Category Archives: Hungary

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01.08.2014 Rroma murders in Hungary: suppression instead of commemoration

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On the occasion of the fifth commemoration day of the last murder in a series of racially motivated killings in Hungary, Verseck (2014) reports on the legacy of the events. The assessment is sobering: The murders are still predominately kept quiet: repression and hatred dominate instead of commemoration. On August the third 2009, a Rromni and her daughter were shot in their home by right-wing extremists. In the previous months four more Rroma had already been killed and 55 people were injured, some seriously: “Today, five years after the last murder, public commemoration is practically non-existent in Hungary. “Both to the members of the former socialist-liberal government, in whose tenure the murders were committed, as well as to the current government under Viktor Orbán, the subject is embarrassing”, says the former liberal member of parliament József Gulyás. In 2009, he led a parliamentary inquiry committee on the Roma murders. […] However, many things should be accounted for. Similar to the case of the NSU-murders, Hungarian authorities played an inglorious role during the series of murders: intelligent services kept knowledge about the perpetrators secret. Hints into far-right milieu were followed too late, investigation findings were not centralised in time and compared. […] The surviving victims didn’t hear any apology so far from the representatives of the former socialist-liberal government.” After all, Zoltán Balog, Minister of Human Resources, initiated victim support for the survivors, who were paid between four and seven thousand Euros. Nevertheless, the living conditions for most of them remain precarious: many of them live without running water, gas or sewage connection. The convictions of the perpetrators are continuously delayed. The judge of the first instance has not handed in a written verdict about his trial, which is why the subsequent proceedings against the accused cannot be continued. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the judge.

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23.07.2014 Hungary: dispute over a Rroma-hostile, socialist politician

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Bognar (2014) reports on a political debate around the socialist politician Albert Pásztor. Pásztor was nominated by the Democratic coalition as a candidate for mayor of Miskolc. But Pásztor is not without controversy as he repeatedly expressed racist view towards Hungarian Rroma. In 2009, at that time chief of police in Miskolc, he stated that the Rroma were responsible for most of the crimes in the city and its surroundings: “We can calmly announce that the thefts in public space are committed by Gypsies”. He added that he does not really believe that a coexistence between Magyars and Rroma is possible. Because of this clearly racist abuse, Pásztor is criticised among left-wing politicians. But not among all of them. Márton Gulyás, head of the Krétakör Foundation, learnt this during a demonstration of the democratic coalition against the incumbent Fidesz party in Budapest. Gulyás held up a banner saying “Left solutions instead of antiziganism”. Thereby, Gulyás wanted to give expression to his displeasure with the nomination of Albert Pásztor. The banner was snatched away from Gulyás and he was slapped by several demonstrators. Thereafter, several Hungarian politicians spoke up and either condemned the action or declared it as symptomatic for the disunity among the Democratic coalition: “The head of the Hungarian liberals, Gábor Fodor, in turn, explained that the left belies itself with the support of the candidacy of Pásztor. The politician of the party “common dialog for Hungary”, Gergely Karácsony, even stated that the left has “completely emptied” in moral terms.” Bognar’s article shows that xenophobic slogans against Rroma also occur repeatedly among left-wing politicians and question the ideas of a democratic state in which all citizens are truly equal. In this context, it should be mentioned that it is mainly the right-wing nationalist Jobbik-party, which promotes and disseminates racist ideas towards the Rroma-minority.

Pester Lloyd (2014) criticises that the democratic coalition now campaigns to the detriment of Rroma by nominating a Rroma-hostile candidate: “Pásztor is – even for the left spectrum – not an isolated case, racist stereotypes – against Roma mainly – are deeply rooted in Hungarian society, across the political spectrum and in all educational levels. But to make such a person the common top candidate of the relevant left-wing parties DK, MSZP […] is new, and a clear signal that the Roma are only an object of political speculation for the “left.”” Pester Lloyd accuses Pásztor to deliberately deny in his experience as a police chief the exclusion and marginalization of Rroma and to reinterpret it as a criminal mentality, which is clearly racist.

