Daily Archives: September 5, 2014

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

05.09.2014 Viktor Orbán: Rroma shall exercise the activities of unskilled immigrants

Published by:

Pester Lloyd (2014) reports on the latest speech of the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán in front of the Hungarian ambassadors in Budapest: In his speech, Orbán told that, in the last EU-meeting in Ypres, he pushed the idea that migration in Europe is fundamentally “wrong” and should be “abolished”: “The objective is to stop immigration completely”, because the “current liberal […] immigration policy, which is justified as morally and presented as inevitable, is hypocritical.” […] These policies, as well as Orbán’s statements, are based on an ethnically exclusionary, therefore ethnic-oriented “policy of nations”, as it is enshrined in the new constitution of the country, which the Fidesz introduced on its own. In it, ethnic Hungarians at home and abroad are classified as nation-building, the 13 recognized ethnic and national minorities however only as state-building; desired and tolerated people.” In this racist, ethno-nationalist policy of the Magyardom, Rroma take the role of unpleasant but tolerated workers that are supposed to carry out the jobs of unskilled immigrants: “Europe’s 10 million Roma could exercise the unskilled activities which today are mainly done by immigrants.” Orbán therefore ascribes the Rroma of Europe to be a bunch of uneducated day labourers, who must be kept busy by employment programs and shall undertake underpaid jobs such cleaning work. That he therewith denies a majority of integrated Rroma their existence, many of whom have good educational qualifications, and defames them, he seems to be indifferent to. The Rroma-network Romano Liloro consequently condemned Orbán’s statements strongly. What is needed are not employment programs that keep people in poverty, but educational opportunities that enable them a better future, the network states (compare Feher 2014, Gulyas 2014).

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Serbia

05.09.2014 Sweden: Rroma lawyer receives Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Award

Published by:

The Local (2014) reports on the award of the Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Award to a Swedish Rroma lawyer. Emir Selimi migrated from Serbia to Sweden when he was eight years old. There, as an adult, he founded an organisation that fights for the rights of the Rroma and fosters the education and the language of the minority. Raoul Wallenberg, after whom the award is named, worked as a diplomat who, through his altruistic actions, saved thousands of Hungarian Jews’ lives. Emir Selimi, for his part, gave to understand that he did not think that one had to be a superhero in order to do good. Everyone can achieve that, he stated, if he or she champions it decidedly: “The jury were particularly impressed with how Selimi had attempted to combat Sweden’s sometimes negative image of the Roma population. As part of his work he has made strong contacts with the Jewish, Sami and Muslim communities and hosted lectures on intolerance in school. “When Emir was growing up in Serbia he said he experienced a lot of discrimination in school. He was kicked and spat at because of his Roma background which had a significant effect on him”, said Wästberg. Emir said when he came to Sweden that he didn’t suffer those problems at school. He said the problems started when he entered the labour market where he found his Roma background was a barrier to finding work. Now he is doing something about it by making a difference for the better.” Selimi is also a good example for a so-called “invisible Rrom” that does not conform to the negative stereotypes of the public perception of the minority. These invisible, integrated Rroma represent the actual majority of all Rroma.

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

05.09.2014 Stereotypes: foreign travelling Rroma as asocial groups

Published by:

Wissmann (2014) reports on problems with foreign travelling Rroma in Biel. A group of foreign travellers – most of them are Rroma, the author claims – have repeatedly and illegally occupied private grounds and properties. André Glauser, head of the city department of security, speaks of 20 to 30 groups of foreign travellers that stop in Biel every year. Although has Glauser points out that not all groups create problems, the statement of a “problem case with foreign travellers” remains: “For nearly two weeks now, the travellers have been playing a cat-and-mouse game with the city and private landowners. Meanwhile, they have already illegally occupied the sixth terrain. Again and again, they were asked to leave the grounds. But instead of leaving Biel, they just occupied a different site – parking spaces, premises, construction sites or road edges. At one site, according to Glauser, they even stopped passing vehicles for begging, which led to complaints. However, the city security chief does not want to generalise. There are groups that don’t create any problems, he states. Others, however, made the telephone lines of the police run hot. Residents and traders complained about waste, faeces or about the behaviour of the travellers. The former Bieler councilman and present FDP-great councillor Hubert Klopfenstein also speaks of an “unfortunately detectable increase in petty crime.”” The focus of the press and informants presented here is on extreme problem cases. They are not representative of all Rroma. Rather, it is a minority of the minority that stands out negatively. The arguments between Yeniche and Rroma due to permanent and transit sites, which are also implied in this article, are a Swiss nationwide problem, due to the fact that by far,  there are not enough sites for all travellers. Due to the presence of foreign travellers this problem is exacerbated and the competition discharges in the over-emphasis of ethnic and national differences. Most Rroma are sedentary anyway and not travellers. The cited FDP-great councillor Hubert Klopfenstein is therefore to agree with when he demands that the federal government must take care of the lack of transit sites. But also the journalists and politicians are challenged: they shouldn’t hastily assimilate problem cases of minorities’ members to a matter of ethnicity.

