http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q83jBHs0L_s
Romania's famous rock band Vama, accompanied by ethnic
Roma musicians, released Thursday a single in English criticising
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's crackdown on the Gypsies.
The song "Sarkozy versus Gypsy" -- featured on the YouTube
website -- aims to denounce "with humour" what Vama calls "the
absurd solution found by the French president to resolve the Roma
issue," the band's lead singer Tudor Chirila told AFP.
Chirila is a star in Romania and the former Liberal candidate
for the presidency, Crin Antonescu, named him as his model last
year.
France has faced an international uproar since Sarkozy's July
clampdown against illegal traveller camps and the expulsion of
thousands of Romanian and Bulgarian Romas back to their country of
origin.
The UN human rights chief warned that France's new policies can
only exacerbate the stigmatisation of the Roma.
"We're looking for the better way, but you decide we cannot
stay", Vama and French slammer Ralflo sing in the name of the Roma
before asking the French president: "Hey, hey, Sarkozy why don't
you like the Gypsies?".
"The world belongs to all the people. Gypsy people is not
people?", the singer goes on, surrounded by gorgeous Gypsy dancers
and Roma musicians.
"We also want to show that it is dangerous to generalise when
talking about certain groups of people," Chirila added.
The French linked the crackdown on Gypsies to rising crime
figures.
"If all the Gypsies were to steal, the Tour Eiffel would
disappear," Vama sings with irony before underlining the links
between France and the Roma: "Gypsy groove and French chanson. We
all play l'accordeon".
Chirila acknowledges that the Roma issue is "complex" but he
pleads for a massive effort to improve education among Roma
children "from all European countries not only the countries of
origin".