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04.07.2014 Minority Rights Group International: Rroma in Europe still heavily discriminated against

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The latest report by Minority Rights Group International (2014) criticizes the continuing, strong discrimination against members of the Rroma community. For Hungary, the report passes criticism on the lack of protection against racially motivated violence. The perpetrators of a series of murders that brutally killed six Rroma between 2008 and 2009 were only identified and arrested after massive criticism of the initial investigation. The case revealed institutional racism in the Hungarian police. The protection of the Rroma population from parading right-wing groups is also insufficient, criticizes the documentation, for example concerning the parade of right-wing extremists in Gyöngyöspata, in 2011. The Hungarian law enforcement is pervaded by a strong double standard, the report states: Rroma are repeatedly sentenced to harsh prison sentences for acts of violence against ethnic Hungarians, so-called “anti-Hungarian crime”. However, these judgments are disproportionate when compared to the racist actions against Rroma, which are only insufficiently being investigated by the police: “The resistance of the police to considering bias motivation and effectively investigating crimes reported by Roma victims was illustrated by the inadequate official response to the ethnically motivated ‘patrols’ of extremist paramilitary organizations in the village of Gyöngyöspata in 2011, where the local Roma community were subjected to weeks of abuse and intimidation by armed vigilante gangs (Minority Rights Group International 2014: 173). The report regrets the continuing status quo that the Rroma are not or not sufficiently heard in the public discourse. Therefore, it is necessary that the minority gets help by the state or other organizations in combating this discrimination. However, if the state itself reproduces these racisms or tolerates them, little will change in this situation (compare politics.hu 2014).

Concerning Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia, the report criticizes the prevalence of a sexist image towards Rromnja. These are presented as hyper-sexualized and promiscuous in the public debate, giving a racist explanation for the high number of children among certain Rroma. The fact that ahigh numbers of children is a result of poverty and of a lack of education, and therefore also occur among ethnic Romanians, Bulgarians and Slovaks, is completely disregarded. Therefore, a demographic issue that affects society as a whole is portrayed as an ethnic problem and thus underlined with racist reasoning. Particularly problematic are sterilisations that are still performed on Rroma without the consent =. They testify that eugenic thinking continues until today and is even actively pursued (Minority Rights Group International 2014: 29-30).

Regarding Greece, the report criticizes the continued segregation of Rroma children in public schools, which continues despite repeated admonitions by various courts. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in May 2013, that the implementation of a separate Rroma class at the primary school of Sofades constitutes a discrimination of the right to education. This was the third court ruling that condemned segregation of Rroma children in Greece. In addition, the report criticises the right-wing party Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn), who repeatedly agitated against Rroma and was involved in numerous violent actions against minorities. The neo-Nazi movement reasons along highly racist arguments. Member of parliament Dimitris Koukoutsis accused the Rroma of  genetic criminality (Minority Rights Group International 2014: 169-170).

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02.07.2014 Rroma and asylum in Canada: renewed controversy over minority policy in Hungary

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Katawazi (2014) covers the asylum case of a five-member Rroma family in Canada. The family fled from discrimination in Hungary to Canada and applied for political asylum. However, Canada has declared Hungary a safe country of origin, whereby asylum applications from that country are seldom accepted. The Buzas’ family applied for admission based on humanitarian grounds in December 2013. The request remains unanswered until today. Nevertheless, Canadian authorities have set the family’s expulsion for July 3rd this year. Through the support of the public, the parents hope to avert the deportation: “In a statement to the public, Renata Buzas said she hopes to stay in Canada in order to protect her children. “Each day, my children suffered from mental and physical abuse at school because of their Roma origins. No mother can tolerate that. Here in Canada they don’t have to be afraid; they can be themselves, they can evolve and flourish,” said Buzas” (Katawazi 2014). Regarding the assessment of asylum cases, the problem remains that the personal experiences of migrants are not relevant compared to the official country analyses. Since individual fates are often difficult to prove, the regulatory assessment of the security situation in the countries concerned outweighs. Regarding the case of discrimination against minorities, the security situation is difficult to assess, because the individual experiences do not necessarily correspond to official assessments.

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27.06.2014 Hungary: “living as in the Third World”

