The association Romano Centro (2013) published a report on the exclusion of Rroma in Austria this week. The authors of the report saw discrimination in everyday life, in public facilities as well as in access to the labour market. Here, the effective observable racism is only a part of what actually takes place. Discrimination in the private sector will often not be reported and therefore remain undetected. The internet on the other hand, is so rich on information, that the effective dimensions of antiziganism cannot truly bee assessed. Regarding the media coverage, as in Ettinger (2013), they see a one-sided focus on delinquency and the ethnicisation of poverty different phenomena: “The reports are usually unilaterally focused on begging or on the topics of poverty induced migration, human trafficking and specific criminality. The social problems that are seen by many as “grievances”, are attributed to an ethnic group which fuels the growth of the rejection of this group.” A further concern is that the racist acts against Rroma are by far not only committer by members of right-wing groups. Antiziganism is socially acceptable in broad sections of the population and anchored on the transmission of false prejudices. The authors therefore deem it as a truly important and viable challenge to break this institutionalized racism.

• Romano Centro (2013) Antiziganismus in Österreich. In: Romano Centro online vom 5.12.2013.  http://www.romano-centro.org

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