Isidora Randjelović

Isidora is building a new feminist movement with and for Romani women across Europe to not only reclaim history but also to become part of building the future. This new movement rewrites history from women’s perspective and prepares the young Roma women for the future by equipping them with the right tools and mentors. Through RomaniPhen, Isidora creates a safe space for Roma women to come together and reclaim their place in society.

Racism against Roma communities is very common across Europe. Men and women experience discrimination differently. Roma women face multiple layers of discrimination in their daily lives, and must navigate challenges both within their own communities and in broader society, highlighting the intersectional nature of their struggle. Neither the racism issue nor the patriarchal paradigm has been tackled properly until recent years: the German state only accepted in 1982 that Romani were also victims of Nazi genocides. Although Romani was the second most crowded victim group of the Holocaust (following the European Jews), their losses are still not mentioned in the educational materials or holocaust memorials. In formal education, Roma children learn little about the significance of their ethnic identity, important events in their history, or influential figures from Roma communities, especially female leaders. These topics remain largely unaddressed in official curricula.

On top of these historical issues, there are now newcomer Romani in the region who migrated there upon the fall of communism. The state's policies create a tiered system of rights and privileges, where Roma groups from the Balkans are often relegated to a lower status compared to their Sinti counterparts, reflecting a broader pattern of hierarchical access to civil liberties and social benefits. A feminist born in Yugoslavia and raised in Germany, Isidora sees an opportunity among these many hierarchies and separation politics to bring women together under a feminist agenda, despite their differences.

On the first level of her work, Isidora aims to not only rewrite the Roma history from women’s perspective but also bring Roma women of different histories together to work on a shared goal which is to shift the dominant narrative about their identities and history. Rewriting history is crucial and urgent for RomaniPhen as the existing resources on Romani including their losses during the Nazi era are written by non-Roma. RomaniPhen creates collaborative spaces where Roma women, particularly those from marginalized communities, come together to explore and articulate their shared histories and current challenges. Through collective discussions on patriarchy, systemic racism, colonialism, and the Holocaust, the group develops a common language and analytical tools. This collaborative process empowers participants to actively shape narratives about their experiences, challenging the tradition of others speaking on their behalf. RomaniPhen organizes intergenerational spaces for Roma women to come together and share their stories. Findings of these stories are documented and shared in relevant spaces including a Holocaust memorial, schools, kindergartens, research pieces, and so on. In addition to this work, RomaniPhen also reaches out to existing scholars and professionals with Roma identity and gives them the space to talk about the issues of Roma women. By doing so, Isidora leverages the power of already existing Roma women leaders in shifting narratives and triggers them to create a new language for Roma women’s issues.

On the second level, RomaniPhen aims to support the younger generations to continue this movement. The first piece will already provide young Roma girls with stories and role models to accept proudly their Roma identity and then fight their issues with this knowledge. Isidora believes in order for these girls to become owners of these stories in the future and live up to their true leadership potential in their communities, they need additional resources. Thus, they organize workshops for these young girls to gain confidence, networks, and skills to help them express themselves (e.g., developing a podcast, shooting informative YouTube videos). RomaniPhen does not stop there and reaches out to the teachers from the schools with high Roma student density. Going through workshops and trainings, these teachers become available to their young Roma women students’ needs of mentorship and coaching.

With the rise of discussions around racism and diversity, RomaniPhen organizes a timely response to bring citizenship to all Roma women of Europe. Scaling through existing Roma-led groups, Isidora aims to spread this movement across all the continent, affecting the thinking and narratives of majority society as well as the Romani.

