Category Archives: Romania

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19.03.2014 Al Jazerra: Romania’s rich Rroma

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Leban (2014) reports on wealthy Rroma in Buzescu, in the south of Romania. The city has approximately 35% of Rroma. The photo report provides a counterpart to classical notions of impoverished Rroma, but simultaneously strengthens stereotype notions of Rroma palaces and unfair business practices: “Many of these Roma run large businesses, but they do not specify which ones. And when the mafia comes up in discussion, Costica Stancu, an affluent Roma, said “Mafia? What Mafia? The money comes from work – no begging or other trades.” In Buzescu, omerta – an old code of honour that emphasises silence – reigns.” Therefore, Leban’s report cannot be called a success. What would be desirable is an article about actually invisible Rroma that do not conform to one of the two extremes and live a quiet and integrated life. The fact that the article promotes stereotypical notions of Rroma kings involved in corrupt businesses can be read in the comment column.

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07.03.2014 Francetv info: “Who are the Rroma?”

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In a series of five articles, Francetv Info presents the lives of immigrant Rroma in France. Unfortunately, the only Rroma getting a voice already stood in the focus of media attention through the focus on differences to the general population. Baïetto’s (2014) text focuses on the fate of a Rroma family in Champs-sur-Marne. The article accuses the eviction-policy of the French authorities, but at same time confirms stereotypical notions of neglected Rroma that beg and sell scrap metal. In addition, once again only visible Rroma get a chance to speak: “For many families in their situation, scrap iron and begging are the two basic sources of income. The men get up very early in the morning, looking for pieces of metal they can sell. The women beg in the streets of the city and make five or six Euros a day.” The Rroma interviewed emphasize that life in France, in spite of their apparently miserable conditions, is still much better than in Romania. Here they don’t go hungry and the children can attend the school. Since she is living in France, says one Rromni, she had to change her accommodation a dozen times due to forced evictions. This happened in a time period of four years.

Legrand (2014) portrays a young Rrom who left Romania at the age of thirteen. Elvetian works as a middleman. He provides his acquaintances with outlets for objects such as mobile phones or jewellery whose origin are doubtful. In the following section Elvetian tells about his childhood, in which he committed shoplifting and illegal copper collection. He was deported several times, but always travelled back to France, because his entire family lives here. Legrand’s article gives an overview of the difficulties immigrant Rroma face in their attempt to integrate into the labour market and French society. However, her article confirms stereotypes about stealing Rroma, as the have been widely disseminated by the media. Therefore, one cannot describe the selection of the portrayed Rroma as fortunate nor as representative.  

The third article deals with a fifteen-year old Rrom who prostitutes himself in front of the Gare du Nord in Paris. He earns twenty to thirty Euros per client, who he usually serves on the toilets of the train station and the surrounding fast food restaurants. He has no pimp, but regular customers. Between thirty and fifty young Rrom prostitute themselves in front of the Gare du Nord, according to the sociologists Olivier Peyroux. One of the reasons for this are the difficulties minors face in finding a regular job. The article paints a picture of prostitution that is practiced out of poverty and lack of alternatives and not equated with human trafficking. Nevertheless, also this article has to be described as one-sided, as it confirms stereotypes of prostituting Rroma (Legrand 2014/II).

The fourth article focuses on the fate of a Rroma family from Timisoara, in north-western Romania. The family of 32-year-old Viktor benefited from an active integration policy, which was conducted between 2000 and 2007 by the agglomeration syndicate Sénart. As a result of the active integration policy, the portrayed family received a council house on the condition that the children regularly attend school, that the parents actively seek work and they would not beg: “At the end of the 1990s, Rroma families settled down in the heart of the new town. Some voters complained and the prefecture decided to try something out.  […] Based on their behaviour and their history, the prefecture chose 23 Rroma families and settled them on a site with sanitary facilities.” In return for their active integration efforts, the families received first job offers and residence permits, so that they would be able to raise the necessary funds to purchase regular social housing. In 2007, Sénart stopped its support payments to the families due to lacking funds. Viktor and his family could remain in the social housing thanks to his job in a supermarket. They do not approve the one-sided portrayal of the Rroma in the French media: “I hear pranksters about Romanians in television, rants Viktor. […] If a Romanian causes problems, they equate all Romanians, he complaints. Look at me, I’m working, I have a house and my children go to school, he tells.” The fourth article, concerning the stereotypical representations of Rroma, clearly can be better rated than the other ones. It shows the positive example of a successful integration. However, that there are other integrated Rroma in France, who are living the country since generations or decades, a fact that is not mentioned here either (Baïetto 2014/II).

The fifth article in the series also tries to create a counter-image against stereotypical notions of Rroma. Florin, a Rrom of 25 years, works as a storeman and speaks perfect French. Only as a teenager, when he newly arrived from Romania in France, he was begging. Then he made the acquaintance of a mart trader, for whom he worked illegally for seven years. His girlfriend helped him to learn French. After problems with the residence permit, Florin’s family was one of the few beneficiaries of the infamous, inter-ministerial circular of the 26th August 2012. His parents got a council house and he and his wife a room in a hotel. In September 2013, he finally finds a legal job as a storeman in Rungis. However, he still has no definite residence permit, even though he would like to integrate and live his life in France (Baïetto 2014/III).