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The Budapester Zeitung (2014) discusses in one of its latest contributions the increasing impoverishment of a broad middle class in Hungary. The deepening of social inequality happens despite good employment rates, as wages are not sufficient to maintain a good standard of living. This depletion favours economic, competitive thinking, envy and also racist slogans against minority groups such as the Rroma. The right-wing nationalist Jobbik party was able to achieve a new record of expressed votes during the last elections: “According to the definition by Eurostat, every third Hungarian is threatened by poverty and social exclusion; compared to 2010, the number of poor increased by more than 100,000 people. Particularly frightening are the estimates in the report concerning how many children are affected by poverty. In today’s Hungary, 620,000 children grow up in poorly insulated homes, 200,000 children live without electricity and thus in the dark, 170,000 children and 140,000 children know no toilet, no bathroom with tub or shower.” This finding is very serious because the impoverishment of the youth reduces their future opportunities of social advancement, what exacerbates social inequality: “A recent research commissioned by the pro-government weekly Heti Válasz and the internet portal Origo.hu classified more than two million people as belonging to the lowest stratum of society, whose lives is virtually hopeless. At least, these people will never ascend into the middle class, the GfK market research institute and the Research Centre for Social Sciences at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences found out (MTATK). Because it is much easier to socially decline within society than to rise socially.” The article uses only statistical information and reproduces deadlocked categories of well-educated, networked rich people and isolated, poor people with deficient education. A little more complexity beyond these categories would have done no harm to the article.  

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18.06.2014 “Günter Grass honors Hungarian Rrom Jenő Zsigó”

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The Hungarian Rrom Jenő Zsigó was awarded a prize by Günter Grass’ “Foundation for theRoma people”: “With the award, Zsigó’s lifetime work is rewarded, the secretariat of Nobel laureate said in Lübeck on Thursday. Zsigó was the founder and long-time director of the institution Romano Kher in Budapest, and chairman of the Hungarian Roma parliament. […]Since the 1980s, he was “an independent and dedicated spokesperson for political and cultural affairs of the Roma in Hungary” The foundation stated.” Zsigó was co-founder of the Hungarian Rroma parliament that championed both politically and culturally the interests of the Rroma and initiated the first scholarship program for Hungarian Rroma, who are still heavily discriminated against in the education system (compare Focus/DPA 2014, Hamburger Abendblatt/DPA 2014, Tiroler Tageszeitung/DPA 2014).

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13.06.2014 Lawsuit: administrative country assessment versus personal experience

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Humphreys (2014) reports on a trial in Canada on the occasion of an asylum application of a Hungarian Romany family. At the centre of interest lies the case of the Rrom Mario Gyula Varga. While the mother and the half-brother of the man were able to present to the court convincingly that they were victims of domestic violence by the father of Varga, a violent pimp, and were persecuted by neo-Nazi groups, the application of Mario Varga himself was rejected as implausible. From the perspective of the judge, the applicant could not demonstrate convincingly that he was indeed a victim of violence in Hungary. Instead, he had argued with the general persecution of the Rroma in Hungary. This general discrimination against Rroma the judge ruled improbable: ““It seems to me that [Mr. Varga’s lawyer’s] submission is that the only reasonable assessment of country conditions in Hungary is that each and every one of its 200,000 to 500,000 citizens of Roma background has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, and that on the balance of probabilities, each and every one’s life is at personal risk, or that each and every one is at risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. If it be so, then Hungary is a failed state. Yet it is not”, Justice Harrington wrote in his ruling last week.” The case shows that evidence for individual asylum applications is extremely difficult to prove. Official governmental countries analyses are juxtaposed with subjective experiences, which usually are express only orally, but cannot be verified. Then, the credibility of the argument is an important criterion. The verdict is therefore also associated with the assessment of the conditions in a country and related value judgments. The estimation of compliance with the rights of minorities in Hungary is far from evident, as can be read in the critical, Hungarian press. Violations of minority rights and rights against discrimination repeatedly occur. Therefore, the verdict of judge Harrington that Hungary is a failed state, if the arguments of the applicant are true, is not that far-fetched.

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13.06.2014 Zoltán Balog differentiates between “worthy” and “unworthy” taxpayers

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Pusztaranger (2014) writes about a recent interview with Zoltán Balog (Fidesz), the Minister of Human Resources, on the Hungarian radio station Lánchídrádió. In the conversation, Balog says that the state must “make a difference between problem families and those who are capable, giving support to the government (through taxes).” To this end, the state secretariat for social affairs and inclusion will be responsible for beneficiaries in the future and the state secretariat for family and youth for providers. According to Pusztaranger, Balog differentiates the category of “beneficiaries” into additional subgroups: “self-inflicted fall into need or without fault”; thus “guilt” is introduced as a new rating category for poverty. This is the historic Christian discourse of “the worthy and unworthy poor. […] Since the Middle Ages, the “worthy poor” were the ones who could not sustain themselves for their livelihood, especially the sick, the elderly, widows and orphans. The “unworthy poor” were healthy and able-bodied people to whom idleness was ascribed.” Among the beneficiaries Balog identifies the disabled, vulnerable children and Rroma. The fact that he considers the Rroma as self-inflicted in distress, Pusztaranger deems as being obvious. This assessment is worrisome insofar, because Balog is also the person responsible for the Hungarian Rroma strategy. In his lecture at the University of Zurich, in the summer of 2013, he had pompously highlighted the massive efforts and successes of Hungary to integrate the Rroma. That these promises were not just empty words is greatly to be hoped, however, very doubtful given the latest news.