It is estimated that 15-20 million Roma people live in Europe and 150,000 are currently residing in Germany. Having migrated from India to Europe around the 14th century, Romani have always been discriminated against in different shapes and forms. All across the continent, Roma communities fought through systemic racism and slavery until the mid-20th century. By 1930s, Romani had managed to enroll in mainstream education, get involved in city life, and own property. However, with the rise of Nazi rule in half of the continent, all of these gains were lost during the Holocaust. It is estimated Between 500,000 and 1.5 million Romani fell victim to the Holocaust, making them one of the most severely affected groups, second only to the Jewish population, in the Nazi genocides. Until 1982, this was not even recognized by the German government. Although perpetrators destroyed and concealed documents, and despite widespread Holocaust denial, the memory of these atrocities has been preserved across generations thanks to the oral tradition of Romani culture.Even after its recognition, the issue is still not taught in schools or not mentioned at most of the holocaust monuments. Feeling unheard and unseen, Sinti (German/speaking Romani) grew disappointed.

At the same time, new Roma communities arrive in Germany every day, mostly from the Balkans and Central Eastern Europe. These communities have differences from Sinti, such as the language they speak, the religion they practice, and the cultural norms they believe in. While Sinti has official minority status in Germany, most of these newcomer Romani do not have any status in the eyes of the state, meaning they have no access to minority benefits and rights.

This situation disproportionately affects Roma women and girls, who face structural inequalities (social, cultural, economic), which prevent them from taking active societal roles. There are very few knowledge pieces written by Roma women about their experiences and specific challenges. Most of the literature is written either by non-Roma people who elude their perspectives and erased or downsized Roma women's identity for centuries.

Discrimination has consistently denied Roma women personal development, self-esteem, decent living conditions, livelihood opportunities and institutional services. In addition to the racism prevalent in broader society, gender relations within both the dominant society and Roma communities contribute to the multiple layers of marginalization experienced by Roma women. The intersecting aspects of Roma women’s marginalization have been left largely unexposed.

Historically, the learnings, teachings and experiences of the Roma population have been systematically excluded from contemporary educational institutions and from Eurocentric knowledge systems. Interpretations of the image and lives of the Romani are permeated with misperceptions, myths, and assumptions based on stereotypical definitions. Moreover, academic discourses have treated Roma population largely as a single homogenous group, thus omitting the particular experience faced by Roma women. In Germany, 99 % of academic and expert writings on Roma people are created by non-Roma researchers. This perpetuates a vicious cycle: Outdated policy documents, technical articles, and educational materials continue to reinforce discriminatory discourses. These materials, in turn, shape the education of professionals such as teachers and social workers, further entrenching biased perspectives and perpetuating harmful societal narratives about Roma communities.

In order to bring citizenship to the Roma women of Europe, Isidora carefully organizes a movement:

First, Isidora has worked with a core group of women over many years to carry this movement to the next stage. In this group, artists, academicians, and social workers of Sinti and Roma origin identify needs and opportunities in their fields of work and build partnerships with other team members. For instance, social workers might help identify an emerging need of Roma kids or academicians may realize a gap within the system when it comes to the history of Roma and Sinti in Europe. This team is crucial for understanding the community's current needs and designing solutions in collaboration.

When the Ronja come together in the space created by RomaniPhen, they collectively develop new narratives and devise strategies to address the challenges they face. Together, they create action plans on how to confront these issues effectively. If there's a new narrative to be shared (e.g., Roma's suffering during the Holocaust) or a specific incident to be addressed (e.g., a Roma woman being fired without apparent reason), Isidora reaches out to her media partners, including Roma influencers, young social media enthusiasts, and mainstream media professionals, to amplify these stories and strategies. For instance, RomaniPhen has been working with the management of the central romani holocaust memorial to insert a QR code that would lead the visitors to internet pages providing the Roma perspective on the Holocaust. When the first QR codes for the Living Archive about the Holocaust were put up in Berlin, their young volunteers organized a social media campaign to help others realize this new contribution of Roma women to history. If the women come up with an action plan about their specific issues, Isidora then turns to the institutions, be it the municipality or the non-profits. By setting up the ground for Roma women to speak up, by finding allies in each and every institution, and by setting the right tone, Isidora prepares the room for the advocacy of Roma women. This work is done not only in non-Roma institutions; traditional Roma organizations are also made part of this.

