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29.10.2014 Waterford (Ireland): pogrom against local Rroma

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O’Connor/Gittens (2014) report on a pogrom of 200 right-wing extremists against 30 Rroma, resident in Waterford, Ireland. The right-wing mob accused the Rroma of a series of criminal activities in the city and smashed the windows and doors of their house. Thanks to the in time intervention of the police, the worst could be prevented. Responsible authorities see a demagogic Facebook group as a possible catalyst for the action: More than 200 protestors gathered at Manor Street in the city at 5pm after a rally organised on Facebook turned ugly: “The demonstrators targeted a group of 30 people from the local Roma community who were being blamed for a series of alleged crimes in the area. A number of toddlers and grandmothers were among the group who were evacuated from the house after scenes turned ugly. One man in his 20s was arrested in connection to the incident but was later released without charge. Solicitor Gareth Noble told independent.ie that tension has been building in Waterford recently, with anti-Roma Facebook pages being created. “Gardai were on the scene and removed the Roma people for their safety.” […] “I’ve been in communication with the Superintendent in Waterford with regard to the incitement to racial hatred online. Our immediate aim is to ensure the safety of these people who’ve been displaced”, he added.” The described events are symptomatic of the strengthened xenophobia in Europe, which is directed against ethnic minorities. The incident also shows the dangers of social media, when irresponsible persons abuse minorities and incite to hate crimes. At the beginning of October, a Rroma hostile Facebook group was deleted after an objection. Only minutes later, a new group with the same content was created under a new name. According to the Rroma Foundation, in the UK, there are an estimated 90,000 to 120,000 Rroma. The majority of them are integrated and have a job. However, in recent months and years, right-wing populist parties and media have fuelled fears of a mass immigration of Eastern European Rroma that supposedly would abuse the British social system and do not want to integrate. In addition, Murphy’s Notice (2014) in the Irish Mirror, communicating to the readers the exact place and time of a post-demonstration to the pogrom is highly questionable.

Holland (2014) adds that several Irish politicians decidedly condemned the incident: that lynch-law had no place in Ireland and had to be fought firmly. Ciara Conway, member of the Labour Party, pointed out that ethnic Irish do commit most crimes in Ireland, however, no one does demonstrate in front of an Irish family’s house. The Minister for Equality, Aodhan Ó Ríordáin, condemned the incident sharply and called it “cowardly, prejudiced and racist”. Wednesday evening, an anti-racism demonstration is planned on Railway Square. The organization “Pavee Point”, which represents the interests of Irish Travellers and Rroma, called for decisive actions from politicians and authorities (compare Counihan 2014, Ó Cionnaith 2014, Irish Examiner 2014, O’Connor 2014).

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

24.10.2014 Uncertain situation for immigrant Rroma in Enneptal continues

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Gruber (2014) reports on the ongoing ambiguous situation for the Rroma immigrants in Enneptal. Most of the approximately 100 Rroma, many of them children, moved after the expulsion from Duisburg to the city. Since, they had to handle several chicanes of the new owner: he tried to evade them again shortly after their arrival in the municipality, what turned out to be illegal. The immediate future of the Rroma families is therefore still unclear. After all, all children are enrolled in local schools and the families are actively supported in their integration efforts by the association future-oriented assistance (ZOF). The latest challenge is not functioning heaters, which, in regard to the dawning winter, poses a serious problem: “Now the families with many small children and infants are threatened to live in homes without heating – and the cold months are just around the corner. There are different sources regarding how many people are affected. The city and the social workers from the association future-oriented assistance (ZOF) estimate 70 people, who still live in the tenements at the Hagener Strasse 138 a and 138 b. The Roma themselves speak of 60 people, divided into six families. The city Ennepetal is informed. It wants to talk to the landlord, with the aim that he performs his duties and ensures proper conditions in the apartments. […] The municipal commitment to improve the situation has also to be seen in context of a threat to the children’s welfare. Infants and young children in homes without a working heater can quickly become a case for the youth welfare services.” The association future-oriented assistance (ZOF) also wants to enable the best possible inclusion of the adults into the labour market; among others with language courses. – In Germany, according to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, there live 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma. The majority of them have lived in Germany for generations and are well integrated. They are completely negated in the one-sided media debate about “poverty of immigrants”, that are usually equated with poor Rroma from Southeast Europe.

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24.10.2014 URA-2: controversial return assistance project in the Kosovo

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Baeck (2014) reports on the German return assistance project URA-2 in the Kosovo. The controversial aid program is supposed to help deported families or voluntarily returnees from Germany with their reintegration. According to Baeck however, the aid project doesn’t not fulfil this task. The program is more a political representation project, than that real integration assistance is being provided, Baeck criticizes: ““Ura” – means “bridge” in Albanian and is a project for “returnees” in the Kosovo, which Lower Saxony finances since 2009 with six other provinces and the federal government. Just recently, Lower Saxony decided to extend it until 2015. […] During a visit in February, the door to the URA-2-building is closed. […] People should actually queue here: anywhere in Prishtina, one encounters deportees, who wear rags and live in the worst conditions, in shacks or demolished houses. This morning, there is no one to be seen of all these people in the URA-2 building. […] URA 2 seems to be more effective in Germany. By default, during asylum procedures in Lower Saxony, the authorities refer to the assistances that are listed on leaflets. The project serves as a mean to overturn in advance possible reasons that could hinder a deportation – for example health reasons.” Baeck sees the return assistance project as an excuse to have arguments for the deportation of immigrants back to the Kosovo. The Rroma constitute the largest group of those affected. All the promises that are made in the information brochure of URA-2, are not adhered to, Baeck criticizes: “In the brochures of URA 2, one can read of “support with administrative procedures” and “psychological support”, of grants for rent, medicine, school supplies, or the initial furnishing of an apartment. To promote the integration into the labour market, one time training costs can be paid, up to 170 Euros, when starting a business even several thousand Euros. Who is returning from Germany “voluntarily”, receives more than “repatriated persons.”” Rroma are not politically persecuted in Kosovo. However, that does not mean that they are not there affected by severe poverty and a wide variety discriminations. This is given too little consideration when deporting people back. – Before the war, 100’000 to 300’000 well integrated Rroma lived in the Kosovo. Today, according to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, there are around 40’000.