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07.03.2014 Paul-Marie Coûteaux relaunches the Rroma debate anew

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Le Monde (2014) reports on the opinions of Paul-Marie Coûteau. Coûteau belongs to the national-conservative and Eurosceptic party Souveraineté, indépendance et libertés (SIEL), which he founded himself. On his blog, he expresses the idea that Rroma should be put in specialy established camps. The article has the telling title “On the establishment of Rroma in Paris and the slow extinction of the national sense of honour”. Coûteau perceives the sight of impoverished Rroma in the streets of Paris as aesthetically disturbing: “Their presence is an unworthy sight for Paris and unworthy of France, unworthy of a great country, and a problem for the aesthetic order.” He stands for election for the electoral coalition Rassemblement Bleu Marine as mayor for the sixth district of Paris. Coûteau expresses himself negatively towards the free movement of persons with Romania and Bulgaria, against which he voted.

Coûteau’s perspective on the Rroma is as one-sided as the majority of the public debate, which focuses only on visible Rroma. It is also telling, that he states to be hurt in his national honour by the sight of Rroma. He therefore reveals himself as a proponent of a radical order-policy that puts aesthetic feelings before human dignity, which is totally absurd. SOS Racisme has announced that it will file a complaint against Coûteau because of his racist remarks (compare 20 minutes 2014, Libération 2014, Théveniaud 2014).

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07.03.2014 Taking into care of Rroma children: care or structural violence?

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Voigt (2014) from the Frankfurter Rundschau reports on two young Rroma children taken into care by the Frankfurt youth welfare office. The youth welfare office justifies its action with reference to the precarious living situation of the family: the Romanian Rroma family is said to have lived under problematic conditions in an hut without heating and running water. The Förderverein Roma takes a very different viewpoint: “taking the two children into care [is] a clear case of “punishment of poverty”. The family was not illegal, but lived in the hut with the consent of the owner. Just because the parents cannot finance an own apartment because of their poverty, the children are taken away from them.” The association is committed to find a reasonable accommodation for the whole family and for the parents to receive social welfare.

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28.02.2014 Die Zeit criticizes the victim discourse about Rroma

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In her article in Die Zeit, Lau (2014) criticizes the victim role to which Rroma activists are said to refer to constantly in Germany. In the debate about poverty migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, one mainly talks about the immigrants, but not with them. This also has to do with the focus of the activism of Romani Roses, who has been working for the rights of the Rroma in Germany for several decades. Rose focuses his policy on the recognition that Rroma were victims of the Nazi genocide, whereby other topics are to receiving less than enough attention: “Ironically, the central council and Romani Rose prevent elsewhere that the understanding between newly arrived Roma and the majority society improves. Since he can remember, Romani Rose fought for the recognition as victims of genocide, a fact repeatedly disputed by historians. […] Since they share neither religion nor written culture, there is actually only one link between the Sinti and Roma: the experience of persecution. And that is the reason why discrimination is the central topic in the political statements of their community, rather than strategies of advancement.” Lau’s article tries to find out why there is a lack of solution strategies in the current debate about immigrants from Southeast Europe. However, she is wrong when she accuses Rroma to stick to a victim status. This criticism was already expressed in the beginning of 2013 by another author: In his book Zigeuner – Begegnungen mit einem ungeliebten Volk, Rolf Bauerdick criticised the lack of self-initiative in improving the social integration of the Rroma. This criticism is one-sided and hides the mechanisms of exclusion. Although it is right that a successful integration involves two sides, promotion and self-initiative, the latter one can only happen if the necessary conditions are given. Otherwise, suppression remains the dominant factor.

Just the opposite is argued by the TAZ in its interview with the historian Patricia Pientka. Pientka researched the story of a Rroma detention camp in Berlin-Marzahn. The historian is shattered about how bad the persecution of the Rroma in Germany was researched so far, also concerning the Berlin-Marzahn detention camp. In 1936, Rroma were selected via by sociographic criteria for the camp: caravans, many children and certain profession groups were decisive for the internment as well as the living on welfare. In 1938, the pseudo-scientific criteria of the racial hygiene research unit under Robert Ritter were implemented. The continuity between the war and the post-war period is particularly shocking. Perpetrators from the Nazi era were appointed as experts in courts, where they could play down or even qualify the war horrors with false statements: “In Berlin and elsewhere, the police departments for “Gypsy questions” established at end of 1938 are of central importance. In Berlin, the head of the department was Leo Karsten. After the war, he was superintendent of the police of Ludwigshafen and throughout Germany was the appointed expert on compensation issues for Sinti and Roma. His testimony led, among other things, to the verdict that the senate didn’t recognize the Marzahn detention camp as a labour camp […]. One can definitely say that the racist persecution of Sinti and Roma in Nazi Germany hasn’t been critically analysed until today. We have a huge deficit. This is also reflected in the case with Roma from South Eastern Europe, for instance Serbia, who are absolutely not perceived as descendants of Holocaust victims – what they definitely are” (Memarnia 2014).

