[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 62 (Thursday, May 12, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5068-S5069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      RACIST MANIFESTATIONS IN ROMANIA DESERVE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

 Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, as chairman of the Helsinki 
Commission, I welcomed the recent visit of Romanian Foreign Minister 
Razvan Ungureanu, and I regret that I was not in Washington to meet 
with him. Our countries have forged closer links, and I hope that trend 
will continue.
  While there have been many positive reforms implemented in Romania, 
unfortunately the situation of the Romani minority is largely the same. 
Romania has the largest Roma minority in Europe, estimated at 1.5-2 
million people. They remain profoundly marginalized and subjected to 
pervasive discrimination and prejudice.
  On April 13, for example, a soccer match in Bucharest turned very, 
very ugly. Fans of one team, Steaua Bucharest, unfurled a banner 
reading ``We have always had and will always have something against 
Gypsies.'' They chanted, ``We have always hated Gypsies and we have 
always urinated on you.'' During the game, the stadium announcer played 
an anti-Roma song called ``Gypsies and UFOs'' and made anti-Roma 
remarks. The coach of Steaua Bucharest called the coach of the opposing 
team a ``stinking Gypsy.'' The opposing team, Rapid Bucharest, is from 
a district with a significant Romani minority.
  Response to this rabid anti-Roma manifestation was swift with mixed 
results.
  On April 20, the Romanian Football League suspended the stadium 
announcer for 6 months. But the League also sanctioned both teams that 
were present at the April 13 match: Steaua Bucharest, the team 
responsible for hurling racist invective was fined, but so was Rapid 
Bucharest, the team against whom these slurs were directed. While it is 
completely appropriate for a sports league to police

[[Page S5069]]

itself and its members, sanctioning those who were the targets of this 
abuse makes no sense. No one will be fooled by the League's effort to 
appear pro-active and even-handed while punishing the very people who 
were the victims of abuse.
  The National Council for Combating Discrimination, a Romanian 
Government body, also sanctioned the offending team about $1400 and 
fined the stadium announcer about $600. The fact that a governmental 
body so quickly recognized the racist nature of these events was a 
positive signal. However, any time a state positions itself to regulate 
speech, there is the risk that free speech, which may include unpopular 
or controversial views, will be unduly limited. I believe there are 
other ways to combat racist, xenophobic, or anti-Semitic 
manifestations. In particular, it is critical that Romania's public 
leaders, including President Traian Basescu, speak out against such 
manifestations.
  Unfortunately, the April 13 events were not an isolated phenomenon, 
but part of a pattern of racist abuse in Romania. In 2002, scores of 
fans at a Bucharest soccer match worked in concert to display a massive 
sign reading ``Die, Gypsy.'' In 2003, like-minded fans displayed a sign 
reading ``One million crows, one solution--Antonescu.'' ``Crow'' is a 
pejorative slang term in Romanian for a member of the Romani minority. 
General Ion Antonescu was Romania's World War II fascist dictator who 
spearheaded the selection of Roma for deportation to Transnistria.
  These manifestations tell us two things. First, it is not enough for 
public leaders to leave it to the National Council for Combating Racism 
to speak out against these manifestations. Romania's highest leaders 
must stand up and confront such outrages. Those who would foment 
racism, and who potentially incite racist violence, must be given no 
safe harbor. Invoking praise for the World War II dictator who oversaw 
the persecution of Romania's Jews and Roma is despicable.
  Second, these manifestations underscore the need for continued 
efforts to improve Holocaust education in Romania.
  Following decades of denial, the Government of Romania has made great 
strides in the past year in recognizing Romania's role in the Holocaust 
and in the deportation and death of Jewish and Romani citizens. The 
government is to be commended for taking steps to examine this dark and 
painful chapter in the country's history. Last November, the 
International Commission for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, led 
by Elie Wiesel, officially issued its findings in Bucharest. In 
addition to the establishment of a national Holocaust Remembrance Day, 
which Romania marks on October 9, the Commission recommended that 
Romania establish a national Holocaust memorial and museum in 
Bucharest, annul war criminal rehabilitations and develop a Holocaust 
education curricula and courses in secondary schools and universities. 
I hope the Government of Romania will move quickly to implement the 
Wiesel Commission's recommendations.
  With this in mind, I was heartened to learn that in April the U.S. 
Embassy in Bucharest hosted the premier of ``Hidden Sorrows,'' a 
documentary about the tragic deportation of 25,000 Roma from Romania to 
Transnistria during the Holocaust; more than 11,000 men, women and 
children died from the horrific conditions of their internment. 
Several, nearly 100-year-old survivors attended the premier, adding a 
deeply personal element to the documentary's message.
  From the Inquisition to the Holocaust, Roma have suffered some of 
humanity's worst abuses. They were enslaved in Romania until the 
formation of the modern Romanian state in 1864. They were persecuted 
and deported and murdered during the Holocaust. Even after the fall of 
Ceausescu, they were subjected to dozens of pogroms. And yet they have 
survived.
  The Romani people, who have endured so much, should not be made to 
suffer at a time that otherwise holds so much promise and hope for so 
many. We must ensure that these people, their culture, and their 
heritage are not destroyed by hatred and violence.

                          ____________________