  • Baeck, Jean-Philipp (2014) Niedersachsens Trojaner in Prishtina. In: Die Tageszeitung (TAZ) online vom 17.10.2014. http://www.taz.de/!147939/
Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

22.10.2014 Demonstration for the rights of the Rroma in Budapest

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Several German-language newspapers reported on a human-rights demonstration in Budapest, where representatives of the Rroma and their sympathisers called attention on the discrimination of the Rroma minority and demanded more commitment towards compliance of minority rights. There were also members of other discriminated minorities among the protesters: “Several hundred Hungarians participated on Sunday, in the capital Budapest, in a “Roma Pride”- march in honour of the discriminated Sinti and Roma. During their demonstration downtown, they sang the song “Opre Roma” (Stand up, Roma!), that calls for the struggle for social equality. The main organiser of the march, Jeno Setet of the Roma organisation Ide tartozunk (We belong here), said: “This day is for everyone, whether Roma or non-Roma. With it, we want to show the pride of our community and our positive contribution to Hungary.” Among the demonstrators were also representatives of the Jewish community, of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), as well as the homeless people and refugees. Benjamin Abtan of the co-organizing European anti-racist grassroots movement (Egam) in Paris, said: “Roma Pride is our response to the current rise of nationalism, racism and anti-Semitism in Europe, particularly in Hungary” (Blick 2014). The extreme right-wing Jobbik-party (English: the better ones) emerged as the second strongest power from the municipal elections of October the 12th. Supporters of the party have repeatedly gained attention with demagogic statements against Rroma

Pester Lloyd (2014) explains in details the concerns of the organisers: they criticise, among others, the one-sided press coverage of the minority, leading to the strengthening of negative stereotypes about Rroma. In addition, the access to the education system, to the labour market, and to health care is still insufficient: “The organisers complain that in general and especially in Hungary, “one almost never hears or reads anything positive about the Rroma”, these media exclusion or bias reinforces the separation of majority and minority. However, through pride, one also gets self-confidence to take ones destiny into ones own hands – even if the government does not want this. In a petition, among others, it was demanded that the existence of a Holocaust against Roma and their persecution in Nazi Hungary be made a subject in classrooms. The background: Minister Balog, responsible for the Roma integration, called the Hungarian Roma recently  a “people without a history”, who were caught in an imaginary victimhood. Furthermore, he stated that there were  “no deportations of Roma into concentration camps”, which is historically just wrong.” In addition, Pester Lloyd deplores the very low participation in the demonstration (compare Thurgauer Zeitung 2014, Tiroler Tageszeitung 2014, Die Welt 2014, Wiener Zeitung 2014, Zeit 2014).

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22.10.2014 Integration assistance for Rroma in Berlin

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Lange (2014) reports on a successful integration project of immigrant Rroma in Berlin. The tenement house in the Scharnweberstraße in Reinickendorf was previously regularly the scene of conflicts, according to Lange: many homes were overcrowded, hygiene standards were not met, there were repeatedly conflicts between the new tenants and long-time residents. Thanks to an integration project, which took into account both parties, these difficulties could be overcome: “Just a year ago, the house on the Scharnweberstraße 111 in Reinickendorf was as an example of failed integration. Overcrowding of flats, conflicts between long-time residents and the Roma families, daily complaints to the police, daily visits of the health office. […] The first step in improving the “oppressive conditions”, as Kerstin Kirsch of the Gewobag tenant advisory calls it, was the purchase of the house by the local housing association. All apartments were renovated and the Roma families, who were previously known only as lodgers, became the main tenants. For the long-time residents it was time to reduce prejudices, for the new tenants from Romania, to take responsibility in the neighbourhood. Both sides became help from the Phinove association that accompanies Roma families during their start in Berlin, and is supported by the commissioner for integration and migration, Monika Lüke.” The integration project described here is indeed positive. However, the context is discussed too little: in the past few months, in the media and in politics there have been fierce debates about so-called “poverty immigrants” that were often collectively referred to as poor, uneducated Rroma from Romania or Bulgaria. Therewith, a one-sided notion of the minority was established among a broad public: Rroma are supposedly poorly educated, have many children, and come from the slums of Eastern Europe to benefit from the German welfare state, which they then become dependent of. Of course, there are marginalised Rroma corresponding to these ideas. But they only represent a minority of the minority. There are also well-educated Rroma, who belong to the middle- or even the upper class. In addition, already now 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma live in Germany. Many of them have been in Germany for generations, speak fluently German and are integrated. They are the living proof that integration is possible without problems (compare Biermann 2014, Briest 2014, Klüber 2014).