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30.05.2014 Immigration policy and Rroma in Canada

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Farber (2014) reports on the immigration case of a Hungarian Rroma family. The father of the family, Jozsef Pusuma, worked in Hungary in the movement against segregation as an investigator of hate crimes. In July 2009, according to the family, a serious incident took place: they were on a walk, when they were brutally beaten up by right-wing extremists, the daughter was unharmed thanks to her father’s sacrifice, he protected her by putting her below himself. The attackers announced that this would not be the last attack if József did not stop his activities. Then, the family migrated to Canada: “Sadly, when he and his family sought refugee protection here, a lawyer hoping to make a quick buck latched on to them. They believed he would help, but he made matters worse. Though armed with evidence of Jozsef’s human rights work and the danger he faced if returned to Hungary, the lawyer never submitted that documentation to the Immigration and Refugee Board. In fact, at their hearing, the lawyer never appeared, sending only an interpreter/consultant. Unrepresented and without documentation of their claim, they were handed an order of deportation. The Pusumas will have to return to Hungary, perhaps to their deaths.” The family has been living in the shelter of a church in Toronto since two years. Out of fear to be deported, they never leave the refuge. Farber criticizes the Canadian government for its deficient asylum policy that does not recognize such evident cases of political persecution. Based on the case described, one sees once more how difficult it is for victims to prove their individual fates. Typically, the decisive factors are the official country reports that evaluate the security and political situation in a country.

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28.05.2014 Rroma, elections and political double standards in Eastern Europe

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Jovanovic (2014) addresses the problem that Rroma concerns are implemented only very rarely in politics. Jovanovic attributes this to the highly widespread corruption in Eastern Europe. Yet, he doesn’t really search for the reasons of favouritism but presupposes it as a fact. This leads to few new insights as to which things would have to change in order to improve the situation of the Rroma. Instead, Jovanobic conveys a too simple notion of illiterate Rroma, living in debt and poverty, who cannot get out of their misery cycle. Illiteracy among poor Rroma must clearly be identified as a phenomenon of educational alienation that has nothing to do with cultural traditions. The reason for the ongoing, unsatisfying status quo of the European Rroma policy, Jovanovic sees in a corrupt political system that urges the Rroma to vote for certain candidates in exchange for support: “Each election season, politicians across Eastern Europe manipulate, bribe, extort and threaten the Roma community into selling their vote to local gangsters in the pocket of political parties. Some voters select multiple candidates so as not to show any favouritism, thus spoiling their ballots. But most Roma voters are pressed to sell their ballots for a sack of flour or surrender them in the face of intimidation from creditors, or mafiosi who endanger their families. This leads to voter apathy, disillusionment and a sense of political powerlessness. […] Some are threatened with dismissal from work if they don’t vote a certain way. Buoyed by these kinds of manipulation, politicians elected in this way sit in national parliaments with little regard for the plight of the Roma who elected them.” Jovanovic’s denunciation of corruption and nepotism is important. However, he conveys a too simple notion of the social and political conditions in Eastern Europe. He doesn’t mention that the Rroma, although they contribute important votes, ultimately only represent a minority of voters. In Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia where the largest Rroma minorities live, Rroma represent eight to ten percent of the total population. It is therefore not only corruption, but also the unwillingness of the established parties to do something about the marginalization of Rroma that must be denounced.

