WE WEREN'T TAUGHT THAT: HUMOUR, THE ROMANI PEOPLE AND AN UNEXPECTED TURN

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Jokes and "ofendiditos"

Last Summer was ending when a series of jokes elaborated at the expense of the Gypsy population in Spain ("Gypsy", or "gitano", is not a derogatory term in my country) gave way to certain controversy in the media. In different debates, the ethical and legal limits of humour were discussed, as well as, in general, freedom of expression, an issue that, in recent times, has been returning every other week to public examination in an unfortunate context where parodies of, and provocations to, conservatives and those who have historically held power in the country result in serious consequences to their creators.

In this case, however, the satirised collective was very far from belonging to an elite. It wasn't by chance, thus, that instead of trials, fines, and prison sentences, the jokes I’m talking about were simply contested by Roma collectives and (yes, I won’t deny it) also by Roma individuals uttering death threats; a situation that, by the way, happens all the time between white people in Spain, a fact that some forgot to mention with regards to this case.

Nor is it by chance that the author of these jokes, Rober Bodegas, has been one of the stars appearing and being honoured this Christmas in the infamous commercial for the processed meat products company Campofrío, which, calling them "ofendiditos", represents in a pejorative way, and without indicating any relevant difference among them, those who claim to be offended by this or that comedic act.

It is remarkable that in this commercial no jokes are made about the Spanish flag, the Catholic Church, politicians or bankers, but movements such as feminism, anti-ableism and anti-racism are mocked. It even includes its own joke about the Spanish Romani people, and figures such as Dani Mateo, Willy Toledo, and the unwillingly famous Cassandra Vera (for whom, contrary to what happened to Rober Bodegas, their humour about the flag, the Catholic Church and several issues related with Franco’s dictatorship had onerous results) are not even mentioned. 

Dry vaginas, frigids and old cunts together with an early 1900s intellectual and even a suffragette leading the "ofendiditos" in the Campofrío commercial.
(With the first appellatives I have done my best to translate the jargon of some champions of freedom of expression in Spain, thanks to whom we know what feminists really are and whose benighted worldview is superbly illustrated in this scene).

It is not my intention to deal here with the legal limits of freedom of expression. I don’t intend either to focus on the relevant moral difference that, as I see it, with no doubt exists between the satire about those who enjoy a position of social pre-eminence and that which ridicules those in situations of vulnerability (it goes without saying that I deeply appreciated the statements in this direction by a minority of talk-show guests), but a conclusion will be presented regarding the harm inflicted by some usual forms of exercising freedom of speech. What I will definitely deal with are the circumstances of the Roma population in my country and their causes; although, to be honest, I am pretty ignorant on the subject and I should, and would like to, broaden my knowledge about it. Yet, even though it may seem puzzling during the reading of the article, my conclusion will not maintain a direct relationship with any of the topics already pointed out. It will be indirect. Indirect but nonetheless important.

For now, I will remain silent about the idea that ultimately pushed me to compose this text. As in many works of fiction, on occasion the genres of essay and opinion achieve their desired effect with an unexpected turn in their last section. This might be such an occasion.

The Roma people in Spain

Last September, someone I hold in high esteem, watching with me one of the TV debates about Bodegas's jokes, expressed with obviously contained anger his opinion about the Roma communities in Spain, which I summarize as follows:

1. The Roma don’t want to integrate into the whole of our society.

2. They have all the opportunities and facilities for it, but they can’t be bothered.
3. In truth, there is no rejection of the Romani People by payos (white Spaniards), as some people think. This is proved by the fact that payos interact normally with the Roma in the markets where the latter work as street vendors.

In the face of such assertions, my responses were the following:

1. Imagining the Roma as communities whose components reject integration into the broader sphere of Spanish society fully and as a whole is perpetuating a harmful and false stereotype. I do not dare to deny that there is a strong tendency among them towards seclusion in groups marked by ethnic identity, distrust of state institutions, and rejection of “payo” modes of production and reproduction of knowledge (I borrow the concept from Nigerian author Olúfẹmi Táíwò). In fact, young Roma who "mix" with the rest of the population after their decision to go to university are sometimes labeled as traitors to their identity in their home environments. However, the fact that we can talk about these young students is proof that the Romani sector of the population is diverse and changing like any other. In addition, the struggle by various Roma groups to achieve representation and equal opportunities within the Spanish State while demolishing stereotypes should be well known, together with the fact that this struggle is mostly led by women, who tend to suffer discrimination both outside Romani environments (supported on two axes: gender and race) and within them (in Roma communities, the weight of patriarchal structure and conceptualisation is today superior to that of Spanish society in general, although the situation is improving along with that of the rest of the population).

"Romani Resistance"
Association of Feminist Gypsy
Women for Diversity

But we should also be aware and (oh, surprise!) we aren't, of the historical situation of persecution and criminalisation of Gypsies in Spain, codified in anti-Roma laws from the fifteenth century until 1978 and framed within the project of state centralisation and homogenisation carried out in Europe during the modern era, which may well explain the mistrust of traditionally vigilant and persecuting state institutions and the consequent approval of their own segregation by Roma groups as a means of survival.

