Daily Archives: January 31, 2014

France Kosovo News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

31.01.2014 The Rroma in France and French politics

Published by:

The Schweizer Fernsehen (2014) discussed the rejection of the asylum application of the Kosovar Rroma family Dibrani as well as the French asylum policies and regulatory measures concerning Rroma. The uncompromising deportation of the family had resulted in numerous demonstrations against the French asylum policies, which were denounced as inhumane. The articles addresses both the political instrumentalisation of the Rroma and the invisible, integrated Rroma in France that are not discussed in the media: “The group of Roma comprises a total of around 10 million people, of which about 400,000 live in France. Most Roma are well-integrated French citizens and are employed. Only a minority of around 15,000 Roma is living in precarious conditions.”

The NZZ (2014) complements that the French administrative court rejected the request of family Dibrani to asylum on the grounds that the parents didn’t show any efforts to integrate in France. The family’s last legal change is an appellate court. Leonarda criticized the authorities for not considering her family’s real life situation in their decision. She stated that she didn’t see any future for herself in the Kosovo, and that France was her home (compare Tagesspiegel 2014 , Swiss Television 2014/II ) 

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

31.01.2014 The Rroma identity as a taboo

Published by:

Bollmann/Kloepfer (2014) draws an analogy between being gay and belonging to the Rroma ethnic group. Whereas the taboo around homosexuality has nearly disappeared and gays and lesbians are predominantly socially accepted, the Rroma still face great reservations: In the current debate, some authors only use the words Romanians and Bulgarians, although they are talking about the Rroma. Bollmann and Kloepfer do not state that this method is not only correlated with political correctness but with the prevention of further prejudices. It is repeatedly pointed out by Rroma representatives that ethnicity is usually mentioned within a negative context and thus discredits the Rroma and maintains a pejorative image of them. On the other hand, the authors are right when they state the maintenance of prejudices, who are caused by a negation of the subject: “The mechanism of concealment worked earlier with gays and lesbians as perfidious as it is today with the Roma. He who doesn’t call things for what they are plays – consciously or unconsciously – with hints and prejudices. The wider public then perceives only those exponents of the minority that correspond to the popular stereotype and thus appear as “fancy”. These are the “poverty refugees”, the “immigrants into the social system” who pile up garbage – or with benevolence the musician who sings “Gypsy Songs”. The successful lawyer from a Roma family remains as invisible as until recently the gay leaders in general. “I didn’t want to be a Roma, I was ashamed” said a lawyer from Essen last year to a journalist.” But the apparent taboo about Rroma should not obscure the fact that it is most appropriate to use great caution when applying ethnic terms and ascriptions. Imprudent statements free from any taboos can equally contribute to the spread of prejudice as a too politically correct handling of a subject. Not the ethnicity is crucial, but the identification of a problem and the recognition of poverty. If Bollmann and Kloepfer think they need to identify poor Rroma as Rroma in order to help them, they have misunderstood something significantly: “A particular Roma strategy is not required here”, the German government propagated just recently.” Here the federal government is perfectly right. The debate on immigration is not a debate about Rroma, but one that exploits and politicizes the Rroma for their purposes.

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

31.01.2014 The Hungarian Reformed Church, the Orbán government and the Rroma

Published by:

Wipfler (2014) addresses the question of the implications for Rroma from the partnership between the Hungarian Reformed Church and the Orbán government. The Reformed Church of Hungary shares many conservative values with the ruling party:  “The harsh criticism from the West on Viktor Orbán’s government is not shared in Hungary. This at least is the view of the reformed Bishop of Debrecen, Gusztáv Bölcskei. [ … ] Orbán represents “Christian values”, one cannot be opposed to that, explained Bölcskei. That Orbán took values such as fatherland, Christianity, family, loyalty, faith, love and national pride into the new constitution is highly valued and beliefs shared by many Hungarian Reformed.” Wipfler states that Antiziganism is widespread in the Hungarian Church. The exclusion of the Rroma from the majority of society is upheld and not fought against, even though the church should do so as a social actor. One reaction to this is an increased emigration to the West. Ethnic racism is particularly strong on the streets. Wipfler’s article is very critical of its subject, but neglects the fact that there are certainly also dedicated clergy who are committed to the integration of the Rroma (compare Wipfler 2014/II ).