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25.05.2014 The rise of Jobbik and the Rroma

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Baer (2014 I/II) reports on the rise of right-wing nationalist party Jobbik in Hungary and their relation to the Rroma. The party has been able to claim a new record of votes at the last elections. More than 20% of the electorate votes in Hungary now go to this party, which bases its policy on nationalism, isolationism and xenophobia. Jobbik now reigns in ten communities where it enforces a restrictive policy towards the Rroma. For example in Gyöngyöspata, in north-eastern Hungary, where the new Jobbik mayor is monitoring the Rroma with cameras and has compelled them to compulsory community work in return for social welfare. Jobbik has recently gained a new image: it is said to act less aggressively than at the beginning and to have stopped working with obviously racist slogans, in order to have a greater appeal. The party recently changed its slogan on the Rroma from an open rejection of Rroma to “Roma who do not want to integrate” (Legrand 2014). However, this has to be interpreted rather as clever propaganda, than as a departure from the actual party program, as stated by the human rights activist Sandor Czöke. The head of the Rroma community of Gyöngyöspata, Janos Farkas, is harassed more often and defamed since the takeover by Jobbik: “If, for example, you go into the forest to collect branches for heating and you get caught, you get fined and maybe even come into prison. Their principle is that all Rroma are criminal, that all Gypsies are bad. In 2012, they set fire to my house. Our only tort is to be Roma” (Baer 2014/II). Baer’s concerns towards the increase of rightwing-nationalist ideas in Hungary are completely to agree with. However it is surprising that not a single word is said about the discrimination against Rroma in France. Also there, nationalist politics are done at the expense of the Rroma.

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21.05.2014 Once more: north migration is an economic and not a Rroma phenomenon

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Peters (2014) reports on Rroma in Sofia and Berlin. She portrays the famous image of marginalized Rroma below the poverty level, for which the conditions in Germany represent a major development step, even if it is only by receiving a minimum wage. Thereby, she characterizes a fairly accurate picture of the economic causes of migration, but mixes these too imprudently with ascribed characteristics of the Rroma. Although she also mentions the large proportion of well-qualified immigrants and the discrimination against Rroma in Germany itself, she only covers these issues very marginally. The reductionist, defamatory statements of the Bulgarian deputy prime minister, Zinaida Zlatanova, are cited as evidence for the strong marginalization of the Rroma in Bulgaria, what is identified by Peters as the main reason for the northern migration of the minority: “Bulgaria is home to many different ethnic groups. We have problems only with Roma”, says Zlatanova. “And these problems exist in every country that is home to Roma. This is not a Bulgarian problem. In France, Hungary – the same.” The exclusion of Roma children in ghettos and their own schools? “We should not tear the Rroma from their natural environment. Better they go to segregated schools than never.” Whether Germany benefits from identifying the phenomenon “poverty migration” as a “Rroma problem”, is very questionable. Also in Germany the Rroma are exposed top exclusion. The exclusion of the Rroma must not be concealed that is out of question. However, the marking of migrants as Rroma migrants creates more problems than it solves. The Rroma want to integrate and not undergo special treatment, which excludes them additionally. This only creates new resentments, as can be read in Peters’ own assessment: “We must take care of the Roma, who come to us”, says Giffey [councillor for education in Neukölln]. The dilemma is this: If you do that – then more and more come.”

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21.05.2014 Rroma and the Jobbik in Tiszavasvári

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Legrand (2014) reports about the Rroma policy of the Hungarian city Tiszavasvári, in north-eastern Hungary. In October 2010, the right-wing nationalist Jobbik gained most of the votes and appointed a mayor from the party. However, this did not lead to any significant change regarding the segregation and oppression of Rroma in Tiszavasvári, Legrand concludes. Already before, the minority had been marginalized and ostracized. Under the new Jobbik mayor, Erik Fülöp, no significant change has occurred in this regard, Legrand states. He didn’t destroy their homes or tried to evict them, as he had promised during the election campaign, however in return, the social exclusion has increased dramatically: The Rroma are more often harassed by the police, some even from the local doctor. The social assistance counter is located at the other end of town, so that Rroma have to go as far as possible. Their district is sealed off like a contaminated zone. In 2011, an attempt was made to revive the militia of the city, but failed due to the intervention of the Fidesz government. It was declared illegal. The local militia “Tiszavasvári Csendőrség” was involved in the deportation of Jews and Rroma under National Socialism. The “big Rroma Plan” of the new mayor is designed not to evict the minority openly, but to isolate them more systematically in their quarters and harass them: “In the first phase, the party organized a massive clean-up campaign in the neighbourhood Valak. “Now, if someone is throwing away garbage in the outside, he has to hand in social assistance”, says Anna, who fears an excuse “to confiscate the last incomes of the families.” The following stages are kept secret and the mayor and his assistants reject any media stress. Before the community centre, funded by the European Union, [is] a big house with exposed bricks, Anna sighs: “Even that comes to us, everything is done to avoid that one get out of here.” On can therefore question whether Legrand’s assessment is correct, when she concludes that the policy of the Jobbik mayor is a continuation of the earlier policy of exclusion. Rather, it seems that he brings the marginalization of the minority to a whole new level.

