Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

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28.02.2014 The liberals of Lausanne are concerned about the enrolment of Rroma children

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Bourgeois (2014) reports on an absurd case of municipal politics in Lausanne. Exponents of the Lausanne liberal party, represented by Henri Klunge, are concerned about the enrolment of Rroma children in local schools. Reason for the dispute: the integration of the children is said to encourage their parents to beg. Klunge criticises: “In his text, Henri Klunge questions the coherence of the Lausanne policy towards the Rroma. On one hand, the policy prohibits the residence of Rroma in Prés-de-Vidys, where their temporary accommodations were destroyed, on the other hand, it allowed them to settle down in an unused building in the north of Lausanne.” Tosato Oscar, councillor of Lausanne, qualifies the criticism of Klunge. The enrolment of children has no connection with the ban of begging in Lausanne, but relies on the international children’s rights. In addition, the enrolment of the children doesn’t come at the expense of Lausanne’s taxpayers. The dispute over the enrolment of four Rroma children shows the strength of the prejudices that hold against the minority. If one makes the integration of the Rroma as difficult as possible, their situation won’t change anytime in the near future.

News Eastern Europe Romania

21.02.2014 Rroma in Cluj-Napoca and the British-Romanian relations

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Alexander (2014) reports about segregated Rroma in Cluj-Napoca in Romania. The resident Rroma had obey the verdict of the local mayor, who planned to build a park and a church on their previous place of residence. The displaced Rroma now live on the site of a former chemical plant. The hygienic conditions are precarious: For around 360 people there is only one shower system. Initially, there were not even toilets in the one-room apartments. The English clergy has now appealed to the religious and moral conscience of the city mayor Emil Boc, in collaboration with Amnesty International, and asked this segregation to be ended. The criticism by the English happens during a highly politicized context, with British Conservatives repeatedly criticising the alleged upcoming mass migration of Rroma into Britain to tap the welfare system. To describe the Rroma in their countries of origin as victims and as perpetrators in Western Europe is symptomatic of the stereotyped coverage of the minority. The article goes on to compare the integration efforts of Romania and Great Britain. While from Alexander’s perspective, the Rroma policy of Romania has to be strongly criticised, for the press officer of Emil Boc, this is political propaganda: “We are far more tolerant than you guys, she said. The children get free buses to school. Before they were living in slums anyway. When they were moved to Pata Rat, it wasn’t that the land was bad and no one wanted to live there. It was just the only available area.” One third of the annual budget is said to be spent on social projects, the spokeswoman continues. For Alexander, however, it remains clear that Pata Rat is a clear example of state-organized segregation. The two sides remain at odds.

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 The French mayoral elections and the national Rroma policy

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Nunès (2014) takes the upcoming mayoral elections as an opportunity to reflect on the role of Rroma and of the French Rroma-policy in the election campaign. The UMP is said to cover up sensitive issues such as Rroma and to even support the controversial mayor Luc Jousse in his re-election. Jousse had announced in December 2013 during a press conference that it was a pity to call the fire department too early in case of fire in a Rroma camp. For this tasteless, racist statement he was harshly criticized. He was threatened with exclusion from the UMP. Even Gilles Bourdouleix, who had stated during a confrontation with Rroma in July 2013, that maybe Hitler did not kill enough Rroma, doesn’t have to worry about any consequences for his re-election, apart from a fine of 3000 Euros. This is very worrying indeed.

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland News Western Europe

21.02.2014 The misconceptions of organized begging networks

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Ulmi (2014) qualifies stereotypes of organized begging networks among Rroma, as they are disseminated by numerous newspapers, in particular the Weltwoche in Switzerland. In his text, Ulmi refers to the study of the Lausanne sociology professor Jean-Pierre Tabin, who discussed the mechanisms of begging for the canton of Lausanne. Tabin qualifies nearly all conventional notions about organized begging: the income from begging is very modest and only secures the beggars most basic needs. High profits are a media illusion. Most beggars do not operate for organized, criminal networks, but for themselves. With his study, Tabin argues for begging to be considered as poverty mendicancy and not as an enrichment strategy. Tabin explains that the idea of organized begging is a misunderstanding of mendicancy. This incomprehension is then replaced by the apparently obvious answer of criminal networks: “Everything we think we know about begging, in our cities in general and about the begging Rroma in particular, is wrong. False is the idea of the organized networks that take advantage of the beggars. False are our ideas about the gains coming out of begging. Completely wrong is our idea of the identity of the Rroma…“

