Stories, Roma people
Baia Mare 2011: My Home

In the media, we are all in favour of human rights and integration. In real life, however, France, to name but one country, only appreciates the Roma as long as they are in films featured at Cannes festival.

Inspired by the French authorities’ solution of moving Roma from point A to point B, the Romanian authorities have planned and set underway the forcible evictions of Roma from makeshift settlements such as those to be found in cities including Cluj-Napoca (Pata-Rat and Garii) and Baia Mare (Craica, Pirita, Ferneziu). Some of these settlements date back to early ’90s. The authorities always tolerated them, verbally encouraging the Roma to build in the area and giving reassurances that nothing bad would ever happen to them. But today, campaigning on a ticket of inter-ethnic hatred, the same authorities have started forcible evictions whose sole motivation is the ethnic cleansing of cities.

Our humanity is as big as the distance between ourselves and the world’s real problems… This is why we can shed a tear for the starving kids of Africa but not give a damn about the desperate Roma kids living next door.

We ask of the Roma that they send their kids to school, but we never wonder whether those same kids can bathe or get a decent breakfast before attending classes. As they live in ramshackle dwellings, “bathing” is hardly the right word to describe the conditions in which these kids manage to wash. Without direct access to running water, each child or woman has to make five or six trips a day to collect water from a nearby pump. It is a task that would drive even Sisyphus insane.

Without heating or electricity the Roma lead a harder life today than in the Middle Ages — harder given that the gaps between them and other people were less visible then than they are today… The most fortunate of them have rigged makeshift electricity cables from the nearby blocks of flats. When you find out how much they pay for this bootlegged current, sufficient to power perhaps one light bulb (20 Euros a month), you realise that being poor doesn’t come cheap.

They do all our unpleasant chores, working for the companies that collect our garbage or clean our cities’ streets. They are never able to make ends meet, and so they are always in debt to the loan sharks. Living on less than 100 Euros a month, the public garbage dump serves as their supermarket.

Because we deem their traditions unimportant, pottery and other ancient Roma crafts struggle for survival. Because of their lack of education and discrimination against them on our part, we only hire them as day labourers, and then we spend all day worrying lest they steal a few pieces of fruit. Almost all the whole of the grape harvest is gathered using Roma labour.

I live in a country where people look at impoverished Roma people living in inhumane conditions and ask me whether they are thieves. I always answer them with a question that leaves them speechless. I ask: “How many thieves do you know who have to feed themselves out of the garbage?”

Yet they live their lives without asking too much. All they ask is not to be evicted, to be thrown out on the streets. All they ask is to be consulted and presented with alternatives for relocation. If segregation is the only thing that comes out of such relocation plans, then they ask to be left where they are. They realise that life is hard for people without an education, but no matter how poor they might be, they shouldn’t be denied the right to non-segregated social housing programmes. We deem them irresponsible for having so many children, but we seem to forget how many children our grandmothers used to have. If it weren’t for our grandmothers, we wouldn’t be here today…

Protected by current legislation, or rather the lack of it, this country’s racists fail to understand the real power of the Roma people. In less than a hundred years, they will be the majority population of Romania. How ironic it is that we want to get rid of them when our survival as a nation depends on them!

This is Europe at its worst… It doesn’t have to be that way… If South Africa were forcibly to send other African citizens back to their countries of origin, Europeans would find that unacceptable and human right activists would demand all kinds of measures to put a stop to it…

When France does it, everybody turns a blind eye…

Where is the democracy in that?