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14.05.2014 “Ghetto blasting: Hungarian city pays “emigration bonus” to Roma”

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Pester Lloyd (2014) reports on a new type of Rroma policy in Miskolc, in Hungary. According to the new decision, the residents of the local Rroma ghetto are induced to move away from the city into social housing in the periphery with a bonus of 1.5 to 2 million forints: “Condition [for the emigration bonus]: the receivers are not supposed to sell the newly acquired residence for five years. How they plan to deal with the case of people, who, for whatever reason, decide to return to Miskolc, something that cannot be forbidden, the city council remains silent about. Emigration bonuses by mayors have been seen in previous years, they caused a kind of bonus tourism and had additionally the effect of increasing conflicts due to the influx of strangers to local communities that previously had a lower proportion of Roma. Representatives of NGOs and Roma associations protested fiercely against the decision of the Fidesz-dominated city council. In the boardroom of the town hall, posters were displayed with the slogans “Don’t vote for deportation!” and “There will always be poor people!” The new policy of the Hungarian city of Miskolc recalls the attempts of former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to force immigrants to return their home countries by the distribution of a return bonus. What is needed in fact, are no expulsion and marginalization policies, aimed at ethnic homogenization, but active efforts for a successful integration of the Rroma.

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07.05.2014 Integration of the Rroma in the Czech Republic

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Schneibergová (2014) reports on the symposium „people on the margins“ in Brno. MEPs from Germany, Austria , Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic came together to discuss the marginalization of minorities. The presentations and discussions featured MEPs, ministers and local politicians. The focus was on the minorities and their position in society. Most speakers agreed that access to education should be facilitated and that the Rroma should finally be included in politics. Left-wing politician Ondřej Liska stated: “I think that one speaks too much in the Czech Republic about minorities instead of with the minorities. We should say goodbye to the concept of policy for Roma, because we need a policy with the Roma. We need children and young people who are educated, who can assert themselves in the labour market. We need young Roma citizens who participate in the dynamics of social processes. There are such people among the young generation. But an average Czech – although I hate using that term –  has not been informed about it.” To what extent Rroma representatives themselves also took the floor, is not discussed. Therefore, one gets the impression that also at the meeting one did not speak with but about the minority.

Nejezchleba/Waldmann (2014) report from Ústí nad Labem, in north Bohemia. There, on the first of May, a group of right-wing radicals demonstrated against the EU and the Rroma. The local Rroma organized a counter-demonstration, where they expressed their displeasure with the nationalists. This it a recent development, since usually Rroma preferred to stay away from the demonstrations of the right-wing extremists: “For years, the state agency for social integration had recommended the Roma to abandon the city during the Nazi marches, so to leave the matter to the police. A father in Ústí said on the sidelines of the demonstration, he feared for his children, that why he would not come into bigger appearance at the counter demo. Like him, many Roma prefer to remain silent. But the number of those who want to oppose the right-wing extremists with a new self-confidence increases. Around Konexe [a citizens’ initiative] a new alliance has formed; it brings together both anti-fascist activists from Prague and Saxony, as well as local Roma, priests and students.” Human rights activists such as Markus Pape see it as a positive development that the still highly marginalized Rroma in the Czech Republic increasingly resist their defamation and actively stand up for their self-determination (compare Schultz 2014).

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25.04.2014 “Jobbik Takes Aim at Roma”

