Monthly Archives: November 2014

News Switzerland News Western Europe

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Siegrist (2014) reports on the latest novel by Swiss writer Hans Schaub. The book, entitled “The blonde gypsy girl” [German: Das blonde Zigeunermädchen] tells the story of a German Gadje (non-Rroma) woman, who falls in love with a travelling Rroma musicians. She gives up her bourgeois life and henceforth lives with her travelling lover, whereby she experiences adventures and austerity. As this brief synopsis already reveals, the plot is pervaded by many stereotypes about Rroma: on one hand, there is the conviction that Rroma are traveling musicians and showmen. In addition, Siegrist review of the book, the terms “Gypsy”, “Rroma”, “travelers” and “Yeniche” are mistakenly equated: “Well, it is a novel, a fictional story, says Hans Schaub: “But, the impetus for the story was lawsuit that took place in 2010 in Zurich.” At that time, travelers stood before court, says Schaub, and he found that many prejudices were reflected in the media. “The Roma were generally poorly talked down.” Based on these findings, his story was developed. “I assume that there are no malicious ethnicities, but rather evil humans.” The author Hans Schaub, 70 years old, moved to Menziken in 2009, where he devotes himself to writing. As a former council chairman and head of the Department of Social Welfare in a Zurich municipality, Schaub had been in contact with travelers in Switzerland, most of the time about the question of travelling sites.” The book may tell an adventurous story about the contact between different cultures. Nevertheless, there is the problem that Schaub spreads prejudiced and simply false information about Rroma: most Rroma in Switzerland – an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people, are sedentary and well integrated. In addition, Yeniche and Rroma are not the same. The Swiss travelers are mainly Yeniche that have European roots and speak the language Yeniche that traces back to the Yiddish and Germanic language. The Rroma however originated from India and speak Rromanes, originating from the Sanskrit. Most Rroma are sedentary, as evidenced by some Ottoman tax registers since their arrival in Europe. These important details Schaub didn’t research thoroughly enough for his book and instead focuses on the dramatic and romanticized aspect of the casual “gypsy life”.

News Eastern Europe Romania

28.11.2014 Stereotypes: Rroma gang harasses Romanian Member of Parliament

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The British tabloid newspaper “Daily Mail” reports on a group of young Rroma, who allegedly harassed and threatened a Romanian Member of Parliament. Because the politicians paid his loan to late, the bank sold a portion of his property to pay off the debt, the newspaper states. Young “Rroma millionaires” are said to have moved into the sold part and henceforth have started to massively harass the politician. Thornhill’s (2014) article in the Daily Mail builds part of a series of disparaging articles about Rroma, which the British tabloid published in recent months and years. The newspaper reported regularly in a very negative way about Rroma migrants in the UK, and portrayed them as a poor, asocial and often criminal minority, who would intentionally exploit the British welfare system. In the case of the Romanian parliamentarian, the newspaper spreads absurd notions of uncivilized and ruthless “Rroma millionaires”: “A Romanian MP was stunned after a family of millionaire gypsies moved into his mansion after he was late paying back a loan secured on a 20 percent share in his property, and the bank sold it off to the gypsies to recover the debt. It meant that the gypsies who snapped up the 20 percent stake in the property in the north-eastern Romanian city of Iasi moved into part of it overnight, and since then have allegedly made MP Ionel Agrigoroaei’s life hell. […] And if the 53-year-old MP was unhappy about seeing the gypsies move into a wing of his property, he was even more unhappy when they started a catalogue of what he describes as terror and intimidation in a bid to get him to move out so they could occupy the rest of the building.” – Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups. In addition, the mentioning of ethnicity in connection with the events described by Thornhill, is irresponsible. It only fuels derogatory prejudices against the Rroma. Most Rroma are integrated and go to work.

