Daily Archives: January 24, 2014

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24.01.2014 The Rroma and the integration debate in France

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Le Nouvel Observateur (2014) reports on the lawsuit on the right of residence for the family of Leonarda Dibrani, whose deportation made national media coverage last autumn and led to strong criticism of French migration policies. The spokesman of the French administrative court stated that the application of the Dibrani family for a residence permit will be most likely rejected. The final verdict is still pending. The court criticised that Mr. and Mrs. Dibrani could not point to any real integration efforts. They isolated themselves and Mrs. Dibrani cannot speak any French, the court added. Leonarda and her family nonetheless still hope to be granted a residence permit for the whole family. France was her home, not the Kosovo, Leonarda stated. Also, she doesn’t speak any Albanian, which makes her integration in the Kosovo more difficult than in France. 

Dubasque (2014) takes the events of Leonarda as an opportunity to reflect on the French Rroma policies. The approximately 15,000 Rroma in France are and were the target of a rigorous order-policy, which takes no account of their historical exclusion and marginalization. The Rroma are being represented – Dubasque criticizes –  as if they uphold illegal migration, are not willing to work and want to live in degrading conditions voluntarily. Poverty is therefore being ethnicized: „Si l’on peut comprendre les problèmes que ces occupations sauvages peuvent poser aux maires et aux riverains, il convient de rappeler que ces installations constituent des occupations par défaut, conséquence du manque d’hébergements et de logements accessibles aux personnes à très faible revenu […].“ [While one can understand the issues of these illegal occupations can cause to mayors and to neighbours, one needs to state that these occupations occur by default, as a consequence of the lack of housing for people with very low income]. The continuing evictions of Rroma from illegal settlements strongly impairs their access to educational and health institutions and the labour market. Because basic human rights are withheld from them, for many Rroma, a successful integration is a highly demanding task.

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24.01.2014 The invisible Rroma of the United States

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Strochlic (2013) discusses the role of the Rroma in the United States on the basis of the reactions of American Rroma to the case of the blond Rroma girl Maria. Maria was taken by the Greek authorities in the fall of 2013. As it turned out, she is from a Bulgarian Rroma family. The blonde girl sparked a debate about persistent racism and prejudice against the Rroma. In the U.S., the Rroma are clearly better integrated than in Europe. But most of them keep their identity a secret because they fear discrimination and exclusion. The integration of the Rroma in the U.S. therefore primarily works by secrecy and an absence of history: „In the U.S., they’re scattered: coming from a multitude of countries, speaking many dialects, practicing disparate traditions, and observing various levels of traditionalism. But few Americans realise that there are Roma living in their midst […] Undocumented by the U.S. Census, American Roma may keep their heritage under wraps, but when it does emerge, they’ve faced discrimination from friends, landlords, waiters, classmates, strangers, cops, store clerks, and professors. Many were raised with warnings not to tell others of their ethnic identity, and so they remain a hidden ingredient in America’s melting pot.” As their European relatives, the American Rroma fight with massive prejudices that persist in the minds of many people. The negative stereotypes are confirmed by most media and are even increasing. Strochlic presents a chronology of American Rroma activists who fight against prejudice and exclusion. To remain silent and to accept the defamations is not the right way to go.

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24.01.2014 The French Rroma policy and the mayoral elections 2014

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Le Nouvel Obervateur (2014) reports on the increasingly restrictive Rroma policy in connection with the upcoming mayoral elections. The French mayors, the article states, see themselves in a clinch between a vastly Rroma-hostile electorate and the need for a just social policy. Mayors who work for the integration of the Rroma are putting their re-election at stake: „Mais à quelques mois des élections, les mairies refusent pour la plupart d’ouvrir de nouveaux villages d’insertion ou terrains aménagés. “Ce n’est plus jouable maintenant: un maire qui veut se faire réélire, s’il dit “je vais accueillir trois familles roms”, il perd déjà pas mal de voix”, note Bruno Mattéi, de l’association ATD Quart Monde en métropole lilloise.” [But a few months away from the elections, the mayors’ offices refuse to open new insertion villages or to open newly laid plots of land. “this is no longer possible now: a mayor who wants to be re-elected, if he says “I want to settle three Rroma families”, he looses quite a few votes”, notes Bruno Mattei, of the ADT Quart Monde association in the Lille agglomeration.” The socialist mayor Frédéric Marchand has for example received massive threats after he let several Rroma families stay on some unuse space. If a majority of French politicians agree to an opportunistic policy of the majority opinion, the long-term integration of the Rroma will be significantly delayed and aggravated (compare to La Voix du Nord 2014).

