The Roma in Eastern Europe

BellaRuth · Post by **BellaRuth** » June 20th, 2010, 11:25 am

One of the main things that puts me off visiting Eastern Europe for any real length of time is the tension regarding the Roma.

Is it as bad as it's made out to be? Or is it mostly confined to the more prejudiced people, rather than the population at large? Any countries that are more racist than others?

And any ideas as to what would dissolve the situation, if anything? Curious.

Post by **Winston** » June 20th, 2010, 11:59 am

What's the Roma problem about?

Adama · Post by **Adama** » June 20th, 2010, 2:11 pm

My understanding is that many of the whites there hate the Roma cause the Roma commit the majority of the crimes. There's no politically correct thinking there just yet.

BellaRuth · Post by **BellaRuth** » June 20th, 2010, 2:26 pm

J.Adama wrote:My understanding is that many of the whites there hate the Roma cause the Roma commit the majority of the crimes. There's no politically correct thinking there just yet.

Why do you think that is?

It's not about political correctness as such- it's a personal issue for me.

Winston- there's a lot of tension between the 'gypsies' and the Eastern Europeans.

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » July 5th, 2010, 5:10 am

J.Adama wrote:My understanding is that many of the whites there hate the Roma cause the Roma commit the majority of the crimes. There's no politically correct thinking there just yet.

But where did those statistics come from? The police, governments, and news agencies are highly biased against the Roma in those countries. If an independent agency confirmed those statistics, I'd have more confidence in them.

I have lived in Hungary for almost two years, and I have never had a problem with the Roma. The only person who ever tried to pickpocket me here was a tall, skinny, blonde teenager at a crosswalk. I'm not saying that many Roma are not criminals, but there are are nice ones, too. Some of the really poor ones who go through dumpsters for food do smell bad, though. I had sex with a very sweet Roma girl last year who did not steal anything from me.

Eastern Europeans just freak out when they see anyone who is darker than an Italian. They're just not used to darker-skinned people. Yet at the same time, they find some black American actors and musicians attractive.

Romas just have the lowest social status here, so they get no respect.

The tension between white people and Roma is not usually visible in Hungary, but when white people are alone they often tell jokes about Roma or say things like "There were so many gypsies at the tram stop this morning. It was terrible!"

Although I think that if a white Hungarian had to spend a year in a violent black or latino neighborhood outside a major American city, he would be begging to be around Roma instead!

Also, most Eastern European countries are quite poor, so unemployed white locals get angry if they hear about any government programs to help the Roma.

Could anything improve the problem? Hmm, if there was less unemployment among the white locals, they would probably be a bit less bitter and angry about Roma. But prejudices in Europe are often deep-seated and go back centuries. Nothing will change overnight here.

Perhaps also having more examples of respectable, successful Roma in the media might help.

momopi · Post by **momopi** » July 5th, 2010, 8:26 am

I don't know about Gypsies in Eastern Europe, but here in OC, CA many of the fortune teller places are operated by extended Gypsy families, and if you want to open a palm reading shop, they'd come and extort $ from you ("rent" in their turf) unless if you closed shop. They have a poor reputation for exploiting naive people who believes in fortune telling.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/stev ... karen.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22118242/ <--- highly recommended article

"Gypsies â€” also known as Romany â€” began arriving in the U.S. from Romania toward the end of the 19th century. Experts believe there are now about 1 million in America, one-fifth of them in California, where they dominate the fortunetelling and psychic shops in funky beach communities and other neighborhoods."

Adama · Post by **Adama** » July 5th, 2010, 9:03 am

To be honest I dont know much. I correspond online with a couple of Hungarian girls. That's about all I know about it. No official stats.

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » February 16th, 2011, 6:09 am

stravelcostia wrote:Rome is a great place........
u don't need 2 get tensed......

Thanks........

I think you are confused. "Roma" in this thread is the more respectful name for the people who are more commonly known as "gypsies."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_%28Romani_subgroup%29

Also, this thread is about Eastern Europe. Italy is in Southern Europe.