Germany News Western Europe

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The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (2014) reports on the publication of a new study on right-wing extremism in Germany. According to the study commissioned by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, prejudices against minorities like the Rroma remain strong in Germany: “The Foundation publishes the study every two years and examines the extent to which right-wing extremist viewpoints are common among the population. This year, 2,000 citizens were interviewed between June and August. Explicitly right-wing extremist viewpoints have thus become much less common in recent years and are at a new low. […] Nonetheless, still ten percent of the population thinks that National Socialism had its good points – and that Germany would need a “leader” who “rules the country with a strong hand for the benefit of all.” […] The authors of the study warned that there was no cause for complacency. It may be possible that some citizens are simply afraid to express their right-wing viewpoints openly because of the NSU affair. […] Zick [one of the authors] said that there was a ruthless “market-shaped extremism” in Germany, which follows distinct efficiency thinking. People who do not perform enough for society, but rather generate costs, are rejected in this way of thinking. [….] Also other groups – as Muslims or Sinti and Roma – are faced with widespread prejudices in Germany, the study states. Approximately 38 percent of the population thinks that Sinti and Roma are prone to crime.” Due to the genocide of 500,000 to one and a half million Rroma, Germany has a historical responsibility towards the minority. However, the Federal Republic met this responsibly only very slowly: the genocide of the Rroma was not recognised until 1982. Before that, the Holocaust was trivialized with the remark that there had been persecution because of the “anti-social behaviour” of the “Gypsies”, but not due to an eugenically motivated racial fanaticism. An official memorial in honour of the murdered Rroma was not inaugurated until 2012. – For the study of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 2,000 citizens were surveyed from June to August 2014 (compare Käfer 2014).

Germany News Western Europe

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The Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung (2014) spoke with Rainer Wendt, the German federal president of the German police union. Wendt was invited by Central Council of German Sinti and Rroma to talk about the possibilities of intercultural training of police personnel and the dismantling of prejudices. In the interview, Wendt points out that it is important to develop and professionalise policemen, so they develope an understanding of the social contexts of minorities: “Prejudices are all around us in society. Police officers are, of course, not free of them. We use the professionalisation of police work against it. This requires that policemen know accurately the social context in which they work, in order to not give rise to prejudices and on the other side to be able to handle prejudices that exist in society. […] Not only among the police, but in our society as a whole, one must communicated that Rroma do not come from somewhere to Germany to establish themselves as a foreign body, but that they have been part of our country for centuries. They are not Sinti and Roma, who just come like that to Germany. They are German Sinti and Roma, or European citizens, who have a right to come, and we as Germans have the duty to integrate them. Of course they themselves have the obligation to contribute.” Wendt’s reference to the European history of the Rroma is important. Only through the understanding that Rroma are resident and integrated in Europe for centuries, and form a transnational ethnic minority, one can reduce prejudice against them. Them anti-social behaviour sometimes attributed to them than is rather the result of their exclusion than the outcome of a lacking will to integrate. Rroma belong to all professional groups and social classes. In Germany, there are an estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma today. Before the genocide by the Nazis, there were many more.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

28.11.2014 Hungarian Spectrum: Zoltan Balog promotes segregation of Rroma children

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Hungarian Spectrum (2014) reports on the ambivalent Rroma policy of the Hungarian Minister of Human Resources, Zoltan Balog. Hungarian Spectrum accuses the Fidesz-politician to foster the segregation of Rroma pupils in contradiction to his public statements. The special schooling of Rroma children fostered by Balog is the result of a double standards concerning integration: He does not want equality, but a special treatment of the Rroma, Hungarian Spectrum criticises: “during Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first six months of 2011, the Hungarian government took upon itself the creation of a Roma program for the entire European Union. From the beginning I noted Balog’s reluctance to follow the earlier Hungarian government’s strategy of integration. There were also signs that Balog, realising the enormousness of the task, wanted to dump the problem on the churches. […] My other suspicion was that in his heart of hearts Balog does not believe in school integration. He is convinced that special Gypsy classes enable students to catch up with their non-Roma contemporaries–separate to become equal. Based on countless studies we know that this is a misguided notion. But it seems that Fidesz politicians cannot easily be convinced by hard data or evidence.” In addition, the Minister is accused of having campaigned for the reopening of a segregated Rroma school in Nyíregyháza, which was closed in 2007. In spite of the decision of the appellate court that declared segregated schooling of Rroma children illegal, the Fidesz government enacted a change in law in favour of Balog’s Rroma policy, which allows him to continue administering segregated schools and classes: “How strongly Balog felt about this particular case is demonstrated in a press release his ministry issued on November 6 […]. This press release is a perfect example of the double talk this government specializes in. The final verdict in the case is” highly regrettable because many children will be deprived of a superior education.” […] The proposed amendment says that in the case of schools run by churches or in schools serving national minorities the minister – in our case Zoltán Balog – can issue a decree that will allow segregated classes.”

