It is generally known that the Roma are one of the oldest peoples in this area. Their culture, tradition, language and colorful folklore have been well known to the outside world for centuries. It contains elements of history, tradition and everyday life of the Roma. Roma have been and will be the motive of non-Roma and through the film, music, the literary word and many other works. But how much are the Roma valued to be able to present their rich history, culture, tradition, language through cultural events. I can say that the Roma are not appreciated at all and at least helped to present their cultural values.
But why? As much as it is the fault of the state institutions, it is also the fault of ourselves! While in the past (three - four decades ago), that cultural phenomenon of the Roma was more or less present, one gets the impression that today that phenomenon simply does not exist. What would people say like "The Last Mohawks" are making some efforts to preserve that cultural identity of the Roma through the last functional manifestations lpk organized by for example the Romano Ilo Association from Skopje, the Ensemble Rushid Shakir from Kumanovo, SP BTR Production Filstno Z and after a theatrical performance, etc.
At the beginning I said that due to the lack of interest of the state, which is now reduced to a minimum by the Roma cultural activists themselves. The state does not care that due to the application of projects of the Ministry of Culture or the Film Fund of Macedonia and to request real funds for activities, they from the total demand will respond to barely 10-15% of the applications, and with 30% allocated funds from requested.
And with those means the cultural identity of a nation should be maintained. How? Hard!
One or two years ago, a National Action Plan for the development of Roma culture was made, at the initiative of Roma cultural workers, which was handed over to the then Minister without portfolio Muzafer Bajram and his cabinet associates to prepare. Unfortunately, after several meetings, that plan was made by those assistants from the Cabinet of the Minister without portfolio, but there was no budget item in the preparation of that plan, and as such it should have been handed over to the Ministry of Culture, which did not was handed over for a simple reason - because there was no budget amount of funds needed, and so due to the incompetence of that cabinet and its assistants that plan remained only on paper without any realization. And who will now have to take responsibility for that. As a reward for that engagement, they were rewarded with new and better positions in the state administration.
And as the old saying goes, "Until the baby cries, the mother will not even breastfeed him." So it is with us. That is why I am of the opinion that now, with the start of 2021, we need to "wake up" and ask for what is due to us in a cultural way in the name of Roma culture. And this is a new action plan and strategy for the development of Roma culture, but with a specific budget, with specific requirements and with specific activities and potential requirements. No one can be included in those plans, and who for years "did not move" a finger for the Roma culture can now suddenly be favored. It is known in these areas who were and who are the main promoters of Roma Culture. I can mention as an example that about 15 years ago I made a successful attempt to promote the magazines for children and youth "Cirikli" and "Vilo" which was read in primary schools among Roma children and was distributed free of charge. I have been doing that enthusiasm for over 15 years with minimal funds. Today, many "Roma intellectuals" have taken funds to publish Romani grammars, textbooks and manuals in Romani, but where are those books? Are they usable and functional at all, or have they just completed their "episodically profitable role" and that's it! As far as I know, children are educated only with the vocabulary and grammar of the late Dr. Trajko Petrovski.
It is time for people with potential, knowledge, experience in that area to "roll up their sleeves" and take the right steps. There should be no people "improvisers" and episodic cultural promoters.
It means an activity with more specific goals, which are: Preservation and promotion of Roma folklore and tradition, publishing and literature in Romani language and support of Roma authors, theater, music, Roma, art, film, and one of The main goals - Increasing the number of Roma and their Roma representatives in state bodies, bodies and commissions, inclusion of Roma representatives in the Council of Culture, as well as Roma representatives in the commission for adopting the annual program of the Ministry of Culture.
Also, a very important moment is to actualize the question of what further and in what way can and should function the Museum of Art and Music of Esma and Stevo Teodosievski, which is currently stuck in the court labyrinths. I am here and I can help here as well.

Only in this way can we take a step further in preserving the Roma culture and tradition. Nothing is done with passivity. The danger is here before us because - A people without a cultural tradition and its own cultural institution, is a dead people! And for the start of the activities in the above-mentioned spheres of Roma culture, in my opinion, 1,000,000 euros per year are enough.

We all know that the Republic of Bulgaria is one of the economically weakest members of the EU, along with Romania. It "hurts" a lot when you know that you are part of the European family, and yet at the bottom from an economic point of view. That is why Bulgaria is a country that makes efforts for its citizens to stay in the country, and not to emigrate to Western European countries. And that is why the frustration of keeping his citizen in his country is even greater. This makes the main "culprits" for those conditions to be found immediately. And how according to some of their logic - the "culprit on duty" for all those situations are always - the Roma! Here, too, the car is already moving unstoppably "downhill". Segregation, discrimination, isolation, distancing, violation of basic human principles in all spheres of Bulgarian society are a daily occurrence in that country. The "trouble" is even greater if we have, say, elections and a struggle for power among the Bulgarian political factors, there is always a patriotic rhetoric - anti-Roma discourse. Because if the Roma are "sorted out", Bulgaria will immediately stand on its feet and from tomorrow it will be a wonderful place to live! To make matters worse, while everyone outside Bulgaria is "pointing the finger" as a state that in every way violates the basic rights of Roma, inside Bulgaria most of the organizations (including the Bulgarian Roma NGOs) are somehow "blinking "And are very quiet in their reactions to those conditions. They know whether the state is trying in some way to silence him with "financial" infusions or something else.
And that is why I in this column as President of the International Roma Union - IRU, and above all as a Roma man, who reacted regularly, sent protest notes and reactions to both Bulgarian and European institutions due to visible discriminatory acts by Bulgaria to Those Roma, I feel the need to put an end to those injustices against the Roma people in Bulgaria, but also for the Roma everywhere in Europe.
That area is actually a remedy - an instrument that can be very useful. The therapy is called - Roma Ombudsman - Contact Point!
It is the Roma Ombudsman and his team at the European level who should play the main role in preventing that - a growing anti-Roma campaign!
From a European point of view, the matter is crystal clear: a wall around ethnically defined Roma settlements is a clear case of ghettoization, regardless of how the majority of the population or the authorities argue. Segregation of Roma children in Ulliptipa, discrimination in the workplace, up to special health regimes and protocols only in Roma settlements during the Pandemic with Covid 19 are crystal clear directions, which that team of the Roma Ombudsman - Contact Point will have as a fact and proof of who to work on.
And the "self-righteousness" of Bulgaria is even more visible now when it vetoes my country where I live - Macedonia, for the start of negotiations with the EU for its entry. It disputes the history, language, people, culture of a nation that everyone knows is peaceful without any pretensions to foreign territories and geostrategic goals.
Imagine the opposite situation, if for example Macedonia and Serbia were in the EU, and Bulgaria was waiting to join the EU, how would Bulgaria feel if Macedonia and Serbia "combed" a bit after Bulgaria's past during World War II when parts of Macedonia and Serbia were under the protectorate of Bulgaria as an ally then Germany's main power? Then the guarantor would have asked for "forgiveness" for past historical mistakes, and they would not have hit each other so hard on their "Bulgarian identity".
All in all, my conclusion is that Bulgaria is "mature and baked" to answer before the European Court of Discrimination against Roma and the IRU will insist on finding a solution and making the Roma Ombudsman work - Contact Point! The time is ahead of us!