Monthly Archives: July 2014

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30.07.2014 Slovakia: walls against the Rroma

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Vincent (2014) reports on a radical policy of segregation in Slovakia. In recent years, more and more walls were built around Rroma settlements, separating the homes of ethnic Slovaks from those of the minority. Although the word “segregation” is being avoided, the walls are a clear expression of the fact that reservations and frustrations against the minority have prevailed in local politics. The criticism of the European Commission, which called for an immediate destruction of the walls, remained without effect: “In Slovakia, around 10% of the 5.4 million Slovaks are of Roma origin – one of the highest rates in Europe. But since the fall of communism in 1989, when work was compulsory, they have not ceased to sink into poverty. Only 20% of men have a job today. Many families are in debt and intolerance towards them has increased. […] On the side of the city of Kosice, one continues to defend oneself against any «racism» by declaring that the young Roma of Lunik IX were absolutely not the only ones who harassed the neighbourhood. The young Slovaks also had their habits for small machinations there. The controversy passed, the wall was tacitly approved. The detour imposed on the Rroma was considered minimal. The distant call towards its destruction by the European Commission did not change anything.” Vincent also sees a widespread cynicism towards an improvement of the situation of Rroma, which resulted in “pragmatic solutions” such as the erected walls. The Slovak commissary of the European Commission, Miroslav Sklenka, sees the problem of the continued exclusion of the Rroma not in the lack of money but in the lack of political will to change anything.

Vincent, Elise (2014) En Slovaquie, des « murs » contre les Roms. In: Le Monde online vom 28.7.2014. http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2014/07/28/en-slovaquie-des-murs-contre-les-roms_4463590_3224.html

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30.07.2014 Marseille: last big Rroma settlement evicted

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Several French newspapers reported on the eviction of the last big Rroma settlement in Marseille. The camp near the Boulevard de Plombière housed about 150 people. Immediately after the evacuation of the remaining people, excavators started the destruction of the huts​​. Representatives of the Abbé Pierre Foundation offered the displaced people a one-week accommodation in hotels. The authorities stated to have applied the inter-ministerial circular from August 2012, which requires a social diagnosis before carrying out evictions. Nine families are part of a long-term integration attempt with permanent living quarters and ten families with pregnant women, small children, or old or infirm persons took the offer of temporary shelter. Nevertheless, many people are now homeless (compare Guillaume 2014, Fiorito 2014, Boursoram/AFP). It should be emphasised that the forced evictions of informal settlements significantly complicate the long-term integration of Rroma immigrants. With the evacuations, the problems and the pending integration are simply moved from one location to the next, but not solved. Also, with the media focus on the informal settlements it is suggested that there are only Rroma who are belonging to the lower class and who are poorly educated. However, according to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, there are 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma who are well integrated and live unobtrusively in French society (Rroma Foundation 2014). This majority of the Rroma is totally ignored by the French media, the public and politics.

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30.07.2014 France: rigorous expulsion policy is mainly at the expense of Rroma children

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Numerous French newspapers report on the negative impact of the regulatory expulsion policy on immigrant Rroma. The victims are mainly Rroma children whose school education is often poor. Official statistics are not available. In addition to the frequent changes of location, which make it difficult to attend school, bureaucratic obstacles and reservations of mayors hinder the integration of Rroma children. The European Rroma Rights Centre (ERRC) points out this education crisis in a study recently made ​​public: 118 adult Rroma from six informal settlements in Seine-Saint-Denis, Lille, and Marseille were interviewed on the enrolment of their children. 75% of them left their country of origin between 2007 and 2010 to come to France. They are on average expelled twice a year due to forced evictions. The result of the survey is disillusioning: just half of the children go to school. However, the regulation of school attendance in France is clear: all children between the year of six and sixteen must attend school, regardless of whether the parents have valid papers or a fixed domicile. In reality, the officials often require proof of a fixed residential address, although an identity card would be sufficient for enrolment. In 60% of the cases, the lack of a home address is the reason for an absence from schooling, the study by the Rroma Rights Centre states. In the other cases, mayors usually refer to the argument that the classes are full, although they are obliged to create new classes when necessary. In addition, there are negative attitudes of some parents whose children are already enrolled in school and who do not want to have their offspring in a class with many Rroma children. The rejection is therefore clearly xenophobically motivated. If one wants to evict the Rroma settlements, the enrolment of children would counteract this. The judges usually consider the number of children enrolled in their decision about an evacuation of informal settlements. The study also indicates that there are strong local differences: in the Communist-ruled Bobigny, 90% of Rroma children are enrolled in school (compare Chabrout 2014, European Roma Rights Centre in 2014, Le Nouvel Observateur 2014, Piquemal 2014, Vincent 2014, Voyageurs Createures 2014). The media focus on informal settlements suggests that there are only Rroma in France who recently immigrated, belong to the lower class and are poorly educated. However, hundreds of thousands of Rroma have been living for generations integrated and unobtrusively in French society. These invisible Rroma are completely ignored by the media.

