Annual Report Discrimination 2015

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106
Discrimination and the Roma community, 2015
# YoNoSoyTrapacero(I’m not a swindler), a viral
initiative calling for the use of fairer language
when referring to Roma. FSG
The most recent print edition of the Dictionary of the
Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE) amend-
ed the definition of the work ‘Gitano’ (Gypsy). It deleted
the fourth definition ‘one who commits fraud or mis-
leads’ and added a fifth one ‘trapacero’ (one who uses
cunning, deceit and lies to achieve a goal).
This change came under strong criticism by the Roma
associative movement in the form of communiqués and
press statements. On 8 April, International Roma Day, we
launched the social awareness-raising campaign called
“#YoNoSoyTrapacero #YoNoSoyTrapacera” (I’m not
a swindler) with the slogan “A discriminatory definition
breeds discrimination”.
The campaign was developed by the Fundación Sec-
retariado Gitano thanks to income tax funds earmarked
for “other social services” in solidarity with and under
the logo of the organisations belonging to the State
Council of the Roma People in an effort to present a
unified image of the Roma movement.
This initiative is in direct response to the change in the
RAE’s new dictionary and, more importantly, symbolis-
es discrimination against the Roma community which in
this case is visible through language which entrenches
negative and prejudicial stereotypes.
Posters, pins, pamphlets, online videos, etc. were used
for the campaign. The main piece is a two-minute spot
depicting Roma children who are looking up the word
‘Gitano’ in the dictionary.
The video is very endearing and immediately went viral
with a million views on Facebook in a week and more
than half a million on YouTube; and the figures contin-
ued to rise in subsequent weeks. The Twitter hashtag
#YoNoSoyTrapacero was also a trending topic in Spain.
The media covered the campaign launch on mainstream
TV (La 1, La 2, Cuatro, Telecinco) and radio news pro-
grammes (Cadena Ser, Onda Cero, etc.), on national
media websites (El País- Verne, Planeta Futuro-, web
Antena3… ), and even in international media where it was
mentioned in The New York Times, the CBS TV web
page and The Washington Post. The viral phenomenon
of the video resulted in surprising results such as the
Facebook page of Channel 3 TV (Chile) which has accu-
mulated over 10.5 million views.
For more information see:
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