Sunday, November 7, 2010

CONFLICT

I have a real conflict about closing down this blog.  The number of visitors is increasing at a very nice rate.  No one has left any feed back about how they feel about incorporating reviews under the  LoloDiklo blog.  If we don't hear from anyone who thinks the separate review blog is important we'll have to shut it  down.  if you have any ideas or an opinion, please leave a comment on this blog, or email me directly at 
punkaheron@yahoo.com

Saturday, October 30, 2010

LOLO DIKLO

We are phasing out this blog.  For reviews please visit
http://www.lolodiklo.blogspot.com/

Reviews will be interspersed with other entries.

Friday, October 29, 2010

RABBIT STEW AND A PENNY OR TWO

I've finally tracked down a copy of RABBIT STEW AND A PENNY OR TWO, the latest book by MAGGIE BLENDEL-SMITH.


I hope to review it shortly after I receive it.

But realistically, I have not yet reviewed DOSHA, the wonderful novel by SONIA MEYER, and many others on my list.

I am considering closing down this blog and committing to doing a review a week on the Lolo Diklo blog.  Somehow this seems like a time to consolidate.

If anyone has an opinion or comment please leave it on this blog or email me directly at
www. punkaheron@yahoo.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

PAUL POLANSKY

Paul Polansky generously donated his three latest books to the Romani Museum.

Two are books of poetry--
UN-LEADED BLOOD
and
GYPSY TAXI  CIGANSKI TAXI

Both of these books are beautiful and tragic and both set in Kosovo where Paul continues to do amazing work with the Romani living on lead mines.

I love the photos in UN-LEADED BLOOD, but was completely captivated by the paintings in GYPSY TAXI,  by a Romani man living in the camps, Bajram Mehmeti and his sister Farija Mehmeti.  They are stunning and emotional.

Here is a poem from GYPSY TAXI

REVENGE
anound two o'clock in the morning
I heard an animal howling.
when the village dogs didn't answer back
knew it was a call from the wild.

asked Ali about it over morning coffee
he said Kosovo was now a UN protectorate
since no one could have a gun
wolves were coming after the village hens.

if Lassie wasn't byt he front door
sleeping on our shoes
Ali told me not to go out at night to pee
wolves would be strolling the streets.

I thought my only problem
going out at night
was a landmine, a sniper
a terrorist throwing a grenade

now I know
nature
wanted her revenge
too.

The third book is titled
THE KOSOVO ANI-HEROES AWARDS FOR DEADLY NEGLECT
I think that title speaks for itself.

I highly recommend all of Paul's books and thank him for the work he has done for years, and continues to do, for the Romani of Kosovo.

To learn more about the Romani of Kosovo, please visit
KOSOVO ROMANI REFUGGE FOUNDATION
http://www.krrf.tripod.com/.

To order Paul's books
http://www.paulpolansky.com/
pipusa50401@yahoo.com

Friday, October 15, 2010

TONY GATLIF

FROM EURONEWS
Tony Gatlif: Chain reaction fear over Roma expulsions
Friday, October 15, 2010 12:30 PM

Tony Gatlif is a man with a mission. For 35 years, Gatlif who is half Kabil (Algerian), half Gypsy, has produced and directed films about the Roma people in Europe, a people who he says are often misunderstood and discriminated against.

His latest film, KORKORO, released this year, is about the estimated 30,000 French Roma or Gypsies who were detained and deported during World War II.

Although Gatlif is angry about President Sarkozy’s expulsions and the dismantling of illegal Roma camps, he insists that what is happening today can in no way be compared to the deportations of the Second World War.

But he warns it is an uncomfortable reminder of what happens when a whole race of people are targeted.

Valerie Zabriskie of euronews caught up with the film director in Lyon.

“Tony Gatlif, you are firmly against the dismantling of Roma camps, although opinion polls suggest 60 percent of French people support this ‘dismantling’ policy. Does that surprise you?”

Tony Gatlif:

“There’s nothing I can do about that. The only thing I can do, is to explain to all those who don’t understand this problem about the travelling people – that’s the administrative term. They are the Roma people, Gypsies who have been in France for a very, very long time, since King Francois the first, these Gypsies, who are in the South of France and Spain. That’s it. And these people who have been here in Europe since the Middle Ages, they have contributed to Europe, to its culture, to all that is European. And now today, we want them to become invisible. We don’t want them to exist. But how can a people of 10 million just stop existing all of a sudden? Because European heads of state decided to pass laws against them so they can’t move (travel) anymore. This means that when you don’t want a people to move, you confine them. This is what they did during the war.”

euronews


“But now that Romania and Bulgaria are part of the European Union, you can’t do this anymore. They have the right to travel to other European countries but if after three months, they don’t have work or are said to be a social burden, they can be expelled.”

Tony Gatlif:

“This law was created for them but it’s not for everyone. Next to where I live in Paris, there’s a German homeless person. He’s been there for three years. Has anyone told him he has to return to Germany? He’s homeless, he’s German, he told me. So these laws are designed for certain people, for the ‘second class’ citizens and then there are laws for the ‘real’ citizens. That’s it. And so I believe these laws were created solely for the Gypsies to say, “look out, if we open Europe’s borders we’ll have all the Gypsies who will want to leave.” They know that’s what the Gypsies always do. So they say we’ll make these laws to block them and send them home after three months.”

euronews

“But don’t you think with what happened last month at the EU summit, with President Sarkozy and the European Commissioner, shows the European Commission is starting to pay attention to what we call the Roma problem in Europe?”

Tony Gatlif:

“They are shocked, I think, these countries are shocked because Spain doesn’t do this, there are EU countries which don’t do this. Greece doesn’t either. Greece likes its Gypsies. So France, all of a sudden, with these laws they introduced, wants to uproot these people, these Roma who have been here for I don’t know how long, maybe three or four years. And they round them up and expel them from their shacks, from their cardboard houses, in the woods, under the bridges, by the motorways. And they move them out in numbers, en masse. And this reminds us of a trauma. There are children who are half-naked, in their mothers’ arms. There is panic everywhere. They don’t have time to take their belongings. It’s panic. Of course it isn’t as bad as the round-ups, the (World War II deportations of 1940 but it’s still, let’s say, the thin end of the wedge.”

euronews

“People complain about seeing the Roma, the Gypsies with their big caravans, their beautiful cars and at the same time they portray themselves as victims, the women begging on the streets with their babies…”

Tony Gatlif:


“Here at the train station in Lyon when I arrived, there was a woman who stopped me at the station. She had blue eyes, didn’t look at all like a foreigner. She was French and she asked me for money for her children. She put her misery right in front of me because she was poor and miserable and I didn’t cover my eyes. But that the Gypsies beg, that bothers everyone. Why does that bother everyone? Because it reminds them of their own insecurity? Maybe they feel they’re being harassed? But I feel harassed as well by the homeless. But it’s normal that I’m harassed. That would be the last straw, that they just die in front of us without asking for anything. But this is what the new world is like today. The modern world.”

euronews


“But with all the media coverage of the expulsions this summer, maybe you are, perhaps not optimistic, but don’t you hope there is now more pressure on Europe’s heads of state to address this problem which is European?”

Tony Gatlif:

“I’m not scared of the European heads of state. I’m not scared of those who govern Europe. I am scared of the European people. Once a government like France – which is a country all of Europe looked up to during the communist era because it was the country of human rights – once France, the country of human rights, starts pointing its finger at a people who are fragile, I’m worried this will trigger a chain reaction. I’m worried that people in other countries will say we can do the same thing because these Roma aren’t good. That’s what the French government said, the French president said, well, he didn’t say they weren’t good, but he said they were problematic. So from that point of view, in countries such as Romania, or Bulgaria or Hungary and elsewhere, they can also say, ‘Yes we have a problem with these people (the Roma).’”

euronews


“There is a summit this month in Bucharest on the integration of the Roma people in Europe. What are you expecting will come out of this type of summit? What are you hoping for?”

