to Xenos: Who is going to protect my right to self determination, when in a few years when I will say that I am a macedonian they will think I am slavic?

to Panayote: That report is inaccurate, and doubly as stupid becouse it was posted by greek officials. It says that athigganos is a derogatory term and that gypsy means tsiganos, which is acceptable. The more derogatory “greek” term for the Roma is Gyftos, which comes from Aigyptios, which is the same as gyspy, which also comes from Egyptian. It is the term Tsiganos that comes from Athigganos. So, that piece of writing doesn’t make any sense at all, and as such I wouldn’t use it as much.

to DD: I couldn’t care less about “greek” being a derogatory term. It’s not my name. But of course, it’s the force of habit that lets the west call us something we haven’t used for at least 200 hundred years, which also it was never our official name. On the other side, if a “greek” calls uses a term different than what people accept, he makes it out of seer viciousness.

FROM: HELLENIC POLICE HEADQUARTERS (A.E.A.)/ADMINISTRATIVE SECTOR (K.D.)/ ORGANISATION AND LEGISLATION DIVISION/ 2nd DEPARTMENT OF STRATEGIC PLANNING

TO: ALL HELLENIC POLICE AGENCIES

CC: MINISTRY OF PUBLIC ORDER

NO.: 7100/26/5ε
4-8-2004

SUBJECT: Identification of members of the vulnerable group of Roma
REL.: Our order 7100/ 16/1κγ of 8-7-2004 to all Sectors’ Directorates/A.E.A.

1. Following the afore-mentioned relevant order, concerning the Third Report issued by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) on the situation in Greece, emphasis is laid on the recommendation of the Commission about the continuation and strengthening of efforts to abolish direct and indirect discrimination against Greek Roma and sensitize the authorities, especially in the area of the statements that include degrading or racist terms.

2. On the basis of the afore-mentioned recommendation and in view of the obligation of the Hellenic Police – which is a part of the public administration – as defined from the current legislation in force [Legal Decree (N.D.) 494/1970 “Ratification of the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination” Government Gazette Issue (F.E.K.) 77/A’], we request that, when there is a need to identify a member of the vulnerable group of Roma, in correspondence, written and oral statements of the Agencies and your staff, you make use exclusively of the international terms rom (roma) or of the term gypsy [tsiganos in Greek]. The use of derogatory terms, like “athigganos” etc. is not allowed.

CHIEF OF STAFF
NIKOLAOS TASIOPOULOS
POLICE LIEUTENANT GENERAL

Responsible for the copying of the document
in Athens, the same day
2nd Department of Strategic Planning
of the Organisation and Legislation Division/A.E.A.
Georgios PALLIOURAS
Police Assistant Director

ps. this is the umpteenth time I post this at this blog - not that people like Nikos care for such details

I compare terminology changes with what happened in England with the word “coloured”. It was an accepted term and considered very polite. People genuinely thought that “black” was insulting.

It wasn’t until we had those discussions that “coloured” was phased out of the vocabulary for describing black people or people of colour (as is more common in the US).

The same is true of the phrase “half-caste” used to describe mixed race/heritage people. I used to cringe every time I heard it and never understood why (I was five or six when I first became aware of controversy)

We (people of colour/black people/mixed race people) have the right to discuss these issues and to decide which terms WE wish to use to describe ourselves. And we have the right to determine which phrases WE want others to use to describe us.