End of a path

I understood that there are standards that I am unable to fit. Expectations I was and still am unable to meet. That my percentage of failures and wins is slowly but surely becoming frustrating not only for me but also for those that want things to change to the better within the Roma communities. I also understand that my articles and political stands can hurt the interests of some or most Roma groups due to many reasons.

Therefore, I am giving up being a Roma rights activist. I feel that I tried as hard as I could while I was involved in it. Obviously, I was not as successful as I wanted to be. I will not be part of any Roma organization and I do not intend to take part in anything dealing specifically with Roma. I will have no professional contacts with the Roma political or civil society but I will stay in touch with a few friends. I will continue to volunteer in the ghetto in Bucharest and will remain very involved in the political issues that I am passionate about – those related to children rights, populism and corruption.

I am not planning to talk or write more about the reasons for my decision or about what I will do next. I think most of you reading this already know about the challenges ahead for the Roma movement, and I know there are enough strong, smart and courageous activists ready to tackle these. I very much enjoyed working with some of them.

I know this might risks to seem as a call for attention. Far from it, I feel I received far more attention than I deserved. At the same time I do not want to have to repeat the last two paragraphs that have been my standard reply to people that wanted to find out  what happened.

I apologize to all of you that I will not reply or be in touch in the future.