GR8 Power - The Concept

Media institutions feel entitled to associate ethnicity with crimes and anti-social behaviour; Police abusing individuals knowing that nobody will stand for them; Local Governments evicting people without looking for other housing alternatives, Central Governments not undertaking effective measurements and not involving us in the decision-making process in matters that concern us.

The institutionalised discrimination is only widening the gap between the marginalised groups and the mainstream society and the situation is only getting worse for everybody. It also, gives the sentiment of entitlement for the hate crimes of the far-right adepts.

It’s time that the governments don’t mention us in “the others” section or consider us as a “tick” on their lists! It’s time that the governments take Antigypsysm out of the dusty drawer and put it on the table.

It’s time that we take our faith in our own hands and claim to be included in the democratic and decision-making processes in all societies around the world, as one of the most significant minority, especially in Europe.

Roma – a Global Nation

In the last years the concept of “Global” is used more and more to describe minority groups that have a common heritage but different cultural backgrounds and influences. In the same time “Global” signify that these groups do not relate anymore with a specific land, but only the origin of its ancestors. This is the situation of black people or people of colour: nowadays, the concept term, that describe better the origins and the actual socio-cultural universality, is Global South Heritage.

Same thing is with Global Indians. Is about second, third, fourth generation of Indian diaspora who are not that much bound with the actual Indian values, their culture and lifestyle being influenced by the cultures and social values where they live. More than that, they do not benefit of the support and protection of the Indian state institutions and are ignored by the state institutions of the countries where they live.

Roma are in a similar situation, only two differences: the Roma diaspora is at about 40^th-50^th generation, and we are not related to any country state.

Due to our history, periods and routes of migration, places of settlement the Roma related groups developed different cultural values. The cultural elements (language, clothes, customs, religion, lifestyle, etc) developed different due to the socio-politico-geographic contexts. This is how we end-up in the situation of having so many ethnic groups.

The problem is that the “gadjicano” system encourages the Roma ethnic groups, to identify themselves as totally different, denying the common heritage and any similarity with other groups, creating a destructive division among us. We only have to accept the common origin and to embrace the differences among us!

There are numerous nations in the world, which are formed of more ethnic groups and they have no problem of accepting each other and stay stronger together as nations. From the dawn of humanity, the strength of the peoples stayed in numbers.

In order to overcome this situation in which we are stuck since centuries, we have to stand together and to declare ourselves as a nation, ROMA NATION, a global nation that includes Roma, Gypsies, Sinti, Calo, Ashkalie, Egyptians, Rudari, Dom, Caldarasha, and all other groups of brothers and sisters.

Social Democratic Participation

GR8 Power is a concept to build an authentic representation of the Roma and other ethnic related communities, launched initially as an ad-hoc platform in 2019 in UK.

The principles of GR8 Power are based on Community Organisation, Democratic Participation, Capacity Building and Representation

The ignorance of state institutions and regimes towards Roma communities, and the lack of adoption of concrete and efficient policies to address the inequalities and the discrimination, brought Roma communities in a state of an apathy, in terms of democratic participation. Most of the Roma communities are in a state of “survival mode”, seeking for alternatives to overcome the discrimination and the lack of access to the public services. This situation brought the Roma communities in a relatively organisational chaos, living us without capacity to build up our representation.

The Social Democratic Participation apathy could be overcome only if is tackled from both directions:

• We as a Roma Civil Society, to support a better community organisation at grassroot level, which will increase the capacity of democratic participation and creation of the representation;
• The state institutions to adopt anti-discrimination policies and special measures (affirmative policies) meant to insure an equal access to the public services. In the same time, they could support the creation of a genuine Roma representation and insuring the access to the decision-making and executional level, especially in matters that concerns us directly.

Background

International representation

In the last half a century, the Roma movement started to better organise itself. A turning point was the first World Roma Congress that took place in London, in 1971, where the Roma flag and anthem have been adopted and led to the creation of the International Romani Union.