François Hollande meanwhile defends the French policies towards Rroma. It is essential – he argued – to enforce the laws and to clear illegal camps. The French government, Hollande emphasized, is well aware of the plight of many Rroma immigrants (Romandie 2014).

Le Monde (Vincent 2014) adds that the restrictive Rroma policies of the French government have not changed the number of Rroma residents in France. Moreover, the living conditions of the Rroma have deteriorated significantly: „Toutes les enquêtes ont démontré que les expulsions n’avaient pas fait baisser le nombre de Roms en France – de l’ordre de 15 000 en France, un chiffre stable – et qu’elles avaient surtout participé à dégrader leurs conditions de vie sanitaires et sociales.“ [All surveys have demonstrated that expulsions haven’t reduced the number of Rroma in France – a number of the order of 15,000 in France and stable – but that the expulsions have contributed to degrade their sanitary and social conditions.] The report of the League of Human Rights and the European Roma Rights Center criticized in particular the deportation policy of the French authorities. The real aim of the French Rroma policies was to send as many Bulgarian and Romanian Rroma as possible back to their homelands. The fact that there are also many integrated Rroma living in France, who are never heard of in the media, is once again ignored. The circular of Jean-Marc Ayrault from the summer of 2012, which demanded a more humane approach to evictions, has been predominantly neglected till today: There is a lack of political will among prefectures, mayors and other institutional actors to apply the more human eviction methods (compare MYTF1 News 2014, Lombart 2014, Piquemal 2014, Vincent 2014/II). 

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24.01.2014 The Focus magazine propagates the mass exodus from Romania and Bulgaria

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Dometeit/Lehmkul (2014) report from Romania. Armed with dubious facts they argue that there indeed a mass migration to Western Europe and especially Germany is taking place. They portray poorly trained Rroma in western Romania who hardly earn a living and see their future opportunities in Western Europe. According to the authors, all Rroma that have a reasonably decent life have been abroad for a shorter or longer period of time: “When the labor markets in the EU open at the beginning of the year, everyone will go”, predicts Stefan and grins. “Then we will all meet like on a huge wedding party.” The big goal: North Rhine-Westphalia. Tens of thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians migrate annually. 30’000 people from the two countries came in 2012 (comparing to 18 500 people emigrating). 2013 there will be even more immigrants, the Ministry of Labour, Integration and Social Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia predicts.” Dometeit/Lehmkul totally ignore that the statistics, as has already been discussed several times, count seasonal workers and therefore are massively exaggerated. That all Romanians and Bulgarians living in poverty will migrate to Germany is very unlikely, as the expansion of free migration to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland has already shown. Masses of immigrants didn’t show up. Dometeit/Lehmkuhl provide a highly one-sided picture of Rroma. Those who have become rich are immediately associated with illegal activities: “On the so-called rose park there are palaces Roma clans have built through business in Germany. Most of them are empty, the shutters are lowered. Two or three times a year the families come to celebrate. Then the Porsches and Ferraris show up. Two years ago, the police raided some of the villas at the request of the German prosecutor’s, based on suspicions of tax evasion, money laundering and human traffeking.” Such reporting is simplistic and patronizing. Dometeit/ Lehmkuhl completely ignore that there are well integrated, upright Rroma

This one-sided perspective is shared by the Schweizer Magazin (2014). The online newspaper favors polemical generalizations and simplifications: “Sinti and Roma, as well as other social welfare benefiters from Romania and Bulgaria – the two poorest countries in Europe – are ready to flood Germany and to enrich themselves with the social benefits. Only the economy may approve, since every immigrant from these poor countries depresses the wages and thus complicates the lives of all Europeans and only increases the profits of the companies.” To designate the Rroma people generally as social welfare benefiters is racist and stupid. Much more need not being said about this.

The Baltische Rundschau (2014) strengthens fears of a mass immigration from Eastern Europe. The article is openly racist and speaks of social parasites and brown rats who are supposedly coming from Serbia to plunder the German welfare state: “After the wave of Roma who migrate as official EU citizens from Romania and Bulgaria to the German welfare state, more and more Gypsies are now coming from Serbia. However, these do not use the “privileged” status as EU citizens to flood the labour market and welfare system, but make use of the German asylum law. In 2013, the asylum applications from Serbia increased by 40 percent, almost all asylum seekers are Roma.” The Rroma Contact Point has stated very often that the prognosis of a mass immigration to Western Europe is wrong. Moreover, not all immigrants automatically become welfare cases. A reduction of the west migration to the case of the Rroma is racist and ethnicizes poverty problems.

