Colourful but colourblind

It is time to know more the Roma. We are very often ignorant who they are and what their culture represents.

The newest initiative is a project of Transitions covering Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria.

I welcome any piece of information that might help to go beyond our daily stereotypes and narrow-minded ways of judging the other - belonging or not to a different ethnic, national or linguistic community. On the other side, for what concerns the case of Roma, I cannot stop observing how keen we, the Westerners are to listen to their music, to dance or to watch them dancing. But this wave of enthusiasm doesn't mean that we are more open to fight the discrimination they are facing - surprise, in many of the countries who supported by loud public declarations their integration - or to stop thinking about them in discriminative terms.

Mitläufer

Mitläufer - is a follower of a group, supported by his or her presence as organic part of the group. Even not agreeing with the ideas and the ways in which these ideas are put into practice, the Mitläufer is prefering to be rather "in" than "out", by reasons of personal security - keeping the job and the money, advantages for the the members of the family etc. He or her are voiceless - of their and other people's dissatisfactions.

The term was used recently by Herta Mueller, in Bucharest, in relation with the mainstream attitude of Romanian intellectuals during communism. A position I fully agree. Otherwise, how it would be explained the overall silence, and absence of the real dissent during Romanian dictatorship?

Hungary? Again?

Orban Viktor is back and very much in the business. With almost the same agenda he had previously, in a country facing serious economic problems countered at a very rhetorical level.

New tensions to be expected with the neighbours.

Orban promised to crack down on Magyar Garda, a paramilitary movement, but is stating this after a meeting with the representatives of this organization!

Next to come/hope not the best!

Memoirs

After almost one year of devoted interest - not constant, but still with high fidelity - I am left by any kind of interest for "childhood memories" from the "Eastern side of history". In Germany, during the last year they were published an impressive amount of books dedicated to this recollections of memories, written by people born in late 70s. The patterns are almost similar: memories about the first rock band concert, the free trip on the other side of the wall, cartoons, being a "pioneer" etc. Small life stories, repeated over and over again. But, for me, it is enough. There are too many similarities and too many repetitions to determine me to go to explore other areas. Mentally and geographically.

The hard past

Even my research focused on the post-communist period - most precisely the first ten years of transition in Romania and Hungary - at the beginning of my research I focused considerably on the minority policies from the communist period. Even too much, I dare to say, and as a consequence of this situation, the first draft of my paper dedicated 45% to the editorial space to this time.

Beyond the relevance for understanding the origins of the current situation, it was as well - psychanalitically speaking - also an interest for understand a period I lived to, even shortly and whom I always regarded with a lack of any academic detachement: I simply hated what happened for more than 40 years.

Finally, I went beyond this memory blockage and was able to focus successfully on my topic.

During this intensive research, I had the occasion to read various memories written by former member of the nomenklatura who survived the transition. Some of them staying on the side of Ceausesc until the very last moment. They wanted now to share their memories, but without any critical perspective. All you got, is a never-ending lamentation, rephrased on hundred of pages about the ridiculous political transition, the former "comrades" who "betrayed" the communist values, they still believe in. Like grandparents, they, who neglected the fact that people were starving and were humiliated every minute of their life, they lecture about how they tried to change something or meditated about the values of communism while on vacation of various selected resorts strictly designed for the members of the ruling elite.

Ethnic Literature

Using minorities as characters in books might demands lots of documentation and research.

It depends of your audience - if it is familiar or not with different ethnic identities or if it is made by the members of the minority itself.

When it is about literary works, the most important dimension you have to find is authenticity. In this case, the careful details provided by the documentation are offering the information necessary to set up the credible characters. You don't have to give the reader a lesson of history, culture or even geography but to make your characters able to speak with their own original voice.

These are a couple of thoughts, giving me a couple of insights for a work-in-process about how to better communicate about minorities, following the meeting with Kemelman's Rabbi Small.

Autogeography

How much biography is in our writings? How much by our own perspective we are recreating an entire geographical space in a very personal way?

A very interesting perspective, here.

I am still pondering for my own opinion, made up of various mixed personal writing and literary experiences.