To empower younger generations, RomaniPhen has established Romani Chaji, an initiative group for girls. This group provides a courageous space for them to discuss themes that are relevant to their lives and experiences, topics that often require a safe and supportive environment for open dialogue. These discussions may include issues such as racism against Roma and Sinti and sexual and reproductive rights, among other subjects important to the participants. In weekly workshops, they learn to organize themselves as a group and design and explore ways to represent themselves and Roma culture (e.g., through podcasts, theatre plays, photo projects, school workshops on discrimination). Moreover, coming together with adult beneficiaries of the organization later on, these girls do not only learn about their history and identity but also meet with potential role models and are building a community of activist allies for the future as a foundation for intergenerational collective action.

Since 2016, the Romnja Power Month (the flagship event of RomaniPhen) has become more and more known, and the number of visitors and cooperation is growing. On average, in Berlin, between 20 and 50 people come to the 15-18 events; between 150-200 people take part in the closing event. In 2020, the Romnja Power Month was replicated by other Roma organizations in Romania and Austria.

RomaniPhen were the first to introduce the use of gender-inclusive language for Roma and Sinti (Rom*nja and Sinti*zze) in German writing which have since become common practice and is adopted in official government reports and by other grassroot organizations. Roma women are invited by other organizations independently of RomaniPhens’ mediation showing their work and knowledge are valued. The materials and work results produced by RomaniPhen are requested and used in day-care centers and schools, in political spheres and in academic publications and teaching.

In the long run, Isidora aims to create a pan-European community of Roma women who can weave together a new narrative about themselves. RomnjaPower Month was launched in 2016 by RomaniPhen and was held as a nationwide event every year since then. In 2019, just before the pandemic struck, it was taken up by other European self-organized groups of Roma women for the first time. Isidora envisions it becoming institutionalized across Europe as a means to build collective power beyond borders.

Another goal of the team is to maintain and develop close conversations with universities, academia, educational institutions, and public agencies in the following years. Building on her own experience in establishing Germany’s first Roma women-led organization, Isidora is now working with other organizations and networks representing marginalized populations, including but not limited to Roma organizations (for example, the Initiative for Black People in Germany). By collaboratively developing toolkits and blueprints for establishing and managing community self-organizational structures and networks, RomaniPhen aims to collectively empower themselves to create community-led responses to exclusion and misrepresentation.

Born in former Yugoslavia as the granddaughter of fascism survivors, Isidora grew up with much awareness and attention around the issues of ethnicity and gender. When she moved to Berlin in primary school, she got to experience most of these issues firsthand. Despite dealing with migrant issues such as the language and cultural differences, she also had to endure racist discrimination, like being put up in a separate classroom, teachers advising her to become a florist (an occupation done in poor conditions by most Roma women) and being bullied by other students for having a darker skin color. Getting over these challenges with the help of her grandparents and close community, Isidora also built awareness around climate issues. When she realized the amount of garbage the lunchroom created, she organized her first activist event. She convinced a group of peers to collect all the garbage and stock them in the middle of the cafeteria to make the problem visible. With this event, she not only achieved the goal of producing less garbage in the lunchroom but also gained the respect and acceptance of many other students.

In her studies of the historically grown persecution of Roma and Sinti and her growing engagement in movements of Roma and Sinti, she learned that the institutional barriers are (re-)produced by laws, routines, and norms, but behind them are people and their interpretations of the world. Here she learned that while we work for human rights, some people are not equally recognized as people, not as creators, feelers, or complex persons with personal and collective histories. So, she started to work on processes of knowledge production- to learn and to counteract the dehumanization of Roma communities.

When she started her professional career as a social worker, she saw dehumanization in action. In a very systematic way, Romani migrants and refugees, along with Black people, People of Color, and Arabic-speaking individuals, were only given access to direct social aid packages. Meanwhile, white migrants were offered quicker and more sustainable access to employment, schools, vocational training, and psychological help. Roma and Sinti children in difficult situations would be treated much differently than the German kids. This experience not only shook her trust in the system, but also made her realize that to fix the system, she first needs to shift the thinking of the majority of society around her own community. Since then, she has been working on collective actions to foster mutual learning and reflection between Roma and non-Roma communities.