Tony Gatlif:

“That they just leave these people alone. These Roma didn’t ask for anything. They’ve never made wars, never armed themselves, never used bombs. These people just want to live. So let’s just let them live and find the means to help them do that, like everyone else in Europe. And that we stop sticking labels on their backs, or creating laws that go against the way they live.”

LINK: http://www.euronews.net/2010/10/14/tony-gatlif-chain-reaction-fear-over-roma-expulsions/

______________________________________________
Tony Gatlif has given us many wonderful films including LATCHO DROM, MONDO and GADJE DIKLO.  He is the first Gypsy to produce movies about Gypsies.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

THE GOEBBLES EXPERIMENT

I watched this movie together with SOPHIE SCHOLL, THE FINAL DAYS, which is the following review.
If I had not watched SOPHIE's movie I don't think I would have had the stomach for the GOEBBLES EXPERIMENT, based on the diaries of Joseph Goebbles, Director of Propaganda under the Nazi Regime.

THE GOEBBLES EXPERIMENT is diametrically opposed to the sentiments of Sophie Scholl's story. This film , narratted by Kevin Branaugh exposes this highly influencial director of nazi propaganda as a self indulgent pitiful man. Talk about the banality of evil......
His whinings and complaints are especially interesting considering the backdrop of the Holocaust. 


I  recommend this film because of its revelations about the "real" lives of men with no conscience.

SOPHIE SCHOLL THE FINAL DAYS.



I have been so absorbed with writing grants for Lolo Diklo that I have not finished reading the wonderful books I have intended to review.

I have been contacted by some book clubs requesting suggestions for readings on the Romani people. Anyone who wants such recommendations should contact us either through comments on this page or at
mailto:www.punkaheron@yahoo.com

I apologize for not reviewing the wonderful books, including Dosha and the poetry books of Paul Polansky. I will review these books and many others including Zoli and Bury Me Standing in the upcoming weeks.

SOPHIE SCHOLL, THE FINAL DAYS and THE GOEBBLES EXPERIMENT are two movies I've watched in the past weeks.

SOPHIE SCHOLL, one of my heros, is excellently portrayed in the movie SOPHIE SCHOLL THE FINAL DAYS. The courage and committment of this young woman in fighting the nazis is an amazing statement.

Scholl, and her brother Hans, were both members of the WHITE ROSE a group dedicated to bringing down the nazi regime. To that end they wrote, printed and distributed leaflets condemming the nazis and calling the German people to action. I recommend this movie to anyone interested in social justice.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

BRONISLAWA WAJS PAPUSZA

I am going to print a wonderful poem by Papusza. 
She is the foremost Romani poet.

This poem was published in the early 1950's

TEARS OF BLOOD
(How we suffered under the Germans in 1943-1944)

In the woods.  No water, no fire--great hunger.
Where could the children sleep? No tent.
We could not light the fire at night.
By day, the smoke would alert the Germans.
How to live with children in the cold of winter?
All are barefoot......
When they wanted to murder us,
first they forced us to hard labor.
A German came to see us.
--I have bad news for you.
They want to kill you tonight.
Don't tell anybody.
I too am a dark Gypsy,
of your blood--a true one.
God help you
in the black forest...
Having said these words,
he embraced us all...

For three days no food.
All go to sleep hungry.
Unable to sleep,
they stare at the stars...
God, how beautiful it is to live!
The Germans will not let us...

Ah, you, my little star!
At dawn you are large!
Blind the Germans!
Confuse them,
lead them astray,
so the Jewish and Gypsy child can live!

When big winter comes,
what will the Gypsy woman with a small child do?
Where will she find clothing?
Everything is turning to rags.
One wants to die.
No one knows, only the sky,
only the river hears our lament.
Whose eyes saw us as enemies?
Whose mouth cursed us?
Do not hear them God.
Hear us!
A cold night came,
The old Gypsy woman sang
A Gypsy fairy tale:
Golden winter will come,
snow, like little stars,
will cover the earth, the hands.
The black eyes will freeze,
the hearts will die.

So much snow fell,
it covered the road.
One could only see the Milky Way in the sky.

On such night of frost
a little daughter dies,
and in four days,
mothers bury in the snow
four little sons.
Sun, without you,
see how a little Gypsy is dying from cold
in the big forest.

Once, at home, the moon stood in the window,
didn't let me sleep.  Someone looked inside.
I asked--who is there?
--Open the door, my dark Gypsy.
I saw a beautiful young Jewish girl,
shivering from cold,
asking for food.
You poor thing, my little one.
I gave her bread, whatever I had, a shirt.
We both forgot that not far away
were the police.
But they didn't come that night.

All the birds
are praying for our children,
so the evil people, vipers, will not kill them.
Ah fate!
My unlucky luck!

Snow fell as thick as leaves,
barred our way,
such heavy snow, it buried the cartwheels.
One had to trample a track,
push the carts behind the horses.

How many miseries and hungers!
How many sorrows and roads!
How many sharp stones pierced our feet!
How many bullets flew by our ears!


Translated from Polish by Yala Korwin.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soon to be reviewed
Paul Polansky's three latest books
Dosha by Sonia Meyer
Movies---
Sophie Sholl, the Last Days
The Goebbles Experiment.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

RABBIT STEW AND A PENNY OR TWO

Maggie Smith-Bendell has a new book out.  I have not yet read it but I'm anxious to.

FROM BBC

Maggie Smith-Bendell's life on the road

A gypsy who was born in Somerset has written a book describing her experiences travelling on the roads during her childhood in the 1950s.

Maggie Smith Bendell's book, Rabbit Stew and a Penny or Two, describes the prejudice her family dealt with.

She hopes the book will help to dispel myths about gypsy culture and foster better relations with the wider public.

Her book also reveals how past monarchs sent many to their deaths, and how these prejudices still survive.

'Born and bred'

Maggie Smith-Bendell comes from Romani Gypsy stock - although the spelling may be unusual to some - this is how Romani Gypsies would spell the term rather than with a 'y', which is more commonplace.

"I've delved into Romani Gypsy history from 1498 and my people have always been treated in that way ever since they hit the shores of Scotland and England back in the 1400s.

"I was shocked by some of the things that I read and what was recorded - kings and queens have ordered gypsies to be put to death because they were gypsies and anyone associating with them for hundreds of years, so today's attitude makes me understand that it's been born and bred in the settled community from royalty."

Maggie, who was born in a pea field in Thurloxton, also recounts early memories of how a farmer and his wife, whose land they were working on, wanted to take her little brother, Alfie, away from them.

"We knew nothing about the law in the 40s - and if someone, they didn't use the word 'adopt', they used 'take' and we thought they could just come along and take whatever they wanted from us because we didn't know we had any rights."

Maggie, who has worked with councils in Somerset over planning issues for travellers' sites in Somerset through the Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group, also believes that there is a lot of ignorance of the different groups of the travelling community.

"You cannot compare the Romani Gypsy with any other group and we are now recognised as the oldest ethnic group in this country, the Romani Gypsy will live by culture, customs and traditions and we still use our Romany language, English is still second to me, even today.

"You've got your Irish community and then you've got your new traveller community who are very well-educated kids some of those but their lifestyle is by choice, they have chosen to live that way of life."

Speaking about the lack of trust between what she terms as the settled community, or house-dwellers and travellers, Maggie admits that there are criminals in her community but that Romany Gypsies also get blamed for crimes that other people do.

