Hindus and Jews have urged the Hollywood and other entertainment celebrities to use their status to highlight the apartheid conditions faced by about 15-million Roma people of Europe.
Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman; and Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, prominent Jewish leader in Nevada and California in USA; in a statement in Nevada today, said that as many of their fans treated them almost as semi-deities, Hollywood celebrities would be very effective in changing public opinion world over. Many Hollywood and other entertainment bigwigs had successfully worked against South Africa’s apartheid in the past and Roma would be the next worthwhile cause to undertake.
Zed and Freirich further said that they had high hopes that world entertainment elite would not stay apathetic and silent spectator when fellow Roma brothers/sisters were reportedly facing blatant injustice and discrimination in Europe. They urged entertainment celebrities to show strong political will, courage, and commitment in support of Roma cause.
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, unusually high unemployment rates, etc., Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out.
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, Zed and Freirich stressed and added that Hollywood elite should immediately come out of their shells to take up the apartheid of Roma cause.