“We recognize the gypsy people, proud of their past, their history, their culture and also their values.” This pointed Peter MartinPresident of the Council of Tenerifeduring the commemorative act for the Day of the Gypsy People, which took place last Saturday but the Island Corporation postponed it until yesterday, and which has included the reading of a manifesto to claim the rights of the gypsy people and value their culture and history.
In the meeting on a community very settled in Canary Islandswith more than 8,000 members in the Islands and 3,000 only in TenerifeThe gypsy associations of Karipen Island, Romí Emprendedoras, the Gypsy Community Sociocultural Federation E Rroma Va, Senda Flamenca and Romi Kamela Nakerar participated.
Pedro Martín emphasized the importance of this commemoration for build ties and unite peoples. “The Roma community, like all peoples, has been evolving and this change that is taking place in society has also occurred within it, as we have been able to observe especially with the achievements and advances made by Roma women,” Martín stressed. . For the leader of the Tenerife socialists, “it is the responsibility of all institutions to work hand in hand for a more egalitarian, just and better society.”
José Carmona, representative of the E Rroma Va Sociocultural Federation, pointed out that we are experiencing “crucial moments to continue advancing towards the inclusion of the Roma people”. For Carmona “it is a significant date, of homage and recognition of the culture, traditions and history of our people, in which we pay tribute to our ancestors, persecuted, convicted and murdered.” “But it is also a day of vindication, to raise our voices and make visible the path that still remains to be traveled in terms of equality, in the fight against discrimination, exclusion and antigypsyism,” he added. “A path that would not be possible without the involvement and commitment of the institutions,” concluded Carmona.
The act of homage of the Island Corporation completes the one held on Saturday in La Laguna
For her part, Josefa Santiago Fernández, representative of the Romi Kamela Nakerar association, stressed the “achievements” made in terms of equality and rights by Roma women: “We are happy with all the steps achieved by Roma women”. Josefa Santiago highlighted the creation of a specific commission for education and employment for women within the Insular Group of the Gypsy People, “a space to give voice to our needs and demands, to be protagonists of the projects and actions that concern us, and that we are guaranteed participation, equal opportunities and the nondiscrimination”.
It was not the only commemoration in Tenerife of the Day of the Gypsy People. He City Hall of La Laguna He celebrated it the same last Saturday, the date of the celebration. He did it with an institutional act in the Trino Barreto square in the La Candelaria neighborhood, in La Cuesta. It counted with the participation of the gypsy associations of La Laguna, municipal representatives and the neighborhood community. During the event, the Roma flag was hoisted, as was the case yesterday at the Cabildo, and the international anthem of the Roma people, Gelem, gelem, instituted at the First World Congress in London in 1971 and which recalls the gypsies and gypsy victims of Nazism.
The lagoon act was promoted from the Municipal Board of the Gypsy People, at the proposal of the gypsy groups of La Laguna, to reflect the contribution from the cultural, social and economic point of view that has to do with the presence for many decades of an important gypsy community in the university municipality. During this mandate, several projects have been developed with the different associations for the visibility of the Roma community as a whole through the Municipal Board of the Roma People.
