16 - A Hushed Crisis: The Visual Narratives of (Eastern) Europe’s Antiziganism

Summary

There is a serious crisis across Europe today, a crisis of racism. It is particularly palpable in Eastern Europe, where openly racist talk and actions emanate from a range of people who practise hate speech on a daily basis – from football fans to yoga teachers to real estate agents – at their workplace, in their social interactions and on social media. Yet it is a crisis that remains unacknowledged – mainly because the objects of racism and hate speech are the Roma, aka Gypsies. This is a crisis of antiziganism, a hushed one.

Take Jan Gebert's acclaimed documentary, Az prijde válka (When the War Comes, 2018). Set in Slovakia, the film follows the leader of a paramilitary group, Petr Švrček, a clean-cut youngster who is articulate and polite. We see him taking exams and helping older people around town, and on weekends training the other youngsters of his ‘army’ in the nearby woods. Is this training just for recreation purposes or has it real-life application? What is the war that these young people are preparing for? Who is the enemy that they will counter with their advanced fighting skills? This is never clearly identified. Viewers in Eastern Europe, however, know the answer – it will be a war against the Roma, against the refugees, against the ‘foreign’, against all those who are not ‘us’. In fact, it is not a war that is still to come – rather, it is a war that has already quietly started and that such groups are involved with. My attention in this investigation is focused on the reality of antiziganism and the war against the Roma – one that is not officially recognised but that rages across the countries of Eastern Europe – and on the way it has been represented in cinema of the past decade.

Roma are mistreated in Western and Eastern Europe alike, albeit in different ways. In Western Europe, actions against Roma that verge on human rights abuse (demolition of settlements, deportations without the chance to be heard, restrictions on welfare) are carried out by official enforcement bodies such as the police or welfare officers. They are reported on – mainly in human rights monitoring and Roma media, with little in the mainstream sources – but rarely cause much public outcry.