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30.07.2014 Finland: hard-working Rroma

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Kosonen/Woolley (2014) report on the successful integration of Rroma in Finland. The Finn Olli Toivonen has employed several Eastern European Rroma immigrants in his property management company, where they provide excellent services. The Romanian Rrom Ioan Ciurariu is named as a prime example. However, the integration of immigrant Rroma remains difficult, because the will to work is not sufficient in the competitive labour market: “Having a job makes Ciurariu an exception among the Romanian and Bulgarian Roma in Finland. Many of his Roma friends are envious of his good luck, asking Ciurariu to help them find work. Ciurariu wishes he could do more to help them but there are not many jobs available to the Roma. “We’re strong and want to work,” Ciurariu says about the Roma of his acquaintance. Mere desire to work is not enough to open the doors for an applicant without qualifications or language skills.” According to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, there are 7,000 to 15,000 Rroma living in Finland. They are widely integrated into the labour market and bring higher qualifications. The prejudice of uneducated poverty immigrants, who migrate in masses to Western Europe, should be critically reviewed. Rroma are not more mobile than other population groups. Too often, economic circumstances are equated with the culture of the Rroma. However, there are also many Rroma who belong to the middle class. Rroma should not be classed with an underclass.

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30.07.2014 Andrychow: pogroms against Rroma

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Zurawski (2014) reports on anti-Rroma pogroms in Andrychow, Poland. According to the journalists, last month, right-wing groups have begun with demonstrations propagandising “Cyganies out”  (Gypsies out). Andrychow is just a few kilometres from Auschwitz, where thousands of Rroma were systematically murdered during the Second World War. Roman Kwiatkowski, president of the Polish Rroma Association, called the latest incidents very disturbing. Many Rroma are worried and afraid: “In Andrychow last month, a pregnant Roma woman was attacked as she walked in the street. Soon after, two young ethnic Poles were beaten up in what many residents assumed was a Roma revenge attack. Anger erupted. Supporters of the local football club, Beskid Andrychow, set up a page on Facebook. It published accounts of what it said were violent attacks by Roma, and photographs of ethnic Poles it said had been beaten up. The page has now been “liked” by 14,182 people. One post read: “We’re not going to sit quietly and pretend that everything is OK. We are shouting long and loud: enough of Gypsy impunity!”” Critics see the new right-wing movement in Poland as influenced by the Hungarian Jobbik party. This has made racist comments against Rroma socially acceptable among more and more people. It is very alarming that racist slogans against the minority still find such strong echo. The defamation of a minority does not start when it is physically excluded and ostracized, but already when it is agitated against by demagoguery. This intellectual arson must be stopped. Policy makers from Poland are called upon to stop the spread of anti-Semitic thought (compare Zurawski/Lowe/Goettig 2014).

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26.07.2014 Stereotypes: fifteen Rroma sentenced for child trafficking

