Romani in Bulgaria during the Pandemic
As it has been known the Romani face discrimination all over Europe so there is no surprise that the Pandemic caused the treatment towards them to worsen.
In Kyustendil, Bulgaria, at a checkpoint of a Roma neighborhood, the police stand there putting them under lockdown and therefore isolating them from the rest of the city. The twelve thousand residents of this community aren't allowed to leave for any reason, and authorities in Kyustendil justify the lockdown in response to the "spike" Coronavirus cases. Nonetheless, for the Romani, it's just the same old prejudice they have faced for many centuries, especially because of the low confirmed cases. In addition to Kyustendil, another seven communities in Bulgaria, five in Slovakia have also been put under lockdown. In Romania, Serbia, and the Netherlands, there have been fifteen cases of police violence against the Romani. Also, two groups of Roma were made homeless in Belgium. I find these cases utterly appalling because people are supposed to come together as a community, not turn against each other in the face of adversity
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The Roma suburb in the Bulgarian town of Kyustendil.
Credit...
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The Romani suburb in Kyustendil has most of its roads
unpaved and filled with garbage. A
wall separates their community from a nearby highway, thus obscuring its residents from the other side. They have no access to computers or high-speed internet, and most children are behind on their education. All around Europe,
80% of Roma are at
risk of poverty. This statistic needs to become smaller because over 10 million Romani live in Europe, meaning that
8 million live in poverty. The Romani are one of the most disadvantaged minorities across all Europe, and nothing will change this fact until people, especially those in power, change their perspective about the Romani. A prime example of the statement above comes from the deputy prime minister of Bulgaria referred to them as
"unsocialized gypsies," a term that signifies the views many have of them. As I stated above, people's minds cannot remain narrowminded; times are changing, and so should their perspectives.
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| A wall separating part of the settlement from a nearby road. |
Inside the Neighborhood
Inside the isolated neighborhoods, there is a tremendous rate of unemployment. This is because the Romani cannot leave town unless they have a note from one of the two doctors found inside Kyustendil. As a result, many men are found doing odd types of jobs for money. The women are found taking care of their children and their husbands' needs as best as possible, considering their situation. Also, as mentioned in my last post, schooling isn't a main priority for the Romani. The girls are trained from an early age on how to take care of children and their future husbands while the boys start working to earn money for their families. Lastly, when the Romani can receive a note from the doctor allowing them access to leave, the men go outside to the pharmacies or wherever else they need to be.
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| Because most residents are not allowed to leave the neighborhood, they can use only the shops and services within it. |
Bibliography
Kingsley, Patrick and Boryana Dzhambazova. "Europes Roma Already Faced Discrimination. The Pandemic Made It
Worse." The New York Times. July 6, 2020.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/world/europe/coronavirus-roma-bulgaria.html.
European Roma Rights Center. "Romani Women in Romani and Majority Societies." European Roma Rights Center. April 12,
2000.
http://www.errc.org/roma-rights-journal/romani-women-in-romani-and-majority-societies.
Hey Aimee, I was really captivated by your post regarding the living conditions of the Romani people during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The way of life of the Romani today is in many ways deplorable and someone should do something about it, specifically someone who holds power in government such as the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria. In my post, I wrote about a French journalist named Éric Zemmour who would place Muslims in a similar condition to the Romani today if elected President of France. In France, Muslims make up 5% of the population and discriminating against them would be just like the discrimination of the Romani by the rest of the Bulgarian population.
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