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

05.09.2014 Roma-village Fântânele: article confirms immigration fears

Published by:

Schwarz (2014) tries to portray Rroma from the Romanian village Fântânele in a more differentiated fashion. In spite of this, by creating a one-sided depiction, he manages to fuel fears of a mass immigration to Germany. The Rroma he portrays correspond to many stereotypes that people have about this minority: due to their membership to Pentecostal church, contraception is forbidden and the families of the village have an average of ten to twelve children. Of the seven thousand residents of the village, thousand live today in the Harzerstrasse in Berlin-Neukölln, he states. With this statements, Schwarz nullifies his own attempt towards a balanced reporting, as he presents a seemingly incontrovertible evidence that a mass migration to Germany indeed takes place. That Fântânele is not representative of all villages in Romania, is not stated. On the other hand, Schwarz presents a detail account of the relationship of local Rroma community to the Pentecostal church, to which almost all villagers belong: “Today, the church is the core of the community, it sets all rules. It forbids its members to drink and smoke. There is no pub in Fântânele, and no one smokes. Equally, it prohibits abortions and any kind of contraception. The new religion stabilised the families and promoted the cohesion of the community. The sobriety requirement preserves families in crisis from descending into the underclass. They also save themselves a lot of money that others spend on liquor and cigarettes. However, the limitation of the talents to sacred music ended an important source of income, and the prohibition of contraception boosted the birth rates. Families with ten, twelve children are the rule in Fântânele. […] The Roma who emigrate in order to work as a demolition labourers, as a flyer distributors, or as a construction workers, have no different motivation than the Romanian doctors who get headhunted from German hospitals: all of them hope for a better life and a better future for their children.” However, Schwarz does not mention distinctly enough that Rroma only represent a portion of the immigrants to Western Europe. Many ethnic Romanians, who account for the majority of the country, migrate to the north. In addition, not all Rroma belong to the Pentecostal church, which prohibits contraception. More than a few Rroma have qualifications and practice contraception. By focusing on this specific village and this group of Rroma, Schwarz reproduces the notion of a mass immigration to Germany, despite all his historical contextualization and differentiation of Rroma groups. This assertion is qualified by critical research (MiGAZIN 2013).

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

05.09.2014 Poverty is not a Rroma-specific phenomenon

Published by:

Ulfat (2014) reports on the Hochfeld neighbourhood in Duisburg. In the public perception, the district qualifies as being in trouble. Crime is supposedly on the rise, the infrastructure is bad, according to outsiders. Ulfat juxtaposes this perspective with the neighbourhood’s residents statements. These relativise the horror scenarios. Although there are indeed parallel societies that almost never meet since the closure of large industrial plants, the social interaction of most local residents is respectful, the journalist states. As far as Rroma are concerned, Ulfat relativises the dramatic scenarios of a mass immigration of antisocial Rroma. There are just about 4,000 Rroma living in Duisburg. Regarding the social tensions, these already existed before the Rroma arrival . If one offers Rroma the possibility to integrate, they take this chance. An expert of the quarter, the protestant pastor Heiner Augustin, states: “If these people are moving into a good, well-established neighbourhood, it happens what always happen: the immigrants adapt. They see the cleanliness on the street, they begin to understand the cycles of garbage disposal – and they join in. They begin to cultivate gardens, to beautify the streetscape with flower boxes in the window. Roma also like to live pretty!” Problems would arise only if too many of these poor immigrants are crammed into one place. “But this is not a cultural problem. Imagine, you would squeeze 600 poor Germans into an apartment building with 20 apartments – no hope of finding work, no money, no government assistance. It would not look much different than in the Roma settlements”, the pastor assures.” However, interviewed pastor also reproduces several stereotypes about Rroma: Clan chiefs, who pinch money from them and force the women into prostitution, control the immigrants. However, Rroma are organised in a largely egalitarian way. So-called “clan-structures” are a prejudice and not a cultural feature of the minority.

 

– Ulfat, Jasamin (2014) Von neuen Menschen und alten Problemen. In: MiGAZIN online vom 27.8.2014. http://www.migazin.de/2014/08/27/von-neuen-menschen-und-alten-problemen/3/

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