Who are the (Romanian) beggars?

« Chose promise, chose due » (whatever has been promised is now due to happen). This is a saying I like very much in French, as it is very close to my natural inclination. That is, I generally keep my promises.

In this case, reviewing the 7 categories of Romanians I’ve identified until now as living in France (this list should be pretty much the same across Western Europe at least, but it’s not representative of Romania – which is a bit more complex than that – we’ll come to that later).

So let’s start reviewing number 6, the most visible one generally: the Romanian beggar. I like this category because it is very diverse and full of surprises. Since I started paying attention, I counted at least 6 sub-categories until now. However I think the list won’t end here – maybe with some help from you guys.

(Oh, and before beginning, I want to clarify something: When a non-Romanian says “Romanians”, actually meaning beggars, a Romanian would say “Tzigani”, actually meaning beggars. Try replacing “Romanians” and “Tzigani” with “Frenchmen” and "Gitans" (or “Englishmen” and “Gypsies”) and you’ll get the point. It’s not the same, but it’s still part of the bigger picture J

So non-Romanians are right: the Romanian beggars do have a Romanian ID or passport. They are Romanians, even though their vast majority is indeed issued of a minority which used to be called “Tzigani” (Gypsies – used pejoratively) but who chose to be called Roma (or Rrom in Romania), that is “man” or “husband”, in an effort to empower the community. – We will go back to their history later on.)

You might have noticed, the begging activity has its privileged and its unprivileged people, according to several criteria:

•  Number : whether it’s be done alone or in (small) groups, with individuals who are standalone or part of criminal networks (in the latter case, they are never the primary beneficiaries of their begging)  
• Gender : whether it’s done by a man or a woman (yes, begging is a gender-based activity, too, reflecting the global gender assignments in traditional but also modern societies - men usually sing or play instruments, and women beg with their younger kids). Men can also beg sometimes with kids, but only boys, and only outside of the central areas. 
•  Location : whether it’s done on the most beautiful streets of Paris, as well as next to the highway, with different results

Below, a few examples.

Amongst the privileged:

1.     The Romanian man who plays the accordion and sings beautifully in the metro…in Italian (he must have lived in Italy previously). He usually gets a pretty large amount/wagon therefore is well spirited, smiling and apologizing for the inconvenience.

2.     The Romanian who raps (sings hip hop) in the metro. He looks like a regular hip-hop Romanian fan, and sings in Romanian. Haven't heard those words before so I suppose he's written them. His broken beat brings him sympathy and a few nickels.

3.     The Romanian man who plays (beautifully) his xylophone. He is around 60, white-haired and skillful. When I heard him, I initially thought it was an Asian performer - so beautiful was his music. But I recognized him as Romanian when I heard the way he was thanking those (not few) who gave him a nickel: "merci chef, merci patron". ( This way of thanking of a man towards another man makes me think of another topic, which is how Romanians relate to authority - but I’ll come to that later on, too)

And the less privileged:

4.     The Mutilated Romanian (usually a man with an amputated leg, at the knee or above), who crawls on his bottom, in the metro, at peak hours, leg well in sight. The sine qua non in this case is to have a portion of bare flesh well exposed which causes mixed feelings to the travelers : disdain for someone who fell so low, who is so vulgar as to show his mutilated flesh, combined with pity and relief for not being in his shoes. Despite this, not many people give money. This reminds me of the old-fashioned circuses where deformed people were shown in order to horrify and entertain audiences…

5.     The Romanian young mother who begs with (probably) her infant, aged from a few months to a couple of years. I don't see many people giving her money neither and I feel people are strongly disagreeing with this: “beg if you have to, but not with your kids”. There are even voices arguing that these kids should be taken from them and placed in the State's care, given away for adoption. For them, the life of the kid could only be better than with their (supposed) mother. 

6.    The Romanian women who beg on the Champs-Elysees. There is something disturbing about them, which is their number. There would be 10 on the Champs-Elysees, one every meter, looking like Romanian nuns for Romanians, probably scarf-wearing Muslims for the Saudi Arabia tourists, all in the same "praying" position. It looks like a very well-choreographed begging ballet, and probably highly profitable to the people exploiting this network. 

The list could go on… 

However next time you see a beggar, try and see the bigger picture:  the Romanian beggar as part of a social reality which is more complex than it seems.