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Numerous French language newspapers reported about the verdict against fifteen Croatian Rroma in Nancy. The Rroma were convicted of inciting their children to commit about a hundred thefts in France, Germany and Belgium. The defendants were sentenced to prison sentences of two to eight years. While all Rroma were convicted for incitement to theft, individual defendants were indicted for trafficking and forced marriages. The court of appeal of Nancy thereby confirmed the judgment of the criminal court. The prosecution demanded maximum sentences of ten years. The evidence of the prosecution was based on the survey of 120 suspects, who confirmed the existence of organised, hierarchical gangs, let by a clan chief: “These children had no choice”, said the prosecutor in front of the audience. “It was not a matter of education and self-realisation, only one thing was important: to steal. It was a downright education to steal. Families borrowed children, according to their potential in theft and even bought wives for their sons to strengthen their teams” (Nicolas 2014, see 20 minutes in 2014, La Dépêche 2014 RTL 2014). The stereotype of criminal, hierarchically organised Rroma clans who commit thefts under the command of a clan chief, is widely spread. It cannot be critically evaluated at this point whether the judgment is justified, as the evidence is only discussed in passing. But it is important to emphasise that Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups. The idea of hierarchical family ties traces back to the projection of the medieval caste system on Rroma and on the equation of Rroma families to criminal organisations. However, this is incorrect. While it is true that the family has an important place among Rroma, its organisation is largely egalitarian. The case discussed here is therefore an exceptional occurrence and not the norm. In addition, the stereotype of arranged marriages is conveyed, which also is only true for a minority of the Rroma. The phenomenon of child trafficking as it is presented here, has furthermore to be critically assessed. As social science studies show, social realities behind begging or alleged child trafficking are largely hidden. Similarly, structural differences between the involved societies and related reasons for a migration to France need to be highlighted. The research conveys a more complex, less black and white notion on the subject and points out that crimes such as incitement to begging or stealing are pervaded by a wide variety of morals views in the analysis and assessment by the authorities. The authorities often deny the perspective and motivations of the persons concerned and impose their own ideas of organised begging, criminal networks or child trafficking on them. Not uncommonly, behind the accusations one just finds impoverished families in which the children supplement the family income by begging, and whose way of life thereby contradict the bourgeois notions of a normal family and childhood (compare Cree/Clapton/Smith 2012, O’Connell Davidson 2011, Oude Breuil 2008).

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26.07.2014 Rroma settlements along the Tour-de-France evicted

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Various French daily newspapers report on the eviction of informal Rroma settlements along the route of the Tour-de-France. In the opinion critical observers, the closing of the settlements in Bondoufle (Essonne), each housing up to 50 people, is undoubtedly due to the media presentation of the Tour-de-France and the city. These are supposed to appear clean and tidy to the viewers from all over the world. However, the camps were evacuated under the pretext of security flaws and lack of cleanliness, whereby the Tour de France was said to be in danger. The affected Rroma families are now homeless, as no alternative accommodation were offered. The Rroma and the aid organisations are particularly upset because the mayor had insured in January of this year, that the settlements would not be evicted if they were well maintained, would not grow bigger and if the inhabitants actively collaborated with the social services. However, the mayor of Bondoufle, Jean Heart, denied this towards AFP. His statement was supposedly only valid for a single Rroma family. It has to be emphasized that the evacuation of the informal settlements complicates a long-term integration of the Rroma immigrants significantly. With the forced evictions, the problems and the question of integration are simply moved from one location to the next, but not solved. Furthermore, the media focus on informal settlements suggests that there are only lower class Rroma who are poorly educated. According to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, there are 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma living integrated and unobtrusively in French society (Rroma Foundation 2014). They are totally ignored by the French media, the public and politics (compare 20 minutes 2014, Lesacq 2014, Le Parisien 2014, Le Nouvel Observateur 2014, Lemonnier 2014).

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26.07.2014 Bucharest: exhibition on Rroma massively defamed

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Jacob (2014) reports on a racist hostility towards an exhibition of the Rroma painter George Vasilescu in Bucharest. Vasilescu showed a series of portraits of 15 contemporary Rroma musicians in the renowned Muzeul Țăranului Român museum (museum of the Romanian peasant). Even before the exhibition opened, the nationalist politician Bogdan Diaconu published a racist tirade against the portrait display on his website: “The member of the social democratic Romanian party USP, which otherwise primarily disparages the Hungarian minority in the country, called the exhibition a “irresponsible insult” to Romanian culture. The museum director Nitulescu has transformed his exhibition hall into a “rubbish dump” and thus “offends common sense”, [he stated]. “The culture” must “be protected from such damage and dirt”, [he added]. With the display of Roma musicians, “the museum promotes homosexuality.” It is significant that Diaconu cannot even have seen the exhibition as it only opened a few days later. His hostility towards the museum director and the exhibition is therefore clearly biased with by a massive racial prejudice. In his absurd, xenophobic argument, he equates interest and compassion with the Rroma minority with homosexuality, which reveals his pathological way of thinking. After Diaconu made his public statement, which received massive media coverage, Nitulescu received numerous hate messages and even a death threat. Nitulescu responded with an open letter in which he criticised the hostility of Diaconu and accuses him of demagoguery. The prestigious daily newspaper Adevãrul however rejected the publication of the letter.

