Abdi, Faik

   Macedonia. Contemporary political activist. In 1948, he was a founding member of Phralipe. This was the first Romany cultural association permitted by the postwar Communist authorities in Macedonia and acted as a covert forum of Romany national aspirations. Son of a blacksmith, Abdi was one of only a handful of Roma of his generation in the former Yugoslavia to obtain a university degree. He attended the first World Romany Congress in London while serving as an MP in the Macedonian Parliament (1969-1974). He later formed the Roma Emancipation Party but suffered from a campaign by the government to undermine his authority through various allegations. He was deprived of his passport for four years to prevent his participation in international meetings.