And it is not only this attitude that the history of the Roma People can explain. As Victor Hugo depicted clearly in Les Misérables, criminalisation tends to incite crime by the criminalised. When a person or group is systematically perceived as foreign, persecuted and marginalised, one of their greatest resources for survival is illegal activities, since they have been deprived of the conditions to make a living by other means.

2. From neighbourhoods mistreated and isolated by their own town councils to the imaginary that characterizes them as violent, thieves and unreliable (although the anti-Gypsy laws have disappeared, the stereotypes persist, especially if adequate policies haven't been set in motion to repair the damage), it seems that the conditions for the integration of the Roma are not as optimal as many believe. It is really easy to sit idly and wait for them to take the supposedly appropriate steps to abandon their isolation while the amount of economic, cultural, social, psychological and even urban and geographical barriers they have to overcome remains ignored.

I myself was involved in an unfortunate misunderstanding originated by the weight of centuries of stigmatization during the time I worked in a fast food-style pizzeria to pay for my studies. As usual in such kind of establishment, customers had to pay their orders at the time of making them, and received a ticket even before the pizzas had begun to be prepared. In the event that they wanted to start drinking while waiting for their meals, the employees would follow the company norm of crossing out the drinks specified in the ticket to avoid serving them twice. So I did the night when a group of elegant, young and attractive Roma (one man and two women) ordered their dinner at the establishment. When I requested their ticket back to cross out the lines corresponding to the drinks I was serving them, they assumed my behaviour to be motivated by mistrust towards the people of their ethnicity. That is to say, a stereotype about payos acted on them: that according to which all payos believe stereotypes about Roma people. Nothing could be further from reality in my case, but there would be no way to convince them of this. Seeing their anger, I explained that I had stuck to the norms applied to all customers. They didn’t believe me.

This is a good illustration of an extended dynamic between Roma and payos, a dynamic of mutual distrust due to a stigmatization which has caused wounds that are very difficult to heal. When a person of Romani ethnicity assumes that in the world of payos will be viewed with suspicion or even rejected from the first moment, it seems complicated for them to seriously consider leaving their usual environment to "mix" with the rest (please, don’t misunderstand me: not all Roma live segregated, but an important part of them does, and that is the part I'm referring to now). For this very reason, jokes like those of Rober Bodegas do great damage. Not only do they perpetuate the negative image that non-Roma have of the Roma, but also the image the Roma have come to accept of non-Roma due to discrimination. Some manifestations contribute to isolating us from each other, and Bodegas' monologue is a perfect example.

The first image of Andalusian Gypsies.
Beginnings of the 1860 decade.

Additionally, we cannot leave aside the fact that discourses of integration often hide an ideal of adaptation by the Roma to the ways of the white middle class, which is but the current form of the old homogenisation ideal. (Whoever has, like me, serious doubts about the continuing existence of the aforementioned middle class, can change the expression for "the ways of those who used to be middle class"). At the end of the 18th century, for example, King Carlos III decided to grant Roma Spanish citizenship with the condition that, among other things, they gave up their clothing and language (Caló, not recognized by the Spanish State). In short, what is often understood when talking of integration is in fact assimilation, as is clearly shown at the beginning of Bodegas' monologue. This matter can be discussed much further, but what I am interested in highlighting right now is the position described above of sitting and waiting, adopted by both progressive and conservative payos, who locate the responsibility of Roma segregation in the lack of will on the part of the Roma themselves, without realizing the need to make efforts from all sides that lead to a dialogue that would guide the design of effective policies of true integration.

3. As for the relations between Roma and non-Roma in street markets, my interlocutor had fallen again into the stereotype. The Roma commit crimes, sell drugs (important points in Bodegas’ jokes) and work in street markets. I bet that a considerable part of the Spanish population would agree with this claim, just as the audience laughed and applauded almost in unison the poisoned darts of the monologue. My impression in this regard is that markets are the interstitial meeting point where many payos accept to deal with Roma people as long as the latter are who "serve" payos from behind the merchandise they offer. Outside the realm of street vending, which enjoys a particularly low social status, payos prefer unassimilated Roma far from their lives.

"I'm not racist, but..."

Throughout our conversation, my interlocutor, a person with a great heart and generally not inclined to prejudice, expressed his agreement with many of my arguments. However, he also expressed his sympathy for certain public Roma figures and any other Roma trying to escape the culture in which they were supposedly raised. And I write "however" because, inadvertently, my interlocutor was again manifesting the position of waiting and demanding that burdens only the Roma People with the responsibility for their integration. In addition, with his words he was trying to get rid of an accusation of racism that, although not expressed by me, could legitimately be made. It was in that moment when, as I had previously done, my interlocutor presented his example, the experience that had marked him, that had even hurt him despite the fact that he had participated exclusively as a spectator, the experience that aroused in me the thoughts that have set my writing in motion.