Memarina (2014) reports on the opening of two emergency apartments for immigrant Rroma families in Berlin. The apartments are intended as interim solutions until the families can find permanent accommodation. They are allowed to stay for a maximum of one month. Monika Lüke, commissioner for integration in Berlin, stated that one wants to create up to ten such flats: “In July 2013, the Senate had adopted a Roma action plan. It was planned to set up an entire house for homeless families. But nothing came of it, it was obviously the resistance in the districts. That’s why Lüke is now focussing on decentralized solutions – together with the Aachen estate and housing company, that owns the first two emergency apartments” (compare rbb 2014).

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

22.10.2014 Le Monde: will the new anti-terrorism law be interpreted to the disadvantage of the Rroma immigrants?

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Johannès (2014) reports on the adoption of a new anti-terrorism law in France, which, according to proponents of minority rights, could be interpreted to the disadvantage of Rroma immigrants. The critics worry about the vagueness of the statutory amendment, which could be interpreted very widely. Under certain circumstances they could prevent Rroma immigrants from entering the country: “The wording is so broad that the organizations ask if the text is not particularly aimed at Roma. Just deported, they come back again. From now on, one could ban them from re-entering. The ministry is shocked about the suspicion. The anti-terrorism law is reviewed under time pressure, that is, with a single session per chamber: the National Assembly, which adopted the law on September 18th, did not even hear about the statutory amendment in question. It is set right behind the first article, which wants to prohibit all French citizens to leave the territory, if there are reasons to believe that the person goes “to a field of operation of a terrorist groups, and leads to sensitive conditions, which could adversely affect the public safety upon the persons return.” It is difficult to estimate, whether this statutory amendment could actually be used to declare Rroma immigrants a threat to public safety, and therefore prohibit them re-entry in the future. It is to hope that French politics as well as the justice insists on a precise implementation of the new law. Since the “Grenoble-discourse” of Nicolas Sarkozy, there have indeed been repeated attempts by French domestic politics to make immigrated Rroma return to their home countries as fast as possible. At the same time, it is often forgotten that already now an estimated 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma are integrated in France. The assumed 15,000 Rroma, who indeed live in informal settlements, and which receive all the medial attention, only account for a minority of the minority.

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Switzerland

22.10.2014 Rroma from Miskolc ask for asylum in Switzerland

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Le Temps (2014) reports on a group of 63 Rroma from Miskolc, who applied for asylum in Switzerland. The Rroma fled the forced eviction by the city government of Miskolc, which expelled an entire residential district for racist reasons. The most controversial action of the Hungarian authorities received international media attention, but this did not alter anything about the forced displacement of hundreds of Rroma families. Because Hungary has the status of a safe country, the chances of the families to be granted asylum are very low: “The procedure is unusual. Yesterday, towards three o’clock in the afternoon, 63 Hungarian Roma arrived in front of the camp for asylum seekers in Vallorbe (VD), to apply for political asylum in Switzerland, as Le Matin states in its daily edition. They came with a bus that was rented in Miskolc, a city in eastern Hungary. The driver unloaded them in front of the railway station of the town. […] The reception centre of Vaud was almost full, that’s why the group was divided into three parts: only fifteen applicants will be accommodated in Vallorbe. Fifteen others are driven by bus to Pfäffikon (ZH), and thirteen to Basel. The chances of the Roma to be given asylum are low. As Le Matin reports, the spokesperson of the Federal Office for Migration (FOM), Léa Wertheimer, emphasises that the confederation “treats each case individually”. But, admittedly, “if an applicant can return to a third country designated as safe by the Federal Council, and he has resided there before his application in Switzerland, the FOM usually cannot grant the application.”” The case described here shows once more, how difficult the assessment of the security situation in a country is. The country analyses generally focus in their reports on the protection from political persecution. Discrimination in everyday life, which in this case is even committed by politics itself, is negated in this assessment. Rroma are not politically persecuted in Hungary. However, this does not mean that they are not affected by severe discrimination in everyday life, especially since the rise of the right-wing nationalist parties, who consciously exaggerate ethnic differences: “Sandor Lakatos never felt like in a ghetto. […] Nevertheless, he and his wife got into the bus. […] On the question of what he hopes for in Switzerland, he answers as vaguely as his fellow travellers: security. Not be insulted and spat upon as “dirty gypsy”, to no longer have to fear the police and the neo-Nazis. […] It is not difficult to meet aversion and pure hatred against Roma in Miskolc. As the emigrants pass through the numbered streets to the bus park, an older woman stands at the roadside, looks at the procession in amazement and says to the journalist: “Thank God that they leave. They don’t want to work, but multiply like rats”” (Odehnal 2014). The Swiss asylum authorities do not recognize this situation. None of the 46 Hungarian Asylum applicants of the last two years was granted the right to stay (compare Neue Zürcher Zeitung 2014, Pester Lloyd 2014, Sassoon 2014, Wacker 2014).  