Maggie herself married a house-dweller, but says despite putting down roots, she still yearns to take up her ancestors' traditional way of life.

"I have got wagons and have got a mobile home. I would dearly love to hitch horse and wagon and go back to the old lanes but there are no stopping places for us anymore."

Thursday, September 23, 2010

SONIA MEYER


This week I am hoping to review DOSHA, the new novel by Sonia Meyer, a constant and reliable ally of the Romani people
I'm also working of the movies
THE GOEBBLES EXPERIMENT
and
THINNER, by Stephen King

I'd like to reprint a recent entry on Ms. Meyer's blog, Dosha.
It will make you want to read more.
Blog: Dosha

Post: Persecutions of Roma/Gypsies Have Never Stopped, 1400 to Now. Why?

Link: http://soniameyer.blogspot.com/2010/09/persecutions-of-romagypsies-have-never.html

Monday, September 6, 2010


Persecutions of Roma/Gypsies Have Never Stopped, 1400 to Now. Why?

Unlike settled Europeans, who fought war after war over territories, their own and those of their neighbors, all Roma ever wanted was to be left alone. Instead of war they showed respect to the territories they crossed, as well as the bigger animals that shared their living space.

They arrived into Western culture with a great variety of professions – iron-forging, horse-dealing, basket weaving, lace-making etc., and of course entertainment – music, dancing, traveling circuses with all kinds
of performing acts, fortune-telling.

So why the enduring hate? The reasons on the part of those who live a settled life have been explained, examined, over and over again – xenophobia, prejudice, misconceptions, the need to produce a scapegoat
to blame for their own times of trouble.

But what about the part of the Roma themselves? I personally believe, as more and more open territory came under control, the professions the Roma had travelled with for centuries became obsolete through
modernization, the Roma were forced into poverty and areas encircled by the totalitarian law of Might is Right. By then, what had once been the Romani way of survival was turning against them. Life in small,
traveling units, by then had resulted in division instead of unity, lack of unity in turn made them vulnerable to attack, lack of opportunity for work, forced them into petty crime (within their own culture, theft, lying were considered high treason, and practically non-existent).

Instead of human rights, a Roma baby received brands that he or she would never able to erase.

But I firmly believe a new day is dawning for the Roma people. I see, that instead of withdrawing into invisibility at the onslaught of persecution, as they have done in the past believing that only then they could survive, Roma people are starting to unite. Modern type leaders will start to emerge from their midst. They are starting to demand their European birth rights, thereby exposing the hypocrisy of countries who call themselves democratic. As they do so, idealistic non-Gypsies have
started to, and will increase in numbers, march along their sides in support.

'Opre Roma' (Roma Rise) is becoming a reality.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

THE GYPSY CHRONICLES

The Gypsy Chronicles by Alison Mackie

This is the hardest review I have done so far on the blog.  And then again, this is the first totally negative review I have done.

This story is based on stereotypes and considering the ongoing oppression of the Romani people it is beyond  trite and irrelevant.

Oh, yes, it is the story of enchanted Romani who can make matrimonial beds which increase the love and sexual prowess of all who sleep upon it.

GIVE ME A BREAK.

Ms Mackie states in her book and I quote
"WHAT QUALIFIES ME TO WRITE ABOUT GYPSIES?
   During my formative years in Sevill, I had an Andalusian Gypsy nanny by the name of Ahalita.  Unable to bear children of her own, Ahalita poured all of her maternal affection upon me.......My mother felt her intense feelings for me bordered upon obsession....The time had come to let her go...
I feel that the residue of Ahalita's spirit is somehow linked with my own....."

Sort of reminds me of GONE WITH THE WIND, and hundreds of other statements by privledged white folk.
A white person having had an African American NANNY DOES NOT QUALIFY her to speak for Black people. 

I ask Ms Mackie to analyze her own class privledge in having a HIRED GYPSY NANNY and then her being let go when her mother thought she was TOO attached to her charge.  Does she comprehend the economic implications for Ahalita, her nanny ?

I must admit to having some personal correspondence with Ms Mackie which left me feeling exploited and vulnerable.  There is controversy over how she obtains some of her stories. 

I feel especially sad and confused because Ms. Mackie has a blog under the name Gypsy chronicles, which is quite good in publishing articles about the Roma.  I fear this is a ruse to get our trust.

I not only will not recommend this book but I shiver to think that it is one of a trilogy.
Save your money.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

THE PAINTED BIRD

                                     THE PAINTED BIRD BY JERZY KOSINSKI

It"s taken me all week to reread THE PAINTED BIRD.  It is a gruesomely realistic story of a small boy, surviving on his own in Poland during the Holocaust.

As Kosinsky said himself in the Afterward of this book,
"...One of the villagers favorite entertainments was trapping birds, painting their feathers, then releasing them to rejoin their flock.  As theses brightly colored creatures sought the safety of their fellows, the other birds, seeing them as threatening aliens, attacked and tore at the outcasts until they killed them..."

On reading the book, the choice of that title becomes apparent.
It is hard to believe that Kosinsky is the same man who wrote BEING THERE, which was made into a movie starring Peter Sellers and Shirley MacClaine.  Or is it?  The more I think about that movie........

Kosinsky committed sucicide in the early 1990's.

Here is an excerpt from

Jerzy Kosinski: A Biography
A Life Beyond Repair
By James Park Sloan. Dutton. 505 pp. $27.95.
Reviewed by D. G. Myers

. The one passage in which the Holocaust is discussed ("Perhaps the world would soon become one vast incinerator for burning people") is immediately followed by a longer scene in which the rape of a Jewish girl is described in brutal and excrutiating detail.

 The Painted Bird is notorious for its horrors: eyeballs are gouged out of sockets, animals are tortured, women are violated with bottles holding manure, men are devoured by rats. "The Germans puzzled me," the boy says. "Was such a destitute, cruel world worth ruling?"

This is the question that Kosinski's whole life was given over to answering. That he died by his own hand suggests that his answer, finally, was No. And so Kosinski joined a line of Holocaust writers- Tadeusz Borowski, Jean Amery, Paul Celan, Primo Levi-who by committing suicide testified that the world was beyond repair. Although The Painted Bird may not be directly about the Holocaust, although it may not be based on Kosinski's own experiences during the Holocaust, it is nevertheless an indispensable document of the Holocaust. It is perhaps the greatest example of what is coming to be known as a "second- generation" book: a contemporary report of the hell in which a survivor of the Holocaust must live, one generation after the event

Sunday, September 5, 2010

TWO FILMS

These two films could not be more different in subject or content.

THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF TARAF DE HAIDOUKS is a wonderful film which chronicles several concert by the Romani musicians from Romania.  The movie is narrated by Johnny Depp, a constant supporter of Romani music in general and Taraf de Haidouks in particular.  It is so obvious in the film how much Depp is effected by the music.  Taraf de Haidouks is featured in the Romanian segment of the movie LATCHO DROM.  If you feel like dancing or just smiling this is a great film for you.

The second film, CONSPIRACY, starring Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci (as Adolf Eichmann) could not be more different.  This movie is a terrifying account of the Wannsee Conference, where in little over an hour, the fate of Europe's Jews and Gypsies was decided by the nazis
This movie is slow on action and terrifying in that very fact.  As Hannah Arendt stated so eloquently, this movie shows "the banality of evil".







Monday, August 30, 2010

THE NEW JIM CROW

THE NEW JIM CROW by Michelle Alexander is a very good book.  It explores and examines the US criminal "justice" system and,the impact of the inherent racism on the African American communities. 