For several years my interlocutor used to dwell in a humble neighborhood, and therefore, given the times we live in, a multi-ethnic one. He had white neighbours of Spanish origin, he had North African neighbours, he had Latin American neighbours, and he had Roma neighbors. Specifically, a family the expansion of which with the arrival of two girls he witnessed. Horrified he told me how those girls had not been schooled when the time was appropriate. Or perhaps they had, but in that case they hadn't been attending their classes.

My interlocutor had found himself unable to understand how those parents who shared their daily lives with people from other cultural backgrounds, who were aware of different lifestyles thanks to television, who lived in front of a school with girls going in and out every day, could be so unconcerned by the present and future situation of their daughters. The only way he had found to confer meaning to such attitude was to consider as a fundamental feature of Romani culture a contempt for education, an idea which, as he presented it, was intimately connected with the attribution of collective guilt to the ethnic group. At the same time, nevertheless, he maintained his refusal to consider himself a racist due to the respect and admiration he professes for Roma who decide to live according to "less gypsy" models (not literal words, but my translation).

Well, let's take this bit by bit:

- Irresponsible parents can be found, unfortunately, in all social groups.

- It is true, however, that absenteeism and lack of schooling have been especially common among the Roma for reasons that should be obvious if all the above has been read. But it is also true that this situation has improved considerably in recent decades. Today, the rate of schooling of Roma children in primary education is almost 100%. There are still, on the other hand, worrying figures for dropouts at higher levels of education, which find their cause not only in cultural factors, but also in the socio-economic situation of families, although the latter was not the case of the family in question.

- Judging only parents and their social group for school absenteeism is a very partial position. It is worth asking what measures is the State taking to prevent situations like these.

-Stigmatising an entire ethnic group (except those who want to "escape" from it) because of particular attitudes of particular people IS RACISM.

-Failing to understand that the behavioural tendencies of an ethnic group aren’t caused by alleged essential traits of the group itself or its components, but by the interaction between different groups IS ALSO RACISM.

-Codifying in terms of liberation or flight from their community of origin the desire of individuals for progress in sociopolitical opportunities and equality within and without their ethnic group is to forget that every social group is necessarily heterogeneous. And this, again, IS RACISM.

-Watching television in the Spain of football idols, the Spain of Mujeres y Hombres y Viceversa (Women and Men and Vice Versa, don’t get me started on this…), the Spain of Sálvame (the grotesque Spanish par excellence daily gossip show) and Belén Esteban (the worshipped representative of gratuitous drama and willing ignorance who sustains Sálvame, nicknamed the Princess of the People), in the Spain which places in its government a criminal organization of frauds and privileged champions of empty messages (the People's Party), in the Spain of VOX, doesn’t need to imply an encouragement of the love for knowledge or the appreciation of education as a guarantor of opportunities. The same goes for watching it in the world of Trump, the Kardashians, influencers, and post-truth.

Participants in the show Women and Men and Vice Versa,
moral and existential compasses of our age

The turn

And so it was that while talking about these things it came to me. Clear the idea for the first time, I experienced it as a revelation. Are we really willing to believe that Spaniards, when schooling their children, do so for a genuine appreciation of knowledge? Are we, at least, willing to believe that that is the reason for the majority of them? I am inclined to think that so far it has been more a matter of job opportunities. But in the Spain of football idols, the Spain of the crisis, the Spain of Mujeres y Hombres and Big Brother, even that last possibility is hard to believe. Couldn’t it be the case that the schooling of children is just one more stretch in the established path that many people, as automata, follow thoughtlessly? Of that path that goes from school to a car, from a car to wedding and mortgage, from wedding and mortgage to offspring, and from offspring to school again, this time as parents?

Image published by the Roma
collective Ververipen after the
elections in Andalucía that
resulted in twelve sits for the
far-right party VOX.

The Roma are required to see for themselves the value of education in a country where so many lack that capacity. They are asked to abandon their "being Gypsy" (an obviously misconceived condition) for a way of life that the rest haven’t chosen freely or consciously, but has been imposed on them and is appreciated simply because it is THEIR way of life; and also, let's be honest, because, being the dominant way of life, it sometimes provides them with the spark of pleasure that entails feeling superior, more aware and intelligent than your neighbours.

If education and culture were genuinely valued in this country, neither football nor Sálvame, neither VOX nor C's nor the People's Party, would enjoy such popularity. If education and culture were valued, even if only for their possible economic benefits, a greater investment in research would be massively demanded. If education was genuinely valued, discussions wouldn’t only deal with budgets or the presence of religion: there would be a fight in the streets for true education, an education that would help us, among other things, to understand the processes that segregate people. If education and culture were really valued in this country, we would all have learned to behold the beam in our own eye and not just the mote in the eye of our brother. But we, unfortunately, weren’t taught that.

Also available on Medium.