EP & EC on Roma in Italy

English / Deutsch: Gelem Gelem 1989 something most unusual happened in the history of the European Roma (Gypsies). Families from different tribes gathered to defend themselves against the threat of new expulsion from a country in which they attemped to settle - in this case the former West-Germany- They had originally fled from Poland, Yugoslavia and Rumania due to incrcasing discrimination following the disintegration of communist rule. -"We are dead even before we've been borne. We live like ghosts, chased from one town to the other, from one country to the other. Borne as Rom means you have no chance. There is no place for us to stay. Wherever you go, you are always a stranger. They say we came from lndia some thousands years ago, but we have no country of our own. All we want is a plaec to live, to send our children to school, to find some peace and rest. Bot nobody wants us, we have no future." This is what Vebija Adjovic, head of a fani?y of more then 30 members feels about the fate of his fainily, of his people. He was the first to defend himself against the German authorities, not willing to accept his and family's deportation to a country which never was his native land, but only another station of a long escape route through the European states. He was the first - and more and more farnilies followed him to form the first civil rights movement of the European Roma. GELEM GELEM - a song sung by the survivors of Nazi terror on their way to the death camps. GELEM GELEM - a song connecting the different tribes of the Roma people during their everlasting search for refuge across Europe GELEM GELEM - sung by the Roma during their march through West Germany to make people think about their fate and history, protesting against their expulsion, demanding their right to settle down. Following the reunification of the two German states, hostility and violence against imigrants and ethnic minorities increases. The film GELEM GELEM documents the struggle of the Roma for basic human rights. lt is the struggle for the right to live where they want to live, the struggle for the application of the European Parliament recommondations concerning the protection of Romani culture and language in Europe. Two years later, at the end of these actions, after a long series of worthless declarations and broken promises, the Roma now stand where they started off. But they have made an important new experience: they have learnt to fight for their interests unwilling to beg for alms or to flee any longer. Order directly here A movie by Rhizomfilm Email Rhizomfilm@t-online.de