France Germany Kosovo News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 The movie “Lungone Dromença” gives Kosovo refugees in France and Germany a voice

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Delacou (2014) reports on the new documentary by the filmmakers Marie-Christine and Pierre Duchalet Gadrey. The two directors give five Rromni who fled from the war in Kosovo avoice. The filmmakers already knew a Rroma family from Kosovo, through their work for the organization Réseau éducation sans frontières (RESF). The film wants to establish a counter-image to the strongly negative loaded representation and perception of the minority by the media and the public: “By realizing our documentation, we wanted to show the true face of this community: people like everyone else with the same desires and objectives: live free, work, raise their children in peace, being accommodated decently.”  For the five eyewitnesses, the film is also a revelation of their own history and identity to the public: “They are now well integrated in France and Germany. No one knows that they are Rroma! Not even their colleagues, not even her friends. They kept their identity systematically secret, for fear of being rejected.” This film is also a call for more social tolerance and a more humane asylum policy. Although a return agreement between the countries involved exists, the effective situation of Rroma in the Kosovo is not really considered.

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

21.02.2014 The Rroma and the Swedish-Romanian relations

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Iskenderov (2014) reports on difficulties in the Swedish-Romanian foreign relations. The reasons for the difficulties are the integration efforts of the Romanian government towards the Rroma in Romania. The Swedish government accuses Romania to inadequately ask for and utilise the social funds provided by the EU: “The allegations of Swedish politicians against the government of Victor Ponta relate to the use of resources from the European Union funds. It is in particular the inadequate use of these resources, which provoked the discontent of the Swedish politicians. According to the European commission, the European social fund has provided 3.68 billion Euros for the social integration of the Roma in Romania during 2007-2013. Only 27% of the funds were used.” The Swedish integration minister Erik Ullenhag particularly criticizes the non use of the European social fund. This criticism takes place in the context of the ongoing debate about the free movement of persons in the EU. The focus on Rroma is unfortunately highly selective and one-sided: only impoverished or delinquent Rroma get represented by the media and therefore reproduce a stereotyped, public image of the minority.

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 The victims of the Rroma murders in Hungary

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Verseck (2014) discusses the role of the bereaved families of the victims of the Rroma murders in Hungary. Éva Kóka is the widow of Jeno Kóka, a Rrom from Tiszalök, in North-Eastern Hungary. Kóka was brutally murdered in April 2009 by members of an extreme right-wing group, when he wanted to start his night shift at the local pharmacy factory. Immediately after the murder, the health of Kóka worsened significantly: “Éva Kóka broke together after the murder of her husband, her health deteriorated abruptly. She was unable to work, had to give up her position in a wood factory and moved in with her daughter.” The murders, Verseck states, are symptomatic of the institutionalised racism against Rroma in Hungary. A Hungarian minister is said to have known about substantial evidence that would have led to the arrest of the perpetrators, already back in 2009. But this evidence was purposively obliterated. In addition, the members the families of the six victims and the 55 people heavily injured people didn’t receive any redress or apology from the state until August 2013. On the 6th of August last year, four of the murderers involved were convicted, three of them to life imprisonments. Following the convictions, the Hungarian government promised the victims and survivors financial compensation. To date, they haven’t received anything. Many are seriously ill and are still living in severe poverty.