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23.07.2014 Paris: Lynch victim awakens from coma

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The young Rrom Darius, who fell victim of a lynching in the Parisian suburbs, has awakened from an artificial coma, as several European newspapers reported. Darius can speak and recognize his family. However, how he has experienced the incident himself, and what his views are, is not discussed. He was probably not yet interrogated. The perpetrators of the incident are still unknown. The prosecutor of Bobigny has initiated a proceeding for attempted murder: “The boy was nearly beaten to death in mid-June, in a case of severe vigilante justice of a dozen residents in a deprived district in the north of Paris. According to the police, he was violently abducted from a Roma camp, abused in a basement, and found a few hours later unconscious in a supermarket trolley. He suffered serious head injuries. According to data from legal circles, the victim was known to the police for theft” (Die Welt 2014). The exact circumstances of the incident are still not verified, as are the allegations with regard to the victim. The incident led to massive accusations on French politics, which negatively politicises against Rroma since years and instrumentalises them for election campaigns. Other critics, in return, point out that the lynch case is the result of many years of failed social policy that has created law free zones of misery (compare Le Monde 2014, Le Parisien 2014, Millot 2014).

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23.07.2014 Hungary: dispute over a Rroma-hostile, socialist politician

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Bognar (2014) reports on a political debate around the socialist politician Albert Pásztor. Pásztor was nominated by the Democratic coalition as a candidate for mayor of Miskolc. But Pásztor is not without controversy as he repeatedly expressed racist view towards Hungarian Rroma. In 2009, at that time chief of police in Miskolc, he stated that the Rroma were responsible for most of the crimes in the city and its surroundings: “We can calmly announce that the thefts in public space are committed by Gypsies”. He added that he does not really believe that a coexistence between Magyars and Rroma is possible. Because of this clearly racist abuse, Pásztor is criticised among left-wing politicians. But not among all of them. Márton Gulyás, head of the Krétakör Foundation, learnt this during a demonstration of the democratic coalition against the incumbent Fidesz party in Budapest. Gulyás held up a banner saying “Left solutions instead of antiziganism”. Thereby, Gulyás wanted to give expression to his displeasure with the nomination of Albert Pásztor. The banner was snatched away from Gulyás and he was slapped by several demonstrators. Thereafter, several Hungarian politicians spoke up and either condemned the action or declared it as symptomatic for the disunity among the Democratic coalition: “The head of the Hungarian liberals, Gábor Fodor, in turn, explained that the left belies itself with the support of the candidacy of Pásztor. The politician of the party “common dialog for Hungary”, Gergely Karácsony, even stated that the left has “completely emptied” in moral terms.” Bognar’s article shows that xenophobic slogans against Rroma also occur repeatedly among left-wing politicians and question the ideas of a democratic state in which all citizens are truly equal. In this context, it should be mentioned that it is mainly the right-wing nationalist Jobbik-party, which promotes and disseminates racist ideas towards the Rroma-minority.

Pester Lloyd (2014) criticises that the democratic coalition now campaigns to the detriment of Rroma by nominating a Rroma-hostile candidate: “Pásztor is – even for the left spectrum – not an isolated case, racist stereotypes – against Roma mainly – are deeply rooted in Hungarian society, across the political spectrum and in all educational levels. But to make such a person the common top candidate of the relevant left-wing parties DK, MSZP […] is new, and a clear signal that the Roma are only an object of political speculation for the “left.”” Pester Lloyd accuses Pásztor to deliberately deny in his experience as a police chief the exclusion and marginalization of Rroma and to reinterpret it as a criminal mentality, which is clearly racist.