Germany News Western Europe

28.11.2014 Hostile remarks at meeting of the AfD (Alternative for Germany)

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Meyer (2014) reports on a party meeting of Jörn Kruse, Hamburg chairman of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AFD). On the occasion of the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Hamburg, Kruse spoke about his political program: this is characterised by strong nationalist tendencies, even if Kruse often presented his viewpoints in a negative form and left the conclusions to the audience: “The state leader of his party is a clever and a practiced orator. He speaks critically about immigration and “asylum seekers”, but in between always expresses understanding for war refugees, which one has to help. […] But it soon becomes clear: Kruse is a verbal border crosser. Again and again in his speech, he approaches almost casually taboos, just to stop right before them. Therewith, he avoids the charge of right-wing propaganda, but offers his listeners what they want to hear. Kruse sounds like this: “I do not want to be quoted saying, in Germany that foreigners are responsible for crime.” Pause. “Well, who else?”, it comes from the audience. […] Or like this: „I don’t want to comment the thesis that more migration leads to more criminality. […] Nodding, agreement. An older gentleman asks what could be done against the “gypsies” and adds: “I’ve always said Gypsy, not Roma.” Kruse says that the Roma unfortunately could not be deported because of the European free movement of persons. And then: “We cannot prevent them from coming here, they have culturally induced problems of integration, we also know that many of them come here, because our child benefit are higher here than what they can earn at home.”” With this remarks, Kruse reproduces several stereotypical prejudices about the minority. The 110’000 to 130’000 Rroma who are integrated in Germany since generations are denied existence. Instead, he stylizes them – in the very spirit of one-sided debate about “poverty migration” – to economic migrants, who would exploit the German social security system. The integration problems ascribed to them have to be seen in the context of a growing xenophobia. Integration always works on two sides: by the efforts of the migrants themselves, and by the willingness of the recipient country to include the migrants. This aspect is completely ignored by Kruse and his party in their representation of the issue.

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

28.11.2014 Debate on grave fee for Auschwitz victims

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RP Online (2014) addresses a debate on the graves of Auschwitz victims in Germany, among them many Rroma. Normally, graves are closed after a certain period of time if the lease is not extended. In the case of Holocaust survivors, German Rroma associations emphasise it is also about preserving history. Therefore, they fight against dismantling of the graves of Holocaust survivors, which then would pass into oblivion. In Krefeld, a descendant of a Rromni who survived the concentration camp, can no longer pay the grave fee due to financial issues. German Rroma associations decidedly fight against dismantling the resting place: “With a harsh protest, two organizations  – The NRW state association of German Sinti and Roma and the German association for information and advice for victims of Nazi persecution  – have been protesting against the fact that the city is not renouncing the fees for lease of the grave of a woman who was imprisoned in the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz. It is the grave of a Roma woman named Korpatsch. Her niece had paid for the grave for decades, but can no longer account for the costs for an extension. Jost Rebentisch of the federal association for victims of Nazi-prosecution accuses the city of historical amnesia. The city disregards the criticism: […] Because of legal reasons, it was not possible to formally renounce to the lease fee, as required by the association of Rebentisch. Although there is an initiative of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, according to which the burial of people persecuted in the war should be left free; but there is still no final settlement.” In Auschwitz-Birkenau alone, 30,000 Rroma were murdered. Researchers estimate at least half a million casualties among the Rroma. The genocide of the Rroma is much less known compared to the mass murder of the Jews. This is another reason why a preservation of the memory of the victims and the inhuman actions is of great importance (compare Freie Presse 2014).

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

28.11.2014 Award for Holocaust survivors Hugo Höllenreiner

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Trebbin (2014) reports on the award for the German Rroma-Holocaust survivor Hugo Höllenreiner. Höllenreiner is one of three thousand survivors who survived the “gypsy camp” of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Most of the approximately 30,000 prisoners, including many women and children, were killed. In the 1990s, Höllenreiner began to break his silence about this traumatic experience and henceforth committed himself as a contemporary witness. He has reported on the Nazi atrocities at Auschwitz-Birkenau to thousands of German pupils: “How SS men launched sheep dogs on naked people before his eyes. How they drove people into the gas chambers. How he had to witness mass shootings and then had to help with filling in the graves with the bodies of the murdered. And how little Hugo was lying on the operating table of camp doctor Josef Mengele… […] 36 family members of the Höllenreiners perished in the Holocaust. Hugo’s parents and their six children survived with a lot of luck and great courage. However, his education after the war and the liberation was short-lived: the teachers put the “Gypsy boy” unceremoniously out the door. The discrimination continued. So Hugo Höllenreiner had to start his career with peddling.” For his commitment as a contemporary witness to the Holocaust, Höllenreiner has now been awarded with the medal “Munich shines”. West Germany did not recognise the genocide of the Rroma until 1982, when many of the survivors had already died. The Holocaust of the Rroma is often incorrectly referred to with the word “Porrajmos”. The term, which traces back to the verb “porravav”, meaning to “open wide”, is often used in the context of sexual activity and therefore is not appropriate to describe a genocide.

