The International Roma Day, 8 April, is the day when we celebrate and promote the Romani culture, but also the day when we remind of and point at difficult position of Roma women and men in society, and of the obligation to do more to improve their situation. Despite the improvements made over the past years, problems faced by the Roma women and men in Serbia are still numerous, and daily life for most of them still remains below the limits of dignity. The Roma are still discriminated in almost all spheres of social life, while the access to status and socioeconomic rights is impeded or completely impossible to them.

We have talked to Bajram Kafu Kinolli, Balkan Bob Marley, and, as many people are already calling him, the successor of Saban Bajramovic. We met Bajram, the front man of Gipsy Groove and peace activist, while he was facing numerous impediments to exercise of his own rights.

We wanted to know what this day means to him personally…

For me, the International Romani Day is the same as the International Human Day. And, every day should be a human day. The rights of Roma are for me the same as the rights of any other person. Every person deserves respect and decent life. And we cannot defend the rights of one person and neglect the rights of another. There is no respect without exchange, without a dialogue. Therefore, it is nice that there is a day when we pay homeage to one community, its culture and customs. However, if the spirit of 8 April fails to come to life on other days in the year, then even that one loses its value and significance.

Read the whole interview: We Do Not Need to Be Perfect to Be Good, or to Be Respected Only If We Are Perfect