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23.07.2014 Halle: agitation against Rroma

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German newspapers report on agitation against Rroma in Halle. Around 700 people have organised themselves over Facebook and deliberately incite hatred against immigrant Rroma. This happens both in the social network, as well as adds on public sidewalks, walls, and junction boxes, on which xenophobic slogans were attached. In the meantime, the authorities removed them. The prosecution has taken up investigations on suspicion of demagoguery: “But the anger of local residents become more intense and has gone public. On the weekend, doorways were smeared, among others with the slogan “Roma out”, with the S replaced by the runes of the squadron-SS. On a specifically founded Facebook group, expressions like “filthy pack” and “brutes” were posted. OnemMember of this group is also the CDU member of parliament Christoph Bergner – what has let to protest at the political level” (Wiemann 2014). Bergner, in return, tries to appease and dissociates himself from the xenophobic manifestations decidedly. He wants to take the concerns of local residents seriously but dissociates himself from the hostile comments, he stated. The message about problems with immigrant Rroma is symptomatic of a one-sided reporting, which usually portrays Rroma pejoratively. The difficulties with the immigrants seem to be exaggerated. There are also other voices, which don’t report any problems with the new residents. Not all immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria are Rroma, since they represent only a minority there. There are also ethnic Bulgarians and Romanians who migrate to Germany. In addition, a minority should not be equated with an underclass. There are also many Rroma who belong to the middle class. The negative propaganda against Rroma negates all these details. This is dangerous. Romani Rose, chairman of the central council of German Sinti and Rroma, meanwhile calls for stronger involvement of the authorities. The state is too lenient towards inflammatory language, as the last election campaign showed, when racist slogans such as “money for grandma instead for Sinti and Roma” were tolerated upon reference to freedom of expression, Rose states (compare Halle Spektrum 2014, Möbius/Prasse 2014, Wiemann 2014).

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23.07.2014 France: more evictions and protests

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RTL (2014) and Le Figaro (2014) report on further evictions of informal Rroma settlements in Saint-Etienne. The authorities of Saint-Etienne evicted two camps with a total of 115 people, including 67 children. The sites of the settlements belonged to the city of Saint-Etienne and to a Turkish club. The displaced persons were informed that they should contact the SAMU. This means that the inter-ministerial circular from August the 26th, 2012, which requires a social diagnosis before the evictions, was not applied. However, the residents of the settlements had  already been asked to leave the premises on November 7th, 2013, through a court order. Pregnant women and families with infants were offered temporary accommodation.

In Nanterre, the eviction from an informal settlement is imminent. The special case of the camp of Nanterre is that already in the 1980s, among nearly identical circumstances, a settlement was evicted. After it became known that the current settlement is to be cleared, four of the residents turned to the European Court of Human Rights. This one criticized the French policy and called the persons in charge to suspend the eviction and to inform the persons concerned on the proposed solutions in a timely fashion. The settlement residents in turn organised a press conference to inform the public about their concerns and to present their stories. In the case of an eviction, they demand appropriate alternative accommodations. In addition, 23 children of the settlement are enrolled in school. One wants to make sure that the children can continue to attend school, which would not be guaranteed in the event of an evacuation. Both the French communist party and the anti-racism organization MRAP fight against an eviction (Urbach 2014). Once again it should be stressed that the evictions complicate a long-term integration of migrants and don’t promote it. Through the evictions, the problems are simply moved from one place to the next, but not solved. In addition, the media focus on informal settlements, the impression is conveyed that there are only Rroma who belong to the lower class and are poorly educated. However, according to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma are living integrated and unobtrusively in French society (Rroma Foundation 2014). They are totally ignored by the public perception.

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19.07.2014 Forced expulsion of Rroma in Meaux

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Duplan (2014) reports on the eviction of 75 to 150 Rroma who had lived in Meaux, in the Île-de-France, on an abandoned industrial wasteland. The new owner of the site, who purchased the property recently, requested the eviction of the property by the mayor. The lawyer of the displaced persons labelled the action as being illegal: “This arrangement is miserable and illegal, rants Julie Launois-Flacelière, the lawyer of the expellee. The president of the tribunal of Meaux declared herself competent of the matter, although she didn’t had to do it. Usually, it is the district court that must become active, because this concerns the evacuation of a building.” In the ordinance that forces the Roma to leave their refuge, only five residents of the occupied house are mentioned. The security forces, however, evacuated all of them: 145 people “who were not able to defend themselves before the hearing”, said Madame Launois-Flaceliere.” Since barely a week had passed between the act of the bailiff and the supposed hearing, the lawyer has filed an appeal before the court. On the part of the prefecture, one points out that the safety rules had not been adhered to on the site, there were in fact real dangers to residents. The argument to have acted for the good and the security of the displaced persons is found in many forced evictions in France. It cannot hide the fact that the welfare of the Rroma was not the priority of the major’s office. Otherwise, one would have indeed corrected these issues. In the French press, one only reads of Rroma living illegal settlements or occupied houses. That these visible Rroma constitute only a minority of all Rroma in France – according to estimates of the Rroma Foundation between 100,000 and 500,000, who predominantly live integrated, is completely negated by the journalists. In addition, the continuous evictions of immigrant Rroma complicate the integration considerably.