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

22.10.2014 Rroma settlement of Bobigny being evicted

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Numerous French newspapers report about the announced eviction of the Rroma settlement of Bobigny. The settlement, which houses several hundred Rroma, is one of the oldest of its kind in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis. It is and was also the scene of ongoing debates between the public authorities and organisations working for the rights of the Rroma. Bobigny was firmly in the hands of communist politicians since 1944. Stéphane de Paoli, the first UDI mayor of the city, promised during the election campaign to immediately close down informal settlements if hygiene or safety deficiencies could be determined and to officially recognise the illegal character of the informal settlements: “The regional court of Bobigny, competent in the matter since the occupied premises were not used publicly, communicated its judgment on July the 2nd. Relief in the camp of the Roma: the tribunal rejected the request of the mayor. “But five days later, Stéphane de Paoli sent a new bailiff to the camp … And in mid-August he issued a decree for eviction, with which he set at defiance the court’s verdict. He reckoned, I think, that everyone was on holidays, tells the lawyer Tamara Lowy”” (Mouillard/Piquemal 2014). The prefect responsible for social equality, Didier Leschi, says he applied the compulsory social diagnosis according to the regulations. The state will continue to support about a dozen families, who have stable incomes, among others with social housing. However, Véronique Decker, director of the primary school in Bobigny, criticised the fact that the majority of families, some sixty of them, will be on the street after the eviction. The social diagnosis is therefore far from being applied satisfactorily. It is important to emphasise that the forced evacuations of informal settlements complicate a long-term integration of Rroma immigrants. Due to the forced evictions, the existing problems and the integration question are simply moved from one location to the next, but not solved. Particularly affected by the evacuations are the children, who often visit local schools, and are greatly disturbed in their education. The rigorous expulsion of Rroma immigrants reflects the unwillingness of the French government to engage in an active, long-term integration policy. Furthermore, by the one-sided media focus on the informal settlements it is suggested that there are only Rroma belonging to the lower class, which are poorly educated. However, the Rroma from the slums – an estimated 15,000 people – only represent a minority of the minority in France. According to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma live unobtrusively and integrated in French society. They belong to all social strata and are not perceived by the French media and politics. For fear of discrimination, many of these integrated Rroma keep their identity a secret.

Amnesty International (2014) points out that the evictions also violate human rights, when the displaced persons are without accommodation after the evacuation. Only a part of the residents were offered alternative accommodation. Amnesty International speaks of a third of the current residents. There are primarily those families who have children in school age. However, many of the accommodations offered are not suitable to accommodate families, or are very far away from Bobigny (compare 20 Minutes France 2014, Mediapart 2014).

In the early afternoon of October the 21st, the inhabitants of the settlement were prompted by a large contingent of riot police to leave the camp. The eviction proceeded quietly, as the journalists present state. Towards the evening, a group of around fifty Rroma, among them many children, gathered on the Place de la Republique in Paris, and demonstrated for temporary accommodation. Later that evening, they took refuge in the hospital Saint-Louis, from where they were also evicted by the riot police a little later (Mouillard / Hullot-Guiot 2014, Le Monde 2014). Le Parisien (2014) complements that several dozen families were able to move into a Paris gym, as temporary shelter, after 23 o’clock. The gym was provided the city government of Paris (compare Fikri 2014, Metronews 2014).

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

22.10.2014 Stereotypes: escalated violence in a Rroma settlement in Toulouse

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Numerous French newspapers report an escalated conflict between two Rroma families, in an illegal settlement of Toulouse. The members of the two families, originally from the Romanian village Blaj and of Timisoara, quarrelled about the theft of electricity. At the beginning, the conflict let to a brawl that then escalated further: a 35-year-old Rrom of the Blaj family fell, victim of the dispute. Six members of Timisoara family were arrested on suspicion of premeditated murder: “A man of 35 years died in the hospital of Rangueil. Despite an urgently undertaken intervention, the doctors could not save him. His autopsy could not yet be performed, but the man had been hit by several projectiles, bullets or, and (?) lead. Another 24 years old casualty remains hospitalised, but is outside danger. Five other injured people who were taken to hospital to receive treatment could go home. During the hearing of the ten people arrested on Friday (two minors were released yesterday), the suspects were not very precise. Although some admitted having used weapons, these were “only” used to shoot in the air. The investigative judge, Mrs Larrieu, will have to narrow down the responsibilities of both parties involved” (Cohadon 2014). In this case, the coverage of the violence in the informal settlement of Toulouse concerns only Rroma themselves. Nevertheless, caution should be exercised in the contextualization of the events: the notion of ​​Rroma-gangs, who exploit primarily other Rroma, is wrong. There is no culture of crime and violence among the minority, as repeatedly suggested by the media. Expressions such as “family businesses of crime” therefore build on massive prejudices. Rroma are not more criminal or more violent than other ethnic groups. The mayor of Toulose, Jean-Luc Moudenc, has announced that the camp, which accommodates 200 to 250 persons, will be evicted as soon as possible (compare 20 Minutes France 2014, Allen 2014, Boffet 2014, Le Parisien 2014, Le Nouvel Observateur 2014, Libération 2014).