However, lots of people do get confused about the differences between Roma, Roman, Romani, Romanian, Romansh, etc.

Adama · Post by **Adama** » February 16th, 2011, 4:18 pm

Jackal wrote:
stravelcostia wrote:Rome is a great place........
u don't need 2 get tensed......

Thanks........
I think you are confused. "Roma" in this thread is the more respectful name for the people who are more commonly known as "gypsies."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_%28Romani_subgroup%29

Also, this thread is about Eastern Europe. Italy is in Southern Europe.

However, lots of people do get confused about the differences between Roma, Roman, Romani, Romanian, Romansh, etc.

I met a Swiss girl a couple of years ago and she said the proportion of Romansh people there is so small that no one really worries about them.

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » February 17th, 2011, 4:25 am

J.Adama wrote: I met a Swiss girl a couple of years ago and she said the proportion of Romansh people there is so small that no one really worries about them.

Yeah, but that's a different issue. Romansh is a Romance language which descended from Latin, so I don't think that Roma (gypsies) speak it. The Roma people originally came from India. The Romansh people came from somewhere within the former Roman Empire (they're basically ethnic Europeans).

The gypsy language is Romani, and there are many different dialects of it across Europe with different names.

Like I said, all these differences can be confusing...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romansh_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » April 12th, 2011, 1:35 pm

Here's something that happened recently:

One of the Hungarian teachers at my school is a gypsy or at least part-gypsy. She said "Hello" to a woman who is one of the white Hungarian teachers at my school. The white teacher just replied, "I didn't greet you."

Man, that was pretty cold...

I feel bad for a lot of the gypsies here. I've never had a problem with them.

Think Different · Post by **Think Different** » April 12th, 2011, 1:49 pm

Jackal wrote:Here's something that happened recently:

One of the Hungarian teachers at my school is a gypsy or at least part-gypsy. She said "Hello" to a woman who is one of the white Hungarian teachers at my school. The white teacher just replied, "I didn't greet you."

Man, that was pretty cold...

I feel bad for a lot of the gypsies here. I've never had a problem with them.

I came into contact with a lot of Roma in the Czech Republic, and the Czechs were just foul and cruel to them, at the same time insulting them as thieves and horrible people. The only ones I saw with horrible behavior towards another, were the Czechs towards the Roma. I've always been one to stand up for the underdog and it's gotten me in trouble. When the Czechs told me that I was crazy for doing so, I told them that their prejudice was not part of my history and that in America "gypsies" are considered exotic and "cool", they thought I was totally full of shit and an idiot.

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » April 13th, 2011, 4:53 am

Although I've never had a problem with the gypsies in Hungary, one gypsy man did try to cut my pockets with a razor blade in Prague once in a subway station. So some are definitely criminals, but not all of them.

Think Different · Post by **Think Different** » April 13th, 2011, 4:57 pm

This kid is a jazz guitar genius. He's a Hungarian Roma from Slovakia. All I can say is, this kid's got an amazing gift if he can play like that at that age. So much for the hatred towards gypsies! I think it's clear now who is and isn't the ignoramus in the Eastern European vs. Gypsy battle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYUkEiH1Daw

odbo · Post by **odbo** » April 13th, 2011, 6:37 pm

Hitler killed up to 2 million Gypsies, with a high percentage of RH negative.
You can't blaim Eastern Europeans for their "racism" against modern Roma, which breed like rabbits and are little more than parasites on the society. It's much worse than illegal immigrants in the US, and Bulgaria is hardly a superpower.. sucking up another country's water supply to provide for one of the most unsustainable cities on earth, Las Vegas. Around the world "gypsies" are mostly known for trafficking drugs, trafficking slavic women, and being the perfect tool of the Jewish media to demonize the Serbs, the Russians and any other remaining Christians as they try to steal land and re-build Khazaria. The "ignoramuses" are in Western Europe. Are Albanians even gypsies? Some Swedes are still pissed their best player Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a 'gypsie'.