Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse

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Public founding meeting of the bicycle cooperative in Bern, 1975

The Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse was founded in 1975 as a self-organization of the Swiss minority of the “travelers”. This makes it the oldest of today's Yenish and Sinti self-organizations in Europe. It is recognized by the state as the umbrella organization of the “travelers”, which means both Yenish and Manusch ( Sinti ) with Swiss citizenship. She takes part in the Swiss public and legal discourse on these minorities with important and recognized contributions. As a participant in government-sponsored consultations, it plays a recognized role.

Today it defines itself as the “umbrella organization of the Yeniche and Sinti, who are Swiss national minorities”.

Meeting center, campsite, Feckerchilbi

In 2002 the cycling cooperative opened a meeting center with documentation service and a museum in Zurich-Altstetten; It is the only center of this kind in Europe run by a Yenish self-organization. Since 2016, the cycling cooperative has had its own campsite, which is also a meeting center and cultural venue for Swiss Yenish and Sinti, but where members of the majority society and tourists of all origins are also welcome. The Rania campsite in the municipality of Zillis (GR) contains permanent pitches with chalets and grass pitches for day stays; A Yenish summer market is organized there every year. The cycling cooperative is also the main organizer of the Feckerchilbi , which is held every two three years as a meeting and festival of the Yenish minority. With the quarterly magazine “Scharotl” and publications on Yenish history and culture, it carries out public relations work and at the same time lays the foundations for the definition of the self-image of today's Yenish in Switzerland.

history

starting point

The wheel cooperative came into being as a result of the 1968 movement. The co-founder, managing director and editor of the cooperative newspaper "Scharotl" Mariella Mehr explains in an interview in 1982: "I am a 68er child" The painter and later president Walter Wegmüller calls the bicycle cooperative "a child of the 68er movement" in a portrait.

In 1972, the Swiss media revealed that between 1926 and the beginning of the 1970s, around 600 children from traveling families were forcibly taken away from their families by the relief organization for the children of Landstrasse and transferred to home and institutional education as well as to foreign families in the majority of society. In the course of the social and political discussion of the socially hygienically motivated re-education program, which was perceived by large parts of the public as a massive violation of fundamental human rights, several self-organizations of those affected emerged. In 1973 the committee “Pro Tzigania Svizzera” and the “Jenische Schutzbund” were founded, followed in 1975 by the “Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse”. The foundation was supported by Yeniche, Manusch, Roma and supporters from the majority of society. The public inaugural meeting in the "Bierhübeli" restaurant in Bern was dominated by a Roma flag: green and blue divided background with a wagon wheel in the center.

During the founding period, the Yenish journalist and writer Mariella Mehr, the painter Walter Wegmüller , "Rome child from the Kalderasch tribe" played an important role , as did the author Sergius Golowin, who did not belong to the minority of the "Gypsies" , the Rome Dr. med. Ján Cibuľa , later the first president of the International Romani Union and also a member of the board of directors of the bicycle cooperative.

Community of Travelers and Gypsies

At the time of its founding, the cycling cooperative saw itself as the overall representation of the Swiss “gypsies” or “travelers”, meaning all groups with socio-cultural or ethnically similar histories. It claimed to bring all Swiss “travelers” together. In this sense, it defined itself as the “community of interests of the traveling people in Switzerland”. In addition, she emphasized her membership in the International Romani Union , whose founders included the Swiss delegates at the 2nd World Roma Congress in Geneva in 1978, whose secretariat came to Bern, where the founding activist and Rom Ján Cibuľa lived, according to her wishes. and to which she still belongs today. The wheel cooperative had a distinctly internationalist self-image. The Swiss Yeniche who dominated in number there saw themselves as part of a worldwide Roma community.

Self-description, 1991

Yeniche and Roma were represented in the governing bodies of the cycling cooperative as “travelers”. In the late 1970s, its chairman ("President") was the aforementioned Walter Wegmüller. Contrary to all fundamental changes, a remnant of the original self-image has been preserved in public opinion until recently: In 2003 the bicycle cooperative was described as “the only Yenish association in Europe” that also wanted to represent the interests of the Sinti and Roma.