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17.10.2014 Antiziganism study: statistics versus historical research on prejudices

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Zern (2014) discusses the debate initiated by Der Spiegel, questioning the reliability of the antiziganism study published by the German anti-discrimination agency. Fleischhauer/Petrovich (2014) criticised that the anti-discrimination agency added one field of the middle scale values in its statistical analysis, which the researchers had not assigned to the “negative” category. Zern, in her article for the MiGAZIN, points out that the criticism of Fleischhauer and Witsch is besides the point: it is not the statistical evaluation that is decisive, but rather, the emergence and adherence of prejudices against Rroma. This topic was not addressed satisfactorily by the study: “What problems does the finding that not more than 30 percent, but 20.4 percent of the German majority society don’t want to have Sinti and Roma as their neighbours solve? Should we not rather ask what such a survey says us about our society that rather relies on numbers rathere than ask about the origin of antiziganism? […] It would be important to put the attitudes of the majority society towards the Sinti and Roma into the proper context – and vice versa, because a majority of society cannot be conceived without its minorities. What circumstances have contributed to the mentioned attitudes of the majority society? For what reasons people began to think in stereotypical ways about Sinti and Roma? And how do Sinti and Roma perceive the majority society?” Zern thus addresses an important topic of research on prejudices: how do prejudices emerge and how are they maintained? In the case of Rroma, the negative stereotypes find their origin in the confrontation of the first immigrant Rroma with the rigid feudal order of medieval Europe. The Rroma with their ambiguous status raised this clear order to question, and with it existing power relations. Soon “gypsies” were equated with all those population groups, which were regarded as maladjusted, antisocial or seditious. However, these mechanisms of demarcation are not only a historical process, but also play an important role in the synchronous social sciences.  

At the intercultural weeks of Offenburg, stereotypes against Rroma also played a crucial role. In the opening ceremony, politicians and Rroma discussed about the perception problems of the minority: “Daniel Strauss, from Mannheim and chairman of the state association of German Sinti and Roma, said in the panel discussion that the “construction of the gypsy” is the problem, Sinti and Roma should be protected against this construction. “Gypsy depictions have nothing to do with Sinti and Roma.” However, with the money this cannot be resolved. “This is not a financial problem”, said Strauss” (Rudolf 2014).

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17.10.2014 France: Thirty civil rights organizations calling for a respectful treatment of the residents of informal settlements

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Amnesty International France (2014) reports on a new collective charter of thirty French civil rights organisations, which is currently being elaborated. In it, the initiators demand a more respectful treatment of the residents of informal settlements by the French authorities, especially Rroma: “It [the charter] has the goal to change the mentalities and opinions with which one meets the residents of the sites, by communicating the recognition and respect of their fundamental rights and dignity. The illicit nature of an occupation does not allow use illegal means to end the situation; numerous rules shall limit the scope of the public authorities and the owners [of the occupied land]. Once made ​​public, one will be able to distribute it on the sites and slums in different languages, depending on the people present (French, English, Romanian or Bulgarian). To know ones’ rights is essential in order to assert them and to be protected, or to protect ones family.” It is in fact essential that a fair balance between the right to property, which in France has constitutional status, and the fundamental rights of the residents is ensured, not least their right to accommodation.” The charter on the fundamental rights of the residents of informal settlements will, in addition to the residents themselves, also be distributed to political deputies, bailiffs, police authorities, and other public authorities, in order to enforce its compliance, if somehow possible. One should add to Amnesty International’s remarks that the forced evacuations of informal settlements complicate a long-term integration of Rroma immigrants. The evictions don’t solve the existing problems and the question of integration, but simply push them from one location to the next. Particularly affected are the children, who often visit local schools and are hindered by the evictions at a successful education. The rigorous expulsion of the minority reflects the unwillingness of the French government to engage in an active integration policy. Furthermore, by the one-sided media focus on the informal settlements it is suggested that there are only Rroma belonging to the lower class, which are poorly educated. However, the Rroma from the slums only constitute a minority of the minority in France. According to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma are integrated and live unobtrusively in French society. They belong to the middle class or even the upper class and are constantly ignored by the French media, the public and politicians. For fear of discrimination, many of these integrated Rroma keep their identity a secret.

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17.10.2014 Information event: correct and incorrect knowledge much about Rroma in France

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Ouest-France (2014) reports on an information event for residents of the Nantes agglomeration. The towns of Saint-Sébastien et Saint-Jacques Saint organized the event to inform the residents of the municipalities on local Rroma. However, the focus was only on recently immigrated Rroma families, who enjoy strong public visibility. Already integrated Rroma were not discussed. In the municipalities, around 60 families live in rented housing units and are supported by measures aimed at integrating them into the professional and social life. A further 38 persons live in illegal settlements. While the conveyed information is correct, it nevertheless distorts the view on Rroma. For example, it was incorrectly said that Rroma, Manouche and Gitans are three different Rroma groups: “The Roma are one of three European gypsy groups arriving from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia… They differ from the Manouches and the Gypsies, who are called “travellers” by the administration. Originally from India, the Roma arrived in Europe in the 14th century. Protected by the kings of Bohemia in the 17th century, they are sometimes called Bohemians. […] After 1989, they were attracted by the mirage of the West. 1,500 of the 20,000 in France live in the agglomeration of Nantes, all coming from the south-east of Romania.” However, the differentiation between Rroma and Sinti, called Manouche in France, is a political one. The Rroma all have the same migration history and linguistic background. The term “Gitans” in turn is among some familiar as the name of the Rroma from the Iberian Peninsula. However, they also build part of the Rroma, and are historically and linguistically no separate category. Also the finding that only 20,000 Rroma live in France, and that they come exclusively from Romania, is wrong. Moreover, Rroma arrived in Eastern Europe in the 9th century, not only in the 14th century, which is true for Western Europe. According to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, i 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma live in France. The majority of them are integrated, work, are fluent in French and send their children to school. Many have lived in France for generations, and not just since 1989, and come from all over Europe, not only from Romania. The recently immigrated Rroma, who enjoy strong public visibility, therefore constitute only a minority of the minority.

