Racism in Romania is directed against various minority groups, prominently Romani people, but there are also problems with antisemitism and other forms of discrimination. In particular, World War II and the subsequent era of communist rule both established hatred and xenophobic feelings which still influence contemporary Romanian discourse. [1]
Belonging to the lowest social classes, the Romani are caught in a vicious circle of poverty reinforced by segregation. [2] Prejudice against Romani people is common among the Romanians, who stereotype the Romani as being thieves, dirty and lazy. [2]
Violence against Romani is also common in Romania, especially police brutality, such cases of excessive force being not adequately investigated or sanctioned. [2] Several anti-Romani riots occurred in the last decades, notable of which being the 1993 Hădăreni riots, in which a mob of Romanians and Hungarians, in response to the killing of a Romanian by a Romani, burnt down 13 houses belonging to the Romani, lynched three Romani people and forced 130 people to flee the village. [3]
The Romani are discriminated on the access to healthcare, which leads to a generally poorer health status, the life expectancy of the Romani minority being 10 years lower than the Romanian average. [2]
Within the Romanian education system there is discrimination and segregation, which leads to higher drop-out rates and lower qualifications for the Romani students. [2]
In Baia Mare, Mayor Cătălin Cherecheș built a 2-metre high, 100-metre long concrete wall to separate 3 buildings where the Romani community lives from a highly circulated road, arguing that this would bring "order and discipline" into the area. Part of the Romani community agrees with the decisions as it made a safer environment for their children and fewer car accidents. [4]
In Wallachia and Moldavia, the Romani people were enslaved for centuries, belonging to the state, church or boyars (nobles) until slavery was gradually abolished during the 1840s and 1850s (see Slavery in Romania).
The presence of Jews in Romania is documented back to the 17th century. Since then the level of discrimination has varied. It increased sharply in the 1930s under the influence of the Iron Guard. Romania also organized death camps for Jews in the occupied Transnistria Governorate, such as the one at the Bogdanovka concentration camp, and the Romanian Army was involved in the 1941 Odessa massacre.
After World War II, most of those Jews who had survived emigrated to Israel. Prejudice continued under the Ion Iliescu government (2000–2004), although the desire to join the European Union led to a greater acknowledgement of past Romanian crimes, with Iliescu finally admitting to the genocide of Romanian Jews in 2004. [1]
Racism is discrimination and prejudice against people based on their race or ethnicity. Racism can be present in social actions, practices, or political systems that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices. The ideology underlying racist practices often assumes that humans can be subdivided into distinct groups that are different in their social behavior and innate capacities and that can be ranked as inferior or superior. Racist ideology can become manifest in many aspects of social life. Associated social actions may include nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, supremacism, and related social phenomena. Racism refers to violation of racial equality based on equal opportunities or based on equality of outcomes for different races or ethnicities, also called substantive equality.
The Romani people, also known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group who traditionally lived a nomadic, itinerant lifestyle. Linguistic and genetic evidence suggests that the Romani people originated in the Indian subcontinent, in particular the region of Rajasthan. Their first wave of westward migration is believed to have occurred sometime between the 5th and 11th centuries. They are thought to have first arrived in Europe sometime between the 9th and 14th centuries. Although they are widely dispersed, their most concentrated populations are believed to be in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people of different races. Specifically, it may be applied to activities such as eating in restaurants, drinking from water fountains, using public toilets, attending schools, going to films, riding buses, renting or purchasing homes or renting hotel rooms. In addition, segregation often allows close contact between members of different racial or ethnic groups in hierarchical situations, such as allowing a person of one race to work as a servant for a member of another race. Racial segregation has generally been outlawed worldwide.
Xenophobia is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-group and an out-group and it may manifest itself in suspicion of one group's activities by members of the other group, a desire to eliminate the presence of the group that is the target of suspicion, and fear of losing a national, ethnic, or racial identity.
A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other areas of the city. Versions of such restricted areas have been found across the world, each with their own names, classifications, and groupings of people.