While Roma, Sinti, Manusch and Yeniche came together under the umbrella of the bicycle cooperative, they set themselves apart from other “travelers”, so never represented all groups of this part of the population: “The Gypsies form a mixed community of Sinti, Romani and Yenish, welded together by her Fate, through persecution and distrust of the sedentary environment. ”A distinction should be made between“ the other travelers in Switzerland, showmen, fair dealers, chilbi and circus people ”because they come from“ non-Gypsy families ”.

The cycling cooperative was embedded in a civil rights movement against social and legal discrimination against "gypsies". In public actions she drew attention to the social and legal situation of the minority. One of the most famous events she initiated was the occupation of the Lucerne Lido by 67 caravans in 1985, which led to the provision of caravan spaces.

New newspaper head Scharotl, with subtitles 2016

After the hippie era, reorientation towards minority politics

In 1985, with the decline of the sixty-eight trend, a new self-image and a new definition of tasks prevailed in the majority of the cycling cooperative, which resulted in a fundamental change in strategy for minority and compensation policies. Some of the functionaries and members left the bicycle cooperative at that time. Yenish Robert Huber , a representative of the new course , became president . In 2010 his son Daniel Huber followed him in this position.

After 1985, the bicycle cooperative concentrated on representing the Swiss Yeniche, with a focus on the "traveling Yeniche", and loosened the close cooperation with organizations of the Roma community. Subsequently, the wheel cooperative raised the claim that the group of Yeniche who would form a people was a fifth ethnic group in Switzerland. Since then, it has demarcated itself ethnically from the Swiss Roma groups, although they B. continued to represent in compensation issues. In addition to the President of the International Roma Union, the Yenish President of the Bicycle Cooperative was represented on the 18-member advisory board of the Swiss Fund for Needy Victims of the Holocaust as a representative of the group of victims of the “Travelers”.

Today the cycling cooperative rejects the romantic statements of the early days, influenced by the hippies, about an Indian origin of the Yeniche and emphasizes their belonging to the old European culture. Her magazine Scharotl (ie "Wohnwagen"), which has been published regularly since 1975, formulated the changed self-image with the subheading "Newspaper of the Yenish People" after it had previously described itself as the "official cooperative organ of the traveling people of Switzerland". The change of course brings the cycling cooperative in line with those groups of interest groups founded in the first decade of this century, which never understood each other differently and always distinguished the Yenish as a group of separate ethnicity from Roma.

Today she declares that she will represent the Yenish and Sinti and support the Roma. The subheading of the association's organ "Scharotl" reads - as of December 2016 - "Newspaper of the Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse, umbrella organization of the national minority of the Yeniche and Sinti of Switzerland". On the homepage of the bicycle cooperative it says: "The Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse is the umbrella organization of the Yenish and Sinti, the national minorities of Switzerland. It supports the interests of all Roma."

Range

In 1978/1983, between 25,000 and 35,000 people with "(at least partially) Yenic descent" were assumed for Switzerland. According to an inventory of the usage figures for Swiss standing and transit spaces, the number of regularly active travelers in 1999 was around 2,500. The usage statistics do not differentiate between citizenship and ethnicity. The information therefore sums up Swiss and non-Swiss travelers as long as they used the statistically recorded spaces and did not set up their caravans in other spaces (e.g. because of the official transit spaces that are often too small for the larger, so-called "traveling" groups). A statement about the proportion of the Yeniche is therefore not possible. The statistics do not differentiate between the duration of “travel” over the course of the year. It is therefore also not possible to make a statement about the proportion of those who did not live permanently from spring to autumn. What is certain, however, is that the vast majority in Switzerland, unlike in the rest of Europe, have long lived in a fixed place and that traditional labor migration plays a subordinate role.

In 2008, the cycling cooperative had 114 members - with a family often only paying for one membership - and the association magazine also had 91 paying subscribers.

The cycling cooperative is recognized by the federal government as the “umbrella association of Swiss travelers”. It has been subsidized from federal funds since 1986. The cycling cooperative forwards a smaller part of these funds to other traveling organizations. By “travelers”, the federal government, which took part in the change in the self-image of the bicycle cooperative as well as the overall self-ethnicization of the Yenish from autumn 2016, understood the following groups: “The Yeniche form the main group of travelers of Swiss nationality. The rest of the Swiss travelers mostly belong to the group of Sinti (Manusch) ”(Swiss Confederation, Federal Office for Culture, 2006).