My only criticism of this book is that Alexander did not cite Angela Y. Davis.  This is hard to fathom because of the lifetime of work Angela has done to confront racism, especially in prisons
. She has dedicated her life to exposing and opposing the US penal system
 This one omission causes me to withhold an unequivocal recommendation of this book.  But then I am so very much a fan of Angela Y. Davis, not to be confused with Angela J. Davis, also an advocate of prison reform
.

I'M NO HERO

Last week I went to hear Henry Friedman talk about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor.  I have heard Henry speak many times before and worked with him when he established the Washington State Holocaust Education and Resource Center.  We have had as many disagreements as agreements but we always had productive discussions and I continue to respect him.

I'M NO HERO is as uplifting as it is difficult.  In this book, as in his talks, Henry is unflinchingly honest when he talks about the extents humans will go to in order to survive unimaginable conditions and racist oppression.

While he offers no excuses for discisions made, he does, at the same time, offer hope to all those who have survived the unimaginable.

I recommend  anyone interested in the Holocaust read Henry's wonderful book.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

THE PAINTED BIRD

Sorry for the delay.  Reviews come tomorrow. 

I am reviewing  I'M NO HERO by Henry Friedman, a Jewish Holocaust Survivor and founder of the Washington State Holocaust Education and Resource Center in Seattle.

Also THE NEW JIM CROW by Michelle Alexander.

I got sidetracked by a reference to THE PAINTED BIRD, a brilliant if painful book about the Holocaust.  The reference is on the http://www.lolodiklo.blogspot.com/ blog.

Tomorrow I hope to review all three.

Monday, August 23, 2010

NOT A REFUGEE

NOT A REFUGEE
The Plight of the Kosovo Roma After the 1999 War

Poems and Photos by Paul Polansky

This another great book by Paul Polansky.  It seems impossible to not be moved by Paul's poems.  The book was published in 2000, and I'm very sad to say that conditions are still very bad for the Gypsies of  Kosovo.  The Romani are still forced to live on a lead mine.
I'm going to reprint the Forward to NOT A REFUGEE, which was written by Sani Rifati, the president of Voice of Roma. The details have changed a bit since this was written, but the oppression of, and indifference to, the situation of the Romani has not changed at all.

Then I am going to let Paul speak for himself and reprint the title poem.
                                                                            
                                                                         FORWARD

By Sani Rifati, President, Voice of Roma
Sebastopol, California

I am a Rom from Kosovo, a place we Roma long for, but can no longer call home. Paul Polansky's poems in Not A Refugee vividly capture the Romani tight-wire act of trying to survive the crossfire between:

- Serbian and Albanian prejudice

- NATO's horrific bombing campaign

- the violent repression by state authorities in the countries where Roma have sought refuge

- purposeful indifference to their plight by the United Nations and humanitarian organizations

This collection is a rare work of art in which the Romani daily struggle for survival and dignity is uniquely depicted and brought to life. These poems give to the reader a window onto the real situation in Kosovo.

During NATO's "humanitarian" bombings and the aftermath, thousands of Roma lost their jobs, property, possessions and loved ones. Under the eyes of the occupying UN troops, Kosovo Liberation Army forces and triumphant Albanians exacted a vengeful campaign of abduction, torture, rape and assassination against the Roma. After the war, more than 14,000 Romani homes were burned by Albanians and hundreds more occupied. The consummation of this campaign was the accelerated expulsion of the Roma from Kosovo.

Today, thousands of Roma languish in squalid displaced persons camps in the very Western European nations that imposed sanctions against Yugoslavia and supported the NATO war effort. After having exacerbated the hostile environment in Kosovo, Western European countries are denying them visas, permanent refugee status and/or political asylum. Worst of all, many Roma are being deported to Kosovo where they face the possibility of kidnapping, torture and death.

During my recent visit to displaced persons camps in Skopje, Macedonia, I found myself less than an hour away from the border with Kosovo--my home--and yet I could not even consider going there. I felt further from home than ever before. I had hoped to recover a portrait of my dead older sister, but that was impossible. Had I stepped foot inside Kosovo, my dark skin color could have been a death sentence.

As I write this, I find it difficult to articulate the overwhelming shock and horror of what I witnessed of my people imprisoned in UNHCR camps. Paul Polansky's work gives voice to that which is impossible for me to express. His courage and dedication to the Roma of Kosovo is immeasurable. When a board member of Voice of Roma recently delivered humanitarian aid to Romani exiles in Macedonia, the people chanted, "Polansky, Polansky"! Let this stand as a testimonial to what Paul's voice and poetry means to the Roma of Kosovo.

                                           Not A Refugee  by Paul Polansky

"I have a Yugoslav passport,"
a Gypsy told me, "but Serbs
won't let me cross the border.
They say I have an Albanian surname.

The Albanians say
I can't stay, only Albanians
can live in Kosovo.

The UN says
I am not a refugee
because I am still
in Kosovo
where I was born.

NATO says
I can't leave,
can't seek political asylum,
because no countries
want Gypsies.

During World War II
in Europe, in Germany,
Jews weren't allowed to stay,
nor allowed to leave.

Is that what the world
has planned for us?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To purchase NOT A REFUGEE (highly recommended), please contact
Voice of Roma,
PO Box 514
Sebastopol,
CA   95473
http://www.voiceofroma.org/
voiceofroma@gmail.com

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

ESMA REDZEPOVA

FROM THE GUARDIAN UK
guardian.co.uk Music Web

Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 17 August 2010
Esma Redzepova was in Paris for a concert at the Cabaret Sauvage last month. The Macedonian singer was taking part in Gypsy Queens and Kings, a show staged by the Sin Fronteras festival. Now 64, her career started at the age of 11. "I owe everything to my father," she says. "He kindled my passion for singing." A shoe-shiner, he loved music more than anything else and played percussion at Jewish and Roma weddings. As a young girl she was enchanted by the joyful poetry of folk songs, a repository of traditional lore and fairytales.

Lending her lively, expressive voice to these songs, an ambition that seemed out of reach gradually came true. In 1956, Redzepova took part in a talent-spotting programme on Macedonian radio. "It was the first time national radio had broadcast a Roma song," she says. She thus earned her first fee at the age of 11: "Three times as much as my mother was paid as a cleaner."

The composer and producer Stevo Teodosievski spotted her, enrolling her at the Academy of Music in Belgrade (then capital of the former Yugoslavia). She left her family and set to work for two years, four hours a day, five days a week. "Stevo took charge of me. I was his pupil," she explains. In 1965, she was rewarded with her first hit, Caje Sukarije (A Pretty Young Roma Woman). Three years later the singer married Teodosievski, joining the group for which he composed and played the accordion. She went on to establish her reputation as one of the leading Romany singers, with tales of the happiness and woes of nomadic life, the atmosphere of weddings and the endless wandering of exile.

Redzepova travelled all over the world: New York, London, Sydney, Paris (appearing for the first time at Olympia in 1962), Mexico, India (where she was acclaimed as the Queen of Romany Songs at the first world festival of Romany music in 1976). With obvious pride she claims to have performed at more than 22,000 concerts, with a repertoire of over 800 songs. There is no way of checking such figures, but whatever their veracity they are on a par with the legend she has created. At her home in Skopje, capital of the republic of Macedonia, there is no doubt about her standing as a star in the Roma community.

In addition to her work as a singer, Redzepova has become an ambassador for Roma culture. In the course of her travels in and around the Balkans, she has adopted 47 children who were living on the street and introduced them to the joys of music. The musicians who now accompany her at concert performances and on recordings belong to this extended family. For several years she has been actively involved in the management of Rom-Esma, a non-governmental organisation she set up to uphold the rights of Roma women and more largely the community worldwide. When asked about disparaging remarks about travellers by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, she cited the example set by Macedonia.