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Bendavid (2014) reports on the new electoral success of the right-wing nationalist and anti-Rroma Jobbik party, in Hungary. The right faction received 21% of the expressed votes in the elections earlier this month. The party accuses Rroma of culturally related antisocial behaviour and crime, even if it recognizes that not all Rroma stand out negatively: “Few parties have attracted as much attention as Jobbik, due to its sophistication and its influence within Hungary. “Jobbik has a pretty decent structure; they’re not just a bunch of thugs,” said Cas Mudde, a University of Georgia professor who studies far-right parties. “They have highly qualified people with university degrees.” Jobbik’s appeal, its supporters say, rests on a range of promises, from cleaning up corruption to reforming the education system. Its leaders vigorously reject accusations of racism. But human-rights activists say Jobbik’s candidates regularly exploit anti-Roma prejudice. Jobbik “has made anti-Roma statements a pillar of its political strategy,” the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency said in a recent report. The Jobbik platform, for example, criticizes Roma who “wish only that society maintain them through the unconditional provision of state benefits.” Not all Roma are criminals, another Jobbik statement concedes, but it adds, “’Gypsy crime’ is real. It is a unique form of delinquency, different from the crimes of the majority in nature and force.” It is dangerous to relativise a doubtlessly racist dominated party programme because it admits that not all Rroma are criminals. Their demagoguery is no less serious nor less problematic because of that. A fraction, which bases its policy on the exclusion and defamation of an ethnic group, and comes to a full 21% percentage of voters, must give pause to even die-hard optimists. Unfortunately, history has shown all too clearly that between political defamation and physical destruction there is only a narrow line. Only a year ago, the Hungarian publicist Zsolt Bayer asked publicly for an extermination of the Rroma, without being sentenced to any penalty.

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25.04.2014 The European Rroma-policy

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Bendavid (2014) reports a forced eviction of informal Rroma houses in Eforie, in south-eastern Romania. The residents are still deeply angered by the destruction of their homes by the local government in September 2013. As a substitute, they were offered container flats that most refused, because of the remote location and the tight space. The European Rroma Rights Centre filed a complaint against the eviction. The expulsion is taken by Bendavid as a starting point to reflect on the European policy towards Rroma. With the accession of Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia to the European community, the will as well as the political pressure for the integration of this minority has increased. Western European countries fear an influx of impoverished Rroma from Eastern Europe, a fear that has proved unfounded until now. Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission, sees an important reason for the lack of effectiveness of the aid programs, in the widespread prejudice against the minority, which prevent politicians to take actions out of fear that they will not be elected again: “Ms. Reding, of the European Commission, said the problem may not be solved as long as local officials are terrified of a public backlash upon helping Roma. That means the EU ultimately may have to issue its own Europe-wide rules, she said. “I’ve been told directly by several mayors, ‘I am not a racist, but if I call a program ‘Housing for Roma’ or ‘Education for Roma,’ I will no longer be mayor,’” said Ivan Ivanov, director of the European Roma Information Office, a clearinghouse and advocacy group.” This insight is particularly relevant when one considers that the Rroma are repeatedly accused of being responsible for their own fate. The fact that poverty and lack of education are not a self-chosen way of life, but rather the result of exclusion, should be obvious to anyone. While some government officials strive for a better integration of the Rroma, others want to segregate them consistently and build walls around Rroma settlements. Thus, in Slovakia 400 mayors joined the movement Zobudme Sa! that wants to remove all Rroma settlements by the uncompromising application of health and safety regulations (compare Wall Street Journal 2014, Nair 2014).

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11.04.2014 Robert Kushen: the integration of Rroma remains a challenge

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On the occasion of the international Rroma Day, the chairman of the European Rroma Rights Centre, Robert Kushen, reflects on the situation of the Rroma in Europe and the continuing challenges for this minority (Kushen 2014). He arrives at a sober view: the decade of Rroma inclusion, which was adopted in Sofia in 2005, and encompassed the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain, unfortunately cannot fulfil the expectations that it raised. Rroma are still affected by widespread poverty, discrimination, unemployment and insufficient access to public institutions such as schools and hospitals: “Despite this political recognition of an unconscionable social crisis, Roma remain among the poorest, unhealthiest, least educated and most marginalised European citizens. The data are devastating: Across Central and Southeast Europe, 90 percent of Roma live in poverty. Fewer than one third of adults have paid employment. Only 15 percent of young Roma have completed secondary or vocational school. Nearly 45 percent of Roma live in housing that lacks basic amenities. Life expectancy in Roma communities is 10-15 years less than in non-Roma communities, with many Roma lacking access to insurance and health care.” Kushen refers in his judgement to information from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP 2013). Reasoning with such figures is not without dangers, since the representation of the Rroma as uneducated, poor, and unhealthy is often interpreted by the polemical, public discourse as a cultural peculiarity of the minority, although these characteristics are inevitably a poverty phenomenon. Although is not to deny that numerous Rroma are poor and uneducated, the relevant question is whether such an argument can contribute to the  integration of the Rroma. In addition, surveys often only take into account the visible Rroma, because the integrated ones are hard to identify as Roma and difficult to contact. Not only images of misery are needed, which generate compassion, but also images of success that allow a positive identification.