Italy News Western Europe

26.11.2014 Social tensions in the suburbs of Rome

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 Kerner (2014) reports on growing social tensions in Tor Sapienza, an agglomeration of Rome. In the suburbs, foreigners, religious and ethnic minorities like Rroma are increasingly reviled as scapegoats for social ills. Right-wing extremists but also right-wing nationalist politicians agitate against the minorities: “Until now, most suburbs were godforsaken places. This has changed since residents of Tor Sapienza demonstrated for one week in front of a shelter for minor refugees and asylum seekers, with the support of right-wing extremists. They threw stones and firecrackers, put dumpsters on fire and shouted “the Blacks have to go.” Now, they are in the focus of media attention. In Italy, one debates about the war of the poor against the poor, caused by decades of political neglect and the economic crisis. […] A member of parliament of the protest movement Five Stars, including an entourage and several camera crews, have gathered this evening in the courtyard. […] But the people who take their dogs for a walk at this time, either avoid her or get angry. […] “Here, with us, one just dumps everything – Blacks, Roma, criminals.” […] Another woman laments: “Just a few hundred meters away, the Gypsies burn cable, refrigerators, and waste. The smoke goes right into our homes.”” The scapegoat policy of the right-wing nationalists and their sympathisers ignores the real reasons for the growing social misery in the suburbs of Rome: A failed economic and social policy that did not succeed in including an increasingly impoverished underclass into the economy: “It is a mix of poverty, anger and xenophobia, which ignites more frequently, not only in Rome. But it is not directed against those who bear the blame for the decline of the periphery, but against those even weaker.” The affected minorities are increasingly dominated by fear. They do not dare to go onto the street by themselves. – Rroma belong to all social strata and professional groups, also in Italy. They are not a homogeneous mass, as repeatedly claimed by various sides.

News Western Europe

26.11.2014 Rroma and the Pentecostal movement in Great Britain

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Ridley (2014) reports on the relationship between Rroma and the Pentecostal Church in Great Britain. Based on the biography of the Rroma Pastor Jackie Boyd, she discusses the characteristics and contradictions of the Pentecostal movement: she assesses as positive the efforts of the Pentecostal church to improve the education of the Rroma. On one hand, this happens with the aim to understand the Bible in its details, on the other hand, the social status and position of the Rroma shall be improved. Ridley sees as negative the very conservative ideas with respect to the status of women. Thus, in the “Light and Life” church, it is forbidden for women to preach. Also, conservative role models dominate their role in the family and in society: “Light and Life followers straddle both the mystic and the modern. They believe in miracles, carry out full-immersion baptism and follow the bible’s words literally. Yet the church is making some sweeping modern changes to the traditional gypsy culture: it forbids fortune-telling, drinking and smoking, as well as arranged marriage which is practiced in mainland Europe. It supports education beyond 12 years old. Around a fifth of gypsy children in the UK don’t go to secondary school, and of those that do, half drop out. […] Dennis Latham, a volunteer to National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups, says Light and Life is “getting people on the straight and narrow” but is concerned it promotes male dominance over women. An evangelical Christian himself with a church affiliated to Light and Life, he explains: “They won’t let a woman preach in a church. I disagree with it, because modern teaching is that women have equal rights. I’ve seen Light and Life put women out if they spoke out.”” The statistic mentioned above that claims one-fifth of Rroma children in the UK do not go to school and that half of high school students drop out has to be critically questioned. Since there are no comprehensive surveys on Rroma in the UK, it has to be assumed that the statistic only took into account Rroma already marginalised and therefore easy-to-find. However, many Rroma in the UK are well integrated.

The self-empowerment of Rroma through the Pentecostal church can indeed be seen as something positive, if one focuses on the aspect of the strengthening of civil rights and the fostering of education. However, one should be cautious when the Pentecostal morality is said to be superior to other social values. Many Pentecostal churches forbid their members to use contraceptives, to abort and diabolize homosexuals as possessed by demons. Such a morality is not based on an enlightened understanding of the world and independent critical thinking, but on Christian traditions, which in case of contradictions, put themselves above the traditions of the Rroma. An uncritical subjection to conservative role models and values should be questioned. They can also severely hinder a real self-determination.

