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Census underway in Slovakia, two campaigns reaching out to Roma people

22 October 2012
2 minute read

Yesterday the Census of Residents, Houses and Apartments was slated to begin in Slovakia. Two different campaigns targeting Roma people have been launched, one to clarify some of the items on the questionnaire and explain the purpose of the census, and another appealing to Roma people’s pride and encouraging them to publicly declare their Roma identity. The census will end on 6 June.

Don’t be ashamed of your origins

One campaign has created a video clip intended to motivate Roma people to overcome their hesitancy about declaring their Roma identity. The motivational clip was filmed by Gipsy Television, which has posted the short video to their web page. Slovak Television has also broadcast it.

Four Roma people in the video – the singer Anita Soul, television anchor Linda Horváthová, pianist Richard Rikkon, and singer Igor Kmeťo, Jr., address the viewer under the motto “Let the world know about you” with statements such as: “There are approximately half a million Roma people in Slovakia… I am not ashamed to be a Roma woman.”

According to Gipsy Television director Jozef Zeman, it is important for Roma people to realize that it will not harm them to espouse their Roma identity. Given that there was almost no outreach about the census performed in Roma settlements, he believes people there might have a distroted image of how the census is run and what it means. As a result of individuals identifying as Roma, whole communities could receive more financing from the government for promotion of Roma culture or could acquire the right to use their native language as the Hungarian minority is now doing in Slovakia.

Knowing the answers to the questions

In March, the Roma Media Center launched another campaign on the census. This campaign was more informative and used the Romanes language for some outreach. “The campaign was preceded by research during which we found out what most needed to be explained about the census to Roma people. For that reason, the individual pieces answer questions, like what is the difference between citizenship and nationality, what the term ‘mother tongue’ means, whether the results of the census will be anonymous and how the anonymity of those who respond will be guaranteed,” Kristýna Magdolenová, director of the center, explains.

The piece, entitled “Don’t be afraid to say you are Roma” was broadcast during the Roma magazine show on Slovak Television, “So vakeres?” Almost 500 villages with Roma settlements also received a DVD of the piece with the aid of the Slovak Statistical Bureau. Informational meetings were also held in some Roma community centers.

The Roma Media Center also used songs and video clips to get their message across. Roma rapper B. G. (Miroslav Rác) of Levice authored the lyrics and music for the video, which can be seen at www.mecem.sk.

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