Kushen continues with information about the marginalization of the Rroma in Italy, France, Sweden and Hungary, and then gets on to the latest report from the European Union on the situation of the Rroma. The report published on April the second this year, can not present success stories either: “In early April, the European Commission convened a “Roma Summit” and issued a report assessing how member states are doing in addressing the interconnected problems of poverty and discrimination which the Roma are facing. The report noted “the persistence of segregation” in education, a large and in some cases widening employment gap between Roma and non-Roma, big differences between Roma and non-Roma in health insurance coverage, and an “absence of progress” in addressing the need for housing. Finally, the report noted that discrimination remains “widespread” (compare European Commission 2014).

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Switzerland

09.04.2014 Hungary, Rroma and prostitution in Switzerland

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In her article, Kiss (2014) discusses the Hungarian prostitutes in Switzerland, the social background of sex work, the constitution of moral values, the role of the media and the current debate on a Europe-wide ban on prostitution. The effort to prohibit prostitution derives from the notion of a substantial or at least significant congruence of prostitution and human trafficking. Kiss qualifies this idea in relation to Zurich and replaces it with the notion of a grey area said to be organised by the family or the clan. This statement is dangerous, because it alludes to stereotypes of criminal Rroma clans, explained as being hierarchically organized and culturally determined: “In Zurich, however, the smallest part of prostitutes are victims of human trafficking and extreme exploitation, the women of the office for women migration [FIZ] say – and vice versa, there are also self-employed sex workers. The Hungarian women often work in the area in between, in a frame, which is organised by the family or the clan.” Kiss deals further with the prostitutes’ origin. She cites the Bernese sociologists Sachsa Finger, who assumes that most Hungarian sex workers in Switzerland are from Roma settlements in Nyíregyháza, Ózd and pecs. That there are also Magyar prostitutes is not stressed enough. It is mainly poverty, no or lacking educational qualifications, unemployment and suppressing role models, that lead women into prostitution. That this social ills cannot be easily eliminated with a prohibition of prostitution, Kiss is aware, even if she can not stress often enough the dishonouring of women through sex work: “Alice Schwarzer, you’re right. Let’s prohibit prostitution. These women don’t lead a life, in a few months they age by years. […] But her protest pales in comparison to the Eastern European reality. […] Should one make it impossible for the mothers to gain a livelihood for her hungry family? On the other hand, why does no one talk about the social policy in these countries? Why does no go into the villages and settlements in the tent cities, where women’s rights are worth nothing ? […] Who will feed my children?, asks the prostitute who arrives in Zurich by train. Where will I work when prostitution is banned? But to these questions, the latest turn in the discourse about free sexuality has no answer.”

  • Kiss, Noëmi (2014) Bereit zur Verrichtung. In: Das Magazin Nr. 14/2014, S. 12-19.
Czech Republic Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Slovakia

04.04.2014 Integration of the Rroma in the Czech Republic

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The Prague Daily Monitor (2014) reports on the candidacy of two Czech Rroma parties for the European Parliament. The Equal Opportunities Party (SRP) and the Romani Democratic Party (RDS) will advocate for the rights of the Rroma at the forthcoming European Parliament elections of 23th and 24th of May: “With the participation of two Romani parties in the EP elections, the Czech Republic is likely to set a record in the EU as no Romani party from Slovakia and Hungary or any other countries with a numerous Romani minority has done so. […] The manifestoes of the SRP and RDS are similar. The parties advocate the law on social housing, work for people from ghettoes, the limitation of seizures and they want Romani children to be sent to normal schools, not to the “special schools” for retarded children […].” Rroma activist Radek Horvath criticizes that the insistence on ethnically based parties as counterproductive. The Rroma should seek admission in the major parties.

Kachlíkova (2014) reports on the demand of the Rroma opposition party “Top 09” to introduce Rromanes in Czech schools as a teaching language. Anna Putnová, of the opposition party, sees the lack of Czech language skills among Rroma children as an important reason why the children do worse in the schools: “We send the children to school so that they develop. However, through the language we are creating a hurdle. I would therefore like to start a debate about whether to allow students to use Romani as an auxiliary language in the first, second, and third grade to develop a positive relationship to the school.” Some parts of the lessons should be held in Rromanes, the politician demands. Critics counter that the introduction of Romani in public schools would promote the segregation of the Rroma, because it would require ethnically divided classes. Rroma representatives as Stanislav Daniel rather want a better promotion of Czech language skills among Rroma children.

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