The right-wing populist platform unzensuriert.at (2014) is even more racist. It propagates the concept of a culture war and the collapse of the German welfare state. The pretentious statements are one-sided, distorted, highly selective interpretations of the real situation. The platform forecast an additional influx of 200,000 Romanians and Bulgaria to Germany for the current year: “The city of Duisburg is paying dearly for the unrestricted immigration of Roma clans. For the year 2014, the city administration predicts additional costs of at least 12 million Euro for the “integration” of immigrant Gypsies from Romania and Bulgaria. Meanwhile, some 10,000 Roma live in the Ruhr city. Entire neighborhoods such as Duisburg-Rheinhausen are firmly in the hands of the Gypsies. Germans, but also guest workers from Turkey and former Yugoslavia living here for many years, already feel as strangers.” With such polemical statements unzensuriert.at does intellectual arson and endangers social peace. Such xenophobic statements have nothing to do with freedom of speech and freedom of the press. 

A differentiated and liberal attitude towards the immigration debate is taken by Maike Freund (2013). She argues for complexity and rationalism concerning the predictions of a mass immigration: “Who goes through Neukölln in Berlin or the northern city of Dortmund, knows that such scenes or similar belong to the reality in Germany – but they are only one part of the truth. Because the numbers say: there are many highly educated immigrants, also from Romania and Bulgaria, and Germany relies on these professionals.”

Mappes-Niediek (2014) speaks of the conflicting reactions to the polemical predictions about the mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria. Thus, ethnic Romanians and Bulgarians often separate themselves from the Rroma in response to the Western European criticism: “That’s not us, that’s the Roma: This is still the first reflex when some of the German and British debates over poverty migration spill into the Rumanian and Bulgarian public.” Mappes-Niediek criticizes that a poverty problem is turned into an ethnic problem by distinguishing between ethnic Romanians and the Rroma. After the collapse of the socialist system, the ethnic Romanians were given back the possessions of their ancestors, who had been collectivized. Since a large part of the Rroma had possessed nothing before socialism, they emerged as losers from the change of system: “Only the Roma got back nothing because their grandparents hadn’t possessed anything. They moved into the slums, from which the poverty immigrants of today emerge. This allows both the German and the Romanian public to keep the poverty problem a Roma problem – which it is not. If there were no Roma, there would not be any more jobs.” The migration debate is also dominated by a double standard: one hand, one likes to get the well-trained professionals for the German economy – especially doctors – on the other hand one wants to keep out the less well-off.

Antiziganism researcher Markus End criticizes the term “poverty migration” as being negatively charged and equated with Rroma in the public debate. The Rroma are discredited as being lazy and social parasites. End criticizes this depiction and reminds one of the integrated, invisible Rroma: “They were sweepingly referred to as lazy and welfare scroungers. It was said that they are noisy, produce garbage, and are prone to crime. People who follow the media regularly have learned that Roma are poverty immigrants. [ … ]. In the debate, Roma are represented as strangers, even though many have being living in Germany since generations. Also that there are educated and uneducated Rroma, rich and poor, is totally neglected in the debate. The term Roma is used almost synonymous with poverty, crime or waste.” Liberal journalists are also spreading antiziganist stereotypes, even though they welcome the immigration of skilled workers. A liberal journalist from Die Welt compares well-educated, ethnic Romanians and Bulgarians with criminal, antisocial Rroma, producing a value list of welcomed and unwelcomed immigrants. End comes to the conclusion that the coverage of the Rroma is the most biased of all minorities (Grunau 2014).

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24.01.2014 Structural violence and the Rroma

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Habek (2014) discusses the structural violence against Rroma in Croatia based on the destiny of young Rrom Cazim Haliti. Haliti has a degree in radiology, but cannot finds a job anywhere. Again and again he is invited for interviews and then rejected without clear justifications or simply no longer contacted: „En d’autres termes, Ćazim Haliti, un des rares Rroms – un des dix premiers de sa génération – à avoir fait des études universitaires, a été bloqué dès la première étape. Beaucoup y voient un message adressé à la toute communauté rrom. „Je n’ai pas été choisi, ok, mais ce qui me pose problème c’est qu’ils ne m’ont pas averti, pour que je puisse continuer mes recherches […]““[In other words, Ćazim Haliti, one of the rare Rroma, one of the ten first ones of his generation to completed university studies was blocked at the first step. Many see in it a message addressed to the entire Rroma community. “I was not selected, ok, but what disturbs me is that they didn’t tell me, so that I could continue my search.]  Haliti’s case is an example of the continuing exclusion of Rroma by the majority society. When young people are excluded despite good qualifications just because of their ethnicity, some very questionable social signals are given.