IRU was the most emblematic form of the Roma representation at international level, but as well as other several attempts of creation of representative bodies, it was not the result of a genuine democratic process. They were groups of self-proclaimed leaders, coming together at the initiative of another proclaimed leader. Usually in these attempts, the “representatives” didn’t have the mandate of larger groups and the leadership vanities of the individuals involved in these processes led to the end of these initiatives. Same thing happened in the case of IRU, and they end up with three IRU’s and three IRU presidents – IRU role of representation became obsolete.

National representation

There are better examples of Roma representation at national levels. The best example of representation is in Romania. Due to the electoral law provisions that promotes ethnic representation at the national decisional level Roma Party (which is an NGO) has a representative in the Romanian Parliament. They have, as well, members in County and Local Councils. Although, Roma Party have representatives at decisional level, it is still not very significant because of the big difference between the actual needs and existing representation. Also, the Roma Party representation is challenged because in general elections, in the last 30 years, they gain around 10.000 votes from a population of around 2.000.000 Roma.

The best example of a genuine Roma representation, is coming from Romania, too. In 1998, at the initiative of Nicolae Gheorghe, it started the creation of the Roma civic representation that partnered the Romanian Government in the process of elaboration and adoption of the National Strategy for the Improvement of Roma situation in Romania. In the period 20-24 January,1999, took place at Mangalia, the meeting of all 113 Roma associations in Romania, in that time. At that meeting was elected a representation committee of 10 members, named GLAR (Working Group of Roma Associations). GLAR, having the mandate of the Roma associations, took over the role of partnering the Romanian authorities in designing policies for Roma. It was created the Inter-ministerial Sub-commission for Roma (SIR). GLAR delegated Roma experts to become members of SIR, together with representatives of different Ministries of Romanian Government. SIR elaborated sectorial strategies, under the supervision of GLAR and Romanian Government. Unfortunately, after the adoption of the National Strategy in 2001, GLAR dissolved.

GR8 Power is inspired by the creation and function of the GLAR, only will continue its mission to the implementation and monitorisation of the public policies adopted.

Roma Civil Society/Misrepresentation

In the last 20 years the Roma civil society improved a lot in the field of project implementation and decreased in the field of representation and Human Rights.

In Management, the charity sector (NGO’s) is categorised as entrepreneurship – an NGO is a business. As better the organisation is in services providing, funds administration, project management, public campaigning (marketing), as more successful it is. As more successful the organisation is, as better representation role of its members in societies and in relation with authorities. In fact, they don’t represent the communities where they provide services, they represent only their organisations’ interests. This system created in the last 20 years, it is very convenient for the so-called representatives and for the authorities as they “tick” the box of Roma representation.

There are tens of years of Roma activism, we have experts, we have academics, we have professional organisations, there are a lot of financial resources allocated for “Roma industry”, but the situation didn’t change much at the grassroot level. It is the lack of a genuine representation, lack of the Roma participation to the decision-making process, lack of having an effective impact in public policies for Roma.

Actually, the “Roma problem” is approached as a social problem. Is easier for authorities to pass over the responsibilities to the so-called representatives and of course, cheaper. If the “Roma problem” will be approached as a representation problem, the impact on the public policies for Roma will be significant, the responsibilities of the issues would be taken over by the state authorities, and will be more expensive. The role of service providers of the actual NGO representatives, will remain the same as most of the services towards the population will be sub-contracted by the authorities, and the role of actual Roma “representatives” could remain if they will have the mandate of more Roma organisations, communities or individuals.

Lack of Roma democratic participation

During the last millennium, since our presence in Europe have been documented, we’ve been the victims of hate and ignorance. No matter which were the policies adopted by any regimes, either was about Slavery, Holocaust, ethnic cleansing, exclusion, assimilation or so-called inclusion measures, we have never been asked or included in any of these decisions. We are continuously being denied the representation, resulting in Antigypsyism being the most tolerated hate crime.

Over the centuries we have been “taught” to obey and not to ask for anything. We have been taught to wait for the left overs to be “gifted” to us. We are used to be satisfied with the bones. All time we have been told what to do, how to do, when to do. We are not used to fight for our rights!