The Romani Holocaust was the genocide of European Roma and Sinti people during World War II. Beginning in 1933, Nazi Germany systematically persecuted the European Roma, Sinti and other peoples pejoratively labeled 'Gypsy' through forcible internment and compulsory sterilization. German authorities summarily and arbitrarily subjected Romani people to incarceration, forced labor, deportation and mass murder in concentration and extermination camps.
Romani people in Romania, locally and pejoratively referred to as the Țigani, constitute the second largest ethnic minority in the country. According to the 2021 census, their number was 569,477 people and 3.4% of the total population. The size of the total population of people with Romani ancestry in Romania is even more, with different estimates varying from 4.6 percent to over 10 percent of the population, because many people of Romani descent do not declare themselves Roma. For example, in 2007 the Council of Europe estimated that approximately 1.85 million Roma lived in Romania, based on an average between the lowest estimate and the highest estimate available at the time. This figure is equivalent to 8.32% of the population. On the other hand, less than half are native speakers of the Romani language.
Racism Breaks the Game was a three-day campaign in Romania designed to combat racism in association football, particularly against the Romani minority, as well as to "stimulate social dialogue and promote tolerance and fair-play through football". The campaign, which took place between October 27 and 29, 2006, was a joint effort between the Romanian Football Federation, the National Council for Combating Discrimination, the Open Society Institute in Romania, the Romanian Agency for Press Monitoring and the European Roma Grassroots Organisation.
Anti-Romani sentiment is an ideology which consists of hostility, prejudice, discrimination, racism and xenophobia which is specifically directed at Romani people. Non-Romani itinerant groups in Europe such as the Yenish, Irish and Highland Travellers are frequently given the name "gypsy" and as a result, they are frequently confused with the Romani people. As a result, sentiments which were originally directed at the Romani people are also directed at other traveler groups and they are frequently referred to as "antigypsy" sentiments.
This is a list of topics related to racism:
Romani Rose is a Romany activist and head of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma. He lost 13 relatives in the Holocaust.
Romani people in Hungary are Hungarian citizens of Romani descent. According to the 2011 census, they comprise 3.18% of the total population, which alone makes them the largest minority in the country, although various estimations have put the number of Romani people as high as 8.8% of the total population. They are sometimes referred as Hungarian Gypsies, but that is sometimes considered to be a racial slur.
Racism has been a recurring part of the history of Europe.
In the United States, economic competition and racial prejudice have both contributed to long-lasting tensions between racial and ethnic minorities.
Racism in Italy refers to the existence of antagonistic relationships between Italians and other populations of different ethnicities which has existed throughout the country's history.
Racism has been called a serious social issue in French society, despite a widespread public belief that racism does not exist on a serious scale in France. Antisemitism and prejudice against Muslims have a long history. Acts of racism have been reported against members of various minority groups, including Jews, Berbers, Arabs and Asian. Police data from 2019 indicates a total of 1,142 acts classified as "racist" without a religious connotation.
The deportation of Roma migrants from France was subject of intense political debate in France and internationally in 2009 and 2010. After two fatal incidents, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy vowed in July 2010 to evict at least half of the 539 Roma squatting in land camps. The Government of France initiated a program to repatriate thousands of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma, as part of the crackdown. Between July and September 2010, at least 51 Roma camps were demolished, and France has repatriated at least 1,230 Roma to Romania and Bulgaria.
Racism in the United Kingdom has a long history and includes structural discrimination and hostile attitudes against various ethnic minorities. The extent and the targets have varied over time. It has resulted in cases of discrimination, riots and racially motivated murders.
The Romani people in Poland are an ethnic minority group of Indo-Aryan origins in Poland. The Council of Europe regards the endonym "Roma" as more appropriate when referencing the people, and "Romani" when referencing cultural characteristics. The term Cyganie is considered an exonym in Poland.
Roma Routes was established in 2007 to encourage the study of European heritage and culture. The project was established by the European Union and ended in 2013. The main purpose of Roma Route was to break the "cultural barrier" between the Roma and Non-Roma. Roma is a very lonely group in Europe, and most European countries have "discrimination" against Roma. Discrimination in most European countries also prevents Roma's culture from spreading worldwide. Through Roma Route, the European Union hopes to change the living conditions of the Roma and enhance the cultural communication of the Roma to the world.