Another report on the village of Garmen where houses were destroyed last week. The families continue to live in the houses and refused social assistance as a protest for their evictions.
A long article on the village of Gramen in Bulgaria where ethic tensions came to a boil a while back and on which we have already reported.
A US State department report on Bulgaria notes the increased prejudice against Jews and Rroma as well as the increasing number of incidents related to ethnicity. The press, according to the report, describes Rroma and other minorities in “discriminatory and abusive language”, thus contributing to the issue.
Scary…
Switzerland just signed an agreement with Bulgaria providing 8 Mio Swiss Francs to the municipalities of Burgas, Ruses, and Sliven to further Rroma (and other minorities) inclusion, centring on education and basic health care. In view of the more and more extremist views of the general population towards minorities and Rroma in particular, this in a country that used to be tolerant, one wonders whether this is the right approach.
Rroma in Plovdiv asked for the resignation of the minister of health in Bulgaria because of his xenophobic statements. In one of these, he compared Rroma to “stock” and to “horses”.
Interesting article about the situation of Rroma in Bulgaria and their increasing victimisation and isolation based on observations on the Rroma Mahala (neighbourhood) of Iztok in the city of Pazardjik.
A summary of the events and latest developments in the rising tensions in Bulgaria and on the increasing instrumentalisation of Rroma among rightist parties.
According to the Novinite News Agency of Bulgaria, the continuing ethnic tensions in Bulgaria show that politicians are good at doing nothing. The article gives a good summary of the issues, the views of the various groups on the Rroma situation in Bulgaria. That this has changed in recent times is unfortunate. Rroma were quite well integrated in Bulgaria.
A statement of a Bulgarian political scientist is totally off … Rroma are not a century old problem in Bulgaria. Nationalism is. Rroma lived fully integrated in Bulgaria for centuries before nationalists declared them and other minorities unwelcome.
Shame.
According to the European commission, EU member countries have made some progress on Rroma integration in the last year. We really do wonder where… Certainly not in Bulgaria, in Hungary, in Romania, all countries where the pendulum is swinging the other way around. And Western Europe is not much better, see France, England etc.
In the night of the 15th, a group of unknown people tried to storm the Rroma neighbourhood of Garmen. This is the latest escalation in a series of confrontations between Rroma and general population in that village. The confrontation centres on the will of the municipality to destroy “illegal” buildings, i.e. houses built without permits or landownership. This overwhelmingly affects poor Rroma.
This is dangerous, especially since there were until recently very few tensions between Rroma and the general population in that country.
The municipality of Stara Zagora is planning to tear down up to 60 buildings in the local Roma Mahala of Lozenets as the buildings are deemed illegal. This is the case for many Rroma houses in Bulgaria as land ownership is often uncertain following the fall of communism.
This destruction of houses is a source of tension in Bulgaria and has already resulted in riots. This is also a way to get rid of unwanted people. It has to be stopped and Rroma have to be given a chance to register their buildings.
The mayor of Bulgaria’s Kyustendil is calling a referendum to ask whether he should run for a third term. This referendum explicitly excludes Rroma from taking part, officially as there have been too many instances of vote buying from Rroma.
Shame !
Rroma from the Bulgarian village of Garmen, where ethnic tensions flared recently and resulted in de-facto battles between Rroma and general population, have started destroying illegal constructions in their part of the village. It is widely reported that the push by the village’s authorities to push for regularisation of the buildings was at the source of the tensions. Rroma can now regularise the situation by buying the communal land on which their houses sit. Unfortunately, it seems that event the low price is too high for most.
An interview of Professor Mihail Konstantinov, mathematician and expert of elections, gives a view of the current situation and thinking of the general population on Rroma in Bulgaria. The Garmen events and their cause is put into a context of lack of education, work, and total lack of propects.
Following the ethnic unrest in Garmen, the coalition’s existence is threatened. Some rightist elements are accusing the Turkish minority party of stirring up the Rroma issue.
A reportage on one of the largest Mahala in Bulgaria, Stolpinovo in Plovdiv. A must read!
In Garmen, a village in Bulgaria, ethnic tensions have flared. Following fight between Rroma teenagers and ethnic Bulgarians, there have been appeals to peace by the Rroma population and appeals for an anti Rroma manifestation on June 2nd. A probable background of the fight may be the “illegal” nature of the Rroma settlement, i.e. the fact that many buildings were built without the necessary authorisations and the non-Rroma citizen protesting against theft and criminality in the village. Meanwhile, even the deputy mayor of the village has been apparently beaten up by Rroma teenagers, showing that the tensions are far from ebbing.
An article on the Rroma Mahala in Vidin, in North Western Bulgaria. The article, while dispelling some of the stereotypes of many children, still pushes some age old prejudices, stating that marriage occurs by abduction (ritually, yes, practically, unknown), that child brides are the norm etc. What most journalists tend to blend out is that in Rroma tradition, one is married if one sleeps with one’s boyfriend. So effectively, by this standard, most of girls in Western Europe are not that different … What is different tough is that there is little contraception, resulting in early pregnancies, dropping out of schools, etc. All things that are a social poverty issue and have de facto nothing to do with Rroma.
The French Press is again full of news on forced eviction of illegal Rroma camps in France. This is nearly the only news that is given about Rroma in France.
Several articles are devoted to the evacuation of the camp in Saint-Herblain near Nantes. In this case, these are to a large extent French Rroma / Manouches, and not newer migrants from Romania and Bulgaria.
Other than that, a camp emptied in Argenteuil; another one in Limeil-Brévannes; one in Bonneuil-Limeil; while a Rroma camp is blocking the reconversion of a former prison in Loos; and in Ivry, Rroma are appealing against an imminent expulsion. Finally, Rroma who were recently expulsed are asking the prefect for new lodging, as is required by the French law prior to an eviction.
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