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17.10.2014 People in Need Slovakia: segregated Rroma particularly affected by human trafficking

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The Slovak Spectator (2014) reports on a new study by the Slovak organization “People in Need Slovakia”. According to the research of the organisation, segregated Rroma in Slovakia, aged between 16 and 25 as well as 25 and 35 years are particularly affected by human trafficking for forced labour, organised begging and forced prostitution: “According to Timea Stránska, head of the organisation, Roma are abused, especially for forced labour, mostly in countries like Great Britain, the Czech Republic and Germany. “In Great Britain this concerns especially cities like Peterborough, Sheffield, Leicester, Derby and Birmingham,” Stránska said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Another revelation shows that victims of human trafficking are lured while in the settlements after meeting with traffickers. “Often it also happens that the victim is recruited by their distance relatives or someone from their surroundings,” Stránska added. Except for forced labour, the human trafficking victims are also abused for prostitution and begging. In cases of children, there are mostly cases when young Roma girls are forced to be prostitutes.” The characteristics of transnational operating trafficker networks, as presented here, are being questionned by social science research. Their existence itself is not denied but their manifestation, their numbers, omnipotence, and the motivations attributed to them have to be questioned. Ideological fallacies are brought into connection or even equated with ethnic groups such as the Rroma in this context. Regarding the de facto human trafficking, social science studies convey a more complex notion of the subject. These studies point out the analysis of crimes such as incitement to beg and steal and forced migration for indentured labour is often permeated by various definitions and morals in and assessment by authorities and aid organizations, who don’t appropriately consider the perspective and motivations of migrating persons, and instead force on them their own ideas about organised begging, criminal networks or human trafficking. Structural differences of the societies involved and resulting reasons for a migration are given too little consideration, as well as the agency of migrants themselves (compare Augustin 2007, Oude Breuil et al 2011, Tabin et al 2012).

  • Augustin, Laura Maria (2007) Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry. London/New York: Zed Books.
  • Oude Breuil, B.C., Siegel, D., Reenen, P. van, Beijer, A. & Roos, Y.B. (2011) Human trafficking revisited: Legal,  enforcement and ethnographic narratives on sex trafficking to Western Europe. In: Trends in organized crime, 14, 30-46.
  • Tabin, Jean Pierre et al. (2012) Rapport sur la mendicité « rrom » avec ou sans enfant(s). Université de Lausanne.
  • The Slowak Spectator (2014) Segregated Roma the most frequent victims of human trafficking. In: The Slowak Spectator online vom 14.10.2014. http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/55563/10/segregated_roma_the_most_frequent_victims_of_human_trafficking.html
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17.10.2014 Stereotypes: Rroma and the prostitutes’ patch in Zurich – “Victoria – A Tale of Grace and Greed“

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Holtz (2014) discusses the feature film “Victoria – A Tale of Greed and Grace” by Swiss director Men Lareida. It discusses the fate of a Hungarian Rromni prostitute on the former prostitutes’ patch on the Sihlquai in Zurich. Lareida and his wife, who regularly commute between Switzerland and Hungary, became aware of the topic during their train trips between Zurich and Budapest, when they started conversations with the prostitutes. The film is not a moral discussion of prostitution, but tries to show the fate and the motives of the protagonist: “Emphatically and subjective but nonetheless soberly and realistically, „Viktoriá – A Tale of Grace and Greed“ tells the story of the young Hungarian Roma girl Viktoria, who leaves her hometown of Budapest in the hope of earning a lot of money as soon as possible, to work in Zurich as a prostitute. Here, night after night, she stands at the side of the road, under pale lamplight, waiting for the next punter, whom she satisfies in his car on some dark parking lot. What keeps Viktoria alive, are the thoughts of home and the opportunities that the money will bring to her. Thus, among the world of the fast sex, characterized by violence, disgust and humiliation, she also finds love and friendship – and herself. […] Actually, Lareida does not want to accuse. “Viktoria – A tale of Grace and Greed” does not want to caution the viewers or be an instructive parable about the dangers of the sex trade, but shows the things as they are. The director is not in favour of criminalising the sex industry, because: “You have at least to consider that prostitution is a possibility for these women.” However, he asks to increase the security for the sex workers and to offer alternatives to prostitution to the women, also in the countries of origin.”  

It seems that the film is not critically addressing the Rroma origin of the protagonist. Is the protagonist just Rroma by change, or is this discussed as a specific feature? Are the stereotypes associated with Rroma, as notions of strong-hierarchical clans, patriarchal family structures etc., discussed? Are they critically commented on? This does not become evident in Holtz’s article. Therefore, it is important to point out that not only Hungarian Rromnja are affected by poverty, and thus find their way into prostitution, but that this also affects ethnic Hungarians. Furthermore, Rroma should not be equated to an underclass, as they belong to all social strata. Moreover, only a few Rromnja are effectively working as prostitutes, a fact distorted by the strong media attention. Therefore, the film indirectly reproduces stereotypes about Rroma, even if it wants to give a voice to those affected and address social misery.