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18.07.2014 Rroma and stereotypes: problem house “In den Peschen” being evicted

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Several German newspapers report on the eviction of Duisburg’s “problem” house “In den Peschen”, which repeatedly made it to the headlines over the past year. Constantly, the press reported about dwellings occupied by Rroma families, about dirt, noise disturbances, and about increased crime. The allegations combined numerous reservations on immigrant Rroma: they are poor, uneducated, anti-social, abuse the German welfare system and cause social tensions in the affected districts.  However, not all immigrants are poor and many immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria are not Rroma. But the polemical debate about the so-called “poverty immigration” suggested just that: a mass immigration of low-skilled Rroma into the German welfare system. Thus, an economic phenomenon was presented as an ethnic problem, what doesn’t do justice to reality.

The large building complex which has 47 apartments has now been declared uninhabitable by the Duisburg city council. All remaining residents have to leave the house in the following two weeks. The building’s residents are also accused of having illegally obtained child benefits. Another common misconception, which is also projected onto the immigrant Rroma: “Although around 100 children from In den Peschen are registered in the clerk’s office, these were not found by the staff during their visit. This may indicate that the children have been reported only in order to receive child benefits. […] Duisburg is particularly affected by the immigration from Romania and Bulgaria. Currently, nearly ten thousand people from these two countries are reported in the Ruhr city. A task force implemented by the city will visit 50 more “problem properties” in the next few weeks, and if necessary issue “un-inhabitability-declarations”” (Frigelj 2014). Once again it must be stressed that there is no mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria, as critical statistics excluding seasonal workers prove. In addition, immigrants belong to different ethnic groups and different social classes. However, the focus is – in the sense of sensational journalism – only on the problem cases that are falsely equated with Rroma (compare Frigelj 2014/II, Hänig 2014, Kaiser/Peters 2014, Cnotkaund/Mohrs 2014).

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18.07.2014 Prejudices: Geneva security chief in search of the Rroma problem

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Habel (2014) reports on the visit of the Geneva security officer, Pierre Maudet, in Bucharest. Maudet laments the increasingly large number of offenses committed by Romanian citizens in Geneva, in addition to the already known begging Rroma. These are said to be combated most effectively through an improved cooperation between Romania and Switzerland. Unfortunately, a very one-sided notion of the Rroma is created: During his stay in Bucharest,  Maudet visited almost exclusively the Rroma district Ferentari where around 18,000 Rroma live in poor conditions. However, not all Rroma live in ghettos and are poor. In addition, it is very problematic to conclude that poverty leads to an increase in crime. As can be analysed in the article, Maudet sees the delinquent Rroma as involved in begging, stealing and prostitution networks. These are common stereotypes about Rroma: ““The delinquency originating in Romania is about to exceed the North African delinquency in Geneva, explains Pierre Maudet. Violence against older people or homosexuals, prostitution networks, burglaries, pick-pocketing, theft by deception and shop window theft, break-ins into cars… In the end, more than 400 arrests per year were made – “In 2013, we counted 1284 Romanian suspects”, clarifies the state counsellor […].“ However, begging is not to be equated with criminal begging networks, as critical studies show. In addition, begging income is very modest. Prostitution and human trafficking are not the same. Maudet indicates that he also sees economic grievances as a reason for migration to Geneva. But he also presents this problem incorrectly as a “Rroma problem.” Rroma are not more criminal than members of other ethnic groups.

