Romatopia - Roma talk about their Utopia for Europe

episode 13 is an extra - we revisit our encounters with all our amazings guests from series 1.

Wir haben in dieser Folge die Ehre, eine der Ikonen der Bürgerrechtsbewegung der Sinti und Roma als Gast in unserem Podcast zu begrüßen: Romani Rose, Vorsitzender des Zentralrats Deutscher Sinti und Roma. Wir sprechen mit ihm über seine Jugend im Schatten von Auschwitz, seinen unnachgiebigen Kampf für die Bürgerrechte der Sinti und Roma und über seine Kindheit im Lichtspieltheater seiner Eltern und seine bleibende Liebe zum Kino.

Lindy Larsson has enchanted our hosts, Isabel Raabe and Bill Bila. Together they talk about superheroes with a Romani background, about mermaids, dogs and other animals. They also talk about the cruelties Roma have had to endure in Sweden. We get to know an inspiring, fragile, wise, open and proud person.

William Lazarus Bila and Isabel Raabe had the chance to talk to renowned "Roma Art" expert Timea Junghaus who is also the executive director of European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture ERIAC.

Nico talks with Isabel Raabe and William BIla about the power of Roma feminism and about her responsibility towards the young Roma generation. She tells what Romanipen means to her and we discuss her utopia: The virtual Romanistan.

Ihre künstlerischen Arbeiten sind widerständig, aktivistisch, feministisch. In dieser Folge sprechen wir mit den zwei beeindruckenden Schauspielerinnen, Regisseurinnen und Aktivistinnen Sandra und Simonida Selimović. Wir haben über Aktivismus, Kunst und Familie gesprochen, ein Songtext geschenkt bekommen und viel gelacht.

In this episode, William Bila and Isabel Raabe talk with Saimir Mile. He is one of the founders of the French Roma association “La Voix des Rroms” and initiator of the May 16th Roma Resistance Movement and also a linguist and expert in Romanes language.

Miguel Angel Vargas is a theatre director and art historian with Andalusian-Gitano roots. We talk with him about theatre, flamenco, Gitanismo and being a flâneur.

I don't present myself as a Romnia, as a European, I am part of the whole universe, says the young artist Selma Selman and takes us into her universe of art and resistance.

“Wir können das Unmögliche möglich machen”, sagt Kefaet Prizreni über die Roma. Die beiden Brüder Selamet und Kefaet erzählen von ihrer Abschiebung in den Kosovo und wie sie es zurück nach Deutschland schafften. Sie sprechen über die Kraft der Musik und wie der Hip Hop sie gerettet hat und sie lassen uns teilhaben an ihren Träumen von einer besseren Welt – nicht nur für Roma.

Zeljko Jovanovic is a tireless activist for Roma Rights. He comes from a family which, through belief in hard-work, self-determination and education, moved from extreme poverty to the middle class of Serbia. We talked to him about his youth, the fight for democracy, about how important it is for Europe when the Roma are doing well. Being asked what majority societies can learn from Roma he says: “We find a way out where everybody else sees a dead end”.

Ethel Brooks is a Romani academic and a feminist. Though she is based in the US, she has made significant contributions to the European Roma Movement. She always emphasizes that she brings in her community and her family into her work. We wanted to know that more precisely. So we talk a lot about Ethel's ancestors and family, about the Roma community in which she grew up, and about her work on gender studies and the Holocaust of the Sinti and Roma. We learn about her „Monument of Hope“ – and of course about her utopia for Europe.

“I make shiny things” is Daniel Baker's answer to the question about his work. Daniel Baker is an artist, curator and researcher, living in London. The Roma visual culture is his main source of inspiration and he is fascinated by what he calls “Gypsy Aesthetics”. We talk to him about art as a form of resistance, about cultural heritage in Roma communities, about an emerging Roma academic elite, about what the majority societies can learn from Roma – and of course about his utopia for Europe.

Isabel Raabe (Berlin) and William Bila (Paris) tell how the idea for this podcast was born, why it is a good time for a podcast about utopias for Europe and what Romatopia is all about.