Onassis Channel | Roma Unmediated

Online Premiere 31.05.2023 on Onassis YouTube Channel | 15:00 (EST)

What is it like to live outside of History? To remain invisible and gain visibility only at the moment of your violent obliteration? To be excluded from citizenship and, yet, be summoned to apologize for your very exclusion? Is your life of any value if you are a Roma person in Greece? The Onassis Stegi chooses to organize a discussion centered around the problems and capacities of the Roma community, providing the very members of this community with a space and a platform to speak. The discussion will premiere digitally on the Onassis YouTube Channel on May 31, 2023.

Watch the episode

The Roma community and the Greek reality

The Roma community, diverse and intricate, with a long-standing presence in the Greek region and a particular contribution to culture, remains ostracized. Ostracized from the urban fabric, education, work, health services, and the judicial system. This is a social group that faces many and multiple forms of discrimination.

The Greek state itself, through actions or omissions, is systematically violating the rights of Roma people. Due to this, it has been heavily criticized and reprimanded by international organizations, while it has been occasionally condemned by the European Court of Human Rights. Antigypsyism, itself a manifestation of racial sentiment against Roma people based on racial supremacy and aided by prejudices, is institutional, as well as of social origins; a feedback loop that produces stereotypes, violence, and suffering.

The recent murders of 18-year-old Roma Nikos Sampanis and 16-year-old Roma Kostas Fragoulis by policemen, the political and social tolerance bordering on approval with which they were framed, revealed in the most painful manner the fundamental devaluing of the lives of Roma people. Respectively, the death of 8-year-old Olga at a factory in Keratsini, under conditions of absolute negligence, evinced that the current dehumanization strategy against Roma people exerts a corrosive effect on social conscience.

Photo: Pavlos Fysakis

“Towards a radical progressive way of living together”*

Roma unmediated

In this framework, the Onassis Stegi chooses to organize a discussion centered around the problems, as well as the capacities of the Roma community, providing the very members of this community a space and a floor to speak. To let the story be told by its very subjects, about their sorrow and pride, about their frustrations and demands. A portal of encounter, towards a perspective of inclusivity on the grounds of recognizing and accepting linguistic and cultural differences, equality, conversation, and justice.

The audience becomes part of the discussion

The “Society Uncensored” series of digital discussions is physically held at the Upper Stage of Onassis Stegi, inviting citizens to take a stand and become an active part of the discussion. The second part of the episode presents opinions, statements, and questions from the audience in an open dialogue without censorship. In the episode, findings collected by the Observatory for Advocacy and Defense of Roma Human Rights and the "JustRom" program of the EU and the Council of Europe for the access of Roma women to justice, are also presented.

* The quote comes from a discussion between English film director Ken Loach and French writer Édouard Louis, as published in the book “Dialogue on Art and Politics” (original title in French: “Dialogue sur l'art et la politique”), translated and published in Greek by Antipodes Publications (2021).

Watch the episode's trailer

Participants

Special Education Teacher

Paraskevi Vilanaki

Sociologist

Giannis Georgiou

Roma Mediator

Katerina Demetriou

Lawyer

Alexandra Karagianni

President of the Panhellenic Confederation of Greek Roma “ELLAN PASSE”

Vasileios Pantzos

Wife of Nikos Sampanis

Tasia Sampanis

Nikos Sampanis' father