"It is the only country where the Roma are recognised," Redzepova says. They enjoy access to education, culture (with two privately owned Roma television channels) and civic life (as the leader of a local council or MP). She is proud to have been born in Macedonia, because in other countries "the Roma are not respected and must endure humiliation and persecution", she says. When she performed the following evening she made a point of reasserting the cosmopolitan values and traditions of pacifism and freedom upheld by Travellers.

This article originally appeared in Le Monde
---------------------------------------------
Esma has many albums available.  This is just one of my favorites.  They're all great.
If there was a Queen of the Gypsies, Esma would be it.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

OUR FORGOTTEN YEARS

Below is a link to the article I posted on the Lolo Diklo blog
http://www.lolodiklo.blogspot.com/

Lolo Diklo : Rromani Against Racism: MAGGIE SMITH-BENDELL: "Maggie Smith-Bendell was born on the edge of a pea field, the second of eight children in a family of old-fashioned Romany Gypsies. It was ..."

I've almost finished reading Our Forgotten Years and I'm finding myself stretching out the time till I've finished.  Maggie Smith-Bendell has become a friend I don't want to part with.
We've all read those kind of books.

Our Forgotten Years is a memoir which flows like the best crafted fiction.
Smith-Bendell relates the most horrific occurances in her everyday manner.  This emphasizes the insidiousness of the oppression of the Romani people.

Many people have asked me to recommend an introductory book for themselves and or book groups.  This is the book.  The fact that Smith-Bendell is a Romani woman in England makes it especially accessible to those here in the United States.

Our Forgotten Years is published by University of Herfordshire Press, an unfailing supporter of the Romani people and their literary contributions.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

LIVING THROUGH IT TWICE

LIVING THROUGH IT TWICE
(Poems of the Romany Holocaust)
By Paul Polansky

LIVING THROUGH IT TWICE is a book I find myself carrying around with me and taking out to read at every opportunity.  It is always heart wrenching to read tales of the Porraimos, it is especially painful in its relevance to conditions of the Romani in Europe today.
If we really believe it when we say 'NEVER AGAIN', we must speak out against the current genocide against the Romani people.

Paul Polansky is an untiring friend to the Roma/Sinti.  He has spent the past years writing, speaking, advocating for the Romani living on the lead mines in Kosovo.
Nais tukay
We thank you phral Paul.

Now, I quote two reviews of Living Through It Twice.

"Paul Polansky's chilling testimony of the concentration camp in Lety by Pisek is all the more frightening since it's presented in such a conversational tone.  It records the testimonies of those Romanies who survived the Lety camp or the recollections of their children....hold onto your hats, this ride'll freeze you to the bone."
Ivan M. Jirous

"Paul Polansky's spare, stark renderings of Romany survivors' voices have the hardness of memorial stone.  But in reading them, the stone dissolves and something infinitely tender and unspeakable takes its place.  The restraint and hardness hold in the tears-just barely.  The Romany Holocaust, the Czech Romany Holocaust, the denial of it by the Havel government, the repetition of history today-these unknowns are thrown into sharp relief by Polansky's unblinking gaze.  When we see what he sees, we no longer have an excuse to avert our eyes."
Andrei Codrescu

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

UPDATE

I received, what is so far, an excellent book to review. 
DOSTA flight of the Rusian Gypsies
BY Sonia Meyer.

I was anxious to receive this book because Ms Meyer has been a long time and consistent advocate for the Romani people.  The book is not available for purchase until Nov. 2010 so I'm going to hold off on the review.

For this week, I'd like to review LIVING THROUGH IT TWICE Poems of the Romani Holocaust
BY Paul Polansky, another untiring advocate for the Romani. (later this week)

I am also reading  OUR FORGOTTEN YEARS A Gypsy Woman's Life on the Road
BY Maggie Smith-Bendell.

I also was reminded today of the book HASTENED TO THE GRAVE
BY Jack Olson.
I read this book several years ago, and it is so blatantly racist that members of Lolo Diklo stormed a local TV station where he was being interviewed.  I think I'll review that book also.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

TORN AWAY FOREVER


Tomorrow I am finally going to review TORN AWAY FOREVER by Yvonne Slee.


And I will review at least one item per week, hopefully on Sunday.

Remember to light a candle on Monday, not only for the Roma/Sinti victims of the Porraimos, but for all the Gypsies suffering throughout Europe today.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

PORRAIMOS

This coming Monday, 2 Aug. is the Remembrance Day for the Roma/Sinti victims of the Holocaust/Porraimos. On the night of 1 Aug. 1944 almost 4000 Roma/Sinti were murdered in auschwitz.


To commemorate the event, we are asking people, wherever they are, whatever they're doing, to light a candle and have a moment of silence for the Gypsy victims of the Holocaust at NOON on MONDAY 2 Aug.
-------------------------------------------------------
I apologize for not updating since Saturday.  We've been pretty busy with the museum and the remembrance.  We will be updating shortly.  Thank you for your patience.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

ROMANI RIGHTS

For pictures of the painting of the caravan for Strawberry Festival please visit the Facebook page
of
romani rights.
Soon there will also be some photos of the museum at festival posted soon.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL

Ah the debut of the museum was a great success.  Many people came by and came inside to talk, read, or look at displays.  We made enough money to cover most of the expenses getting the museum ready, and we made a lot of good connections.

Several people at the festival asked me to recommend a book for their book clubs.  They prefer fiction but will not rule out non fiction.  So that's what I'm thinking about for the next few days.  I think it will have to be non fiction because most fiction about us is either exploitative or romanticized (both).  Most fiction about us has been written by the gaje.  The books written by us are usually very difficult to get.
An example is Torn Away Forever by Yvonne Slee.  It's a wonderful book which I suppose could be called fiction, though it is in fact, the story of her family.
In the next few days I hope to post the names of books I would recommend to a group just "learning" about the Romani people.

Friday, July 16, 2010

THE MUSEUM PROJECT

 The official debut of the Traveling Museum will be this weekend at the Vashon (WA) Strawberry Festival.

After the festival, I'll have more time to review the many titles (books, movies, music....) I've accumulated. 

Thanks for all of your support.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

SALT OF THE EARTH

Salt of the Earth is not a movie about the Romani, but it is a movie about oppression, racism, resilience and strength.  It is especially relevant in this day of renewed anti immigrant activity in the United States, as well as Europe.
This is one of my all time favorite movies.  In the 1980's I worked with teens from the Appalacian Mountains and we watched Salt of the Earth and they stood up and cheered at many spots in this movie and at the end, wanted to see it again.
The following is a very long entry but if you are interested give it a read.
-------------------
Salt of the Earth: The Movie Hollywood Could Not Stop

Posted By HistoryNet Staff On 6/12/2006 @ 8:08 pm  In American History

The film premiered on March 14, 1954, at the only theater in New York City that would show it.

When director Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront opened in 1954, critics and audiences hailed the gritty movie about Hoboken dockworkers and applauded Marlon Brando's performance as the ex-boxer who 'coulda been a contender.' At the next Academy Awards ceremony, On the Waterfront won Oscars for best film, best director, best actor, and best supporting actress.

Another movie about beleaguered workers opened to quite a different reception that same year. Like Kazan's film, Salt of the Earth was based on an actual situation, in this case a mining strike in New Mexico. Both movies were shot on location with the participation of those who had lived the real stories. And both movies shared a history in the Hollywood blacklist. There the similarities ended. Kazan and his writer, Budd Schulberg, had both named names — identified movie people they said were Communists — when questioned by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Some saw their movie, in which Brando's character testifies against the racketeers who run the docks, as an allegory in support of informing. The people behind Salt, in contrast, were unrepentant blacklistees whose leftist political affiliations derailed their careers during the Red scares of the 1950s. On the Waterfront was a hit and is remembered as a classic film. The makers of Salt of the Earth struggled to find theater owners willing to show their incendiary movie.