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland News Western Europe

21.02.2014 Conference on human trafficking: Rroma are said to be particularly affected

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The members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), led by Switzerland and the Council of Europe, met for a conference on human trafficking in Vienna. Rroma were said to be particularly affected by human trafficking. An expert group analysed the situation in 30 countries ahead of the conference. How the statement about Rroma is to be understood in details, is not explained any further in this article. However, it is important to negate the idea that Rroma primarily enslave other Rroma and that prostitutes are automatically victims of human trafficking. The fact that prostitution regularly happens out of poverty is often neglected. Simonetta Somaruga stated: “We should never look away from human trafficking, which is not limited to the problem of prostitution alone, said Simonetta Sommaruga, minister of justice of Switzerland. The criminal networks that control and organize the trafficking of human beings add a variety of ways harms to society.” For the conference, the enhancement of the international cooperation in the fight against human trafficking was the primary target (APA 2014, Blick 2014, Kleine Zeitung 2014, Der Landbote 2014).

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 Discrimination against Rroma in Hungary worryingly high

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Matache (2014) reports on the results of a study published by the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. The study criticises the increasing institutional racism against the Rroma in Hungary and the tolerance of extremist groups who rally against the minority. The discrimination against Rroma has strongly increased since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008. The Hungarian government did almost do nothing to respond to these recent development: “Though the rise of racially motivated crimes and violent attacks since 2008 should have given strong signals for intervention, the FXB report shows how weak Hungarian government’s response has been. Because of its failure to act definitively, perpetrators and their followers have been emboldened, unhindered by any public outrage or strong government sanction. Racist violence is increasingly accepted as a legitimate form of retribution, a model followed by citizens, organisations, and leaders alike.” The Hungarian minister of human resources, Zoltán Balog, meanwhile emphasises in his public statements the strong efforts of Hungary to successfully integrate the Rroma in the majority society. He particularly draws attention to the economic potential of the minority. In his opinion, great progress has been made. However, that his point of view is the one of a politician of the ruling party, should not be forgotten. Concern about the increasing racism is appropriate (compare FXB Center 2014).

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

21.02.2014 Discussion around the integration of Rroma in Duisburg

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Schlömer (2014) reports on a meeting of local organisations to discuss the possibilities for successful integration of immigrated Rroma. The presentation of the Romanian-German pastor Dieter Herberth is said to have revolved primarily around the deconstruction of prejudices: “Since a long time Roma migrants of In den Peschen are a controversial issue that haunts the population like no other. And just as long, dangerous half-knowledge about the new neighbours and wild speculations have been spread and constructed a terrifying vision.” The meeting was an attempt to provide historical facts instead of distorting culturalisms and to show the social structures in countries like Romania. The speaker also pointed out that integration requires patience and that the majority of the immigrants is willing to integrate, if they are allowed to. Schlömer’s statement about half-knowledge is very appropriate, since a lot of politicised and ethnicised knowledge was presented as total truth during the past year.  

Cnotka (2014) expands the topic by pointing out that beginning of next week, ten volunteer Rroma-Scouts will support the immigrant families in their integration efforts. The companions will help with administrative procedures or doctor visits in order to strengthen the autonomy of the immigrants: “The ten scouts will accompany their individual families to government offices, doctor visits, to shopping, or for finding accommodation”, says Jürgen Voss, head of the deaconry of Duisburg-West. Dieter Herberth adds that it will be easier for the Roma if they have a companion, not only because of the language barrier, but because refusals are common when the address In den Peschen is mentioned.”  One of the challenges is that none of the scouts speak Rromanes or Romanian. Thus, the families are actively encouraged to improve their German language skills as quickly as possible. Cnotka’s arcticle is written emphatically and objectively. Nevertheless, he indirectly promotes notions of Rroma who are hard to integrate and burden the social security system. The inconspicuous Rroma should get attention in the media as well.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 Photo exhibitions document the suffering in French Rroma camps but confirm prejudices

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During 2012, the photographer Hervé Lequeux spent four months in three French Rroma camps in the Paris region. His work shows the everyday life of immigrant Rroma, their misery, the life with modest means, the sale of second hand items in flea markets and some begging. He encountered only very few representatives of aid agencies or the government during his four-month study. He states that the Rroma are mainly left to themselves. One of the camps visited by Lequeux has already been evicted. The other two still exist, for the time being. With his photographs, Lequeux gives an emphatic look at the simple life in the slums, but at the same time reproduces stereotypes of impoverished, poorly educated, begging Rroma, who burden the French social system. He would have helped Rroma to successfully integrateif he had made a reportage about the integrated, invisible Rroma of France, a fact that doesn’t come to his mind. However, is clear to him that the immigrant Rroma do not voluntarily live in miserable conditions, as is assumed by some conservative politicians, but would like to integrate if they could so: “They want to live as the French do. They want a house, a car, that’s all” (Lindell 2014).  