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17.10.2014 Stereotypes: Rroma as burglars

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Happel (2014) informs about the arrest of two twelve year old girls at the Basel train station. The two perpetrators are accused of having broken into a rental apartment the day before. The two girls are presumed to be Rroma, the information office of the police stated. Furthermore, it is supposed to be organised crime: „The girls were controlled before. “They appeared to be suspicious”, criminal inspector Peter Gill stated. The girls were not only wearing tools for burglary, but also stolen goods – among it jewellery, money and watches. […] The identity of the adolescents is being investigated at the moment – the girls couldn’t identify themselves. The police supposes that the burglars are from Eastern Europe and have entered Switzerland through France. It cannot be excluded that the girls are Rroma. However, it is established that they were sent, Gill stated. Therefore, it is supposed that the young thieves either belong to an organised gang or were sent by their parents.” The mentioning of the ethnicity of the perpetrators is not necessary, as it only encourages racist stereotypes about a culture of crime among the Rroma. However, Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups, rather, this is suggested by the media through the explicit thematisation of the Rroma in connection with offenses. Whether the criminals were in fact Rroma is not assured. It is rather an expression of suspicion, based on prejudices. Rroma are not organized in hierarchical clans, as it is often claimed, but are structured largely egalitarian. More caution when using ethnic criteria and fomenting prejudice and resentment would be appropriate.

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17.10.2014 Sulukule: forced relocation of Rroma in Istanbul

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Keet (2014) reports on the forced resettlement of about 3,500 Rroma in Istanbul. The members of the minority, who have lived in the neighbourhood Sulukule for centuries, were relocated between 2005 and 2010 into apartment buildings on the outskirts of the city because of a building project. Sulukule was one of the oldest documented Rroma settlements in the world. Their presence was documented since the time of the Byzantine Empire. The forced resettlement of Rroma led to massive protests by various groups. The inhabitants protested for four years, all the while when excavators destroyed their buildings. Despite several legal objections to the destruction of the settlement, which was ordered by the government, the demolition continued. With the settlement’s destruction, a way of life was laid to rest. It consisted of a close cooperation between the local families, who arranged their daily works with one another, which allowed a good existence  in spite of small incomes. In the new apartment buildings the Rroma pay a lot more rent and are cut off from their former sources of revenue, such as metal work, flower trade, or raw material recycling, because of the location on the urban periphery. Critics complain that the Rroma were not consulted in the resettlement project, and that a responsible policy would have involved them in the decision-making. According to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, 300,000 to 500,000 Rroma live in Turkey. Many of them are affected by severe poverty. However, numerous are also well integrated, have educations, own apartments and belong to the middle or even the upper class.

Keet, Verenia (2014) Roma people victims of modernization in Turkey. In: Press TV online vom 10.10.2014. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/10/10/381719/roma-victims-of-modernization-in-turkey/

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17.10.2014 Visible Rroma in Berlin

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Flatau (2014/I) reports on illegal camping Rroma immigrants in the Görlitzer Park of Berlin. The homeless Rroma families are supposed to receive integration support at the initiative of the leaders from the district Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg: “The district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg wants to develop a new plan of action to deal with the homeless Eastern Europeans. For this purpose, the “workgroup immigration” was founded. This interdepartmental workgroup was “absolutely necessary”, said mayor Monika Herrmann (Green). The panel will ensure that the Roma families get a minimum health care in the future, and children and young people are enrolled in day care centres and schools. With the senate authorities, a first Berlin contact point for Roma shall be initiated. In addition, the district office has applied for 1.2 million Euro subsidies from the EU, to fund language courses and further support. However, the office cannot provide accommodations, said city counciler Beckers. But he knew of intensive efforts of the commissioners for integration of the Senate in providing housing for Roma families. This was preceded by protests against the illegal camping Roma families. This season, more people than in past years had stayed in the Görlitzer Park and in vehicles at the Görlitzer Strasse […].” However, the media focus on homeless Rroma immigrants casts a bad light on the situation of Rroma in Germany. While the media and politicians are concerned almost exclusively with the recently immigrated Rroma, they neglect the majority of the 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma, which have been living integrated in Germany for generations and speak perfectly German. They are the proof that integration is possible without problems (compare Flatau 2014/II).

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15.10.2014 Miskolc: “Declared war to the Roma”

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Like other newspapers last week, Schulz-Ojala (2014) from the Tagesspiegel reports on the eviction of a Rroma settlement in Miskolc. Around 600 Rroma are affected by this initiative. The journalist focuses his article on the political context of the action: the instrumentalised and reinforced exclusion and discrimination against Rroma by politics. On October the 12th, local elections were held in Hungary; as expected, the national-conservative Fidesz emerged as the strongest force from the ballot. Also in the future, the party will have most of the mayors. As the second strongest party, the right-wing extremist Jobbik party reinforces its position, taking the second place in share of votes in 17 of 19 constituencies and winning 13 mayoral races in 9 counties. A very worrying trend, since Jobbik has repeatedly distinguished itself with Rroma-hostile slogans (Pester Lloyd 2014, Pusztaranger 2014). Beside Aranka Majoros, a Rromni effected by the eviction, Schulz-Ojala portrays the Rrom and human rights activists Attila Tomas: “Only an hour’s drive it is from Miskolc to the Slovak, Ukrainian and Romanian border; there peacefully undemocratic conditions can grow, away from the core of European attention and also in the isolated fields of understanding of the Hungarian language. Is it a silence before the storm? Attila Tomas lists the symptoms by name. Permanent crisis and growing impoverishment of the population shape everyday life of the former steelwork metropolis Miskolc, where in the 80’s 200,000 people still lived. The Roma, with almost exactly the national average of ten percent of the city’s population, then had work like everyone else. The collapse of communism and the closure of many factories made the Roma the first unemployed, Tomas states. The Roma who have a job nowadays work for the community, in order to avert the reductions in social assistance – well below the legal minimum wage. An unemployed family with three children gets to around 250 Euros of social welfare, including child benefit, half of what the low-income earners receive – a durable envy-breeding ground for the next poorer among the non-Roma. On the other hand, the area of Miskolc is just over a kind of war against the Roma. A few years ago, a spectacular series of Roma murders raged in particular within the vicinity of this city [….]. Downright ghostly it seems that now, scarcely five years later, the three most promising candidates for mayor campaign with anti-Roma propaganda for votes.” Schulz-Ojala conclusion is bleak: despite the increasingly established Rroma party Magyarországi Cigány Part (MCP), the minority continues to be a plaything of the leading forces in the country that don’t have integration and equal opportunities as the highest goals, but the maintain of power and nationalism.