It required a great deal of optimism to make a left-leaning movie like Salt of the Earth in the early 1950s, but director Herbert Biberman was, by many accounts, a great optimist. The director of now-forgotten films such as Meet Nero Wolfe and The Master Race, Biberman had helped found the Screen Directors Guild, which later became the Directors Guild of America. He was also a Communist and one of many movie professionals who found inspiration in the Soviet Union — or at least what dictator Joseph Stalin allowed the world to see of the Soviet Union. Throughout the 1930s, the Communist Party USA remained active in Hollywood, establishing guilds to give writers and actors bargaining clout against the studios, and fighting against Fascism abroad by championing the Spanish Republic and rallying against the Third Reich. Stalin's pact with Adolf Hitler in 1939 disillusioned many a Beverly Hills Bolshevik, though some, like Biberman, remained unswayed.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, the Soviet Union became an ally, and Hollywood began to make movies that celebrated our newfound comrades. Those films returned to haunt the movie industry when World War II ended and the Cold War pitted the United States against the Soviet Union. Suddenly the U.S. government began casting a critical eye on the movie industry, and HUAC began investigating Communist influences on the silver screen.

HUAC's most visible targets were the so-called Hollywood Ten, filmmakers the committee charged with contempt of Congress in 1947 after they refused to answer questions about Communist affiliations. In 1950 the Supreme Court declined to consider the filmmakers' appeals, and the Hollywood Ten began serving their sentences. Herbert Biberman, 50, served six months at a federal institution at Texarkana, Texas. Incarcerated with him was another of the Ten, writer Alvah Bessie. Compared to the ebullient Biberman, Bessie was a dour cynic. He cringed at Biberman's incessant good manners and his penchant for preaching politics to guards and prisoners, but he did have to admire Biberman's dedication to his beliefs, especially when he learned that the director had offered to serve six extra months to get Bessie released earlier.

In 1951, HUAC increased the pressure on the movie industry with a new batch of subpoenas for Communist Party USA members, past members, and even non-affiliated liberals. The studios fell in line and expanded their unofficial blacklist. Actors, producers, directors, and other industry professionals whom the studios deemed tainted by leftist beliefs suddenly found themselves unemployable. Biberman, fellow Ten member and producer Adrian Scott, theater owner Simon Lazarus, and blacklisted screenwriter Paul Jarrico saw possibilities for that discarded talent. They teamed up to form Independent Productions Corporation and set out to find a story to tell.

Jarrico found the subject matter while on a family vacation in New Mexico, where he heard about a mining strike in Grant County. The strikers were predominantly Mexican Americans, members of the Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, a union the Congress of Industrialized Organizations (CIO) ejected in 1949 for alleged Communist influences. The strikers demanded that the Empire Zinc Corporation give them the same benefits and wages it gave the region's Anglo miners. 'The central issue, really, was dignity, equality, being treated like anybody else,' remembers Clinton Jencks, a decorated World War II veteran the union sent to help out Local 890. He found that company housing for Mexican Americans lacked indoor plumbing and that the company organization was stacked in favor of Anglo workers. 'They had separate change rooms, separate payrolls, separate places to eat your lunch, strict locks on promotions with all the better jobs reserved for Anglos,' Jencks says. 'We eventually broke all that down, but it was very consciously being used as a way to keep people fighting each other instead of the company.'

The strike nearly collapsed after eight months when Empire Zinc opened the mine to scab labor and obtained a court injunction prohibiting union pickets on company property. Then the wives and mothers of the union's Ladies' Auxiliary circumvented the injunction by marching in place of the men.

Jarrico was invigorated by what he had seen. The filmmakers had found their story. Biberman would direct and Jarrico would take on the role of producer, as Adrian Scott dropped out due to illness. Jarrico asked his brother-in-law and fellow blacklistee, Michael Wilson, to write the screenplay. Wilson traveled to Grant County and attended union meetings, visited the miners' homes, and watched and listened as the strike unfolded.

It was a violent time. 'The company would hire guys who were out-and-out gunmen and send them over to the sheriff and the sheriff would deputize them,' says Jencks. At one point the sheriff locked up 45 women and 17 children, an action that appalled New Mexico's governor. In late summer, strikers descended upon three carloads of strikebreakers nearing the company entrance. The scabs attempted to push their cars past the picketers and knocked down three women. A strikebreaker shot into the crowd, wounding a picketer in the leg. News of the confrontation flashed through the mining district. Nearby mines emptied as their workers went to bolster the picket line.

The strike was settled on January 21, 1952. The company agreed to higher wages and insurance benefits but denied the union's demand for paid holidays and remuneration for all time spent underground. Although it wasn't part of the settlement, the company soon provided hot running water for the miners' homes.

For Wilson, the strike provided an opportunity to tell a story that wove together the struggles of Mexican Americans, labor, and women. He saw the dramatic potential to examine how the mineworkers reacted when their wives took over the picket lines and they had to sit on the sidelines. And he wanted to tell the story from the participants' point of view and use their feedback to fine-tune his screenplay. So when he finished his script treatment, Wilson took it to Grant County. People there objected to one scene where the main character had an extramarital fling and another in which he purchased whiskey with his last paycheck. Wilson cut the scenes. They were perfectly acceptable as drama, he explained to his partners, 'But we're dealing with something else. Not just people. A people.' As Wilson labored to complete a final script over the next year, he had union members and their wives look over all his drafts.

In the meantime, Simon Lazarus began the process of assembling a crew. When he approached Roy Brewer, head of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees Union (IATSE), Brewer, not surprisingly, refused to cooperate. 'There has been a real Communist plot to capture our unions in Hollywood,' he had told HUAC in 1947. Furthermore, Brewer warned Lazarus that further association with the blacklistees would finish the theater owner's career.

Producer Paul Jarrico, a diehard Communist whose optimism may have even surpassed Biberman's, remained undeterred. He was not someone who would back down from a fight, as Howard Hughes, who owned the RKO studio, learned when he removed Jarrico's writing credit from The Las Vegas Story. Jarrico sued him but lost. (He finally received the credit, posthumously, in 1998.) So despite Brewer's stand, Jarrico began scouring the country for craft people willing to ignore industry edicts. Some were blacklistees, others were documentary filmmakers who wanted to break into features, or greenhorns eager for experience.

Finding a cast would be equally difficult. Anglo actors such as Will Geer and David Wolfe, both blacklisted, signed on as the sheriff and the chief foreman, respectively. The lead roles proved more difficult to fill. The filmmakers first cast a blacklisted white actor for the role of the striking miner, Ramon, and picked Biberman's wife, blacklisted actress Gale Sondergaard, as Ramon's wife, Esperenza. Realizing the hypocrisy of this casting, they started looking for Mexican-American actors, with no luck. In Mexico, the company found award-winning actress Rosaura Revueltas, whose young career included only a few films. They signed her to play Esperenza. But when the production arrived in Silver City, New Mexico, in January 1953, it still lacked a male lead.