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18.07.2014 Informal Rroma settlement in Lyon was evicted

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Several French newspapers report on the eviction of an informal Rroma settlement in Lyon. The settlement, which was below and in the vicinity of a railway bridge, was home to about 250 people, including many children and infants, as well as pregnant women. Families with small children and expecting women were offered temporary accommodation. The settlement had been recently created. Most of the residents were living on the site only since a few months, the authorities stated. The anti-racist movement MRAP announced in a communiqué: “The few nights of hotel that the prefecture has proposed to six families cannot replace a correct diagnosis and support to the totality of people present, as the circular [of August 26th, 2012] states, which was signed by Mr. Valls himself when he was interior minister […]. [MRAP] “condemned” that this “forced evictions violate European and international law” and “recalled that France was sentenced several times for the violation of fundamental rights of the Rroma population” (Libération 2014). The ongoing evictions of informal Rroma camps have been criticised for quite some time now. During the summer months, the evictions of Rroma settlements always increase massively. In winter, many communities grant a humanitarian moratorium. Since most of the displaced join other informal settlements, the problem is just shifted from one place to another. Only few long-term solutions have been implemented so far. These include, for instance, the tolerance of the settlements, which enables establishing an existence, enrolling children in school, and the continuous search of a job. Another option is integration programs, which actively foster the social integration of immigrants. However, these are controversial since they specifically refer to Rroma and thereby ascribe the minority a special status. On the 100,000 to 500,000 integrated and invisible Rroma living in France, one almost never hears anything in the French media (compare RTL 2014, Rue89Lyon 2014).

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16.07.2014 Stereotypes: illiteracy among Rroma

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Michel (2014) informs about the work of the Hamburg counselling centre Karola. Karola has set itself the task to help needy women and girls from immigrant families. This has resulted in a focus on Romnja, who need support when being in contact with the authorities or when learning how to read and write. Michel puts the focus on the language courses, which is an interesting, but also very prejudiced aspect. Again and again we read in articles that Rroma can not read and write, and that this illiteracy is part of their culture. However, it is rather a phenomenon of exclusion, poverty and lack of education that affects only part of the Rroma. Many can read and write. Michel refers to the study of the organization Romnokher: “There are no official figures on how many Roma are illiterate in Germany. A representative study of the organization Romnokher of 2011, on the educational situation of Sinti and Roma, comes to the conclusion that 18 percent of the 26-to-50-year-olds have never been to school. 44 percent of them visited a school, but did not graduate. For the younger generation, the level of education is higher: Nine percent of the to 25-year-olds did not attend school. Still, obstacles remain – and the worse the education of the parents, the more difficult it is for their children in the school.” The study interviewed 275 Rroma from West Germany about their educational situation, belonging to three different generations. Whether this sampling is sufficient for a reliable assessment of the education of Rroma in Germany – the Rroma Foundation currently assumes 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma in Germany – is not without doubt, because the sample is very small (see Strauss 2011). Karola’s integration assistance, described by Michel, is very positive. However, one has to be cautious when identifying individual histories as representative for all Rroma, and therefore to treat them as cultural traits. If a Rromni reports that she did not go to school because her parents were afraid that she might have a relationship with a boy, this must be seen as individual experience and not as a cultural characteristic. The same goes for Romnja, for whom it was free to decide whether they wanted to go to school or did not go because of distrust towards public institutions. Many Rroma can read and write. As Michel herself states, there is no reliable data on the educational situation of the Rroma in Germany.

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16.07.2014 Seville: pogroms against Rroma

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Wagner (2014) reports on pogroms against Rroma in the southern Spanish town of Estepa. After a series of break-ins, a mob of angry citizens formed which made Rroma responsible for the burglaries and invaded the local Rroma settlements. Several homes were destroyed. Fortunately, nobody was injured: “The protesters blamed the members of the minority for an increase in crime in the village of the province of Seville. According to media reports from Sunday, they attacked five Roma houses and put two of them on fire. In the incident from Saturday, no people were injured. The illegal rally had been organized on the social networks. The municipality of Estepa had stated the day before that the number of burglaries has increased dramatically in this town of 12,000 inhabitants. They convened an emergency meeting and announced a strengthening of the police forces.” The pogroms are symptomatic for failed European social policies that do not succeed in effectively addressing the social and economic inequalities. Instead, racist slogans that blame marginalised groups such as the Rroma as scapegoats for all ills, find approval among more and more people. A very worrying development that has been confirmed by the recent European elections, in which the right-wing populists gained massively in vote shares in all European countries. A society that disrespects its most vulnerable members – its minorities – is a failed society, as it violates the basic principles of democracy: the equality of all citizens.