Mathieu Pernot – in his exhibition – also focuses on the visible Rroma of France. With his camera, he accompanied Rroma living in a settlement near Arles. The photos are of an aesthetic brilliance, but it wouldn’t hurt if the photographer ad a bit more political awareness. The demonstration of misery alone, even when borne with dignity, does not help to change the socio-political discourse (Paris Match 2014).

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 Rroma doing community service in favor of other Rroma

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Libération (2014) reports on the new project “Romcivic” by the organization Les Enfants du Canal. 24 young, unemployed Rroma were recruited for community service. Their task is to help the residents of illegal settlements with their everyday problems and to explain them their rights. By working in the program, their chances on the labour market should be improved so that they can lead a normal life in the future: “We want to be like all the other people and work, have a normal life, a life like you […] The goal [of the project] is to integrate the young people in France and to finally enable them an education.” However, the promotion of the selected few also attracts the anger of other immigrated Rroma, who see themselves disadvantaged.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

14.02.2014 Acid attack on Rroma as symptomatic for the radicalization against the minority

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As already last week, by many French newspapers address an acid attack against Rroma who live outdoors near the Place de la République. The offender is most likely the owner of an adjoining house, who regularly passed by the Rroma with his dog. Libération (2014) points out that the acid attack is emblematic of the repressive policy of France towards the Rroma. This opinion is shared by an organization of concerned citizens – Entraides-Citoyennes – which complains about an increasing radicalization and dis-inhibition in the public behaviour towards the Rroma, which isn’t far anymore from an open incitement against the minority (Entraides-Citoyennes 2014). Thouny (2014) from Le Nouvel Observateur points out that already last August, a Romanian Gypsy woman was victimized by an acid attack and suffered burns on her arms and legs. Volunteers have invited the affected Rroma to file a complaint against the perpetrator to the local police.

Le Monde (2014) reports on 11th of February that the perpetrator was taken in police custody. The man denies having doused the mattresses of the Rroma with acid. Rather, he claims to have used soap and Javel water as expression of his displeasure against the homeless in his quarter.

Bulgaria Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania Russia Slovakia

14.02.2014 An unemotional perspective on immigrants from Southeast Europe

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Mappes-Niediek (2014) takes a dispassionate look at immigrants from South East Europe who are settling down in Germany. He tries to draw a differentiated picture of the reasons for their migration, which lies beyond simple generalizations. Poor Rroma from Southeast Europe don’t migrate to Western Europe or Germany with the aim to abuse the local social welfare system. They come with the aim to lead a life in dignity. Their own family and close friends provide a social safety network, on which one can rely on during hard times: “The poverty immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria don’t come here because of the social benefits in Germany, but because you can live a better life here. They come with their families and with close friends. [ … ] The poorest of the poor who live in Romania, mainly in rural areas, mostly don’t migrate at all.” Mappes-Niediek then turns against the widely held view that education is the key to solving most problems. Education only brings something, the author states, if Rroma are allowed to integrate into the economy and the economy offers enough available jobs. Otherwise, a university degree doesn’t helps to improve one’s situation: “Education is not the key, or at least not there where the poverty immigrants come from. Everywhere in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe the relationship between education and a good life is broken, and indeed for everyone, not only for the Roma. An entire generation has made the experience that education doesn’t help in anything. They have seen it with their parents. The father was an engineer, his mother a Russian teacher. Today, the mother goes to clean and the father is drinking […].” With these statements, Mappes-Niediek takes a pessimistic view at the stagnant economies of many countries of the former Eastern bloc. The denial of benefits and possibilities to integrate is said to create what many want to prevent: slums, problems, crime. Mappes-Niediek takes a dispassionate look at the debate about poverty immigrants from Eastern Europe. However, he also perpetuates ideas of mainly impoverished, marginalized Rroma, as they are spread by the mass media and therefore established and culturalised.