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24.01.2014 Rroma in Great Britain and the Schengen policies

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Clark (2013) criticises the Romanian government for its Rroma policies. From his standpoint, it is not appropriate that Romania criticizes the UK for its restrictive migration policy. Romania itself, he emphasizes, has large shortcomings in its policies concerning Rroma. The remark of the Romanian Rroma commissioner Damian Draghici that one should not be angry with Rroma beggars but rather be angry at bankers, Clark considers to be arrogant and as distracting from the abuses in Romania and Bulgaria itself: „Over the past decade municipal [Romanian] authorities have ethnically cleansed their city centres of Roma and relocated them to shanty towns on the fringes. In Cluj-Napoca, in a case which has aroused the interest of Amnesty International, 300 Roma people were moved to a site next to a landfill and chemical dump, where families have been made to share one room. […] The inevitable result is a westwards flow of Roma fleeing from discrimination and poverty. The EU’s open borders policy should be suspended until Romania and Bulgaria have improved living conditions for all their citizens.“ Clark fails to recognize in his analysis that there are no overnight solutions for the social ills in Eastern Europe. In addition, the integration of the Rroma is a pan-European task requiring a pan-state solution. Isolation is therefore clearly the wrong answer to social and political shortcomings.

The forced relocation of several Rroma families in Cluj-Napoca onto the site of a former chemical factory was judged illegal by the local court. The incumbent mayor was convicted  for having exceeded his authority in authorizing the relocation. The decision was welcomed by many organisations, such as the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) that had supported the action against the forced relocation (Ekklesia 2014).

An antithesis to Clark’s presentation is Kelley’s (2014) article in The Journal. It reminds about the prejudices, the Rroma genocide, the fear fostered by politicians and journalists: A flood of immigrants hasn’t come to Great Britain so far and the British voters have proven to be less anxious than some politicians and journalists prophesied: „A survey revealed 68% of Britons welcomed Eastern Europeans who work hard, pay taxes and speak English. And, according to Martin Keles, a spokesman for the Roma community in Newcastle, that is exactly what they intend to do. “We just want the opportunity to provide for our families,” he said.“ Kelley further emphasizes the strong institutionalized racism against Rroma in countries like the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia. But not only in Eastern Europe, but in Europe as a whole, the Rroma have experienced a history of exclusion since their arrival in Western Europe in the 14th century. The human rights organization “A Living Tradition” conducted a survey among Rroma migrants on behalf of the council of Newcastle. It revealed that the Eastern European migrants are fleeing rampant racism in their home countries and appreciate the English educational institutions and the open society. Kelley’s article is a welcoming change to the many negative articles about Rroma and the European migration. His positive journalism helps to reduce prejudice and promotes the integration of the Rroma.

Knight (2014) from Gentlemen’s Quarterly takes an ambivalent position concerning the debate about immigration in Europe. On one hand, he propagates the idea of an impeding exodus of impoverished Rroma to Great Britain, on the other, he acknowledges their discrimination. He describes Rroma living in the streets of London, having to cope with very modest incomes. Again and again they are asked by the authorities not to beg and to no longer sleep on the streets. Knight sums up: „Courtesy of the ever-expanding European Union, the UK, and London, are finally waking up to one of Europe’s biggest embarrassments: that after the better part of a thousand years, our continent still does not know how to live at peace with its largest ethnic minority.“ Contrary to the generalising statements in the title, Knight recognizes that British society knows next to nothing about Rroma and that one cannot predict how many Rroma will come to the UK. The statistics on immigrants do not capture ethnicity. Knowledge about the Rroma remains dominated by many unknowns and wrong stereotypes. When Knight quotes a local resident of Bryanston Square, the landlady reproduces racist stereotypes and generalizations, even though her parents are said to be immigrants. She expresses the absurd image of culturally related crimes and otherness of the Rroma that they don’t want to integrate and deliberately choose a life in illegality. In the following paragraph Knight acknowledges that his presentation at the beginning of the article cannot hide is his derogatory attitude towards Rroma. He uncritically restates notions about organised begging, child prostitution, human trafficking and begging networks and qualifies the Rroma as having criminal habits: „Ever since, officers have wondered about the level of organisation within the group, and whether it is connected with more serious crimes, such as human trafficking or child prostitution. Hierarchical networks of beggars and street thieves – run by Gypsies, for Gypsies – have been on the rise in big European cities for the last decade: in Rome, in Milan, in Paris, in Madrid. London is a logical next target. Having spent day after day with the Gypsies this summer, I find they are never more than a few hours from their next visit from the police or their next arrest for begging.” His investigative journalism is biased and unreflective. He limits himself to what he could personally observe on the street and mixes it with crude culturalisations. The short trip to Romania is characterized by the common misery images that are often repeated in the coverage on Rroma: Large families crammed together in one two rooms and minor teenagers already being married and having kids. Knight quotes a Romanian historian, Viorel Achim, who no longer sees the future of the Romanian Rroma in training and the building of an educated, integrated middle class, but in emigration to Northern Europe. The therefore agrees with the predictions of conservative apologists, who warn of a mass migration to Western Europe. Knight cites a Rroma from Botosani: „You are going to be seeing a lot more of us in the future,“ says Manix. „We’re going to beg, do whatever we can. Anything to escape.“ Romanian Rroma commissioner Damian Draghici is particularly critical of NGOs who haven’t used the money entrusted to them. The next few paragraphs revolve around the prosperity gap between Eastern and Western Europe and whether this will result in strong migration movements. The fact that the opening of the border to other Schengen countries such as Poland and Hungary didn’t result in any mass migration is not assessed in any way. Knight communicates stereotypical notions of smuggler gangs and clan chiefs who tie off money for the adaptation to the new place and exploit poorer Rroma systematically: „You have to pay. You know from the outset. […] Everyone is controlled.“ At the end of the very long article, one impression dominates: A feeling of distrust from the journalist towards his informants, the Rroma.