Being kept to the edge of the society, without equal access to public services, we didn’t have the chance to develop as the rest of societies. We are not aware of democratic participation in the democratic societies. We don’t know the meaning of solidarity.

We don’t vote because we are always ignored by the political class. Despite our numbers we have never been considered an electoral capital, only a maneuver mass of which votes could be bought with few pennies. This situation is very convenient for political class as buying few votes is much cheaper than to design, adopt and implement special measures to address the inequalities. This is also the reason of which the governments prefer to approach the “Roma Problem” as a social problem instead of representation problem. They prefer to invite few pseudo-representatives at pseudo-consultation processes and tick the “Roma Problem” box. If the representation problem is being solved the “Roma Problem” is becoming much, much more expensive.

We are on “survival mode” – how to survive on your own, without having access to housing, education, employment, justice system and other services and how to not trust the authorities and sneak the system, which always fails you.

Due to the discrimination and ignorance Roma faced over the centuries, the lack of trust in institutions and lack of democratic participation it became a constant characteristic of Roma communities. The lack of trust and engagement with the state institutions became a constant characteristic of Roma communities

GR8 Power

The aim of GR8 Power is the Empowerment of the Roma Communities.

The socio-political situation of Roma communities in Europe and other parts of the world, is mainly the effect of the authorities’ ignorance and not taking effective measures against discrimination and marginalisation. Another reason is that GRT communities are very diverse and we never had a common voice to show to the authorities that we could be an important stakeholder population in the democratic political process and we didn’t constitute ourselves in a strong and reliable partner for authorities in designing and implementing measures for our people social improvement.

The Community Empowerment concept is based on other three interrelated concepts:

1. Community Organising: community organising refers to the process of bringing people together within a community to identify shared concerns, collectively develop solutions, and take collective actions to address those concerns. It is a bottom-up approach that emphasizes the of ordinary individuals to create positive change. Community organisers often work to build relationships, foster, leadership, and mobilise community members to advocate for their shared interests. By organising and empowering communities, individuals can collectively address social, economic and political issues affecting their lives.
2. Democratic Participation: democratic participation refers to the active involvement of citisens in the democratic processes of their society. It encompasses a range of activities, including voting in elections, engaging in public debates, attending community meetings, participating in advocacy campaigns, and joining community organisations. Democratic participation allows individuals to exercise their rights, express their views, and influence public policies. It is a fundamental aspect of a healthy democracy, as it fosters inclusive decision-making and ensures that government actions reflect the will and interests of the people.
3. Representation: representation entails the act of individuals or groups speaking and act on behalf of others, ensuring that diverse voices and perspectives are included in the decision-making processes. In a democratic society, representation is crucial that all segments of society have a fair opportunity to participate and have their interests considered. Political representation, for example, involves electing individuals to represent the interests of the community members in different representation bodies. Effective representation ensures that the concerns, needs and aspirations of different communities are adequately represented in decision-making processes and policies.

Membership and Ownership

GR8 Power is created by Roma, with Roma, for Roma!

Being an ethnic representation organisation GR8 Power members with right to vote will be only of Roma origin, or another ethnic related group. In order to create a genuine, accepted and recognised representation, members should come from different geographic areas, gender and age balance will be respected and members of different religions and sexual orientation will be encouraged to join.

The first objective is to unite as many as possible GRT organisations in one federative organisation that will be named. GR8 Power is not to be an umbrella organisation that is own by a person, organisation or a group. The GR8 Power ownership belongs to all parties (individuals or organisations representatives) involved.

GR8 Power will have members representatives of organisations and individuals, too, but only the organisational representatives will have the right to vote. Any individual member, will be welcomed and their contributions will be valued. GR8 Power will welcome individual membership of people who are not of Roma origin, too, as allies.

The decisions will be made by all its members by consensus or by simple majority of a democratic vote.

Networking

The GR8 Power will create national networks that will involve all its members in its activities. The network activities will be focused on Community Organising, Capacity Building, Public Campaigning, Policy Making and lobbying with local and central authorities and other civic and political organisations.

All members may continue their own activities (business as usual) but any proposal and initiative will be welcomed, debated and approved for further implementation within the network.