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16.07.2014 New study: Rroma in German media still heavily discriminated against

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Several German newspapers report on the latest publication of political scientist Markus End who studied the stigmatisation of the minority by national media on behalf of the documentation and cultural centre of German Sinti and Roma. The study entitled Antiziganism in the German public. Strategies and mechanisms of media communication takes a critical look at the representation of Rroma by and in public media. End did not only focus on extreme, obvious cases of stigma and racism, but rather on the subtle ways of thinking in racist discourses that constitute the basis for the minority’s rejection. One of the author’s central finding is that journalists who are usually producing a differentiated coverage also use the false and prejudiced presentation ways in the case of this minority because they don’t work critically enough with alleged facts. The racist stereotypes are found among all types of media, in Boulevard as well as in so-called quality media.

In the course of the debate on immigration from Romania and Bulgaria, the tendency prevailed to speak of “poverty immigration”. However, this expression was implicitly assimilated to the meaning “immigration of poor Rroma”. Such coded statements are as problematic as open hostility towards the minority. Romani Rose criticises the same problem concerning the use of terms “poverty”, “crime”, and “Rroma”: “problems, crime, poverty. There are many stereotypes who are associated with the ethnic group. “The stigmatising debate has intensified lately, said Romani Rose, chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma. The fact that Roma and Sinti are repeatedly mentioned in the same sentence with crimes lead to the fact that the allegations against individuals are made into an identity-feature of all Sinti and Roma, he explained. The same is the case with the allegation of poverty: “Poverty is not an identity-feature of our minority. What does poverty have to do with ancestry?” No group is so heavily marginalised in Germany as Sinti and Roma, Rose states (Ambrosi 2014). Christine Lueder, anti-discrimination commissioner of the federal government, criticised the excessive passive tolerance of discrimination by the German government. It should do more to tackle stigmatisation and marginalisation of this minority. Romani Rose demands from the German government an annual report on discrimination against Rroma in Germany. As the media themselves report about these shortcomings, they – first of all – have the responsibility to do something about it. Therefore, in the future, Rroma should be represented in the broadcasting councils of the public channels. At least, in Germany, in contrast to most other Western European countries, there is a consciousness for the Rroma living in an integrated and invisible fashion, having a German passport:  one estimates them at around 100,000 persons (compare Emmrich 2014, Grunau 2014, MiGAZIN 2014, Neues Deutschland 2014, Rroma Foundation 2014, Scholz 2014, Verein Roma-Service 2014).

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16.07.2014 “Memories of Holocaust victims are lost with the graves”

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Stoll (2014) and the SWR (2014) report on the expiry of the concessions of graves of Holocaust survivors. The graves of Rroma who survived the Nazi genocide are more than just resting places to the members of the minority. They are also memorials to the victims of National Socialism and thus have an historical value. Approximately 3,500 tombs are affected. Romani Rose calls for conversion of the tombs of Holocaust survivors to honour-graves with eternal resting right. It is significant that the Jewish cemeteries were granted this status a long time ago, whereas the Rroma have been denied this expression of respect until now: “The chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, has urged the federal and state governments on Monday to do more for the tombs of Sinti and Roma. The graves are also places of memory to the victims of the Holocaust, he said in Heidelberg. […] “If the graves are eliminated, then the families also lose the memory to a part of their biography and to the people who have fallen victim to an unique racist crime”, says Romani Rose […]. He goes even further: he states that the sites are also “learning sites” for the population: through them, one conceive what was once possible in Germany and what appears inconceivable today” (SWR 2014). The Rroma Holocaust was only recognized in 1982 by the chancellor Helmut Schmidt. This only happened after massive protests by Rroma in Germany, who did not want to tolerate the continuing discrimination against them in the post-war period any longer. Rose emphasizes that the survivors’ graves are also places of remembrance for the rest of the family members who did not return from the concentration camps. He appeals to the policymakers that one finally recognises the graves as eternal resting places.

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