To be or not to be "gypsy" *

Following a series of polemic discussions with friends and acquaintances regarding the appropriateness of using the term "gypsy" ("tigan") to designate a member of the Roma community, I decided to write an article to sum-up all my arguments in favor of replacing the term "gypsy" ("tigan") with that of Roma and to clear this issue once and for all. My not so politically correct friends state that: "this is how they are called for hundreds of years, why should we call them something different? … The correct term is "gypsy" ("tigan") even they use it! A hundred years ago there was no Roma term. This change creates unnecessary confusion. It was not enough how the gypsies ("tiganii") disgraced us all over Europe, now everybody will think that the Roma are the citizens of Romania, not the Romanians…"

It is true the term "gypsy" ("tigan" **) exists for hundreds of years, but this was the name given by those that enslaved them, it was not how the called themselves. The term "gypsy" suggests the people that came into contact with them assumed they came from Egypt (due to their tan and strange customs). The Romanian term is "tigan" and is derived from the Greek work "athiganoi" - untouchable, given because the Roma did not use the Roman salute - the shake-hand, but the Hindi one - bowing the head with both hands put together under the chin. This term is used in Central and Southern Europe, probably due to the fact that the gypsies that reached Hungary, Serbia or Bulgaria went through "the Romanian Countries". Here, even from their first historical mentioning in 1385 ***, the Roma were mentioned as slaves. But how many of the Romanians know that the Roma were slaves only in Valahia and Moldova, but not in Transylvania? How many of us know that the slave statute implies that the owners of Roma could sell them like cattle, beat them, take away their children and even kill them? How many of us know that the gypsy slaves, despite their emancipation in 1864, were always left out of the land reforms of 1864, 1921 or 1991?

The word "gypsy" - "tigan" has exclusively negative connotations (in the Romanian language). The "gypsies" are the poor, the nomads that travel in carts, the thieves, the dirty people that live in huts and search through dumpsters. The term "gypsy" has all the characteristics of a derogatory / derogative label applied by the dominant group to a stigmatized and marginalized ethnic group. The negative stereotypes about the "gypsy" will affect the normal development of this community for some time to come. Still, it is the duty of the Romanian civil society, of the media, of the government and ultimately is our duty to avoid the negative association and the generalizations regarding this or any other group.

The Romanians consider themselves a "Christian people" and even a religious people. Conform to this belief, people were created "in the image of God". All the people were created by God, not only Romanians, Germans or Jews. Another argument against the discrimination of the Roma is the fact that, according to the Torah, the Bible or the Koran, all people have a common ancestor: Adam. From these two arguments we can draw a sum of « Christian-like" conclusions regarding the "love for our neighbor", but for now I will only stress those referring to the Roma. I want you to try to imagine / contemplate how your life would have looked like if you were born in a Roma family.

The empathy is a quality that seems to lack from the intellectual heritage of Romanians (n.a.: big mistake: I generalized! The value judgment I just made is based on my personal and subjective observations. But I don't know the entire Romanian people, so I cannot make such absolute value judgments!). Still, if this quality was present, a simple exercise of empathy would prove the vast majority of Romanians would not approve being called "tigan" (~gypsy) or "bozgor" (~ in Hungarian, person with no home-country). To state "gypsies steal more than Romanians do" is a racist aberration or rather plain stupidity. We could infer that the Roma have some gene in their DNA that induces them the stealing impulse! But this immoral comparison can be used against any people. By the same token the Romanians also have some weird gene that makes them steal more than the Japanese. Or if Germans work more than Romanians, are we suppose to reason that Romanians are lazier than Germans, that Romanians have some gene that triggers laziness? Of course not! Assuming that an Australian wealthy family adopts a small child of Roma origin, taking the assumption that Roma are thieves to be true, we must deduct that this child will grow-up to become a shoplifter, pickpocket or a bank robber! Even though his or her family has provided everything he / she wanted.

In order to explain it more clearly why it is not correct to address a person belonging to a different ethnic group with a term that is not agreed by that ethnic group, I would say it is the same as when you are addressing a person named X with Y. It is a question of politeness. Unless you are part of that group or you are really close to that person, you cannot do this. It's like in the US, two Afro-Americans can address to one-another with "nigger" but a white person will normally never be allowed this. In a nutshell, the term « gypsy » has only negative stereotypes associated to it - including the slave statute. In order for the Roma to be really emancipated it was not enough for them to become free people. They must be included in the land reforms, they must benefit from affirmative policies meant to reduce the historical handicap, and last but not least we need to treat them as equals, from every point of view. This implies the recognition of the right to choose the name of their ethnic group: the Romanian choose their name in order to stress their Latin origins, to differentiate from everybody else… The Roma are entitled to the same right. But you should not think that the name "Roma" is some sort of diversion or something made-up. In the Romani language, the word "Rom" means person, man, husband. Similarly, in Hungarian "maghiar" means person, man. Despite these facts, some Romanians still call the Roma "tigani" and the Hungarians "bozgori" (people without a country). These are negative, derogatory labels, usually assigned to "pariah". As a parallel, it is good to know that during the Ottoman rule, the Ottomans called the native people - the Romanians -"ghiaur" which means "person with no God" because they did not shared their faith in Allah. This is an example of a label, which is always applied by the dominant group to the marginalized or dominated group. What if the national minorities in Romania would start to call Romanians "ghiaur"?

If I have not bored you to death yet, get ready for my final statement. I think it is time for the Romanian society to take responsibility for the non-assimilation integration of the Roma community and of all the other marginalized and discriminated groups in Romania. Affirmative actions, which are not discriminations because they are meant to compensate for the past wrongdoings of the society, are the best way to kick-start the social inclusion process. The Roma are just as much Romanian citizens like any of us, and as such they deserve all the rights and liberties granted by law, and must also beneficiate of equal opportunities to participate in the life of the society.

"Gypsy" ("tigan") is a negative word / term. This term must be removed from usage as a derogative and racist word. The Roma community is the correct term for this ethnic group. In the future try not to use the term "gypsy" ("tigan"), but use that of "Roma". This is not some made-up term, but is the official term used all over Europe, from Great Britain to Spain and Russia, wherever Roma people live.

You should not do this because the EU commissioners ask us to do it, but because it is the right thing to do! Because by respecting the humanity of others we are flattering our own humanity. Each of us should meditate about this issue and should try to improve his or her attitude towards the Roma, towards the HIV/AIDS infected, towards women, senior citizens and any other group that we, the dominant group, marginalize and discriminate against. We all live under the same Sun and yet there is enough light to go around for each of us. We all deserve a minimal amount of respect and curtsy for the simple fact that we are humans. Threat the others the way you wish they would treat you. "Be the change you want to see!" once said M. Ghandi. In my opinion this is the shortest way to the liberal-democratic society we all (apparently) wish for…


* This argumentation strictly addresses a Romanian issue regarding the Roma community in Romania, so this version is somewhat different from the version in Romanian (some terms are really untranslatable or have different origins)
** The term "gypsy" and "tigan" are equivalent, but gypsy comes from the term Egyptian, while the Romanian term "tigan" comes from the reek word "athiganoi" - "untouchable".
*** Daniela TARNOVSCHI - „The Roma identity - Historical and media construct", in: Rudolf POLEDNA, François RUEGG and Catalin RUS (editors), Interculturality. Romanian researches and perspectives, Clujeana Universitary Press, Cluj-Napoca, 2002, page 122;


PS: for reactions, comments write me at e-mail: octav@apdr.ro