Program

Statutes

The goals of the bicycle cooperative are set out in detail in its current statutes; The purpose article says: "The wheel cooperative represents the interests of the Yenish, Sinti and Roma in Switzerland, both the traveling and the sedentary part of these minorities. The main task is to be a political voice for these minorities and to address their concerns in public and towards them The aim is the recognition of the Yenish, Sinti and Roma as national minorities. The cycling cooperative promotes all efforts that strengthen the minorities: Creation of living space - namely the creation of stands and passage places; social support - through advice and mediation; promotion of culture - with events, with the organization of the Feckerchilbi, management of a documentation center; promotion of education - integration in the regular schools and support during the trip; promotion of minority languages ​​- creation of learning opportunities for members of the minority; networking of the organizations of the minor units - on the basis of democratic debate; Maintaining relationships with the authorities - and advocating respectful interaction on an equal footing; Maintaining international relations; the cycling cooperative sees itself as part of the international Roma movement; Promotion and preservation of the Yenish language. "

Daily political goals

The daily practical objectives of the wheel cooperative have changed little since it was founded, and in some cases they have been achieved. They related and relate to the improvement of the working and living conditions of the still traveling market feeders and small craftsmen with a Yenish self-image.

Social, educational and employment policy demands to improve the situation of the Yeniche who often live in socially disadvantaged areas (measures to improve school and training success and opportunities on the job market, living conditions, the situation of large and incomplete families, etc.) does not raise the wheel cooperative, as it does not publicly address the situation of this part of the minority.

The primary goals are:

  • the establishment of a sufficient number of well-equipped sites for winter quarters; In 2016, the bicycle cooperative took over a lease of its own in Graubünden
  • the establishment of a sufficient number of well-equipped transit areas for the months of the “journey”; the number of passage spaces has decreased in the last decade despite the efforts of the bicycle cooperative
  • the standardization of the different conditions (requirements and fees) of the business license (“patents”) from canton to canton; this goal has now been fully achieved
  • regulating school attendance in such a way that travel, family livelihoods and school attendance would be compatible with one another.
  • the recognition of the Yenish, Sinti and Roma as national minorities; this goal has been anchored in the statutes of the bicycle cooperative

Basic minority political demands

In addition to the above-mentioned everyday practical demands to improve travel conditions and economic competition, there were and still are cultural and general political demands. Are of central importance

  • the state recognition of the Yenish language as a cultural asset to be protected. In the meantime, with the ratification of the European Language Charter in 1997, Switzerland has given the Yenish the status of a “non-territorial language”.
  • the recognition of the Yenish, Sinti and Roma as a national minority according to a petition launched in 2015 together with other organizations. With the ratification of the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe for the Protection of National Minorities in 1998, the multicultural minority of Travelers with Swiss citizenship was recognized as a national minority. The petition for the recognition of the Yenish and Sinti in their entirety and for their correct designation was submitted to the responsible Federal Council (member of the Swiss state government) on April 6, 2016. On September 15, 2016, Federal Councilor Alain Berset said in a speech at Feckerchilbi with reference to this petition: “I recognize this demand for self-designation. I will work to ensure that the federal government calls you 'Yeniche' and 'Sinti' in the future. "

Non-Swiss travelers

Since the 1990s, the question of how to deal with non-Swiss traveling Roma has increasingly become an issue for the bicycle cooperative. She emphasizes "how important the separation of these two different cultures" is, and at the same time that "one minority is not played off against the other".

The president of the bicycle cooperative Daniel Huber declared in 2015 that the bicycle cooperative "saw itself as part of the international 'gypsy movement' from the start". He says of the Roma: "It's people like you and me who need living space." Regarding the specific need for places, he says: "Since the living space for the Swiss Yeniche and Sinti is already limited and the existing places are mostly occupied by Yeniche and Sinti, additional places are needed for the Roma coming from abroad, often in larger ones Groups travel. " According to the statutes, the cycling cooperative also supports the interests of the traveling and sedentary Roma in Switzerland and advocates the recognition of the Roma as a national minority in Switzerland.

Demand for Europe-wide recognition of the Yeniche

In autumn 2019, Yeniche from several European countries - Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Luxembourg - founded a "European Yenish Council", initiators are the Swiss bicycle cooperative der Landstrasse and the Central Council of Yeniche in Germany, founded in 2019. The European Yenish Council has set itself the task of working for the recognition of the Yeniche throughout Europe. The focus is on a petition that was launched at the same time; it is addressed to the Council of Europe and bears the title: “The European Yeniche minority demands recognition, respect and naming according to their self-designation”.

