Open Letter: “In Resistance and Solidarity: A Romani Open Letter Against Global Injustice and Genocide”
6/27/20252 min read
We, Romnja activists, scholars, artists, educators, authors, and human rights organizations, raise our voices in solidarity with all people and communities facing injustice, genocide, violence, brutality, occupation, apartheid, and systemic oppression as a result of the global colonial fascist systems that oppress racialized communities and those of the Global South.
We denounce the ongoing genocides, the imperial violences, the systemic mass killings, as well as the police brutality, forced displacement and racism in Gaza, Sudan, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Yemen, Kurdistan, Kashmir, Ukraine, Western Sahara, US and its criminalization of migrant community, forced deportations in the Balkans (Albania and Serbia), the Indigenous communities across the globe, criminalization of the migrant community in Europe, and everywhere that people are being forced silenced, displaced, starved, tortured, expropriated of their land and resources, dehumanized, and killed. These are not isolated events, they are part of global systems of injustice, colonialism, racism, patriarchy, and fascism.
We denounce the policies and actions of the Israeli state and the Zionist movement before the establishment of Israel that perpetuate occupation, apartheid, and mass violence against Palestinians made possible through the continued support and complicity of the US and European settler-colonial political ideologies. In standing against violence, we understand the importance of accountability and care, especially being aware that many Jewish people also face violence for opposing genocide and occupation, and we stand in solidarity with them as well with the Jewish and Roma comrades who reject the misuse of their histories to justify oppression. The phrase “Never again” must truly mean never again for ANYONE.
As Romani people, we know what it means to be targeted. Our communities have survived slavery, forced sterilization, and genocide, and still facing persecution, violence, police brutality, (gendered) anti-Roma racism, extreme poverty, and violence on our bodies. We stand in solidarity with all those facing similar threats today because our struggles are interconnected and rooted in the same systems of racism and exploitation.
We urge our Romani communities everywhere to:
Stand in solidarity with all oppressed people.
Raise awareness within your circles, organizations, and families.
Demand EU demilitarization and cuts to arms funding.
Call for funds to be redirected toward public services and care infrastructures.
Demand that the European Commission and Parliament impose sanctions on Israel and suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement
Hold governments accountable for their complicity in wars, arms trading, and silence.
Demand the EU institutions to stop the forced deportations
As oppressed communities, we believe that connecting our struggles and building alliances is the only way to resist injustice. Whether through protest, education, art, or advocacy, we must refuse silence in the face of genocide. Let us act together, loudly, and with hope.
We believe in the strength of our communities, our histories, and our shared resistance. United, we rise against all forms of oppression within and beyond our borders.
