Daily Archives: July 26, 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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