Passage Two (Europe’s Gypsies, Are They a Nation?)
The striving of countries
in Central Europe to enter the European Union may offer an unprecedented chance
to the continent’s Gypsies (or Roman) to be recognized as a nation, albeit one
without a defined territory. And if they were to achieve that they might even
seek some kind of formal place—at least a total population outnumbers that of
many of the Union’s present and future countries. Some experts put the figure at
4m-plus; some proponents of Gypsy rights go as high as 15m.
Unlike Jews,
Gypsies have had no known ancestral land to hark back to. Though their language
is related to Hindi, their territorial origins are misty. Romanian peasants held
them to be born on the moon. Other Europeans (wrongly) thought them migrant
Egyptians, hence the derivative Gypsy. Most probably they were itinerant metal
workers and entertainers who drifted west from India in the 7th century.
However, since communism in Central Europe collapsed a decade ago, the
notion of Romanestan as a landless nation founded on Gypsy culture has gained
ground. The International Romany Union, which says it stands for 10m Gypsies in
more than 30 countries, is fostering the idea of “self-rallying”. It is trying
to promote a standard and written form of the language; it waves a Gypsy flag
(green with a wheel) when it lobbies in such places as the United Bations; and
in July it held a congress in Prague, The Czech capital. Where President Vaclav
Havel said that Gypsies in his own country and elsewhere should have a better
deal.
At the congress a Slovak-born lawyer, Emil Scuka, was elected
president of the International Tomany Union. Later this month a group of elected
Gypsy politicians, including members of parliament, mayors and local councilors
from all over Europe (OSCE), to discuss how to persuade more Gypsies to get
involved in politics.
The International Romany Union is probably the most
representative of the outfits that speak for Gypsies, but that is not saying a
lot. Of the several hundred delegates who gathered at its congress, few were
democratically elected; oddly, none came from Hungary, whose Gypsies are perhaps
the world’s best organized, with some 450 Gypsy bodies advising local councils
there. The union did, however, announce its ambition to set up a parliament, but
how it would actually be elected was left undecided.
So far, the European
Commission is wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselves as a nation. The
might, it is feared, open a Pandora’s box already containing Basques, Corsicans
and other awkward peoples. Besides, acknowledging Gypsies as a nation might
backfire, just when several countries, particularly Hungary, Slovakia and the
Czech Republic, are beginning to treat them better, in order to qualify for EU
membership. “The EU’s whole premise is to overcome differences, not to highlight
them,” says a nervous Eurocrat.
But the idea that the Gypsies should win
some kind of special recognition as Europe’s largest continent wide minority,
and one with a terrible history of persecution, is catching on . Gypsies have
suffered many pogroms over the centuries. In Romania, the country that still has
the largest number of them (more than 1m), in the 19th century they were
actually enslaved. Hitler tried to wipe them out, along with the Jews.
“Gypsies deserve some space within European structures,” says Jan Marinus
Wiersma, a Dutchman in the European Parliament who suggests that one of the
current commissioners should be responsible for Gypsy affairs. Some prominent
Gypsies say they should be more directly represented, perhaps with a quota in
the European Parliament. That, they argue, might give them a boost. There are
moves afoot to help them to get money for, among other things, a Gypsy
university.
One big snag is that Europe’s Gypsies are, in fact, extremely
heterogeneous. They belong to many different, and often antagonistic, clans and
tribes, with no common language or religion, Their self-proclaimed leaders have
often proved quarrelsome and corrupt. Still, says, Dimitrina Petrova, head of
the European Roma Rights Center in Budapest, Gypsies’ shared experience of
suffering entitles them to talk of one nation; their potential unity, she says,
stems from “being regarded as sub-human by most majorities in Europe.”
And
they have begun to be a bit more pragmatic. In Slovakia and Bulgaria, for
instance, Gypsy political parties are trying to form electoral blocks that could
win seats in parliament. In Macedonia, a Gypsy party already has some—and even
runs a municipality. Nicholas Gheorge, an expert on Gypsy affairs at the OSCE,
reckons that, spread over Central Europe, there are now about 20 Gypsy MPS and
mayors, 400-odd local councilors, and a growing number of businessmen and
intellectuals.
That is far from saying that they have the people or the cash
to forge a nation. But, with the Gypsy question on the EU’s agenda in Central
Europe, they are making ground.
1. The Best Title of this passage is
[A]. Gypsies Want to Form a
Nation.
[B]. Are They a Nation.
[C]. EU Is Afraid of Their
Growth.
[C]. They Are a Tribe
2. Where are the most probable
Gypsy territory origins?
[A]. Most probably they drifted west from India in
the 7th century.
[B]. They are scattered everywhere in the world.
[C].
Probably, they stemmed from Central Europe.
[D]. They probably came from the
International Romany Union.
3. What does the International Romany lobby for?
[A]. It lobbies for a demand to be accepted by such international
organizations as EU and UN.
[B]. It lobbies for a post in any international
Romany Union.
[C]. It lobbies for the right as a nation.
[D]. It lobbies
for a place in such international organizations as the EU or UN.
4. Why is
the Europe Commission wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselves as a
nation?
[A]. It may open a Pandora’s Box.
[B]. Encouragement may lead to
some unexpected results.
[C]. It fears that the Basgnes, Corsicans and other
nations seeking separation may raise the same demand.
[D]. Gyspsies’ demand
may highlight the difference in the EU.
5. The big problem lies in the fact
that
[A]. Gypsies belong to different and antagonistic clans and tribes
without a common language or religion.
[B]. Their leaders prove corrupt.
[C]. Their potential unity stems from “being regarded as sub-human”.
[D]. They are a bit more pragmatic.
Vocabulary
1. albeit 尽管,虽然
2. outnumber 数字上超过
3. ethnic
少数民族的成员,种族集团的成员
4. Hindi 印地语
5. misty 模糊不清的,朦胧的
6. derivative 衍生的,派生的
7. itinerant &nbs