Kacsóh (2014) also covers the forced expulsion of Rroma in Miskolc. He, like Schulz-Ojala, points out that the Rroma with an unlimited lease contract can apply for compensation of up to two million forints, attached to the condition of a voluntary relocation into one of the surrounding communities of the city. It is also requested that they will stay for at least five years at the new location. Adjacent communities as Sátoraljaújhely have in turn responded to these rules with limitations themselves: those who make use of this offer are not entitled to receive social funds for the first five years and may not acquire or rent any apartment from communal ownership. They are also excluded from the local work program for three years. Although these rules are illegal, the government of Sátoraljaújhely takes the change of a lawsuit and has therefore adopted the rules nonetheless. This is further evidence of the continuing prejudice against Rroma.

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15.10.2014 Nanterre: 30 immigrated Rroma evicted from pavilion

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Brahmi Howton (2014) reports on the expulsion of about 30 immigrant Rroma, who had settled in an abandoned pavilion in Nanterre. A large contingent of riot police was deployed to expel the group from its new site. The Rroma families were evicted in May this year, following a court verdict, from the grounds of the infrastructure company of Seine Arche (Epadesa), and have since wandered about the city from one place to the next: “This building has been unoccupied for over a year, and we decided to seize it as long as there is no solution found to host the families again”, said a member of the committee that was initiated in last spring to support them. In mid-afternoon, the families finally accepted to leave the place quietly, in the rain, and without knowing where to go.” In France, according to the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma. The majority of them is integrated, goes to work, speaks French and has its own accommodations. Many of them have lived in France for several generations. These invisible Rroma are not perceived by the media, the politicians and the public, they are even denied existence. On the opposite side, there is a minority of the minority, approximately 17,000 recently immigrated Rroma, who get all the media attention, as in the report. They live in informal settlements and are affected by extreme poverty, but also only want one thing: to integrate. Also in Saint André-lez-Lille, a group Rroma was evicted of their place. They had been camping next to the football stadium Sainte-Hélène since a year and a half (North Eclair 2014).

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15.10.2014 Ozd: new Jobbik mayor demands of Rroma assimilation or emigration

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In the northern Hungarian city of Ozd, a representative of the right-wing extremist Jobbik party has become the new mayor after the local elections of October the 12th. Although the party is known for its strong anti-Rroma rhetoric, the new, only 27-year-old city mayor presented himself diplomatically in his first public statement. His oral statements are in contradiction to his campaign manifesto, in which he promised an uncompromising policy towards the Rroma: “He said he would crack down on crime and poverty on behalf of all residents, whatever their ethnic background. Yet the programme on which Janiczak ran in the election is explicit in singling out the Roma community. The manifesto, posted on the Jobbik Internet site next to a photograph of Janiczak, states: “We think there are two ways to solve the Gypsy question… The first one is based on peaceful consent, the second on radical exclusion.” “Our party wishes to offer one last chance to the destructive minority that lives here, so first it will consider peaceful consent. If that agreement fails, then and only then the radical solution can follow.” The programme threatens to “chase off people who are unable to conform”” (Irish Independent 2014). What the new Jobbik mayor is completely silent about in his call for assimilation is that most Rroma have been trying to integrate for a long time, but were hindered to so by economic and social exclusion. The continued segregation of Hungarian Rroma is therefore above all the result of the unwillingness of many Magyars to overcome their prejudices against the Rroma, and to facilitate their access to the labour market, to housing and public schools (compare Dunai 2014).

Aladar Horvath, a Hungarian Rroma activist, comments on the largely unchanged situation of the Rroma in Europe that development funds were often not accessed or landed in the wrong places. He adds that the economic crisis of 2008 has exacerbated social inequality: “Social injustice has risen markedly in the majority of EU countries since the economic crisis began in 2008, according to a recent study by the Bertelsmann Foundation. Discrimination and social divisions have increased especially quickly in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, where the Roma face “systemic discrimination.” In Slovakia and the Czech Republic, enrolling Roma children into classes or separate schools for students with “special needs” remains a significant problem despite recent landmark court rulings against segregation in both countries. Hungary in particular appears to be moving in the wrong direction. Observers say that’s because the popularity of anti-Roma rhetoric and policies outweigh influence from Brussels. The number of segregated, Roma-only schools has increased from 128 in 1997 to more than 300 today, Horvath says. Geographical segregation has also increased as the deteriorating job market and cuts to social spending have combined to drive Roma into isolated “islands of poverty,” says Budapest-based researcher Attila Agh, who worked on the Bertelsmann study” (Overdorf 2014). Of the 600,000 to one million Rroma living in Hungary, there are indeed many affected by poverty and exclusion. However, there are also numerous integrated Rroma, who do not live in segregated settlements and belong to the middle or even upper-class.

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