ROMEA has asked Google to publish logo dedicated to International Day of Roma

Civic Association ROMEA has asked Google to publish on 8th of April on its front page so called festive logo dedicated to International Day of Roma. Festive logos (in English doodles) are changes of Google logo on the front page to remind various holidays or anniversaries.

The logo was designed by Laďa Gažiová, a Roma academic artist born in 1981 in Slovakia. She has based her design on the Roma flag and traditional Roma motifs.

Roma people comprise one of Europe’s most numerous ethnic minorities (various sources give their numbers as between 8 and 12 million). Members of the Roma minority also live in many other countries worldwide.

The Roma have been – and to a significant extent still are – a marginalized and persecuted group. In the countries of the former eastern bloc, for example, their ethnicity and national identity were officially suppressed in the past. The year 1971 is considered to have been a breakthrough in the ethnic awareness of Roma people, in the defense of their rights, and in the effort to organize them at the global level. That was the year the Roma people themselves organized the first-ever, historic World Roma Congress in London. The result of this meeting of participants from 14 countries was the establishment of 8 April as the International Day of the Roma. The Congress also agreed on the use of the word "Roma" to refer to themselves (instead of the exonym "Gypsy" or variations thereof then in use), on the adoption of a Roma flag, and on the Roma national anthem.

“8th of April has been celebrated worldwide as the International Day of the Roma since 1971. We are proposing, therefore, that on 8 April 2012 this festive logo should be used to commemorate this day,” is stated in the letter of ROMEA association.

“The use of this logo would be an expression of respect for the Roma and an expression of support for the celebrations that take place on this significant day,” said for the server Romea.cz executive director of ROMEA association Zdeněk Ryšavý. “We have made efforts for this action already for second year. We will see whether we succeed this year,” added Ryšavý.

In 1998, the concept of the doodle was born when Google founders Larry and Sergey played with the corporate logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. A stick figure drawing was placed behind the 2nd "o" in the word, Google and the revised logo was intended as a comical message to Google users that the founders were “out of office.” While the first doodle was relatively simple, the idea of decorating the company logo to celebrate notable events was well received by our users.