News Western Europe Spain

26.11.2014 New Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy defines “Gypsies” as impostors

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Kassam (2014) reports on a controversy surrounding the new edition of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. Therein, the already pejorative word “Gypsy” is equated in an unreflected way to “impostor” and “deceiver”, without referring to the history of the term. According to linguistic and historical studies, the exonym “Gypsy” goes back to the “Athiganoi” in the Byzantine Empire. In the chronicles of that time, these heretics were assigned similar pejorative attributes as the Rroma and were considered as being magicians and fortunetellers: “After 13 years spent updating entries, the Royal Spanish Academy unveiled its 23rd edition of the Spanish dictionary earlier this month at a sombre ceremony presided by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia,. The new edition removed a previous definition of “gitano” or “gypsy” as an adjective meaning “defrauding or operating with deception”. But it added a new secondary meaning, saying the word was synonymous with “trapacero” – an adjective meaning dishonest or swindling. Arguing that the definition is obsolete and does little more than feed into prejudices, the Association of Feminist Gypsies for Diversity is taking action.” […] “You can’t label an entire community, an entire culture, a whole population like this,” said member Maria José Jiménez Cortiñas. “The entry legitimises stereotypes. We’re asking that for once the Academy move ahead of society and eliminate definitions that serve only to marginalise our community.”” Rroma have experienced a centuries-old history of exclusion and persecution in Europe. Their exclusion is significantly based on stereotyped prejudices. To consolidate these prejudices by unrelentingly echoing them in a dictionary is indeed very questionable.

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Switzerland

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Odehnal (2014) reports on the hopelessness of the Rroma who returned from Switzerland. The 60 Rroma travelled to Switzerland in late October to apply for asylum. The applications were rejected immediately, because of the status of Hungary as an EU-country. Although Rroma are not politically persecuted in Hungary, they face severe discrimination in every day life. This fact was paid little attention to by the Swiss asylum authority: “On the evening of October the 19th, the 37-year-old Laszlo and his wife Anita, her five children and other Roma families boarded a coach to leave their home city of Miskolc in northern Hungary for ever, and to apply for asylum in Switzerland. Their homes in a former working class neighbourhood, in which the streets only have numbers, are soon to be demolished. […] Many families have received the termination of their lease, some houses have already been demolished. In addition, the Roma complain about discrimination and racism by authorities and the far-right Jobbik party. Job vacancies are barely available in the surroundings – and if so, Roma have no chance when applying. […] Piroska Fórizs must vacate her apartment in May. She has no idea how to proceed with her and their five children. Yes, she confirms the rumour in the village that her husband has committed suicide last week: “He was just depressed, did not know how to proceed.” The two oldest boys found their father hanged outside the house in the morning, she says.” Odehnal also spoke with the vice-mayor of Miskolc, Peter Pflieger, on the development aid of Switzerland in his city. The 1.2 million Swiss francs from the Swiss contribution have been used to clean two small rivers, to renew the riverside building and to save frogs. The fact that one could have easily built numerous apartments for the needy with this money is not mentioned. Since the economic and Euro crisis that has impoverished a growing strata of Hungarian, and the rise of the right-wing nationalist Fidesz, the Rroma are confronted with a revivified xenophobia. The 600,000 to one million Rroma in Hungary belong to all strata of society and professions. By the public presence of marginalized Rroma, the notion of the minority remains very one-sided and pejorative.

Bulgaria Denmark News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

26.11.2014 Illegal black lists of immigrant groups in Denmark

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The Local Denmark (2014) reports on the existence of illegal black lists in various cities in Denmark. The local government of these cities have set different immigrant groups, such as the Chechens or the Rroma, on a list of undesirable immigrant groups. The illegal practice was revealed by the Danish newspaper Berlingske: “Some municipalities tell the Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen) not to send them refugees from certain countries, Berlingske newspaper revealed. […] Another unwanted group is the Roma. Sønderborg Council told Immigration Service that it “wants to put an end to the visits of Roma people from former Yugoslavia who come on humanitarian grounds”. Danish municipalities provide requests and recommendations to Immigration Service each year as a way to build upon previous successes with certain groups, but many of the municipalities also use the annual exercise as an opportunity to tell the national authorities which refugees they do not want. This would appear to be in violation of the nation’s immigration laws which state that no distinctions can be made based on nationality when helping those in need.” However, Rroma are not a national group, but a transnational, ethnic minority, with a centuries-old history of exclusion and persecution. The deliberate exclusion of a specific group of persons violates the anti-discrimination legislation. Rroma are not a homogeneous mass, but are composed of a variety of individuals, with diverse experiences. With the expansion of the European free movement of persons to Romania and Bulgaria, various western European countries warned of a mass immigration of poor Rroma. However, these forecasts build not on critical analysis, but on politicized, polemical estimates of migration: Rroma are not mass of uneducated poor, but belong to all strata of society and professional groups.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