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

31.01.2014 Rroma in Hungary are still taught segregated

Published by:

Le Point (2014) discusses the continuing segregation of Rroma in Hungarian schools. The article criticizes the ongoing discrimination against Rroma children by the Hungarian school system. Particularly outrageous about the segregation is, that it mixes ethnic categories with poverty. With this logic, a Rroma child is automatically mentally handicapped because he comes from a socially disadvantaged environment. Healthy Rroma children are attested disabilities based on flimsy arguments: “In this country of 10 million inhabitants, Roma make up about 8% of the population. One third of Roma children attend mixed schools, one third attend schools only for Roma, and one third is allocated to schools for the mentally disabled, according to unofficial estimates. There are no statistical studies based on ethnic criteria in Hungary.” The EU has repeatedly cautioned Hungary on its racist methods within the school system. Only mixed schools can ensure the integration of Rroma and educate all parties to become tolerant citizen.

Bulgaria Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

31.01.2014 Rroma Holocaust commemoration

Published by:

The 27th of January is the official day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism in Germany. On the 27th of January 1945, the Red Army liberated the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The state chairman of the Hessian Sinti and Roma, Adam Strauss, warned in his speech of the importance of civil courage and the danger of spreading false information about Rroma. He further noted a continuity of prejudice against this minority, which persists and is jointly responsible for the genocide. The Deputy Prime Minister of Hesse, Al-Wazir, pointed on the danger of intellectual arson and the way it is fuelled by ill-considered remarks: “He directly pointed to the current debate on poverty refugees from Romania and Bulgaria, who come to Germany. Al-Wazir called it “important that we do not build new walls due to reckless words.”  Prudence and respect are important “to us Germans in this debate.” On the same day Bouffier, in a newspaper interview, took a similar view of the debate on poverty migrants. It is important “to use appropriate words to designate the facts”, he stated” (von Bebenburg 2014).

In his text, Hagemann (2014), addresses the discrimination of Rroma by German teachers during and after the Second World War. NSDAP compliant teachers wrote students from ethnic minorities “characteristics of their race” into their testimonials and managed to obtain their deportation. During the memorial service in Menden, the secondary school students read frighteningly many names of young children. They were infants who were born after 1940 and were nonetheless deported in March 1943. It is particularly shocking that many of the teachers were allowed to teach after the war had ended and were supported by public institutions such as the Catholic Church: “The students called the names of the teachers who were allowed to educate the children of Menden in the post-war years. They criticized the Catholic Church, which did not protect these Catholics, the archbishops, who did not respond to petitions, although the brutal extermination of the Sinti and Roma was described in them in dramatic terms. […] One student described the terrible conditions that were faced by the Catholic Gypsies of Menden in Auschwitz, where they were branded as “asocial” with a black triangle on the clothing: they faced typhoid and diarrhoea, abuse and rape. Those who survived, were led into the gas chamber.”

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

31.01.2014 Rally for a humanitarian asylum policy in Erfurt

Published by:

Thüsing (2014) reports on a rally of around 120 young adults in Erfurt. The protesters demanded a more humanitarian asylum policy and the unrestricted right of residence for needy immigrants, particularly for Rroma. The rally was organized at the initiative of the groups “Roma Thüringen” and the Thüringer Refugee Council. A spokeswoman from the committee declared: “Particularly in the current populist debate about flight and immigration and against a background of racist expressions even in the Thüringer state parliament, it is important to show solidarity to the people affected by discrimination and to set an example for a humanitarian approach and a human rights-based refugee policy [ … ].”  Rroma are exploited in the polarized debate over and over again for political purposes and stylised into biased caricatures.

Thüsing, Matthias (2014) Flüchtlingsrat fordert Bleiberecht für Roma-Familien. In: Thüringer Allgemeine online vom 27.1.2014. http://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/startseite/detail/-/specific/Fluechtlingsrat-fordert-Bleiberecht-fuer-Roma-Familien-641336188

France Kosovo News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

31.01.2014 Media attention on immigrant Rroma in illegal settlements continues

Published by:

Huguenin (2014) of France 3 reports on a recently evicted illegal settlement in Languedoc- Roussillon, near which Rroma have again resettled. The article reproduces – despite its emphatic perspective – a negative image of poor, uneducated Rroma, as the French right so often portrays.

