Human Resources Minister: Culture Is Basis For Roma Integration

(MTI) – The integration of the Roma must be established on culture, Human Resources Minister Zoltan Balog said at the opening of a Roma festival on Sunday.

Culture exists to give our actions a soul and to show our origins, our values and what we can be proud of, Balog said at the Gypsy Wheel – Roma Culture Festival.

“We in Hungary can be proud of Gypsy culture as it is a part of our national culture. For example, in music, one can’t say where traditional Hungarian music begins and where Gypsy music finishes.”

He said the message of the Gypsy Wheel festival to those living in abject poverty — those in the greatest need of something to lean on — was that they have a culture that is worth living, that is worth becoming familiar with, that is worth using.

Balog noted that Hungary’s Roma had produced two Kossuth Prize winners in the past couple of years: the painter Istvan Szentandrassy and the guitarist Ferenc Snetberger.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters