We, the Roma people, are calling for a ceasefire!
We, Roma, and other related ethnic groups as a global nation know firsthand what it is like to be enslaved, victims of genocide, and subjected to armed conflicts that are not ours. Still today we suffer throughout the world as one of the most hated ethnic groups. We are constantly enduring violence and do not support the military-industrial complex of the Gadjikaneo (non-Romani world).
Our people have never had a military and we do not endorse violence to resolve our conflicts. We are a people without a country that has shown no matter where we physically reside, we can maintain our cultural integrity and heritage without enacting colonial and/or imperial violence onto those around us. We have adapted and cohabitated in hundreds of different lands with respect for the people and all living beings there before us.
We believe that violence deeply harms all. Healing cannot be obtained through unjust violence no matter how much one has been historically oppressed. As a people who continue to endure harm, we know peace will not be found in the oppressed becoming the oppressor.
Nashti zhas vorta po drom o bango. We cannot walk straight when the road is bent.
We remember the Romani and Domari casualties that have occurred thus far throughout Gaza and the West Bank. Both the Romani and Domari have repeatedly been targets of discrimination and violence by the settler-colonial nation-state that is Israel. We call on Israel (and its allies) to honor our dead and respect our living nation by halting this ethnic cleansing that has spilled our blood.
Us Roma (and similar ethnic groups) have intertwined legacies with the Jewish people. Thus we reject the notion that criticisms of genocide, criticisms of Israel, or even criticisms of political Zionism are always rooted in anti-semitism. It is from a place of compassion for Jewish people and respect for their familiar diaspora that we call for this ceasefire.
More importantly, it is due to our shared cultural beliefs and legacies that every oppressed group can find peace through collaboration instead of destruction that we want the devastation of Palestine to end immediately. Death and destruction of a land that holds Romani/Domari history dating back over a millennia impacts our heritage as well.
As a thriving people without a physical nation, we are imploring the world to hear our collective plea and support Palestinian liberation. We understand deeply what it is like to have zero recognition or respect from the International community. Our liberation is interconnected with Palestinian liberation. Until all of us are free, none of us are free.
We stand together and declare ourselves as a nation, the Roma nation! Ushten Romale! A global nation that includes the Roma, Romanichal, Machwaya, Lovara, "Gypsies", Sinti, Kale/Calo, Domari, Lomari, Kalderash, Manouche, Traveller, Gurbet, Arlije, and all other similar ethnicities that share in our diaspora which unites us regardless of where we reside geographically. As a nation, we demand an end to Palestinian oppression. We demand a ceasefire now!
Opre Roma! Opre Palestine! Ashen Devlesa, Palestine.