Stories, Roma people
Baia Mare 2013: The Mayor of Shamefulness

You complain about the Roma putting you to shame. In the 1870s, Italian peasants, the great majority of whom had an extremely low level of education, emigrated to the United States in an attempt to escape from low wages and high taxes.

They were prepared to work long hours for low wages and very quickly ended up taking the bread out of the mouths of unqualified Irish labourers, which often led to bloody clashes. Not to mention the fact that after the Second World War they also gained the reputation of being gangsters, spreading organised crime.

Given that history repeats itself, now it is our turn to emigrate, for example to Italy. But as you will see, our beggars and gangsters are small fry compared with the Italian mob families, who have founded almost aristocratic dynasties…

But Italians are also defined as being lots of other wonderful things besides the label of Mafiosi… But not us, and that is due to historic defects, a failed present and a future that is always slipping away between our fingers… And so we have ended up defining ourselves by means of a negative: “We’re not all gypsies,” the same as the Italians used to have to define themselves by saying: “We’re not all Mafiosi.”

Nobody else can put you to shame; each person puts himself or herself to shame. In other words, when somebody begs or steals, it doesn’t put me to shame, but at worst it puts him to shame. But when an official representative of the Romanian State perpetrates an injustice against the citizens of his country, he puts us all to shame, because he is acting not in his own name, but in the name of us all.

And so it is today with the greatest shame committed in our name by the mayor of Baia Mare and those like him, not the Roma and non-Roma who commit all kinds of petty crimes or those who live in crushing poverty…

If he had not discriminated against them, if he had not built the wall, if he had not forcibly evicted hundreds of people, if he had not moved them into a lethal disused laboratory, putting their lives at risk, then nobody would be pointing the finger at Baia Mare…

And there is no shame greater shame than to pretend you don’t see the injustices to which your fellow men are subjected…

Baia Mare 2013: The Mayor of Shamefulness
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Romani children collecting iron from the ramshackle dwellings in Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on May 12, 2012. Some of the dwellings are already abandoned, with their previous inhabitants being among the first to be relocated to Cuprom. On May 11, the mayor began his eviction plans by moving the first families to Cuprom and demolishing their homes. © Mugur Varzariu
Leleczi Luiz David, a Romani child of Romanian descent, carrying a mattress to their new temporary room in Cuprom, a formal factory office building, after their home in Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, was demolished on May 12, 2012. The eviction plans began on May 11 when the mayor started moving the first families to Cuprom and demolishing their homes. © Mugur Varzariu
A Romanian of Romani descent helps a relative install drapes at the door of his new temporary room in Cuprom, a disused copper factory office building, after their home in Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, was demolished on May 12, 2012. The eviction plans began on May 11 when the mayor started moving the first families to Cuprom and demolishing their homes. © Mugur Varzariu
Racz Codruta Mihaela, a Romani teenager of Romanian descent, watches her neighbor as he tries to settle in his new temporary room at Cuprom, a disused copper factory office building, after his home in Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, was demolished on May 12, 2012. The eviction plans began on May 11 when the mayor started moving the first families to Cuprom and demolishing their homes. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanies of Romanian descent, awaiting relocation to Cuprom, stand outside their ramshackle dwellings in Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, facing forced evictions on May 12, 2012. Between 20 to 30 dwellings were recently demolished, with their previous inhabitants being among the first to be relocated to Cuprom, a former communist disused copper factory. On May 11, the mayor, inciting hatred, set in motion the eviction and demolition plan. © Mugur Varzariu
Romani of Romanian descent seen through the debris of a demolished dwelling in Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, facing forced evictions on May 12, 2012. Between 20 to 30 dwellings were recently demolished, with their previous inhabitants being among the first to be relocated to Cuprom. On May 11, the mayor, inciting hatred, set in motion the eviction and demolition plan. © Mugur Varzariu
Empty interior of a Romani ramshackle dwelling belonging to Martocean Floare a couple of hours before being demolished, on Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Romani of Romanian descent, captured in conversation inside their new temporary room at Cuprom, a formal factory office building, after their dwelling in Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, was demolished on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Romani child of Romanian descent on the staircase at Cuprom, a disused communist copper factory office building where they were relocated, after their dwelling in Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, was demolished on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Tivadar Irina, a Romani woman of Romanian descent, hanging a wall carpet inside her new temporary room at Cuprom, a formal factory office building, after their dwelling in Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, was demolished on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Demolished ramshackle dwellings on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on May 12, 2012. Some of these settlements, like the one on Craica, date back to the early '90s. They were always tolerated by the authorities, who verbally encouraged the Roma to settle in the area, providing reassurance that they would not face any harm. Yet, now, while campaigning on a platform of hate, the same authorities are planning forced evictions without other reasons than ethnic cleansing of the cities. © Mugur Varzariu
Gerebenes Elisabeta, a Romanian woman of Roma origins, chasing the kids away on the halls of Cuprom, a formal factory office building, after their dwelling on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, was demolished, May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Varga Alexandra Argentina and other Romanians of Roma origins, early morning on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, facing forced evictions, May 12, 2012. Between 20 to 30 dwellings where demolished recently, their previous inhabitants being among the first to be relocated on Cuprom. © Mugur Varzariu
Martocean Floare's personal belongings waiting to be moved to Cuprom, as her dwelling was scheduled for demolition the same day, in Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Ardelean Isaura, a romanian woman of Roma origins, seen looking at her neighbours while they try to settle in their new temporary room on Cuprom, a formal factory office building, after their dwelling on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, was demolished, May 12, 2012. On May 11, the mayor started his eviction plans by moving the first families to Cuprom and demolishing their dwellings.
Gerebenes Rozalia, a Romani woman of Romanian descent, waiting inside her ramshackle dwelling on Craica to be relocated to Cuprom, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, facing forced evictions on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Varga Mihail, a Romani man of Romanian descent, standing in front of his ramshackle dwelling, still standing, on Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, facing forced evictions on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
"Roma teenager collecting wood left behind after the demolition of several ramshackle dwellings in Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on May 12, 2012. Some of the dwellings are already abandoned, with their previous inhabitants being among the first to be relocated to Cuprom. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins in the house of prayer, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on May 15, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Boncos Sandu, a Romani teenager of Romanian descent, helping his neighbors to relocate to Cuprom, on Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, facing forced evictions on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Mircea Roma Rezmuves tearing down the roof of his own dwelling before agreeing to move to Cuprom, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins, receiving electricity from a neighbor outside their new temporary room at Cuprom, a formal factory office building, after their dwelling on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, was demolished on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanian kids of Roma origins, collecting iron from the ruins of recently demolished ramshackle dwellings, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, facing forced evictions on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Boncos Sandu, a Romanian teenager of Roma origins, helping his neighbors to relocate to Cuprom, in Craica, an informal Romani settlement in Baia Mare, facing forced evictions on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Laura Floarea Varga, a Romanian woman of Roma origins, looking around in the halls of Cuprom, a formal factory office building, after her dwelling in Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, was demolished on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Romanians of Roma origins in the house of prayer, on Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, on May 15, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Constantin Adrian Gigel watches as an excavator creates a path across the river Craica for the bulldozers to cross and demolish the dwellings in the informal Roma settlement of Craica in Baia Mare, on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu
Interior of a ramshackle dwelling belonging to Gerebenes Rozalia, a Romanian woman of Roma origins, in Craica, an informal Roma settlement in Baia Mare, facing forced evictions on May 12, 2012. © Mugur Varzariu

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