Should Europe's Gypsies assimilate?

A new nation has announced itself in Europe - a nation without borders, which it's hoped will bring together a people who've lived on the fringes of perhaps a score of other countries for centuries and whose distinct ways have too often provoked fear and hatred.

The Gypsies gathered at their World Congress in Prague recently to declare this new 12 million strong Roma Nation - part of the aim is to fight prejudice together.

Wandering Romanies, though, don't sound the most likely candidates to run their own parliament. And some among them think the idea goes against their whole traditional culture.

Should Gypsies, or Roma, have their own representation - or should they assimilate with the countries they're living in?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

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Your reaction

Many great civilisations of the past were nomadic including the Mongols and much of the world settlement is due to the nomadic response for space

Mark, Germany

The modern world seems to have an inherent distrust of anything that does not conform to what is considered to be the "norm". But what is the "norm" in Western society? It is to work hard and lock ourselves up in tiny boxes called houses and cluster in communities. Yet many great civilisations of the past were nomadic including the Mongols and much of the world settlement is due to the nomadic response for space. What I think annoys us is that these people have managed to maintain their freedom of movement without the modern ties or stresses we are experienced with and for this I feel we are jealous and a lesser people for our intolerance.
Mark, Germany

Slovakia doesn't have "race" problems with other minorities such as the Vietnamese who work and respect the law and other people's property. Stealing a man's potatoes will hardly make him sympathetic.
Jozef, Slovakia

Every state has minorities; even nations have their sub-divisions. However, this does not mean that everybody who feels disloyalty towards the state that houses their nation (or even part of it) can just form their own government that transcends national jurisdictions.
Michael, Ireland

What! Is this some kind of joke? You're asking the Roma to assimilate when you European people, as a whole, can't even assimilate yourselves, eliminate all national boundaries and nation states and become a Europe of the regions in a United States of Europe?
Jay Maerkel, USA

An obstacle for the Roma is that part of their culture does not accommodate the presence of national borders

Haakon Fottland, Norway

An obstacle for the Roma is that part of their culture does not accommodate the presence of national borders. This is a problem they face jointly with a number of other people that live by moving from place to place. National borders were established as a means to demarcate ownership to an area and thereby exclude others. The nature of such borders however, requires a culture of constant presence. I think that one should search the issues that are important for the Roma culture and then allocate that management for these issues to a representative Roma-body. A comparison: the Sámi live in four countries in the north of Europe, and in Norway they have their own parliament to decide on matters important to the Sámi - but this is still only within the Norwegian national borders.
Haakon Fottland, Norway

Representation by race instead of residence? There's a word for that - "Balkanisation".
T.J. Cassidy, USA.

Perhaps preserving the status quo is best for today

Andrej, Russia

Neither option - nationhood or assimilation - is possible for gypsies, for they are wanderers. They have an image as thieves and barbarians living in filth, but there is also the romantic aura of poor but free people (though probably not in countries like Slovakia, where gypsies make up a heck of a minority). That's the romanticism gypsies wouldn't want to give up. Perhaps preserving the status quo is best for today.
Andrej, Russia

I can sympathize with Cyrus' worries about human rights not being fully granted to the Romany, but I would not be so quick to isolate this issue to Eastern Europe and necessarily call Canada more compassionate. If you substitute the Romany with Native Americans, you will see that Canada and America are no better when it comes to offering human rights to such groups. This is a world-wide problem.
Rob, Canada

Every ethnic group should have a right to peacefully pursue their own culture in a nation where they represent a minority. However, they are also required to respect the fact that they are just a minority, and should avoid any offence to the majority, or the "host nation". A certain will to integrate into, and contribute to, the host society should be expected. I know the example of Vietnamese refugees who came in fairly large numbers into several West German municipalities; they were indeed ethnically and culturally very different from the host population, but integrated fairly well.
Juhani Tervakoski, Finland

Though everyone deserves representation, the Roma are a people that cannot be associated with one country and live all over Eastern Europe and beyond

Thomas Smekal, Canada

Though everyone deserves representation, the Roma are a people that cannot be associated with one country and live all over Eastern Europe and beyond. They deserve representation as does any other group, but as for their cultural habits, they must be restricted to function within the laws of the countries in which they live. Other than that, they should be free to enjoy their lives as others do.
Thomas Smekal, Canada

Whether the "Roma Community" like it or not, they live in a world of nation states, replete with borders and passports. To create a pan-border organisation to lobby established political institutions to promote a certain lifestyle is one thing; but to create an alternative political structure that operates outside these established institutions is divisive in otherwise inclusive democracies. It becomes "them" versus "us" and will not help their cause. Democracy works best when everyone participates.
Mark M. Newdick, USA/ UK

It is crucial for them to retain their own cultural identity and to become more unified and form an effective political lobbying group

Cyrus, US

I'm an expatriate living in the Czech Republic and I've seen and more or less experienced what the gypsies are going through in the Czech Republic. It shocks and horrifies me that this nation which has the worst record for dealing with this ethnic minority is going to join the EU in a matter of a few years and that the EU and the rest of the international community isn't doing more to pressure the Czech Government and other governments of East/Central Europe to sincerely deal with this problem in a more pragmatic and humanistic way.
As for the Romany, it is crucial for them to retain their own cultural identity and to become more unified and form an effective political lobbying group to tackle the racist policies that are being carried out in the so called "emerging democracies."
Assimilation won't work for them because of the other problem which isn't on a governmental level but in the level of the general population. Dialogue is extremely important and I do not blame the Roma for seeking refuge in safer and more compassionate nations such as the UK or Canada.
Cyrus, US