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24.01.2014 Rroma identity or identities?

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The young Rrom Filip Borev (2014) addresses the question of whether it is appropriate to speak of one or of several Rroma identities. Given the fact that Rroma belong to many different groups that have their respective characteristics, it seems appropriate to speak of several Rroma identities: “Every week without fail someone asks me “is the word Gypsy offensive?” There really is no simple answer. ­ How can there be when there are 12 million Romanies in Europe alone – all with their own opinions, experiences and identities. It is this fact which complicates almost every debate amongst and about the Romani people. […] in reality we are a collection of many different groups with varying cultures, languages, histories, and identities. What we have in common, however, is that together we are the Romani people.” A danger in the use of seemingly politically correct terminologies such as “travellers” is that they mediate misconceptions. Most Rroma are not travellers. In the UK, the Rroma are often confused with Irish Travellers, which have a completely different history. Borev comes to the conclusion that the devaluation respectively appreciation of an exonym depends on the person who uses the name.

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24.01.2014 Rroma holocaust museum to be opened at the end 2014 in Hungary

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Radisic (2014) informs about the impending opening of a Rroma holocaust museum in the Hungarian city of Pecs. The documentation centre is the result of shared aspirations of the local mayor’s office and resident Rroma. The aim of the institution is to remind students and the public about the much-neglected genocide of the Rroma during the Second World War. Due to the largely oral traditions among the Rroma, the genocide is far from well documented. The estimated death toll rage from 220,000 to one and a half million dead: „West Germany recognized the Roma Holocaust in 1982, but formal recognition and marking of this Holocaust have generally proven to be difficult due to lack of recorded collective memory and documentation of the Porajmos among the Roma, a consequence both of their oral traditions and illiteracy, heightened by widespread poverty and discrimination in this day and age […].“

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24.01.2014 Rroma convicted of Geneva court to long prison terms

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Le Nouvelliste (2014) reports on the judgment of the Geneva court against a group of Rroma who had committed a series of violent robberies against elderly people between August to October 2011. All participants were sentenced to long prison penalties: „Une bande de Roms qui avait commis des vols violents chez des personnes âgées a été condamnée plus sévèrement en appel à Genève. La peine de chacun des quatre protagonistes a été majorée de deux ans en moyenne. […] La bande a agi entre août et octobre 2011. Une dame alors âgée de 86 ans qui vivait seule dans sa maison de Lancy (GE) est leur première victime. Ils s’en sont aussi pris à un homme de 76 ans endormi sur son canapé. Il a été frappé et étouffé avec un coussin jusqu’à en perdre connaissance.”[A group of Rroma which committed violent robberies on elderly people was condemned more severely on appeal in Geneva. The sentence of each of the involved persons was upped on average by two years. The group acted between August and October 2011. A woman, 86 years old at the time in Lancy (GE), was their first victim. They also attacked a 76 years old man asleep on his sofa. He was beaten up and suffocated with a pillow, and lost conscience.] The otherwise objectively written article seems not aware that mentioning of ethnic membership is highly problematic, as it suggests connections between matters that have nothing to do with each other. Rroma are not more criminals as people of other ethnic groups (compare Focas 2014).

