Hindus & Jews ask Europe to 'wake-up' on Roma apartheid

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28 May, 2011

Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, a prominent Jewish leader in the US, and Rajan Zed, a Hindu statesman, have said that it was time to end Gypsy apartheid in Europe. Europe's 10-12 'gypsies' continue to face discrimination.

ONLY 42 per cent of Roma (Gypsy) children complete primary school in Europe compared to a European Union (EU) average of 97.5 per cent, according to an EU release.

“Europe's 10-12 million Roma continue to face discrimination, exclusion and the denial of their rights”, a EU press release said, adding, “Roma – Europe’s largest ethnic minority – have been part of Europe for centuries, but frequently face prejudice, intolerance, discrimination and exclusion”.

Esteemed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed and Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, prominent Jewish leader in Nevada and California, and soon to be North Carolina, in the USA; in a statement issued in Nevada today, strongly condemning Europe’s continuing maltreatment of Roma, said, “It was time for Europe to wake-up and do something concrete to end Roma apartheid”. It was simply unacceptable in contemporary Europe, supposedly the paragon of the world's civilizations.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, and Rabbi Freirich argued that Europe went from one “ambitious paper plan/project/strategy/framework/taskforce” to another, and instead of showing signs of improvement, Roma apartheid continued to worsen. European politicians needed to exhibit a strong will, commitment, intention and responsibility to bring concrete and lasting results on the reality of the Roma population, instead of just weaving dreams in capital boardrooms. What was so hard of ensuring that most of the Roma children completed at least secondary school (currently only about 10 per cent attend secondary schools) if Europeans seriously intended it to happen?

Europe needed to clarify to the world where it stood on the issue of Roma and how long it would let the clearly visible Roma apartheid continue throughout almost every European locale, Rajan Zed and Jonathan Freirich asked.