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Madonna Booed Over Appeal For Tolerance Toward Gypsies in Romania
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by Yuliya Talmazan | August 27, 2009 at 11:46 am
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Madonna booed in Bucharest for defending gypsies like her
sourced by Yuliya Talmazan
American singer Madonna got booed during her concert in Bucharest, Romania, on Wednesday, August 26, when she appealed to the audience for more respect towards Gypsies. Three percent of the population of Romania is ethnically Gypsy. Despite that, Gypsies are often treated inferiorly in Romania. Madonna was evidently uncomfortable with such treatment of Gypsies, so she decided to make a call for fairness towards all nationalities and everyone who is "different" during her concert. It appears Madonnas’s fans did not appreciate her egalitarian appeals, jeering her to get back to singing. The singer had Gypsy dancers perform with her at the concert. Madonna is currently in Eastern Europe as part of her Sticky and Sweet Tour.
"But I found out that there is a lot of discrimination against Gypsies in Eastern Europe, and that makes me very sad, especially because we believe in acceptance, Gypsies, homosexuals, people that are different. Everyone must be treated the same, don't forget that!"
The jeers followed after the comment.
Madonna did not react and carried on with her concert, held near the hulking palace of the late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
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Yuliya Talmazan
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 14:24 on August 27th, 2009
Maybe Madonna should be better informed about the complexity and severity of the problem before she opens her mouth about a subject that she knows so little about. I have to confess to feeling that the many negative stories I heard about gypsies I regarded as racism until I had lived in Rome for three years and gotten a good look at what was going on.
I first got to Italy with only the experience of Americanized gypsies who sold flowers at bars I frequented in California.
Nothing I had ever experienced with them or with gang members in LA Central Juvenile Hall prepared me for dealing with the Yugoslavian gypsies in Italy. The Italian gypsies were more or less just like the American gypsies.
Eastern European gypsies are not the Gitane of Spain, the Italian gypsies or what we have here in the US. They are the bottom of their own caste system from India, where they originated. They have no trade, no education, no real discipline and they wreak havoc wherever they set up to live.
50% of street crime in Rome comes from this less than 1% of the population. They came into neighborhoods, parked illegally, left trash and garbage everywhere and left. Some of the kids went about dressed in little clothing for the weather to go begging on the Milanese subway/underground. I learned that we can safely assume that these kids are "slaves" who are bought and sold. The adult gypsies don't talk to these kids on the buses or trains. Others kids acted out sexually on the buses in Romes that disturbed even the Romans with their tolerant attitude toward sex.
Newsweek did a whole issue on the problem of the Eastern European gypsies complete with reports on the numerous programs that had failed to make inroads into breaking the cycles of exploitation of the women and children, the street crimes, pickpocketing, and so on.
at 09:07 on August 28th, 2009
Perhaps Madonna should stay in Italy or Eastern Europe a while to see how life is there. Who does she think she is? Is she trying to be cool while exporting american "culture" to the rest of the world? How did she ever get famous? I have lived with and worked with Roma children in Romania and this is a very difficult situation. Even when i tried to make friends with Roma i didn't already know, i was taken advantage of and even robbed. We can all educate ourselves plenty on the subject of Roma but unless the Roma are educated, not much is going to change. Fortunately for many like the Roma i lived with, they gained knowledge about our world and now can exist in both without so much prejudice. As for the others who keep their distance from us as well as education, they will have to suffer more. In other words, both sides need to stop hating each other but there will always be the ignorant ones.
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Drei (not verified)at 00:40 on September 2nd, 2009
As a Romanian living in the UK from a very young age I have to agree with what has been said above. The Romas don't want to intergrate, even at school they hardly show up or put any effort. They will ONLY look for the easiest way, hence why crime for them is easy. They NEVER work, unless they can get others to work for them (organised crime). There is also a big different between the Romas, the poor ones and the rich ones. The rich ones got there by doing dodgy stuff in the West then investing that money back home in businesses and now becoming "respected", guess crime does pay and money can buy you social status. Some got there by becoming professional singers. Think about it, during the communist area they were dirt poor, all of them, then suddenly they have millions after returing from the West... after all it is because of people like them shops started to have security... Switzerland didn't even had tags on its electrical devices, you could simply pick a video player up and leave... that changed after the Romas started to show up (talking about 1990's and so).
at 18:55 on October 6th, 2009
Pick the negative issues and with a big paint brush, you can paint quite the story.