This view contrasts with the short article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which focuses on the work of the social worker Lucia Bleibel with immigrant Rroma. Bleibel grew up in Slovakia and speaks Rromanes and Romanian. On behalf of the Internationale Bund and the city of Hanau she takes care of the integration of marginalized Rroma in the Hessen town. Bleibel’s task is to remind the immigrants of the compulsory schooling, the German health care system and the compliance with general rules. The short text focuses entirely on the visible, impoverished Rroma and thereby keeps politicized notions of cultural alterity upright, despite or perhaps because of its emphatic perspective on the topic (Glaser-Lotz 2014).

Bosnia News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

14.02.2014 Arrest of Bosnian Rroma boy reinforces racial prejudice

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The arrest of a minor Rroma boy of Bosnian origins in Vienna encourages racial prejudice against the Rroma. The 12-year-old boy is said to have repeatedly committed pick-pocketing. The newspaper Heute explains the motive for the thefts as being culturally determined and thus fuels false, absurd notions of a ethnically conditioned delinquency:  “The boy is a Bosnian citizen and comes from a Roma family. He is illiterate and has never been to school. [ … ] He may belong to a European-wide clan and may have been specifically trained to steal, as he already appeared in other states.”  The reference to the ethnicity of the boys is totally unnecessary and inconsiderate. It only encourages racist prejudices against members of the minority. Rroma are not more criminal than the representatives of other ethnic groups. Unfortunately, these prejudices are kept persist-ently (Today 2014 Today 2014/II ) .

France News Eastern Europe News Switzerland News Western Europe Romania

14.02.2014 Booklet on the rights of marginalized Rroma angries SVP

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Francey (2014) reports on the publication of a brochure by the legal faculty of Geneva that informs marginalized Rroma in the city about their fundamental rights. The brochure explains people in precarious financial situations their rights: if they are entitled to benefits from the state, if they can be fined by the police for begging or if they a license as a street musician. The booklet is written in both French and Romanian as well as in pictograms, to reach people who struggle reading. The brochure has now been attacked by the SVP-Geneva. The right-wing conservative party sees the publication as an invitation for socially vulnerable people to come to Switzerland. It has fielded a complaint against the brochure to the government of Geneva.

Albania Germany Kosovo News Eastern Europe News Western Europe North Macedonia Serbia

14.02.2014 Debate about social conditions in the countries of origin of people threatened with deportation

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With the debate over the right to stay of a Rroma family from Macedonia in Germany, the massive disagreements over the conditions in the countries of origin of people threatened with deportation became apparent. While proponents of deportation rely on country analyses, which state that no or very minimal discrimination against minorities in countries like Macedonia exists, supporters of the asylum seekers claim the exact opposite: “With a deportation to Macedonia the Roma family faces a hopeless fate”, writes member of parliament Kühn-Mengel to Rosenke. If the family will be deported, the Rustems will be exposed to “institutional discrimination”, warns the politician.” The father of the Rustem family had been beaten so heavily in his home country that he lay in comma for several days, according to his own statement. Subjective expertise, which can rarely be proved with documents, usually face hard resistance against official analyses that assess the social situation in a country (Kölnische Rundschau 2014, Wochenspiegel 2014).

Gajevic (2014) reports on the deportation of Rroma from Germany to Kosovo. She points out that in the opinion of social scientists and left-wing politicians, the situation for many Rroma in the Kosovo is precarious. Because they often do not speak Albanian, an enrolment into school is usually not possible. The supply of water, electricity, food and sanitation is often poor and discrimination as a minority is anything but irrelevant:  „Largely unnoticed by the public, Rroma living here in Germany are increasingly forced to move back to Kosovo. According to the left party viewpoint, this is often a return into misery. The response to a request by the left party to the federal government shows that in the past two years, nearly 850 people were reported into the Balkan country, nearly half of whom were Roma. [ … ] The federal government signed in 2010 a readmission agreement – against fierce criticism – with the republic that split from Serbia, which allows to send back 2500 refugees every year.”

