Daily Archives: August 15, 2014

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

15.08.2014 Saint-Étienne: displaced Rroma live in the streets

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Brancato (2014) reports on the fate of some 200 Rroma who were expelled from their informal settlements in mid-July. Since then, they have been wandering in the streets of Saint-Étienne and are regularly prevented by the authorities from setting up a camp at a new place. The organisation Solidarité Rom calls for a round table with the Rroma and local authorities to discuss the issue of accommodation, employment and integration. Meanwhile, the organization provides the Rroma with the essentials. However, the Saint-Étienne’s government seems to have no interest in integrating the Rroma, as the security advisor of the mayor, Claude Liogier, shows: it is not the duty of the city to find jobs for the Rroma, he states. He adds that he thinks that the lifestyle of the Rroma is very different from the customs of France. Thereby, Liogier reproduces almost an identical reasoning as the one of Manuel Valls at end of last year when justifying the continuous expulsion of Rroma. Liogier does not seem to be aware of that this is an extremely one-sided and politicised interpretation of culture. Pierre Rachet, president of Solidarité Rom, states almost the exact opposite: some thirty Rroma families, who were part of an integration program in Saint-Étienne a few years ago, now live integrated and have steady jobs. Repeatedly, the media suggest that poverty, illiteracy, educational alienation, abundance of children or living in slums are part of Rroma-culture. That these are rather the symptoms of exclusion and socio-economic hardships is hidden most of the time. Rroma belong to all social classes and should not to be equated with an underclass, as it is claimed repeatedly, also by self-appointed Rroma-experts. In France, there are living 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma, the majority of them integrated and since generations. Eventually they should also be addressed in the media (compare Despagne 2014).

Hungary News Americas News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

15.08.2014 Migration and Rroma in Canada: trial against a corrupt lawyer

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Metro News Canada (2014) reports on the newest developments in the case of the Hungarian Rroma family Pusuma. The father of the family, Jozsef Pusuma, worked for an NGO as an investigator of hate crimes in Hungary. In July 2009, according to the family’s statements, a fatal incident occurred: during a walk they were brutally attacked by right-wing extremists, the daughter remained unharmed only because of the sacrifice of her father, who protected beneath himself. The attackers said that this would not be the last attack, if Jozsef did not stop his activities. Subsequently, the family immigrated to Canada. The Pusumas have now been living in the sanctuary of a church in Toronto for two years. Fearing to be deported, they have never left their refuge. Their asylum application was rejected. Against the lawyer himself, who should have represented their case, a lawsuit because of misconduct was submitted: “The family, originally from Hungary, is one of 18 complainants against Toronto lawyer Viktor Hohots, the subject of an ongoing disciplinary proceeding by the Law Society of Upper Canada for failure to “adequately prepare” a defence of his clients’ asylum claims. […]“Jozsef and Timea have finally been summoned to appear as witnesses in the lawyer’s misconduct case. They have been waiting for this moment for almost three years now, because it’s their chance for vindication,” said the family’s new lawyer, Andrew Brouwer, of the Refugee Law Office clinic. “But now they are facing a Catch-22. They are required by law to attend the hearing. If they don’t, they could be arrested for contempt of court. But if they do go, they face arrest for deportation the moment they set foot outside of the church.” The new lawyer of the family and numerous supporters demand a temporary residence permit for the family, so they can attend the lawsuit without fear of deportation. – Canada is being criticised for uncompromisingly applying the status of safe countries of origin, which Hungary has been assigned by the Canadian law, and to address to little the individual stories of asylum seekers (compare Brosnahan 2014).

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland News Western Europe Romania

15.08.2014 Stereotypes: Rrom sentenced for burglary and copper theft

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Schleer (2014) reports on the trial against a Romanian Rrom in Rheinfelden. Because of repeated burglaries, the 24-year-old was sentenced to two and a half years of jail by the Lörrach district court. As witnesses, four other Rroma, with whom the defendant allegedly committed the crimes, were questioned. The culprit was granted mitigating circumstances, as he confessed all committed crimes. Mentioning the ethnicity of the perpetrator is not necessary as it only encourages racist stereotypes about a “culture of crime among the Rroma”. Rroma are not more criminal than any other ethnic groups, but this is exactly suggested by the media through an explicit thematisation of Rroma in connection with various crimes. A cultural interpretation of the offences is necessarily racist, as it ignores and discredits the majority of Rroma living a respectable and integrated life. The idea of ​​hierarchical family ties goes back to the projection of a medieval caste system onto Rroma. This is wrong. While it is true that the family has an important place among the Rroma, its organisation remains largely egalitarian. Rroma are also often used synonymously with Romanians or the Romanian language. While Romania has indeed a large Rroma minority, an estimated one and a half to three millions, Rroma make up only a minority of the total population of 22 million. However this fact is often interpreted one-sidedly by the Romanian side, who quite often state that Rroma are indeed responsible for many crimes, whereby the difference between Rroma and ethnic Romanians is exaggerated to that of good Rumanians versus evil Rroma. That Rroma are often made ​​responsible for crimes, this without any evidence, can be seen in the article of the Basler Zeitung about a burglary series. On the ptential perpetrators, the article states at the end: “On the identity of the perpetrators, the conjectures go apart. Some say they are adolescents, others burglary tourists “or Roma”” (Gygax 2014).

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