Is there "reverse racism" in Bulgaria? by BG Helsinki

Is there ·reverse racism” in Bulgaria? Emil COHEN

ately, it has become fashionable to talk about ·the Gypsy terror.” The notion that goes along with it is that ·they” “hate” us. The idea that parallel to the majority’s resentment towards the Roma there exists a reverse hatred from the minority towards the ·ethnic Bulgarians,” lends psychological legitimacy to the reasoning: how could you not hate someone who is threatening to you? The study ·Interethnic Attitudes and Social Distances,” which the BHC conducted with the help of BBSS Gallup in May 2005, provides abundant evidence for the theory that negative stereotypes towards the country’s two main minorities - the Turks and the Roma - are widespread among the majority population in the country. The conclusion from the study was that the level of hostility among large numbers of the Bulgarian majority reaches as far as the idea that it would be better if the Turkish and Roma ·guests” left the country.1 But the study was not conducted only among the majority. In addition to the sample of 1,112 ·ethnic Bulgarians,” 1,104 Roma from throughout the country2 were also interviewed, as well as another 327 from the six towns in which Roma school desegregation projects were being carried out. The research methodology, that of standardized interview questionnaires geared towards the complete comparability of the data gathered from both ethnic groups, was identical. Does ·reverse racism” exist? What do the Roma think about their Bulgarian compatriots? What is ·the image of the majority” in the eyes of the minority? The first remarkable trend is that the Roma are significantly less infected by stereotypes that are not based on personal experience. Due to reasons that go back for centuries, Roma communities are quite closed. This is, in a number of respects, a major ob-

The basic results of this study were published by the author in the article ·The data reveals: our society is ill with racism,” Obektiv no. 123, available in English on the BHC web site. 2 The selection was representative of Roma in this country aged 18 to 70. The sample was patterned after the uneven distribution of Roma in Bulgaria; in order to ensure that it was representative of the population, the number of those interviewed was significantly greater than it would have been if its 370,000 Roma (according to data from the 2001 census) were even ly distributed throughout the country. The model for the survey samples, the “Bulgarian” one and the two Roma ones, was developed by the research director of BBSS Gallup Zhivko Georgiev.

stacle to the mutual penetration of the two cultures, which is the true meaning of the word ·integration,” one that has been worn out by (mis)use. But for the typical Roma, if we judge based on the data from our study, his responses are based much more on his own personal experience, and for that reason he is many times more likely to answer ·I don’t know” in cases when a representative of the majority would boldly specify an answer, even if based entirely on anything other than personal experience. One typical example is in attitudes towards Jews. While the probability of any ·ethnic Bulgarian” ever meeting a Jew is approximately 1 in 5,000, 46% of the Bulgarians interviewed agreed with the claim that ·all Jews are alike”. But just 28% of the Roma respondents supported that theory. Meanwhile, two-thirds (64%) of the Roma responded ·I don’t know,” while only half as many Bulgarians did (35%). Can Bulgarians be trusted? According to 38% of the Roma respondents, they cannot. But according to 53% they can be, and almost one in ten (8.8%) ·does not know.” What about the other direction can the Roma be trusted? According to 85% of the ·Bulgarians,” they cannot. The difference is more than double! Let us turn towards the respondents’ notions of the possibility and permissibility of closer contact. According to 94% of the interviewed ·Bulgarians”, the thought of marrying a Roma is absurd. Only 6% considered it to be acceptable. According to 67% of the ·Bulgarians,” maintaining a friendship with a Roma is completely out of the question. On the other hand, an astounding 89% of the Roma respondents consider the possibility of friendship with a Bulgarian as something they would not object. In addition, a solid 60% of the Roma had no problem with the idea of starting a family with a Bulgarian partner, while 40% found it unacceptable; i.e., despite the spirit of the times, they were more inclined to uphold the tradition of marrying only within the limits of their own local community. The actual proportion of such mixed marriages is unimportant. The important thing is that the Roma minority is much more inclined to overstep cultural barriers than the representatives of the majority are. Intercultural marriage is the most certain method of ·integration.” This naturally leads to the conclusion that segregation is not a matter of desire on the part of the Roma community to isolate itself. It is practiced and imposed by the majority. Let us now take a look at the attitude towards the ·ethnic permissibility” of persons of minority origin oc-

