chinese couple were walking down the steps, when a girl with a baby approached them to beg. While the couple were distracted, another woman tried to snatch the man's wallet. The couple managed to hang on to their belongings, while a crowd watched. A friend of mine asked them to dial 113 and call the cops.
The thieves in question were anything but Gypsies. They spoke Romanian and were very much ethnic Romanians. I am quite sure if the police told the Romanian authorities about this group, they would have been told that the thieves were Gypsies, implying that the Romanian Government was helpless.
I haven't had much interactions with Romanians, except those from Moldova, but I am sure that 95% of the people of that wonderful country are honest and decent human beings but I think Romania needs to accept responsibility for the bandits in the lot and not always pass the buck on to the Gypsies.
Please Note: I write the word Gypsies here and not the politically correct term 'Roma' so that I don't confuse readers.
Buna ziua Proud Romanian
ReplyDeleteI do speak Romanian thanks to my long-term connections with Moldova.
The trio in question by the Piazza Spagna didn't have a trace of "Gypsy" features. They looked very much like ethnic Romanians. I have spent enough time in Moldova to distinguish between ethnic Romanians and Gypsies.
What I ask for is an acknowledgement that it is not just Gypsies that are commiting crimes in Romania and other parts of Eruope. That amounts to accepting the fact that some ethnic Romanians are indeed involved in crimes in Italy.
If responsibility is individual then I suggest you stop blaming Gypsies for every ill in Romanian society.
And as for your question about the abortion of female foetuses, bride burnings (and I will add communal riots, caste system etc) yes, it is the collective failure of Indian society that these things still go on 65 years after independence.
Thanks for reading.
Proud Romanian
ReplyDeleteI saw the thieves in question and I am sure that they are not Gypsies.
As for the deeper social malaise in Romania withe the mutual racism between the Romanians and Gypsies, I can only hope that you can work out a practical long-term solution.
I refuse to accept stereotypes about any race, nationality or creed.
Ajay, I am curious why you insist about knowing Romania and Romanians better than... ourselves? And being sure you're right? Just because you decided to stick to an impression! I can GUARANTEE that those thieves were Gypsy. The fact they looked Romanian to you is totally irelevant. In every country they took some features of the natives... you should know that many Transylvania Gypsies are pink-skinned and red or blonde haired, much discoloured compared to average Romanian, but the Gypsiness still visible. And the baby trick is a joke!!! Romanians doing that? LOL!!! Romanians have their thieves and other criminals, but that make me laugh. Or, it's possible that you saw the only case of Romanians using that trick :).
ReplyDeleteWhat I am doing here? Come back again, to see-here is a whole world of crime, organised and impossible to eradicate, formed 99% of Gypsy criminal clans working with corruption to the highest politic level. We had even an old criminal kominternist Gypsy as president, and many of the most corrupt politicians are Gypsy. So, give me a break, they are evil. EVIL. The cancer of Romania and not only. But nowhere like here.
I like Romania and its culture and people. The country needs to sort out its own issues, just like every other country in the world. Respect and peace
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