Clinton Jencks remembers the community's initial response to the Hollywood attention. 'They found it hard to believe that their lives were interesting enough to make a movie,' says Jencks. 'I think we romanticized the Hollywood people, and the Hollywood people romanticized us.' Some locals pitched in to help build a mine façade on the ranch of Alford Roos, an elderly independent mine owner, archeologist, explorer, writer, and rifle-toting Mohammedan with Jeffersonian political leanings. Roos rented his land to the filmmakers for one dollar. Many other locals found roles in front of the camera. Biberman hired the Roderick brothers, two lanky white miners from another union, to play redneck deputies. Local 890 vice-president Ernesto Velasquez portrayed a union official. Jencks played the Anglo representative from the union's headquarters, his real-life role, and his activist wife, Virginia, played her counterpart on screen. The production cast other members of Local 890 as miners and their wives.

Juan Chacon was the union's newly elected president, and both Revueltas and Biberman's sister-in-law, Sonja Dahl Biberman, suggested that the director consider him to play Ramon. The director thought that 'Johnny' Chacon was too gentle, too small, and too shy for the part, but he let him audition. Chacon gave an unimpressive reading, but the women insisted he had potential. With only three weeks left until shooting, the exasperated director finally decided to take a chance and cast Chacon as Ramon.

Throughout the shooting, Biberman marveled as Chacon grew into the part of Ramon. 'We found we didn't have to 'act',' Chacon would later write about the experience. 'El Biberman, as we came to call him, was happiest when we were just ourselves.' In the first scene Biberman shot with dialogue, Jencks' character restrains Ramon from attacking the foreman. The material touched sensitive nerves, and Biberman let the tension build. Afterwards, if Biberman still doubted that Chacon could get into character, Jencks had the bruises to prove he could.

At the end of January, the miners and their wives flocked to Silver City's theater to watch the first 'rushes,' and they laughed and applauded at their images on the big screen. Yet even as the movie progressed, storm clouds were forming. A Silver City schoolteacher wrote to Walter Pidgeon, president of the Screen Actors Guild, and expressed concern that a Communist film company was manipulating the local Mexican Americans. Soon the media and the government began scrutinizing the maverick movie troupe. Columnist Victor Riesel pointed out the production's proximity to the Los Alamos atomic research facility. Congressman Donald Jackson said the film was 'deliberately designed to inflame racial hatreds and to depict the United States of America as the enemy of all colored peoples.' It was, he said, 'a new weapon for Russia.'

The critical reaction created problems. Pathé Laboratories suddenly refused to process the daily rushes, so Biberman could no longer review each day's work and had to print scenes blind. Immigration officials came for Revueltas — they had sudden concerns about her passport — and deported her back to Mexico. Biberman had to use a stand-in for some sequences, but he still needed the actress for voice-overs and frontal shots. Eventually, Revueltas recorded narration under clandestine circumstances in a dismantled Mexican sound studio, and the crew shot final footage of her in Mexico and then smuggled it like contraband over the border.

'It's Time To Choose Sides,' read a headline in the Silver City Daily Press. Late one night in early March, someone fired shots into Clint Jencks' parked car. The next day two carloads of troublemakers broke up the filming in front of the union hall. Jencks emerged from the fracas with a black eye, and the violent crowd nearly destroyed the camera. That night the vigilantes selected 10 emissaries to relay an ultimatum to the movie people: If they did not leave by noon the next day they would leave in black boxes. The sheriff was forced to call in the state police, who kept the peace as the crew finished the final scenes. Several weeks later someone burned the home of one of the film's Anglo miners.

The film was still far from completed. Now the laborious job of post-production — the assembly and polishing of the film — began, and the movie industry made the process more difficult by throwing up as many roadblocks as it could. As Howard Hughes explained in a letter to Congressman Donald Jackson, the studios could effectively kill the picture if they denied the production access to the facilities they needed — to edit, dub, score, and otherwise prepare the movie for theaters.

Biberman and Jarrico refused to quit. They found a company willing to process the film after several labs refused, and they recruited an editor and installed him in a house in Topanga Canyon, north of Los Angeles. The editor, who had worked only on documentaries, proved unsuitable. Worse, the tin-roofed editing quarters became so hot the film began to shrivel. As the filmmakers scrambled to find another editor, they moved operations into the ladies room of an empty theater that Simon Lazarus owned in Pasadena. After firemen came snooping they relocated again, this time to a vacant studio in Burbank. By the time it was finished the film used four editors, one of whom was an FBI informer.

By the beginning of 1954, the moviemakers had turned their raw footage into a movie. The next hurdle would be finding theaters to show it. Roy Brewer, the anti-Communist head of the IATSE, represented projectionists, and he was hardly likely to steer Salt on to movie screens. As he wrote to Congressman Jackson, 'The Hollywood AFL Council assures you that everything which it can do to prevent the showing of The Salt of the Earth will be done.' In New York City the production found a theater owner whose projectionists belonged to a different union. After much persuasion he agreed to host the film's opening. Salt of the Earth premiered at the Grande Theater on March 14, 1954, to mostly positive reviews. The New York Times' Bosley Crowther wrote that 'an unusual company made up largely of actual miners and their families plays the drama exceedingly well.' While several found it unfairly pro-labor, few saw it pro-Red, save a young writer named Pauline Kael, who wrote that it was 'as clear a piece of Communist propaganda as we have had in many years.'

Communist or not, lines such as 'This installment plan, it's the curse of the working man,' indicate the shortcomings of writing for 'a people' instead of people. In his account of the blacklist era, writer Stefan Kanfer referred to Wilson's 'clanking, agitprop prose.' In some scenes the shortcomings of an inexperienced crew and amateur cast are obvious. Elia Kazan may have named names, but with On the Waterfront he also made the superior picture. Salt ran at the Grande for nine weeks, taking in a more-than-respectable $50,000, and opened in another dozen or so American theaters. The film was warmly received overseas, especially in France, and it won the grand prize from the Paris Academy of Film. Salt also triumphed at its premiere in Mexico City, where audiences considered Rosaura Revueltas a star. In 1956 the film company filed an anti-trust suit charging more than 100 industry figures with conspiracy. That done, Biberman and Jarrico resigned from the company to move on to other work. After eight years of litigation, they lost their suit.

Today the movie is largely forgotten, but the passions and upheaval behind its creation have refused to completely die away. When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced it would give director Elia Kazan a lifetime achievement award at the 1999 Academy Award ceremonies, it reopened wounds that had not yet healed. In the end, Kazan received his award without incident.

Many of the people blacklisted never found work in movies again. Some writers found employment by working under pseudonyms or having acceptable writers 'front' for them. Michael Wilson won Oscar attention for his scripts, even though his name did not appear on the final films. In later, friendlier years he would get credit for writing Friendly Persuasion and for his contributions to The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia.

Biberman developed land in Los Angeles and wrote a book, Salt of the Earth: The Story of a Film, published in 1965. He directed one more movie, Slaves, a poorly received variation on Uncle Tom's Cabin. He died of bone cancer in 1971.

Jarrico wrote scripts in Europe and returned to the United States in the late 60s, his Communist years long behind him. 'I'm probably the only writer who has been blacklisted on both sides of the Iron Curtain,' he said. He found television work and wrote films such as The Day That Shook the World. He also fought to get blacklisted writers the screen credits denied them. He died in 1997 in an automobile accident near Ojai, California, at the age of 82. The day before he had received honors at a star-studded Beverly Hills soiree entitled 'Hollywood Remembers The Blacklist.'

This article was written by Steve Boisson and originally published in the February 2002 issue of American History Magazine. For more great articles, subscribe to American History [1] magazine today!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

THE ROMA JOURNEYS

The Roma Journeys/Le Romanie Phirimata
Joakim Eskildsen-Photographs
Cia Rinne---Text
Gunther Grass--Forward

This is a book that I recommend to anyone who can afford it.  It's on the LoloDiklo wish list.
The photographs are magnificent and the text is very heartfelt and accurate.  Eskildsen and Rinne spent years getting to know Romani communities throughout Europe and the result is this heartfelt and absolutely fantastic book. Buy it if you can.  If not check out your library.  You've just got to sit down and experience this book.