cupying positions of power. Eight in ten (82%) ·Bulgarians” would not want to see a Roma serving as the chief of their local police district. More than twothirds (70%) could not imagine a Turk in such a position. But 55.5% of the Roma said they had nothing against a Turk as their local police chief, and just 27.3% wouldn’t want to have one. It is quite striking that nearly one-fifth of the Roma surveyed (17.7%) answered ·I don’t know.” This could be explained by a lack of appropriate experience and direct interaction (how many Turkish police chiefs are there?), and also by the idea that to the practical Roma people, a person’s individual qualities are far more important than his ethnic background. It is a fact that the level of desire for integration and for lowering the barriers between cultures is best measured by examining people’s attitudes towards the mixing together of their children in the educational system. The data show that if there are only a few Roma children in the classroom, the ·ethnic” Bulgarians are generally willing to accept the situation. If the number of Roma children in the classroom grows to more than 10%, though, Bulgarian parents would begin to move their children to schools that are ·clean” of Roma children. That was the main conclusion drawn from the series of questions about attitudes towards the desegregation process and the mixing together of children. It can be seen quite clearly in this table of data aggregated from the responses of the ·ethnic Bulgarians”: Question: WOULD YOU AGREE TO HAVING YOUR CHILD STUDY IN A CLASSROOM IN WHICH... Yes

I don’t know

- There are a few Roma kids

- Half of the kids are Roma

- Most of the kids are Roma

In the reverse direction, more than eight out of every ten Roma respondents (83.5%) approve of desegregation. Only four percent - twenty times fewer! - would insist on preserving the practice of having Roma children educated in segregated neighborhood schools. No comment is necessary, as they say. In addition, more than half (52%) of the Roma agreed that mixing children together is a means towards mutual familiarization with each other’s culture. Only half (47%) of those ·Bulgarians” who approve of desegregation in principle - who themselves represent a minority of the majority representatives surveyed (barely four in ten of the ·Bulgarians” said they approve of desegregation ·in principle”) - indicated the mixing together of children as a means of achieving a mixing together of the cultures as a motivation for their approval.

It has long been known that disadvantaged minorities and those who suffer discrimination strongly approve of the cultural model of the majority. This is usually explained as a desire on the part of those being discriminated3 to assimilate with the majority in order to feel like they belong to it. But from another point of view, such a desire provides direct, clear and unquestionable proof of the existence of discrimination. If this were not the case, neither the approval of Bulgarian culture nor the desire to have all children mix together would be relevant. Thus it can be seen, once again, that the heated claims of various Bulgarian chauvinists that the Roma ·are privileged,” are just what they always have been: a bunch of hot air. Unfortunately, that air often has the power to undermine the stability of the peaceful coexistence of the different ethnic groups in this country. Much of the data gathered remains outside the scope of this text; it was a very in-depth study. But the part cited here also provides the basis for drawing several conclusions. The first of these is that the Roma minority is much more open to intercultural contact than the Bulgarian majority. And if the Roma are, as can be seen without conducting any research, isolated in their ghettoes as if behind invisible walls, that is not because of some desire to ·hide away” from the majority. Second, the level of ethnic and racial prejudice among the Roma minority is significantly lower than among the majority. Perhaps it will increase. Perhaps, in the future, Roma chauvinism will take on the monstrous character seen in the recent events in France. If, however, the majority and the state continue in their inaction with regard to ·integration,” we just might become witnesses to that. Third, mixing children of different ethnic backgrounds together is the only hope of achieving the state of ·integration.” This already-long-known truth clearly needs to be repeated over and over again, because five years after the start of the country’s desegregation programs, they have not covered any more than two or three percent of Roma children. The next move, as it was many years ago, is the state’s.

Nine out of every ten Roma respondents claimed that they had been ·refused medical services, because they are Roma”; half said they think that they have been denied jobs for the same reason, and one-fourth said they felt they had been refused social welfare based on discriminatory motives, while more than two-thirds (67%) revealed that they had been repeatedly or individually insulted for being Roma. In addition, 48% of those surveyed stated that they think all of the media are insulting to the Roma. Only 17% said that the media behave neutrally, while just over one in ten (13%) held the opinion that the media were benevolent towards the Roma (one in five, most likely due to their relatively weak exposure to the media, could not tell).