|
Euroasian Jewish News
Secretary General of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress Michael Chlenov Takes Part in Event Dedicated to International Roma Day
08.04.2009
In Moscow, on the quay near the Variety Theater, a ceremony organized by the Federal National-Cultural Autonomy of Russian Roma and dedicated to the International Roma Day took place. The Secretary General of the EAJC, Vice-President of the Federal Jewish National-Cultural Autonomy (FJNCA) Michael Chlenov spoke at the ceremony, and noted the similarity in the fates of Roma and Jews in both good and bad. "Both of our people became victims of the most cruel crime of the XXth century – the Holocaust," the speaker underscored. Chlenov also greeted the gathering on behalf of the World Jewish Congress, and noted that united gatherings of Roma and Jews were happening in a number of countries on this day. "To end my speech, I would like to remind you of the words of the famous artiste Georgiy Stepanovich Demeter, 'Jews and Roma are ineradicable!'" Summarized the Vice-President of the FJNCA.
The President of the "Yabloko" party, deputy of the Moscow City Duma Sergey Mitrohin, reminded them of the "evil which took a heavy toll on the Roma and Jewish people." "Nationalism is like the plague, and, unfortunately, there is no vaccine which would rid the world of this evil," he said, and noted that the viruses of this illness are quite widely spread in today’s Russia.
Doctor of History, President of the International Roma Union Nadezhda Demeter, reminded of the fact that at the moment, 9 out of 10 people who participate in social questionnaires say that the Roma are thieves and pushers, but nobody knows (nor wants to know) that the Roma fought with the Fascists alongside with everybody, that 80% of Russian Roma died in the Holocaust, that Roma youth, despite all the stereotypes, try to become educated.
At the end of the ceremony, flowers and wreaths were traditionally lowered into the water of the Moscow river, in memory of all those who died fighting Fascism. The first to do it was the leader of the Federal National-Cultural Autonomy of Russian Roma Alexander Bariev.
|
|