26.11.2014 Huffington Post: economic and social integration of Rroma must be encouraged

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Cyrulnik (2014), a psychiatrist and member of the UNICEF, talks about his work in Romania and Bulgaria. By working for the children’s charity UNICEF, Cyrulniks perspective is largely restricted to the excluded Rroma of Romania and Bulgaria. Despite his emphatic perspective on the minority, he reproduces several stereotypes about Rroma, such as the misconception that Rroma were all originally travellers: “At the time of communism, the sedentarisation of Roma was enforced, and the results seemed rather promising. The kids could run around everywhere, were laughing and were supervised by the “big” between 10 and 12 years and all adults of the village [Siria]. […] The Roma population is important. One estimates 2 million of them for Rumania, of which 650,000 are nomads. They are therefore already largely sedentary.” However, Rroma have always been largely sedentary. The travelling lifestyle ascribed to them is rather the result of their continued exclusion and dissemination. – Another focus of Cyrulnik’s article is on the limited access of the Rroma to health care institutions, the low enrolment rates and the continuing segregation. However, Cyrulnik forgets that, concerning this topic, he addresses only the visible, marginalised part of the minority and negates the integrated Rroma. In addition, it is dangerous to ascribe the marginalised Rroma a collective apathy toward the inevitability of their situation: “The segregation plays an important role in the difficult socialisation of Roma. The distance at the countryside reinforces the clan spirit and creates a culture that is difficult to participate in and in which one group ignores the other. The Roma families set themselves limits and internalise the discrimination. They subject themselves to a faith that makes them say that they cannot do better, that this is their fate. They easily become school dropouts, which threatens to make their integration in Europe difficult.” Nonetheless, Cyrulnik’s plea to economically and socially foster the integration of the Rroma and to make better use of their work force for the economies of Europe is commendable and indeed of great significance. 

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

26.11.2014 Halle: violence and inflammatory language against Rroma

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Bonath (2014) reports on violence and inflammatory language against Rroma in Halle. According to the journalist, right-wing extremist groups have repeatedly agitated against the minority and committed several attacks on Rroma in recent months: “Neo-Nazis have declared Roma families in Halle (Saxony-Anhalt) as their target. On the right wing website “Hallemax”, there is call to a parade in the southern district Silberhöhe, with 3,000 planned participants […]. The Internet portal “Hallemax” is run by the avowed neo-Nazi Rolf Brückner. […] Brückner and his “comrades” have been raising a mob in Silberhöhe since months. Meanwhile, a “militia against Rom” was founded there; “patrols” have been mobilised. Repeatedly, there have been brutal attacks on people of foreign origin in the neighbourhood. The right-wing thugs did not even stop at children. Adolescents attacked a Romanian mother and her two-year-old son in early September. At the end of October, a ten-year-old dark-skinned girl was beaten up so hard that she had to be hospitalised. In early November, a van belonging to a Roma family caught fire in a parking lot.” Today, an estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma live in the Federal Republic of Germany. Before the genocide by the Nazis, there were many more. Most of them speak perfectly German and have a job. Numerous media and politicians have strengthened prejudices against the minority with biased, unreflecting remarks about Rroma as poverty immigrants.

Bosnia Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe North Macedonia Serbia

26.11.2014 “De Maizière: discrimination [of Rroma] is not political persecution”

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Sirleschtov/Birnbaum (2014) spoke with Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s interior minister and member of the Christian Democrat Party. In the talk, De Maizière justifies his successful efforts to declare Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia to be safe countries of origin. He states that although Rroma are badly treated in these three countries, they are not politically persecuted. Therefore, a refugee status for Rroma from these countries can no longer be acceptable: “A part of the Greens criticise me, saying I play people who come to us against each other. But that would mean by implication that Germany has to accept anyone who comes here. […] That is why the distinction between real political persecution and others who leave their homes for other reasons is the rational way and the path laid out by our constitution. A bad treatment of the Roma in some Balkan countries is just no political persecution. This is hard for those affected, but this distinction is necessary.” Rroma are indeed not politically persecuted in Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia. Their integration is historically proven for the Balkans: since centuries, they belong to all social strata and professional groups. However, that does not mean that they are not exposed to massive discrimination in everyday life, especially since the strengthened nationalism of the Yugoslav Wars. The estimate how strong this discrimination is can only be critically evaluated in individual cases. Therefore, asylum applications should not be treated generally, but individually, to do justice to the fate of those persons affected.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe Romania