In Val-de-Marne, a Rroma settlement with 1000 to 2000 inhabitants is being evicted. Residents were informed a week before the eviction about the upcoming action. The majority of the children are enrolled in Bonneuil. This clearance challenges the continued schooling of minors (Le Parisien 2014/I). The one-sided media focus on Rroma in slums increases the biased public impression that all Rroma live in such conditions. It is constantly neglected that there are many Rroma in France who lead an integrated and unobtrusive life.

The mayor of Roquebrune-sur-Argens, Luc Jousse, doesn’t have to fear any sanctions from his party, the UMP, which dropped all charges against the mayor. Jousse had stated in December 2013, that a fire in a Rroma settlement was reported too early to the authorities, which from his point of view was a pity. For this tasteless statement, Jousse had been suspended until further notice (Le Parisien 2014/II , Francetv info 2014 Nice Matin 2014/I, Nice Matin 2014/II).

Guévart (2014) from the Courrier Picard meanwhile mocks himself without shame about the fate of the Kosovar Rroma girl Leonarda and her family. He accuses the left-wing supporters of the family of blind humanitarianism and sees the rejection of the asylum application as a just conclusion to this matter: “The left has criticized the evictions as being managed like an industry in the era of Sarkozy-Guéant, being continued now in its his own camp [through Manuel Valls]. What now? Not applying the law to avoid controversy? Hold a press conference to reach out to a teenager who stands up to the president of the French state, and offer her … what to do? Home, studies, all expenses paid by whom?” Guévart is totally indifferent towards the situation Rroma face in Kosovo. He doesn’t care that they are confronted with the aftermath of the civil war and all its consequences.

Paupe (2014) meantime questions the effectiveness of the French migration policy regarding Rroma. Manuel Valls ordered 20,000 deportations of Rroma in 2013. The number of foreign Rroma in France meanwhile stays around 17,000 people. The numbers are misleading because the same people were often deported multiple times, the author states. The organization Romeurope criticizes the usefulness of a rigorous deportation policy. What is really wanted is constructive solutions, improving the conditions of all actors involved. To only remind continuously of the necessity to cut down public spending isn’t solving anything, Umberto Guerra from Romeurope criticized. The evictions indeed exacerbate the long-term improvement of the life situation of those affected. They complicate a regulated access to health, education, and labour institutions.

Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Poland Romania

31.01.2014 Immigration debate in Germany

Published by:

Wragge (2014) raises the question why the debate about the supposed mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria ever evolved. There are plenty of reasons to refute the arguments of the proponents of mass migration as the experiences with the free migration policy with Poland and the Czech Republic show. Also, the EU law protects Germany against excessive payments from the social security system. Wragge sees the origin of the debate in polemical statements by conservative politicians and in the dissemination of distorted images through the media: “An attempt to explain the existence of this debate leads to the images that we have of Bulgarians and Romanians. If one speaks of the predicted 80,000-200,000 newcomers – do we see only low-income families in Duisburg’s “problem houses” in front of us, or also the engineers, doctors and nurses who come to us? Around these images there is a raging “semantic battle” in the media […].”  Furthermore, the responsibilities of the EU and the German government are repeatedly mixed in the debate and a false image the various actors is spread. Wragge identifies the debate as permeated by fears and taboos, such as naming problems as the immigration of Rroma by their name. He is, however, clearly wrong if he means that the immigration debate is a problem with the Rroma. The Rroma are exploited and instrumentalised by politicians and journalists for their purposes. They create a distorted, negative caricature of the Rroma, what makes them the real aggressors in the debate.

The district Reinickendorf in Berlin has been allocated 130,000 Euros for the years 2014 and 2015 to support immigrant Rroma in their integration process (Schindler 2014). The integration assistance is supposed to encompass language courses and the teaching of general social competences. The awarded funding is surprising in the sense that the ethnicity of immigrants is not identified. The figures are based on estimates and speak of 900 to 1000 immigrant Rroma in Reinickendorf. Schindler reproduces a one-sided image of needy, uneducated Rroma, which has been spread the media for over a year.

rroma.org
en_GBEnglish (UK)
de_DEDeutsch fr_FRFrançais en_GBEnglish (UK)