Social exclusion, ethnic political mobilization, and roma minority self-governance in hungary

TY - JOUR

T1 - Social exclusion, ethnic political mobilization, and roma minority self-governance in hungary

AU - Molnár, Emilia

AU - Schafft, Kai A.

N1 - Funding Information: While there has been frustration within the Roma community at the limited ability of the minority self-government to meaningfully address the immediate problems of housing and employment, the institution at the time of our case study had taken on several initiatives. Like in Hegyhely, the minority self-government financially supported Roma pupils and a local soccer club with a strong Roma membership. It also received a grant from the Ministry of Agriculture to pur-chase 3 hectares of land which is now leased for cultivation. The Roma self-gov- ernment, together with thc. municipal administration, established a local brick-making operation. The latter made land available for extracting clay, and machinery has also been purchased, although production had not yet begun at the time of our research. In addition to the municipal efforts, the minority self- government provided some small welfare support to Roma families. It helped subsidize funerals and gave small gifts to graduating pupils primary of the local school. The minority self-government also organized festivals highlighting local Roma culture and it sponsored a civic recognition prize given to those who do community development work in the Roma community. The higher level of activity of the Pusztahely minority self government is due in part to the connections and established working relationship with the munic- ipal self-government. It also is due to a history of local Roma leadership that has set a precedent for inter-ethnic cooperation and has helped to establish institu- tional connections outside of the village, enabling the minority self-government to access important financial and informational resources. The leader of the minority self-government is a member of Lungo Drom, a national Roma NGO the chair of which fulfilled also the role of heading the National Roma Minority Self-Government. The former leader of the local minority self-government who until Funding Information: recently served as a representative within the preceding institution was a member of the National Roma Minority Self-Government and was able to access mon-ey and resources through his good connections. He also maintained friendly con-tacts with the county government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The external institutional connections possessed by the Roma leadership granted them a local political presence that, in contrast to Hegyhely, the local municipal self-government could not ignore. Further, their rich external connections made the local Roma leaders more knowledgeable, politically savvy and better trained than those heading the Hegyhely Roma community. Their outside reach also enabled them to attract external financial and material resources, something that did not escape the notice of the municipal administration. Many of these connections result from local Roma political organizing dating back to the late 1970s. At that time, the local Kommunista Ifj'zi.scigiS zövetség (KISz), or Communist Youth League, did not allow Roma youth to join as members. The former leader of the Roma self-government established a new KISz chapter specifically for Roma youth that organized programs including cultural events, competitions, trips and sporting events. That subsequently led to con- nections with a number of local and .regional authorities. Partly because of his activities, Dar6czi Agnes and Lakatos Menyhert, both prominent Roma intellectuals and political leaders from Budapest invited him to a two week regional Roma leader-training in 1983. . Although the minority self-government had a relative abundance of valuable institutional connections, there were also many internal conflicts that constrained its activities and, on top of it, there were rumors of misappropriation of funds. Since 1998, when the second term minority self-government formed, internal conflicts led to the resignation of several representatives who were replaced by the runner-up candidates from the last election. An office space was provided by the village administration, including paid telephone connections and utilities. The minority self-government received no additional financial support from the municipal administration and so it was dependent upon its budget from the central government and whatever grants and additional support it could raise. In sum, the minority self-government was able to modestly contribute to the well-being of its constituency, although it has not been able to assume the role that the Roma community would best like and to some extent expects: an insti-tution that can directly address the problems of unemployment, housing and poverty which have become strongly intensified in the 1990s, and coincidentally, during the tenure of minority self-governance in Pusztahely.

PY - 2003

Y1 - 2003

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/49149106164

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/49149106164#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1163/187633003X00036

DO - 10.1163/187633003X00036

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:49149106164

SN - 0094-3037

VL - 30

SP - 53

EP - 73

JO - East Central Europe

JF - East Central Europe

IS - 1

ER -