Board

President

Years president
1975-1976 René Götschi
1976-1988 Robert Waser
1978-1981 Walter Wegmüller
1981-1984 Paul Bertschi
1984-1985 Genoveva Graff
1985-2009 Robert Huber
since 2009 Daniel Huber

Other members

The writer Mariella Mehr was a founding member and secretary from 1975 to 1978. Other board members were: the photographer Rob Gnant 1977–1981, the linguist Robert Schläpfer 1975–1981, the writer Sergius Golowin 1975–2004, the musician Alfred "Baschi" Bangerter 1977–1983, doctor and Roma politician Ján Cibuľa 1977–1990. The writer Willi Wottreng has been the managing director since autumn 2014 .

Neighboring organizations

In addition to the bicycle cooperative, the following associations also exist in Switzerland:

  • the traveling gypsy cultural center ,
  • the Evangelical Gypsy Mission Switzerland - Life and Light , of which the Sinto May Bittel is president,
  • The Naschet Jenische Foundation , which emerged from the task of distributing compensation money to victims of the Kinder der Landstrasse relief organization, now only provides help with social and personal problems and provides information about Yenish culture. Advice and support for aid agency victims are of particular importance.

The associations Jenischer Kulturverband Österreich eV and Jenischer Bund in Deutschland eV are in opposition to the bicycle cooperative insofar as they resolutely reject its - now only historical - definition of Jenischer as the "tribe" of Roma and the membership of the bicycle cooperative in the IRU. Schäft qwant in Basel sees itself as a “transnational association for Yenish cooperation and cultural exchange” . The association is an associated member of the Federal Union of European Nationalities. He, too, distinguishes the Yenish and Roma from one another.

Publications of the bicycle cooperative

  • Scharotl , the Radgenossenschaft's magazine, is published quarterly.
  • Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse (Ed.): Jenische Kultur. An unknown wealth. What it is, how it was, how it lives on . Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-033-06713-4
  • Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse (Ed.): La culture Yéniche. Un trésor inconnu. Son essence, son passé, son evolution aujourd'hui . Zurich 2018
  • Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse (Ed.): Camping Rania. Welcome to Rania Square. Cultural place of the Yeniche and Sinti and their guests . Zurich 2018
  • Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse (Ed.): Jenisches fate. Stored in the correctional facility. A cultural report . Zurich 2017

literature

  • Willi Wottreng: Gypsy chief. From the child of the country road to the spokesman for the travelers - the fate of Robert Huber . Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 2010. ISBN 978-3-280-06121-3 (biography of the President of the Bicycle Cooperative from 1985 to 2009 and at the same time an overall presentation of the Yenish Renaissance movement in Switzerland.)

