Roma Gypsies Today: The Rise of Roma Activism in Spain

Abstract

After the decades of state-funded service provisions through the non-governmental organizations in Spain, the development of the Roma Gypsies has remained static. In the name of intercultural and vocational training programmes, the ‘Spanish Model’ for Roma Inclusion has become a myth for the socio-economic development. The Roma organizations stand against discrimination and social exclusion which are faced by Roma people. In the context, the social inclusion of Spanish has been accompanied the intercultural education by government agencies in providing formal vocational training under Acceder and Workaló programmes since the 2000. The purpose of the article was to understand critical discourses of social inclusion by Spanish government for Roma gypsies and also understand the proactive role of Roma advocacy groups. Using the purposive sampling method, 52 Roma individuals engaged in informal and recycling sector were studied from Bilbao City of Basque region of Spain. The case studies of the Roma NGOs viz. Kale-Dor-Kayiko Association and Fundación Secretariado Gitano were drawn to understand the standpoints of Romani activists in the inclusion process for Roma. In conclusion, the study argued the discourse of social inclusion seeks to debunk the idea that the poverty is due to cultural inadequacies of the poor and underlines economic, political, and cultural barriers, and discrimination faced by Roma in their routine labour activities. The review of ‘Spanish Model’ for inclusion of Roma by Roma advocacy organizations has urged the local governments to revamp existing social security schemes; the social minimum; and unemployment guarantee payment and full citizenship status.

Keywords: Exclusion, Minority, Labour Market, Spanish Model, Social inclusion, Civil society organization.