.

Monday, July 5, 2010

THE ROADS OF THE ROMA: A PEN ANTHOLOGY OF GYPSY WRITERS

Every once in awhile, I pick up a book that I literally can't put down.  I find myself hugging it to my breast.   The Road of the Roma, edited by Ian Hancock, Siobhan Dowd and Rajko Djuric is such a book.
It is a compilation of poetry by Romani people, but it is even more than that.  It is an ode to the suffering, resilience and deep emotions of Romani.  Interspersed between the poems is a sobering chronology of the Romani experience.  It puts the poems in context, which adds to the intensity of the poetry.

Thank you Ian for this wonderful book.  Published by The University of Herfordshire Press, which is getting quite a reputation for its support of Romani writers.  I thank them also.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

JAN YOORS

Many people ask me what I think of the books by Jan Yoors.  That's an easy one.  Jan Yoors, though not Romani himself, is a wonderful friend to the Romani.  I recommend all his books
The Gypsies
The Crossing
The Gypsies of Spain
and
The Heroic Present.
As a young boy Yoors began travelling with the Gypsies who passed through his area each year.  During his travels, told wonderfully in "The Gypsies", he was accepted into the world of the Romani and wrote an accurate and heartfelt account of his travels.
In "The Crossing" Yoors describes what became of the Romani (and his friends) during the roundups and genocide of the Hitler years.
"The Heroic Present" is like a photo album culminating with a party thrown by the Romani of New York for Jan Yoors, our friend.
Yoors is a Romani Rai, or a good friend of the Romani people.




Tuesday, June 29, 2010

AMAZON

I don't know what is going on with the Amazon link to this site, but I have contacted Amazon.  At the present time you can't order these items from the blog. 
I apologize for the inconvenience and hope to have this figured out soon.
Thanks for your patience.
__________________________________________________________________________
The problem appears to be fixed.  If anyone tries to place an order from this site and can't please let me know either as a comment or by emailing me directly at
punkaheron@yahoo.com.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

BURY ME STANDING

Bury Me Standing, by Isabel Fonseca seems to be the gateway to the Romani for many interested people.  I've been asked many times what my opinion is of this book.

Actually, I recommend this book, especially to those interested in learning a bit about the history and experiences of the Romani people.  Isabel, a journalist, is a wonderfully gifted writer.  Her depiction of the history is wonderfully written, respectful and accurate.  My problems arise in part two, where she undertakes to analyze our culture.  This is especially disappointing as she says before (and I paraphrase) that one should never experience a culture for a brief time and then presume to analyze that culture.  Unfortunately, I find that she did that very thing.  Take that section with an open mind and a grain of salt.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

AS SEEN THROUGH THESE EYES

AS SEEN THROUGH THESE EYES is written and directed by Hiary Helstein and narrated by Maya Angelou.

This is one of the most moving movies I have seen.  It presents the reality of the Holocaust/Porriamos as seen through the art of survivors.  It features interviews and showing of the art of both Karl Stojka and Dina Babbitt  among others.

Karl Stojka (and his sister Celia) are Romani survivors of the Holocaust.  Dina Babbitt was a young Jewish painter in Auschwitz whose fate became totally intertwined with the fate of the Roma/Sinti prisoners.

Please visit http://www.lolodiklo.blogspot.com/
or email me
punkaheron@yahoo.com
for more information on the artists interviewed in this excellent movie.

I  recommend AS SEEN THROUGH THESE EYES to everyone interested in the Holocaust/Porraimos.  Art is a powerful medium and this is a compelling narrative.




In the next few days I hope to review LIVING THROUGH IT TWICE by Paul Polansky, the unwavering supporter of Romani, and
TORN AWAY FOREVER by Yvonne Slee, as Romani activist in Australia.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

SUSPINO: A CRY FOR ROMA

Suspino: A Cry for Roma
SUSPINO - A CRY FOR ROMA takes an unflinching look at the persecution that continues to plague Europe's largest and most vilified minority. With the fall of communism and rise of right-wing nationalism, the Roma (or Gypsies as they are pejoratively called) have become scapegoats for Eastern Europe's nascent democracies. Because of violent conflicts and discrimination, tens of thousands of Eastern European Roma are fleeing their countries. The film focuses on Romania where Europe's largest concentration of Roma are considered 'public enemies', and Italy, where the Roma are classified as nomads and relegated to living in camps. Here they are denied basic human rights available to refugees and foreign residents.

Aiming to create a "Gypsy-free" Romanian town, a mayor tries to move local Roma into an abandoned chicken farm, encircled with barbed wire and patrolled by guards with dogs. A Roma family gathers in a Transylvanian graveyard to mourn the death of 3 brothers murdered in an earlier pogrom that also saw the destruction of 21 of their houses. In a squalid trailer camp ten kilometers from Vatican City, a young Roma couple that fled persecution in Romania is trying to build a new life. Instead they end up begging to feed their children. Their nightmare worsens when the mayor of Rome decides to bulldoze the camp to the ground. A Romanian Roma activist seeking asylum in Canada tells a heart-breaking story of a pogrom against his community back home, and explains that this international human rights crisis has its roots in 500 years of slavery in Eastern Europe.

Romania hopes to enter the European Union by 2010 but first must improve their treatment of minorities, especially the Roma. But what hope is there for the Roma when gatekeeper countries like Italy are also in flagrant violation of human rights conventions?

Web Page: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/sacr1.html

Reviews
"I had no idea how much I would be affected by watching this intensely moving documentary. I wanted to grab all my colleagues, and sit them down, and make them watch it. If anything will dispel the popular notion that 'the Gypsy's life is a joyous life,' then this will."
Ian Hancock, Director, The Romani Archives and Documentation Center

"The message is passionately stated, yet with great authoritiveness... Kovanic, even though an outsider, is to be congratulated for so successfully presenting an insider perspective by allowing the subjects to speak for themselves."
William G. Lockwood, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Michigan

"I highly recommend this film in both versions. I especially encourage its use in higher education seminar classes, where it can potentially stimulate critical thinking about the subtleties as well as the significance of the Roma and their issues...The film offers introductory multicultural classes a sensitivity exercise for its younger audiences."
David Jim Nemeth, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toledo

"As the first American Romani person to be appointed to the United States Holocaust Council...I am proud to lend support to this documentary film and encourage everyone to see it. This documentary clearly states the racism and persecution my people have faced in past centuries to the present times."
William A. Duna, authorGypsies: A Persecuted Race

"Does an excellent job of calling attention to the plight of the Roma and would provide an excellent starting point to a broader discussion of the problems of ethnic minorities."
Patricia B. McGee, Educational Media Reviews Online

"A gripping, humane documentary that accurately depicts the plight of Europe's vulnerable 'Gypsy' population. Given the political realities in Italy and Romania as well as other countries where the Roma are considered socially inferior, these abysmal conditions are not likely to change much in the forseeable future. This poignant video will remain relevant for many years to come."
Paul G. Conway, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science, SUNY at Oneonta

"A grim but realistic look at the harsh living conditions of Roma in postsocialist Europe... Suspino provides a powerful exposé of widespread discrimination against Europe's largest minority... The film would be excellent for classes on eastern Europe and minorities, especially if supplemented with readings on culture, education, health, languages, political participation, and with comparative materials from other countries."

Carol Silverman, University of Oregon
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I'm honored to know both the director Gillian, and Julia, the inspiration for this film.
I hope you will also watch OPRE ROMA, the prequel of a sort.
Please purchase these movies through the Bullfrog website
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/