"Hate Speech Transforms Roma into Tenants in Their Own Home," was the motion of a debate held at the Red House. Participants were young Roma between the ages of 17 and 30 who were trained in debating this summer by the Bulgarian National Debate Association (member of the OSI-supported International Debate Education Association, IDEA).
The purpose of the training was to help Bulgarian Roma youth become effective advocates for the Roma cause and to enable them to launch a series of public debates as well as establish debating societies in Roma communities. Another important aspect of the debate program in Bulgaria is to bring minority and majority youth together and, through debate, provide an opportunity to discuss important and often controversial issues.
Three of the organizers of the debate took part in the IDEA Youth Forum in Sarajevo, where one of them took fourth place in the Mixed Teams track. The event was being organized by the Open Society Institute Roma Initiatives, in cooperation with the Red House, the Roma newspaper Drom Dromendar, the Bulgarian National Debate Association, and IDEA.
The following is a summary of an OSI-cosponsored debate for Roma youth, which took place November 19, 2009, in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The two teams of 13 young Roma—students of philosophy, law, medicine, public administration, economics, and a graduate from a language high school—faced each other and debated if the negative representation of Roma in Bulgaria deprives them from equal participation in public life. They both agreed that hate speech in Bulgarian media when covering the life of Roma is a very big problem for both the Roma and Bulgarian society.
The Affirmative and Negative teams presented different approach for resolving the problem. The affirmative claimed that strict legal mechanisms are needed in case of a hate speech—that the hate speech should be incriminated, while the Negative team suggested a different approach based on developing multicultural education through the education system in Bulgaria starting with preschoolers. According to their trainer, Trendafil Meretev, both teams presented persuasive arguments and showed great enthusiasm and good debate skills when debating the case. The speeches were well prepared and the debaters quickly and easily overcame the stress of bering in front of an audience. The cross examination was very interesting and attractive. Given that the participants are beginners, the idea of continuing future debate training and debate activities is very promising.
After the debate, the three juries—Trendafil Meretev (National Debate Association), Rumyan Russinov (Roma activist) and Petya Kabakchieva (sociologist and chair of the Board of OSI Sofia)—gave their expert opinions about the debate. All commented on the fact that hate speech in media needs adequate measures from the government to cease. Following the experts' comments there was an open discussion with the audience. The young debaters answered the questions with courage and self-confidence.