Word: romanians
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...hour and soon had the crowd of Londoners (Londoners!) dancing in the pews. A corner of Tony Blair's old borough was transformed, momentarily, into a raucous outpost of Eastern Europe. And so it goes with Taraf de Haïdouks, or "band of brigands," a Romanian gypsy group that has won praise from the late Yehudi Menuhin, modeled clothes for Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto and played Johnny Depp's Viper Club in L.A. Taraf's CD sales may still be modest, but their performances have won a cult following. And they are not alone. Gypsy music is stirring...
MOLDOVA Language Protest The streets of the capital Chisinau thronged with demonstrators demanding the resignation of communist President Vladimir Voronin and new parliamentary elections. The protests were sparked in January by the re-introduction of compulsory Russian-language lessons in a country where most of the population speaks Romanian. The demonstrations grew after the disappearance, in suspicious circumstances, of opposition journalist and Parliament deputy Vlad Cubreacov...
Varga is one of about 50,000 Romanians who have applied for the status cards over the past month. In Serbia, demand is so high that 25 Serbs tried to pass themselves off - unsuccessfully - as Hungarian in order to get cards. Despite its popularity, the law has drawn fire from officials in some neighboring countries, who argue that it violates their sovereignty and discriminates against non-ethnic Hungarians. "This law is part of an attempt to reclaim old territories," says Gheorghe Funar, the mayor of Cluj-Napoca, whose civic initiatives include banning bilingual signs and painting everything from park benches...
Romania has also objected. In December, officials in Bucharest pledged to block the law unless some of the benefits, such as facilitated work permits, were extended to all Romanian citizens - a concession that Hungary, under pressure, agreed to make. Still, local officials like Mayor Funar have threatened to fire civil servants who apply for the cards. Ordinary residents of Cluj-Napoca are also also worried. "It's like a fence that is being put up between two neighbors," frets Marinella Oancea, 54, a travel agent. "It's a provocation...
Economic disparities are clearly part of the problem. When people in the Romanian region of Transylvania struggle to put food on the table, watching a neighbor receive preferential treatment because of his birth is divisive. "The key thing is to get all these guys into the E.U. as quickly as possible," says a Western envoy in Bucharest. Even then, ethnic ties will still run deeper than lines...