GR8 Power Representation

As mentioned above, members with right to vote will be only organisations’ representatives with one vote per organisation. Because we are not yet able to build a representation based on an individual vote, the GR8 Power will adopt “representation of representatives”. Each organisation represents its members or local community interests. They are delegating their representative to became a voting member in GR8 Power.

Each national structure will elect a committee that will represent the GR8 Power network in relation with central authorities (governments, parliaments, etc.) and to become members of the international structure of GR8 Power. The number of the members of the national GR8 Power committees will be elected by the voting members (e.g. 1 committee member per 5 or 10 voting members). This way will be respected the representation of the population and the capacity of engaging and organising on national levels with the local communities.

When GR8 Power international structure will be formed, will take over the policies and decisions from national levels to be lobbied at international level.

In order to ensure a good and efficient representation, the national committees members will be elected at every two years.

Another activity that will increase our participation in the decision-making process will be support of the participation of all GR8 Power members (individual or voting) at the political elections at all levels: local, national and European with different socialist political organisations. Also, GR8 Power will lobby for its members to access positions at state executional institutions (intergovernmental institutions, governments and local authorities)

R8 Power proposed plan in UK

In the period 6-8 October 2023, will take place at Brighton, the Autumn Green Party National Conference, where will be voted the Motion for the Improvement of GRT Situation in UK. A final version will be adopted by Green Party – GRT Policy Working Group, by middle of July, and will be made published and proposed to a final public consultation.

Two of the motion’s recommendations are directly of benefit for the creation of GR8 Power in UK:

• RR702 The UK Government should elaborate, adopt and implement a new National Strategy that addresses Gypsy, Roma and Traveller inequalities in life outcomes, and that supersedes the current National Strategy to Tackle Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Inequalities.  The UK Government should support the creation of an effective, efficient, wider and recognized Gypsy, Roma and Traveller representative body, that will partner the UK Government and Parliament in this process of developing and implementing this Gypsy, Roma and Traveller National Strategy;
• RR705 Local Council Authorities to support the creation of a Local Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Mediators network, that will aim to improve Gypsy, Roma and Traveller access to public services and the gathering of more comprehensive and accurate data on the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller population;

After the adoption of the Motion and becoming party policy, GRT Policy Working Group, will call a meeting of the Green Party Local Councillors (800 in England and Wales). They will be advised to promote the implementation of the RR705 (see above). Where appropriate, the Green Party Councillors, will make proposals for Local Councils Decisions for the creation/institution of the Local GRT Mediator. Due to the needs, it is expected that 30-40 local councils will adopt the creation of the Local GRT Mediator position. The created network of Local GRT Mediators, beside their contractual responsibilities, will support the Community Empowerment processes in the communities they act.

One of the provisions of the motion’s RR702, is the support for the creation of an effective, efficient, wider and recognised representation – GR8 Power could be the one, or one of them, if the Gypsies and Travellers will decide to build their own ethnic representation, and later on to build an Antigypsyism alliance where other groups associated with Gypsyism (as Show People, Boat Dwellers, New Age Travellers, etc) could be represented, too.

In support of the process of building the Roma representation, will come the activities of the Roma organisations. Roma Support Group, is running a project for the creation of a Roma organisations’ network, named Roma Rights Forum. One of the objectives of the network is to initiate a public campaign for the promotion of the Roma Rights, named “Mishto”. ROTA – Roma Organisation for Training and Advocacy, will take over the responsibility for the creation of the Roma representation, within the Roma Rights Forum network. In the same time, ROTA has been awarded a grant from Council of Europe, under the Roma Political Schools program. After a public call, members of the Roma Rights Forum will be selected to became trainees within the “Roma Political School”. The project will be launched before second half of July, 2023.

After the creation of the Roma representation, the other provision of the RR702 will be lobbied. In the elaboration and adoption process of the National Strategy for GRT will be involved all members of GR8 Power. Thus, the principle of the “bottom-up policy-making” could be fulfilled. The elaboration of the strategy will be much more detailed, comparing with other policy papers for GRT, and will approach all the aspects on sectorial policies.