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24.01.2014 Rroma as victims of torture and racist violence

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Metro News (2014) examines the role of torture against minorities based on a publication of the organization Action des Chrétiens pour l’ abolition de la Torture (2014). The Rroma in Hungary continue to be victims of the actions of paramilitary, right-wing extremist groups, with the authorities alarmingly often closing their eyes to injustices: „Quant aux Roms qui ont subi des violences, ils n’ont quasiment aucune chance d’obtenir justice même quand ils disposent de certificats médicaux attestant leurs blessures. Les policiers refusent généralement d’enregistrer leur témoignage ou n’examinent pas sérieusement la plainte qu’ils ont déposée. De la même façon, les juges montrent de la mauvaise volonté à instruire ces affaires.“ [As for Rroma who are victims of violence, they have almost no chances to obtain justice, even when they have medical proofs of their wounds. The policemen generally refuse to register their testimonies or do not follow seriously the complaint they have registered. In similar fashion, the judges show bad will to instruct such complaints.]  In Greece, 20 % of the victims of violence by the authorities are Rroma, although they represent only 3.58% of the population. The number of crimes motivated by racial hatred against Rroma has also increased in Greece.

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24.01.2014 Rroma and the economic crisis

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Lee (2014) discusses the handling of Rroma in Europe in the context of the economic crisis that plunged the world into recession in 2008. He criticizes the fact that many conservative politicians and citizens in Europe are abusing Rroma as scapegoats. Many people have learned nothing from the events of the past but continue to defame Rroma with impunity. They create an image of work-shy, children-rich Rroma families that put a burden on society and are criminals: „The Roma didn’t have anything to do with the banking crisis, but they’re being blamed for Europe’s new poverty now. […] From London to Bratislava you hear the public and politicians saying they don’t want the Roma because they’re a burden on society, on public spending; that they don’t want to work, they just have more and more kids and then don’t even send them to school; that they’re lazy thieves. This is what the Fascists said about them, too. But nowadays, apparently it’s OK for the mainstream to say these things as well.“ In the accompanying video post Lee (2014/II) speaks with Slovak passersby: they reproduce the stereotypes of lazy, thieving, asocial Rroma. They totally ignore that it is the massive exclusion, which hinders the Rroma to successfully integrate. The article also shows how expressions of suspicion make street beggars automatically to Rroma, although there are also many beggars who are ethnic Slovaks.

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24.01.2014 Rroma and education policy in Great Britain

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Le Bas (2014) takes a critical look at the education policies in Great Britain and the integration of Rroma into public educational institutions. He notes that the Rroma are strongly under-represented in public schools: „The mental age of an average adult Gypsy is thought to be about that of a child of 10, said the 1959 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14 years after the end of the Nazi genocide of Romany Gypsies. This week new analysis of the 2011 census has been released by the Office for National Statistics. It revealed that of the 58,000 people who identified themselves as being of Gypsy/Traveller ethnicity, 60% had no formal qualifications whatsoever.” However, the equation of Rroma and travellers as an ethnic group is wrong. Most English travellers can be traced back to Irish travellers who have their own origins. Le Bas continues on the question of what factors lead to low school enrolment rates among Rroma. In addition to obvious factors such as discrimination, he also deals with sensitive cultural explanations, but he immediately qualifies these to the benefit of individual experiences: As among other ethnic groups, there are some Rroma families who value education more than others. The crucial question remains how to integrate the Rroma successfully into society as a whole.

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24.01.2014 Refutation of the prejudices against Rroma

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The Rroma organization “Romeurope” republished its booklet “Les Roms: luttons contre les idées recues”. The organization argues against the most stubborn prejudices that are spread about the Rroma immigrants from Eastern Europe: 1. They have no right to stay in France. This statement is incorrect because most European countries now are members of the Schengen area and Rroma are entitled as citizen of these countries to make use of the free migration policy. 2. The Rroma love to live in slums. Wrong, poor Rroma live in informal settlements in the suburbs because of lack of alternatives. This has nothing to do with their identity. 3. The Rroma are nomads. Also wrong. The Rroma are forced by evictions to change their location. The majority of the Rroma are sedentary. 4. They only want to live amongst their own clan. Wrong, the Roma live in family groups to be able to help each other and to master their often precarious living conditions. 5. Rroma do not want to work. Wrong, the Rroma are working as hard as other people. However, their access to the labour market is still very restricted. Institutional racism against the Rroma is still prevalent in many European countries. 6. Rroma prefer to beg. Also wrong. Due to the precarious economic situation of many immigrant Rroma and lack of alternatives many are forced to beg. 7. Rroma do not want to send their children to school. Wrong, often complicated regulations do prevent the enrolment of young Rroma. The regular evictions hinder an undisturbed schooling. 8. The Rroma are carriers of disease and bring diseases to France. Wrong, the precarious hygienic conditions in the informal camps and poor access to health care make immigrant Rroma susceptible to disease. 9. The Rroma are social parasites and exploit the French welfare state. Also wrong, most foreign Rroma have very poor access to public institutions (Romeurope 2014).