21.11.2014 Tagesspiegel: emphatic, but one-sided depiction of Rroma in Romania and Bulgaria

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Appenzeller (2014) reports on the visit of Neukölln’s education councillor, Franziska Giffey, in Romania and Bulgaria. The Berlin politician, who, among others, is in charge of the integration of immigrant families from Southeast Europe, wanted to get an idea of the Rroma situation in their countries of origin. However, Appenzeller’s Rroma representation remains one-sided, despite an emphatic perspective and the reference to well-educated immigrants: “The often heated debate revolves around Bulgarian and Romanian Roma families who are accused of migrating into the welfare system. Since they do not get regular jobs here, they sign up as contractors. The men then find underpaid work in the construction business, the women work as cleaners, gladly also in luxury hotels. […] And these people have children, many children. They go to German schools without speaking a word of German. […] A focal point of the Roma immigration in Berlin is the district of Neukölln. The official figures estimate 5,500 people, councillor Franziska Geffey, responsible for education and schooling, estimates twice as many.” However, critical studies could not detect any mass immigration of Rroma, as is repeatedly claimed. In addition, the claim that Rroma are needy, poorly educated, and have many children, is a massive generalisation. Rroma build part of all social strata and professions.

Appenzeller then discusses the educational journey of Giffey to Romania and Bulgaria. There, the education councillor was able to see the misery of the Rroma with her own eyes, the journalist emphasises. Unfortunately, Appenzeller reduces the Rroma situation in Romania and Bulgaria to marginalised Rroma in the slums, and the present, but not omnipresent racism, as he represents it: “Politics begins when looking at reality. Franziska Giffey wanted to know from what environment Roma families come from. This reality has opened her eyes. She has seen that Roma children have no way to be admitted to normal schools in their homeland. She saw that their parents have fewer opportunities for jobs, because they are discriminated against because of their origin and darker skin colour. She has experienced how these families are stigmatised by the prejudice that Roma are lazy and not willing to work. […] German politics may well ask the question of how the EU intends to sanction two member states, who brutally discriminate against an ethnic group that lives on their territories for centuries.” Rroma are discriminated against in Romania and Bulgaria, but they are not faced with an all-embracing state racism, as Appenzeller claims. The plight of marginalised Rroma in the two countries is the result of weak economies and the historical discrimination and exclusion of Rroma – in the case of Romania their enslavement that lasted until the mid 19th century. – The marginalized Rroma in the ghettos, who get all the media attention, are juxtaposed by an big part of integrated Rroma, which belong to the middle class, and some even to the upper class (compare Mappes-Niediek 2014).

France Germany News Switzerland News Western Europe

21.11.2014 Swiss German media: one-sided coverage of Rroma

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Schindler (2014) reports on the November 18th Rroma Foundation’s press conference. The foundation presented the results of their five-year study on the coverage of Rroma in the Swiss German print media. The result is devastating: the various newspapers (NZZ, Blick, 20 Minuten Tages-Anzeiger, Beobachter, Weltwoche, Wochenzeitung (WOZ)), despite their different political orientation, all report in a one-sided way on the Rroma. In the media representation, the minority is reduced to a minority of marginalised, criminal Rroma. The majority of integrated Rroma – in Switzerland 80,000 to 100,000 people – is hidden: “If the is a report on Roma in Switzerland, the texts are exclusively speaking of beggars, thieves, and prostitutes, which are organised in patriarchal clans and cause problems. How many Roma are living in Switzerland, how unobtrusively they live and how well they are integrated, the reader does not learn – unlike in Germany or France, where the media report more balanced, according to the study. In the international departments however, the attention reduces them to victims, the study states. They are described almost exclusively as poor, uneducated and socially excluded” (Schindler 2014). Sutter (2014) focuses on the social effect of this one-sided reporting, in her reportage for SRF 2 Kultur. She emphasizes that at the press conference Stéphane Laederich appealed to ethical responsibilities of journalists. They should ask themselves whether a mentioning of ethnicity in relation to criminal offenses is morally acceptable: ““We want to point out that the image of begging clans does not correspond to reality.” The stereotypes that can be repeatedly found come in part of the Western European middle Ages. The image of child stealing, pagan, thieving Roma has legitimized their persecution and murder several times in the past. In connection with the reporting in Switzerland, Stéphane Laederich speaks of “intellectual arson that can all too easily turn into a real arson.” Therefore a ticking time bomb in the current European climate where right-wing nationalists celebrate great successes in voting” (Sutter 2014). Now the journalists are asked to act. It is up to them to replace this one-sided reporting with a differentiated picture of minority, and to encourage the readers to think critically. That alone can be the aspiration of good journalism. Therefore, the reference that the media necessarily report about the negative or extraordinary, misses the concerns of the Rroma Foundation: journalism hast to be more than just information, it must provide a realistic notion of the world and its minorities (compare Jirat 2014).