Bulgaria France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

14.02.2014 Eight-year-old Rroma girl killed by a fire

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Numerous French newspapers report about an incident in a Rroma camp in Bobigny. For reasons not yet known, in that camp in question, an unexpected fire started. The informal accommodations were giving refuge to more and more Romanian and Bulgarian Rroma, who fled from forced evictions in the neighbourhood. At the time the fire started, the camp encompassed around 200 inhabitants. About one-fifth of the informal dwellings were destroyed. The camp itself had no access to running water, which would have allowed to extinguish the fire, although a demand had been filed to the city major months ago. The victim of the fire, an eight-year-old Rroma girl, had been enrolled in a primary school in Bobigny. Rroma camps in France are regularly affected by fires and other incidents. However, there is uncertainty about how the fires are started. Manuel Valls stresses that they are linked to the precarious safety conditions in many camps, what legitimizes his harsh eviction practices. Another possibility is that they are linked to politically motivated arson. During the year 2013, twenty-two Rroma camps were affected by incidents, according to the Ligue des droits de l’ Homme, which compromised about 2’000 people. The mayor of Bobigny, Catherine Peyge, pointed attention to the persisting, severe marginalization of the Rroma that has made this incident possible. In collaboration with Cécile Duflot, the minister for social housing, they are trying to find permanent accommodation for the Rroma affected by the fire (Le Parisien 2014, Le point in 2014, Le Nouvel Observateur in 2014, Libération 2014 BFMTV 2014) .

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

14.02.2014 «France’s unwanted Roma»

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As many before him, Astier (2014) reports about the forced evictions of illegal Rroma settlements in France. At first, he stresses that France has one of the harshest policies towards this minority. Every year, thousands of Rroma are deported and illegal settlements evicted. However, Astier wrongly assumes that all Rroma in France are immigrants from Southeast Europe, mainly from Romania. The integrated, invisible Rroma representing the actual majority, he considers as being non-existent: “Like most of the estimated 20,000 ethnic Roma living in France, Alex comes from Romania. And like most, he has been expelled from one squalid camp to the next for years.“ Regarding the forced evictions, Astier emphasizes that the expulsions don’t change much of the effective situation, since constantly new illegal settlements are built. The reference to precarious security situations is often just an excuse for evictions: „One aim of such operations is to remove unsightly, unsafe, and unsanitary sites that have no water or electricity. However, Loret and others point out that the exercise is self-defeating. As soon as police tear down one camp, another is built nearby. […] „They live in increasingly precarious living conditions that prevent them for integrating locally,” says ethnologist Martin Olivera. „They are being maintained in a nomadic way of life they have not chosen.““

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Slovakia

14.02.2014 Right-wing nationalist mayor spreads fear among Slovak Rroma

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Jancarikova (2014) reports on Rroma in Banska Bystrica, in Central Slovakia. A new mayor in this city was elected two months ago: Marian Kotleba. Kotleba belongs to a right-wing nationalist party and is known for his racist remarks against Rroma. He repeatedly called Rroma parasites and benefiters of social welfare. Kotleba makes use of the tough economic times and portrays the Rroma as scapegoats for the economic ills: „Kotleba, who has neo-Nazi roots, is gaining political traction by casting Slovakia’s large and impoverished Roma minority as a scapegoat for, rather than victim of, a sluggish economy. […]”Kotleba sells himself as the protector of ‘decent’ people against ‘Roma parasites’ and corrupt politicians,” Alena Kluknavska, an expert on extremism from the Bratislava-based Commenius university, told AFP.“ According to the Slovakian minister of labour, 60% of the 400,000 Slovak Rroma are integrated.

Jancarikova, Tatiana (2014) Rise of far-right sparks fear amid Slovak Roma. In: Digital Journal online vom 11.2.2014. http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/rise-of-far-right-sparks-fear-amid-slovak-roma/article/370076

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