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24.01.2014 Notions of criminal Rroma clans persist

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Morel (2013) reports on decreasing rates of crimes that are apparently being committed by southern European Rroma clans. This isn’t supposed to mean that the numbers of offenses have effectively decreased, but that the offenders act more skilfully and unobtrusively, according to Morel. They are apparently acting in a more focused way, renting less rooms in cheap hotels, they are scattered in public transport to attract less attention. Recently, the suspects were mainly minor Rromnja in groups of two. For Morel and his informants there is no doubt that there are internationally organized Rroma clans behind these activities: „Les équipes de tziganes, qui agissent jusqu’à cinq fois par jour, ont également renouvelé leur manière de transporter leur butin, constitué d’argent et de bijoux. Désormais, elles n’hésitent pas à se l’insérer dans le sexe pour passer la frontière. Selon la police, elles font partie d’un réseau international qui pourrait être basé en Belgique, en région parisienne ou dans l’est de la France. Les délinquantes vivent la plupart du temps dans des camps de roms.” [These teams of Gypsies (Sic!), who act up to five times a day, also renewed their methods for transporting their bounty, mostly money and jewellery. They do not hesitate to put them in their sex in order to cross the border. According to the police, they are part of an international band possibly based in Belgium, in Paris, or in Eastern France. The criminals mostly live in Rroma camps.] Guggisberg (2014) also feeds the notions of criminal, organised Rroma clans, smuggling stolen goods over the Switzerland-Italian border. Once again it must be stressed that Rroma are not more delinquent than people of other ethnic groups. The idea of organised Romany clans feeds absurd and false ideas of culturally-related crimes. These assumptions are stupid and should be relegated ad acta.

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24.01.2014 Jean-Marie Le Pen appears unrepentant

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The founder and honorary president of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, repeated in a video message his racist remarks against Rroma, remarks for which he was sentenced in late 2013 to a fine of five thousand Euro. Le Pen insists on his view that Rroma are natural thieves: “La condamnation ne l’effraye pas. Le président d’honneur du Front national Jean-Marie Le Pen a répété vendredi 27 décembre des propos pour lesquels il a écopé de 5000 euros d’amende pour injure publique envers un groupe de personnes en raison de son appartenance à une ethnie le 19 décembre. Il avait affirmé que les Roms „comme les oiseaux“ „volent naturellement.““[The condemnation doesn’t scare him. The honorary president of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen repeated Friday the 27th of December statements for which he was condemned to a 5000 euro fine for public insults against a group of people due to their ethic appurtenance on December 19th. He had stated that Rroma “ as birds”, are “natural thieves”” He therefore reinforces widely held stereotypes that ascribe the Rroma a culturally-related delinquency. That such statements are completely absurd and lack any common sense should be clear to any person thinking critically (L’express 2014).

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24.01.2014 Hindu leader urges Pope to promote integration of the Rroma

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The statesman and head of the universal society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed, calls Pope Franciscus to a more involved commitment to the Rroma. Zed was disappointed that the pope, in his speech of January 13th, didn’t mention the issue of Rroma with a single word. The continuing exclusion of Rroma is one of the most burning problems of Europe: „Zed further said that alarming condition of Roma people was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the world as they reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, language barriers, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalization, appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse, racist slogans on Internet, etc“ (Baltic Review 2014, Zed 2014). The origin of the Rroma is found in India. But it would be wrong to call India their homeland. Rroma are a transnational minority without an own nation-state.

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24.01.2014 Gilles Bourdouleix was condemned for his tasteless joke on Holocaust

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Gilles Bourdouleix, mayor of the French city of Cholet, was sentenced on January 23rd  to a suspended fine of 3000 Euro. The prosecutor had requested a sentence of 6 years of emprisonment and a fine of 500 euro. Last Fall, in the presence of a journalist, Bourdouleix said: „que Hitler n’en [les roms] avait peut-être pas tué assez.” [That Hitler did not kill enough of them].  That, while he was trying to resolve a conflict with local travellers who were illegally camping on a field. Bourdouleix had to resign from the Union des démocrates et indépendants due to his statements (Fait-religieux 2014, Le Figaro 2014).