Baia Mare 2011: My Home
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BAIA MARE, ROMANIA - SEP 23: Romanian kids of Roma origins playing, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 23, 2011. Some of these settlements, like the one on Craica, date back to early 90's. They where always tolerated by the authorities who orally encouraged Roma to build in the area while giving reassurance that nothing bad would ever happen to them. Yet, today, while campaigning on a hate ticket, the same authorities are planning forced evictions without other reasons than ethnic cleansing of the cities. © Mugur Varzariu
BAIA MARE, ROMANIA - SEP 21: Romanian of Roma origins hugs a withe horse, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 21, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Mihai, a Romanian of Roma origins moves a pice of plastic on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 24, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian kid of Roma origins plays in front of his ramshackle dwelling, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 21, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian woman of Roma origins carry with two of her kids, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 25, 2011. Some of these settlements, like the one on Craica, date back to early 90's. They where always tolerated by the authorities who orally encouraged Roma to build in the area while giving reassurance that nothing bad would ever happen to them. Yet, today, while campaigning on a hate ticket, the same authorities are planning forced evictions without other reasons than ethnic cleansing of the cities.
Romanian of Roma origins on the hallways of a social housing complex on Horea Street in Baia Mare, on September 23, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Interior of a ramshackle dwelling belonging to Romanians of Roma origins, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 25, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
General view of Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 23, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins inside their ramshackle dwelling, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 22, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Woman of Roma origins prepares dinner, through the window on Ferneziu, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 24, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins holds his dog, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 20, 2011.
Romanian kids of Roma origins going to school, early morning on Pata Rat, near Cluj-Napoca, where AI research team conducted interviews. The settlement on Pata Rat, near the city dumpster, was created mid December 2010, after Roma people where forcibly evicted from their informal settlement in downtown Cluj-Napoca. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian teenager of Roma origins looks away, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 21, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Ramshackle dwelling on Pirita, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 24, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian little girl of Roma origins on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 21, 2011. Fire recently destroyed half of their ramshackle dwelling. © Mugur Varzariu
Horse belonging to a Romanian of Roma origins on Pata Rat, near Cluj-Napoca, where AI research team conducted interviews. The settlement on Pata Rat, near the city dumpster, was created mid December 2010, after Roma people where forcibly evicted from their informal settlement in downtown Cluj-Napoca. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins carry a pice of furniture on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 20, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian kid of Roma origins, on Garii near Cluj-Napoca, where AI research team conducted interviews. The settlement on Pata Rat, near the city dumpster, was created mid December 2010, after Roma people where forcibly evicted from their informal settlement in downtown Cluj-Napoca. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian kids of Roma origins play in the grass, on Pirita, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 24, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian girl of Roma origins plays with just one rollerblade, she collected from the city dumpster, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 21, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 22, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
General view of Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 25, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian woman of Roma origins washes her granddaughter's hair on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 23, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins pose for the camera inside their ramshackle dwelling, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 24, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Alex Banta a Romanian of Roma origins, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 23, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins pealing chestnuts inside a social housing complex on Horea Street in Baia Mare, on September 23, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
General view of Ferneziu, near an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 24, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins in front of their burnt ramshackle dwelling, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 21, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins on Garii, near Cluj-Napoca, where AI research team conducted interviews. The settlement on Pata Rat, near the city dumpster, was created mid December 2010, after Roma people where forcibly evicted from their informal settlement in downtown Cluj-Napoca. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins gather water from the only nearby water pump in the area, on Pirita, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 24, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Interior of a Roma ramshackle dwelling on Garii, on Pata Rat, near Cluj-Napoca, where AI research team conducted interviews. © Mugur Varzariu
Laundry hanging to dry, on Garii, near Cluj-Napoca, where AI research team conducted interviews. © Mugur Varzariu
Interior of a Roma ramshackle dwelling on Garii, on Pata Rat, near Cluj-Napoca, where AI research team conducted interviews. © Mugur Varzariu
Gavris Lingurar, a Romanian boy of Roma origins, stands proud on a white horse, on Pirita, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 24, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian kids of Roma origins doing their homework, on Pata Rat, near Cluj-Napoca, where AI research team conducted interviews. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian girl of Roma origins on one of her many daily trips to the water pump, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 22, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu
Mihai, a Romanian of Roma origins holds his daughter, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on September 25, 2011. © Mugur Varzariu

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