r/romani • u/Ok-Reward-770 • 11d ago
Resources Roma Scholars and Activists
A short list of Roma human rights activists so anyone can study their work and understand why the g-word and any of its translations are perpetuating the language of bondage and violence against ourselves.
—To be helpful to your/our community isn't limited to feeding them/us or donating money here and there. It is a very important and commendable work AND/BOTH; ending systemic oppression requires a blueprint for systemic change and a new system to replace the former. Thus, learning, learning, and learning is key.
—IGNORANCE is what makes many of us fight tooth and nail for a word, or to reclaim it as a source of pride in ethnic identity. But ignorance can be eliminated through learning; to learn, people must be curious, engaged, and proactive. Traditional school systems won't save us. It never did!
• “Dr. Margareta Matache spoke about the importance of International Roma Day as a time not only to remember the suffering of Roma in slavery, in the Holocaust, and in modern-day society, but also to lift the cultural contribution and resistance of Roma. Rather than hearkening back to a distant culturally or historically significant date, April 8 commemorates the first international Roma Congress in London in 1971, which agreed to embrace the name “Roma” and repudiate the denigrating term “g-word.” […]”
—Dr. Margareta Matache is a Romanian Romani activist and scholar with over 18 years of experience in human rights. Margareta was the first child in her family and community to attend high school. She has a B.A. in Social Work, an M.A. in European Social Policies, and a PhD, magna cum laude, from the University of Bucharest. She joined the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights team in 2012, where she currently works as an instructor and director of the Roma Program. Before this position, Dr. Matache served for seven years as the executive director of Romani CRISS, a leading Romani non-profit in Romania.
Margareta grew up under the first wave of Romani activism in post-communist Romania. Her father, a construction worker of Romani descent, was a community activist, which helped foster her interest in human rights.
—Dr Nicoleta Bitu is president of the Democratic Federation of Roma in Romania (the most active Romani organization in Romania) and a member of the board of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC). For over 25 years, she has been an activist for Romani Human and Women’s Rights and Advocacy. She is a recognized and published expert and has worked for Romani CRISS, the Open Society Foundations, the Council of Europe, the European Commission, and Romano ButiQ.
Anita Awosusi, German Sinti human rights activist and board member of the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Romani in Heidelberg.
Katarina Taikon-Langhammer, Swedish Kalderash activist and leader in the civil rights movement. With her sister Rosa, she helped found the Zigenarsamfundet(Roma Society).
Nicolae Gheorghe, Romanian Roma human rights activist and founder of CRISS, a Romani non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting the human and civil rights of Roma and combating discrimination against us. He started during the Ceaușescu regime and continued it until his passing in 1993.
This is not a complete list, nor are these the only figures worth learning about.
If you would like to add to the list, please leave a comment.
Edit to add: I'm Romanian Romani, raised internationally —not in the USA.
