Focus ROMI.HR

After their arrival in Italy in 1422, Roma people slowly started to integrate into Italian society, a long-standing process that was dotted with discriminatory policies. However, the migration of Roma did not stop centuries ago: instead, many of them moved to the country in the 1990s from the Balkan peninsula, especially from countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Romania. 

Whenever we look at Roma people today, the most affected ones are surely those belonging to these groups. Indeed, whatever element we decide to focus on in the analysis (housing, education, employment, health…), what will emerge clearly is that these communities are still highly discriminated, and that up to know there has been no all-encompassing intervention from the Italian authorities to lead Roma out of their disadvantaged situation. 

There is one last aspect that has not been investigated in this series of articles about the life of Roma in Italy, which is their participation in the political dynamics of the country. Given that political participation is often highlighted as one of the most important elements to check whether the rights of minorities are promoted and respected, it is not surprising to see a plethora of studies, even very recent ones, devoted to the topic. To explore all the different features that can encourage or discourage the political participation of Roma in the political life of Italy, the main source will be a 2024 article by Antonio Ciniero, called The Political Action of Roma and Sinti groups in Italy (L’azione politica dei gruppi rom e sinti in Italia), because this scholar managed to carry out an in-depth analysis while combining scientific rigour and a divulgative approach that encourages citizens to dive into the topic. 

According to Ciniero, the first approach adopted by Italian institutions was that of creating institutions of consultative nature, only meant to encourage some sort of debate among organizations and entities involved in the wider scenario of fighting against anti-Gypsist behaviors and encouraging Roma integration in the communities in which they are living. This promotional approach was highly influenced by the various recommendations and multicultural documents adopted at the international level by several international organizations, such as the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the United Nations which, however, in many cases were lacking any formal reference to the existence of a national identity of Roma. This lack of recognition can be explained by multiple factors: first, the fact that Roma cannot be linked to a specific State, differently from what happens generally for minorities. Second, even among Roma living in different countries there is often little to no knowledge about other members that settled elsewhere, thus hampering any possible kind of connection or cooperation. Lastly, given all the different problems Roma people went through depending on the country they moved to and the policies implemented therein, every Roma community could have potentially developed its own identity, which may even be in contrast with others. 

Due to all these factors, the author states that the previous attempts made by Italian politicians and activists were actually less effective than one could have imagined. Additionally, collective actions to claim universal rights to be respected concerning Roma have always been quite small, attracting very low levels of public attention on the problems experienced by these communities.

Given all this background, political participation of Roma in Italy was achieved mainly through associations, whose foundation is, in reality, quite recent. For example, Federazione rom e sinti insieme (Federation Roma and Sinti together) did not exist until 2008, when a group of around 20 smaller associations decided to unite in the attempt of being better representatives of Roma needs and requests. However, this attempt was short-lived, because already one year later, in 2009, the idea of unity was shattered and, aside from Federazione rom e sinti, active mainly in Northern Italy, another organization was created, called Federazione romanì (Romanì federation), representing Roma from Central and Southern Italy.

The two organizations are not only different in geographical terms, but also for what concerns their political actions. Ciniero reconstructs that Federazione rom e sinti insieme collaborated in drafting a bill in the Italian Parliament aiming at protecting and equating Roma in Italy. Conversely, Federazione romanì focused more on asking the Italian Parliament to modify the Law 482/1999, which enumerates the minority languages that are protected by the Italian law, to include Romani in the list too. Therefore, it appears clearly how Federazione rom e sinti insieme seems to have a broader approach to Roma representation and recognition than Federazione romanì: indeed, the latter seems to leave behind any question linked with Roma culture, and there is also no mention of universal rights such as housing rights, working rights, family rights, etc.

In more recent times, two Roma-led organizations are the main players in advocating for better living conditions for Roma people: Kethane - Insieme - rom e sinti per l’Italia (Kethane - Together - Roma and Sinti for Italy) and Unione delle comunità romanes italiane (Ucri, Union of Roma Communities in Italy). Both organizations put strong emphasis on the identity-building process, as well as on the fight to discrimination and the strong commitment for Roma culture to be acknowledged.

However, it must be highlighted that the levels of political participation are in general quite low among Roma people, mainly because of their low literacy and not fluent knowledge of Italian. Some attempts at changing this situation are, however, already taking place: for example, in 2020 a Roma and Sinti party was founded in Abruzzo, in Central Italy. The party, named Mistipe, was founded by three Italian Roma activists with the goals of representing these minorities in the political landscape, fighting for Romanì to be recognized as a linguistic minority, and asking for higher levels of social and educational inclusion of Roma people. Another initiative that is worth mentioning here dates back to the 2024 European Elections, when Kethane collaborated with Roma for democracy to bring Italian candidates to European Elections into various Roma settlements all across Italy to involve them into voting procedures and, more generally, politics. On that occasion, Roma could finally assist to a political debate, ask questions to political representatives, and interact with a world that seems distant and almost unreachable for them.

Aside from these events, however, there are very few traces of Roma people running for seats in any election. The only case that has been openly mentioned by media outlets dates back to 2019, when two Roma spouses, Ligia and Dainef Tomescu, decided to run for a seat in the city council of Bari, in Southern Italy. They were already well-known among the local population thanks to their activism in promoting human and minority rights. Unfortunately, it seems like none of them got actually elected, but unfortunately the news of their candidacy was met with resentment and even insults on various social media platforms.

In general, this last article confirms what had already emerged clearly throughout the whole series: first, that the overall conditions of Roma groups in Italy are still far from any minimum threshold of decency, respect, and equity; second, that there are many different aspects of Roma lives that politicians and activists should take into account for long-standing results to be achieved; and third, that no meaningful goal can be achieved without political willingness, mutual understanding, and coordinated actions that involve all stakeholders.