Documentos

 

8th of April

 

The celebration of the 8th of April as International Romani Day was introduced in 1971 in order to commemorate the First World Romani Congress, organized in London. In this congress the word Romani, the flag and the gypsy hymn were adopted. Another important aspect of this celebration is the memory of the genocide suffered during the Second World War.

 

Throughout the years, some aspects of the International Romani Day were reclaimed, so that its celebration was introduced and established in the whole world. This is what happened also in Spain, where the celebration becomes even more widespread. For example the Valencian Community joins this commemoration for the first time with force and impact. As a matter of facts, the gypsy organizations, together with the Regional Government, give more importance to the city through different planned acts (see).

 

Without any doubt this represents a new beginning for Valencia because this action takes the first step to develop a more productive and useful joint work. It also constitutes the starting point for the forthcoming Regional Council of Romani people that we all long for.

 

Coming back to the central issue of this article, I want to mark something that we all should have in mind: we have to give sense, importance and value to this celebration if we don’t want this International Romani Day to be seen just as a simple commemorative date with the well-known media reviews and other symbolic acts. On the contrary, we have to take advantage of its result to make actions that can really permit the participation and the necessary understanding of the whole society.

 

We have the responsibility towards the future generations of taking advantage of all the opportunities, considering that our people need and require it. In the same way we are also responsible for the correct use of every resource we manage. We trust in it and we don’t have to disappoint this conviction.