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. See HP of the Radgenossenschaft, [1] accessed on January 8, 2017.
  2. Rafaela Eulberg: "Language is my home". Interview with the Romni writer Mariella Mehr. In: Schlangenbrut, 21 (2003), No. 82, pp. 21-25, quotation: p. 21.
  3. Walter Wegmüller, quoted in: Ueli Mäder: 68 - what remains. Rotpunktverlag 2018, p. 224. ISBN 978-3-85869-774-5 .
  4. Feature of Swiss television from June 12, 1975 Founding of the bicycle cooperative with background information on the social situation of the “Yenish and Gypsies” in Switzerland [2] .
  5. More sees herself as a member of the worldwide Roma community, she did not take part in the reduction of the bicycle cooperative to a representation of Yeniche outside the Roma community. See: Rafaela Eulberg: "Language is my home". Interview with the Romni writer Mariella Mehr. In: Schlangenbrut, 21 (2003), No. 82, pp. 21-25.
  6. Scharotl, 7 (1982), No. 16, p. 2.
  7. ^ The first seven years (1975 to 1982). Website of the bicycle cooperative ( memento of November 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).
  8. See e.g. For example, the report by Theresa Wyss, Vice President of the Cycling Association and participant in the Geneva Congress, in which she states: “Although we cannot speak the Romanesch language, we received a very friendly welcome from our racial colleagues. We haven't yet mastered Romansh because we were torn away from our parents as small children. But so that all tribes can communicate with one another in the future, we gypsies in Switzerland are now learning the Romanesch language retrospectively. ”Quoted from: Narachan. Magazine for pictures, texts, songs. Geneva Congress 78th Upre Roma, unpag., No. 4, undated. (1979?).
  9. Helena Kanyar Becker: Cliché and Reality. In this. (Ed.), Jenische, Sinti und Roma in der Schweiz, Basel 2003, pp. 15–18, here: p. 17; [3] Feature of Swiss television from May 7, 1998 Gypsy life - Gypsy death about Sinti who fled and extradited to Switzerland, whose claims for compensation are represented by the bicycle cooperative, and about Swiss Sinti.
  10. Not every traveler is a gypsy, in: Scharotl, 17 (1992), no. 1, p. 21.
  11. Thomas Huonker , Project: On the way between persecution and recognition. Forms and perspectives of the integration and exclusion of Yeniche, Sinti and Roma in Switzerland from 1800 until today, see: [4] ; Willi Wottreng, Portable Culture, in: Urs Walder, Nomaden in der Schweiz, Zurich 1999, pp. 19–38, here: p. 31.
  12. See the final report on the project “On the way between persecution and recognition. Forms and perspectives of the integration and exclusion of Yeniche, Sinti and Roma in Switzerland from 1800 until today ”within the framework of the National Research Program 51, rapporteur Thomas Huonker: [5] .
  13. See: Final report of the Holocaust Fund, in: Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse (Ed.), Information brochure, o. O. (Zurich) 2008, p. 12ff.
  14. See e.g. B. the self-descriptions of the “Jenischen Bund” [6] or the association “Schäft qwant” [7] .
  15. admin: Home. In: Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse. Retrieved December 8, 2019 (Swiss Standard German).
  16. ^ For example, the Swiss Bishops' Conference 1978 and a study commission in 1983. There are no more recent figures. Quoted from: Hansjörg Roth: Yenish dictionary. From the Yenish vocabulary in Switzerland. Frauenfeld 2001, p. 23.
  17. Swiss Confederation, Federal Office of Culture: Languages ​​and Cultural Minorities - Travelers in Switzerland. ( Memento from June 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  18. Annual report 2008, in: Scharotl, 33 (2008), No. 4, p. 11.
  19. Scharotl, 16 (1991), p. 5.
  20. Swiss Confederation, Federal Office of Culture: Languages ​​and Cultural Minorities - Travelers in Switzerland ( Memento of June 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) .
  21. Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt, March 30, 2016, http://www.monetas.ch/htm/655/de/SHAB-Publikationen-Radgenossenschaft-der-Landstrasse.htm?subj=1330687
  22. a b travelers. Recognition as a national minority. Swiss Federal Office of Culture, last updated April 15, 2006 ( memo of December 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).
  23. Yenish and Sinti as a national minority. ( Memento of the original of July 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Swiss Federal Office of Culture, accessed on September 24, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bak.admin.ch
  24. About us. ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.radgenossenschaft.ch
  25. Yenish everyday life beyond the romanticism of caravans. Yenish and Sinti require the correct designation of their ethnic group. The federal government , April 6, 2016.
  26. Yeniche and Sinti enrich Switzerland. Speech by Federal Councilor Alain Berset on September 15, 2016.
  27. ^ Annual report 2008 of the bicycle cooperative, section Foreign travelers , in: Scharotl, 33 (2008), edition 4; see. also: Dominik Gross: Travelers. The freedom to go. In: WOZ. The weekly newspaper, January 29, 2009, see: [8] .
  28. Editorial, "Let's not divide ourselves apart", Scharotl No. 4/2015, also published on www.radgenossenschaft.ch
  29. ^ Homepage of the bicycle cooperative , notification from November 6, 2019
  30. Extract from the HR register, free of charge, can be obtained by email
  31. ^ Gypsy cultural center. Stiftung-Fahrende.ch, accessed on September 24, 2017; See also the self-definition according to the commercial register: Cooperative driving gypsy culture center. MoneyHouse.ch, accessed on September 24, 2017.
  32. ^ Evangelical Gypsy Mission Switzerland - Life and Light. Stiftung-Fahrende.ch, accessed on September 24, 2017.
  33. Naschet-Jenische.ch Accessed on September 24, 2017.
  34. We are Yeniche - and we want to stay Yeniche. Press release by the Union of the Yenish Minority in Europe (U / J / M / E), February 22, 2007.