Hindus laud Hollywood star Ethan Hawke for supporting Roma cause in Romania

Hindus have applauded Oscar nominated Ethan Hawke (Training Day) for supporting Roma cause in Romania.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that with celebrities like Hawke and Golden Globe winner Madonna (Evita) highlighting the Roma maltreatment in Europe, it would find an early solution.

Hawke was reportedly in Romania on October 31 to promote his mother’s charity supporting education for Roma children, for which he had been going to Romania since 2000. He reportedly praised entertainer Madonna for speaking about discrimination against Roma during her recent concert in Bucharest (Romania) which brought boos and jeers from thousands of her fans.

Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that alarming condition of Roma people was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the world as they reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, language barriers, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalization, appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse, racist slogans on Internet, etc.

It was like an undeclared apartheid and it was almost total societal exclusion of Roma. The maltreatment of Roma was outside even the European Union norms. Roma issue should be one of the highest priorities of human rights agenda of Europe and world, Rajan Zed argued. According to a recent report of European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, one in two Roma considered that they had been discriminated against, at least once, in the previous 12 months.

Hindu statesman urged other Hollywood and entertainment celebrities of the world not to stay apathetic and silent spectators and use their status to highlight the apartheid conditions faced by about 15-million Roma people of Europe. Many Hollywood and other entertainment bigwigs had successfully worked against South Africa’s apartheid in the past.

Rajan Zed further said that references to Roma people in Europe reportedly went as far back as ninth century AD. How many more centuries Roma had to reside in Europe to prove that they were “real and equal” Europeans like any other, Zed asked.

Ethan Green Hawke, 38, is an American film actor-writer-director. Roma are believed to have their roots in the Indian subcontinent.

--SAMPURN