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland Romania

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 =Several western Swiss newspapers report on the trial against a Romanian Rroma couple. The two Geneva residents Rroma were indicted for having trafficked and financially exploited several Romanian countrymen for begging, stealing, and prostitution in Switzerland. The pair was acquitted of the main charges, because the evidence did not confirm the suspicion. However, they were sentenced for an offense against immigration law: “The Rroma that until yesterday were accused of trafficking, were acquitted of the main charges incriminating them. The defendants are not hideous slaveholders, who held dozens of begging Roma under their relentless thumb, the judges of the criminal court adjudicated analogously, but nonetheless sentenced them for the infringement of the federal law of foreigners (LEtr). According to the court, the persons transported to Geneva could even travel back to their country even if they had not paid back the price of their bus ticket within two weeks. […] Nevertheless, the defendants were found guilty of the violation of the foreigners’ act. They enriched themselves by helping people without work and residence permit to travel to Switzerland, which is prohibited. Moreover, the couple knew very well that these people were destitute and therefore would be forced to engage in illegal activities: begging, theft, or prostitution […]” (Foca 2014/I). As the judgment points out, equating migration support with forcing people to steal, beg, or to prostitute themselves is simply false. In many articles on human trafficking, it is incorrectly assumed that smugglers are automatically traffickers and their customers’ victims of trafficking, which is not confirmed by the research literature. That research shows migrating people have much more self determination, and questions the characteristics and omnipotence of transnationally operating gangs. In addition, the incomes from begging is very modest, which makes it unattractive for actual organised crime. Rroma are not more delinquent than other ethnic groups, which is distorted by the one-sided media focus on criminal or poor Rroma (compare Focas 2014/II, Guillain 2014, Lecomte 2014, Le Matin 2014 I/II, Oude Breuil et al 2011, Tabin et al 2012).

Hungary News Eastern Europe

21.11.2014 Stereotype representation of Rroma in Hungary

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On the occasion of the asylum application of 60 Hungarian Rroma in Switzerland, SRF-editor Marc Lehmann reports on the conditions in Hungary and Miskolc (Voegeli 2014). In doing so, the former Eastern Europe correspondent reproduces numerous prejudices and misinformation about Rroma that are not based on critical facts, but rather stem from stereotypical views. Lehmann claims: “Most [Rroma] are poorly educated and no longer meet the demands of today’s working environment. That’s why the unemployment rate in the Roma community is about 70, 80, maybe even 90 percent. Most live on welfare, which is indeed minimal: maybe about 150 francs per head. For children there is extra money. Therefore, many Roma families have many children. […] They are indeed not treated well in the current political climate. But one has to say that there have been many attempts to integrate them. However, Rroma cannot be easily integrated. They are certainly not entirely innocent of their situation, what also has to be said. Some like the support of the social system. In addition, the Roma are simply not well organised. They are not easily accessible for those who would actually like to help them. They are divided into clans, each clan is just looking for itself. A solidarity among the Roma cannot be detected.” Lehmann’s assertions that the Rroma do not want to integrate, and have many children to receive child benefits, are absurd. Likewise, is the statement that each Rroma group just looks for itself. While it is true that integration and social advancement also depend on the initiative of the Rroma themselves, that does not mean that Rroma are not exposed to massive discrimination in Hungary. Lehmann does not say a word about the Rroma-hostile policy and propaganda of the right-wing extremist Jobbik, the second largest party in Hungary, which is tolerated by and sometimes even supported by the other parties. He also negates the important fact that the Rroma he describes only constitute the marginalised, visible part of the minority. Most seriously is probably the fact that Lehman simply ignores the entire Rroma history, and the massive discrimination they suffered. Many Rroma are well educated and belong to the middle class or even the upper class, but are not perceived as Rroma and therefore do not appear in the statistics cited by Lehmann. Almost all Rroma want to integrate and have a better life, those who deniy this, overstate the importance of self-initiative and underestimate the power of mechanisms of social exclusion. In addition, he denies the 80,000 to 100,000 Rroma living in Switzerland their existence from, and instead equates Rroma in Switzerland with harvest workers, construction workers, beggars and prostitutes from abroad, which de-facto only constitute a minority of the minority: “Also in Switzerland, the fact is that there are Roma who work here as harvest workers, or in construction; young women, who are involved in prostitution. There are certainly beggars. And where compatriots are, it feels attractive to others.” That Lehmann does not succeed in conveying a differentiated notion of the Rroma, one can read in the comments section of the article. There, one rightwing-nationalist slogan follows the next. Furthermore, most of the houses in the Rroma district of Miskolc, which are now being demolished, were in good condition, and anything but a ghetto, as Lehmann falsely claims (compare Odehnal 2014).

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