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24.01.2014 Education against racism in Hungary

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Weil (2014) reports on the work of the young Rrom Joci Márton, volunteer of the foundation for informal education of Roma (UCCU, Roma Informális Oktatási Alapítvány). Márton attempts to sensitize adolescents on prejudices and challenge thought patterns by discussions in Hungarian schools. He has had to deal with insults during the short teaching sessions without taking it personally. A study on eurocentrism in Central Europe shows the link between lack of education and the responsiveness to racist concepts: “An existing relationship between the predisposition for discrimination and poverty is reported by György Csepeli, Antal Örkény, and Mária Székelyi in their 2000 study on ethnocentrism in Central Europe. It found that both those who live under socially and educationally poor conditions are more susceptible to discriminate others and that poor people are more often victims of discrimination. Times of crisis bring forth scapegoats and those who point their fingers at them.” Meanwhile, Márton pins his hopes on the integrating, bridge-building impact of education. The still existing segregated schools must finally be abolished and access of the Rroma to educational institutions steadily improved (see Budapester Zeitung 2014).

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24.01.2014 Discrimination of Rroma in Europe continues

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The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (2014) published is “World Report 2014” on the discrimination of the Rroma in the European Union. The report notes that the Rroma are still victims of massive exclusion. They are the main victims of the significant increase in right-wing policies and politicians, together with immigrants and homosexuals. For Germany, this means that Rroma migrants are being confronted with strong prejudices and that the deportation practices do not verify the conditions and discrimination in countries of origin like the Kosovo. France has set a new record in evictions during 2013: around 13,000 Rroma were evicted from their informal settlements during the period of January to September. In Greece, Human Rights Watch critiques the continuing segregation of Rroma in public schools. Additionally, the Rroma are being illegally persecuted and monitored by the authorities. For Croatia, the organisation criticised the exclusion of Rroma from public institutions such as schools, hospitals and social institutions. In Romania, the Rroma are still victims of numerous evictions and are generally disadvantaged in public life. A particularly bad assessment befalls Hungary, when it comes to the integration of Rroma. The report notes: “Roma were faced also last year with discrimination and harassment. The mayor of the city Ozd in northern Hungary separated Roma settlements with an estimated 500 families from the public water network. In January, the European Court of Human Rights judged Hungary guilty of discriminating two Rroma students, because the authorities had placed them in special schools. In July, the court upheld the decision of a prohibition on the Hungarian Guard, an extremist group agitating against Jews and Rroma. In August, a Budapest court convicted four men for murder, who had been involved in racist attacks in the years 2008 and 2009, in which six Roma had been killed, including a child.” As long as the economic conditions in Europe remain poor, the Rroma face an unfavourable fate. They are the first to suffer from social ills. It is much to be hoped that the bad tradition of centuries-old discrimination against the minority will soon be consigned to history.

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24.01.2014 Christian Vanneste rages against the EU and against the Rroma

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Christian Vanneste (2014) UMP politician and former member of the Rassemblement pour la République a party originally founded by Charles de Gaulle, rages in his latest article against the European Union and the Rroma. He uses the metaphor of a sinking ship in order to make fun of the impact of the European Union and the immigrants on France. Vanneste advocates a completely sealed off France that determines his policies alone and restricts immigration. He is especially angry with the regulation that Rroma have a right of co-determination as members of the European Union. Vanneste outs himself with his statements as an arch-conservative politician who favours a France only for the French. He is not too far away from the demands of the Front National. The right-wing party also calls for a completely closed off France: “Des “Roms” se sont inscrits à Villeurbanne, alors qu’on a des raisons d’être inquiet de cette immigration, de ses motivations et de ses conditions. Cerise sur le gâteau: ces  campeurs bénéficient d’une domiciliation grâce à leur inscription à l’AME synonyme de totale gratuité des soins sans cotisation.” [Rroma registered in Villeurbanne, all the while we have reasons to fear this immigration, its motivation and conditions. Cherry on the cake: these campers are entitled to free health care without any contribution due to their attestation of domicile with the AME.] In contrast to Vanneste’s remarks. the importance of a united Europe with open borders has to be emphasised. Restrictive policies and sealed borders do not solve problems but create new ones. The Rroma integration is a pan-European task requiring a pan-European commitment.

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