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28.02.2014 The immigration debate and Rroma stereotypes

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The Romanian ambassador in London, Ion Jinga, writes against the stereotypical representation of the Rroma in the British media. Only recently, the English newspaper “Daily Mail” published an interview with the Romanian Rroma “Rudi”, who confirmed almost all prejudices against the minority: that Rroma steal and burden the British welfare system. That an individual of an ethnic group is taken to represent all members of a group, is not a new phenomenon, but it is amazing how well this presentation method works. Rudi stated: “I made my way by pick-pocketing, thieving and other small crimes. I was put in prison or arrested by the police in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Austria and Germany before I arrived here. [ … ] Your benefits system is crazy. It’s like finding a sack full of cash that has been dropped, picking it up and no one saying anything.” Jinga attempts to qualify the one-sided statements and to show the complexity behind the generalizations. Rroma are marginalized, but most of them are trying to find a job and work hard, especially when they migrate to another country. The portrayal of problem cases through the media confirms false prejudices and hinders a successful integration of the minority. The Romanian government has repeatedly pointed out that the integration of the Rroma is a pan-European task that cannot be handled by a single nation. Jinga also convincingly demonstrates that the Romanian economy performs very well in a pan-European comparison. However, one has to disagree in one point with him. Jinga claims that access to the Romanian labour market is equal for all. That Rroma in Romania are still heavily discriminated against, should not be denied (Jinga 2014).

The highly one-sided article from Daily Mail (Reid 2014) builds its argument on dubious statistics from the British bureau of statistics. The ONS (Office for National Statistics) stated that Romania has the highest birth rates in Europe and that the British welfare system animates Romanian immigrants to get even more children. These statements are supplemented with the effusive confessions of Rudi, who confirms all prejudices about social tourism. That, through his statements, he advocates for the restriction of immigration, doesn’t seem to come to his mind. At the end of the article he states: “We Romanians can go anywhere we want in Europe now — but, of course, it is only Britain that pays us to live.” Reid manages to fuel fears of mass immigration into the British social system and to consolidate them. She doesn’t seem interested in an objective assessment of the situation at all.

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28.02.2014 Tilo Sarrazin propagates the alleged Rroma problem

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The highly controversial author Tilo Sarrazin, who sparked a debate about immigration and the safeguarding of German values with his 2010 book Deutschland schafft sich ab, rallies in a recent statement against the alleged taboo of the so-called Rroma problem. Sarrazin, as well as other conservative exponents, assume that Rroma do in fact pose a problem for the German social welfare system and the German society. He therewith strengthens the statements of xenophobic reductionists, who imply that Rroma lack the will to integrate and culturally tend to criminality. Sarrazin says: “Basically, the immigration from Bulgaria and Romania presents no other problems than the one from Lithuania and Poland. But there is a special topic and that is: Roma. But that is not clearly named and is one of the biggest taboos. […] Whether you say “Gypsies”, “Sinti and Roma”, “economic refugees” or “poverty tourists”, you have to tackle the problem at the source, which lead to widespread reservations, and not hide the problems through different names” (Focus 2014). Sarrazin therefore propagates the absurd idea that Rroma are harder to integrate than other ethnic groups, which is completely preposterous. The propagating of a Rroma problem spreads false notions of cultural alterity and incompatibility. The Rroma are just as willing to integrate as members of other ethnic groups. That the already well-integrated Sinti are completely negated in this debate is astonishing (compare Neues aus Braunschweig und Wolfsburg 2014, Ad-Hoc-News 2014).

A contrary position is taken by Vosskühler (2014). She questions the distinction between economically useful and un-useful immigrants with facts that are supported by statistics: „Romanians and Bulgarians are more commonly associated with social benefits than other EU foreigners“ – not true. „Romanians and Bulgarians abuse social welfare in a big way“ – not true. „All Romanians and Bulgarians who come to Germany are poverty immigrants.“ – Also not true.” What is needed are entrepreneurs, who are willing to integrate low-skilled migrants. The free movement of persons is not up for debate.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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) .

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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.““

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14.02.2014 Social perception of the Rroma in Great Britain

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Yaron Matras, the author of the recently published book “I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies”, talks in his latest article in the Guardian about the social perception and role of the Rroma in Great Britain. Simple employees, such as the hairdresser of a friend of the author, are said to be complaining about the greater economic competition from immigrants such as the Rroma. In this economically motivated racism, Rroma are wrongly equated with Romanians and commonly used stereotypes about Rroma are strengthened: “Romanians are equated with Roma – hence the association with caravans and the shyness to appear politically incorrect. […] It is the image of Roma on our streets that triggers an emotional reaction, more so than the thought of just any citizen from new EU member states arriving at a job centre in Basingstoke or Leeds. It was the Roma who were singled out last November by the deputy prime minister as “intimidating” and “offensive” in their behaviour. Unfounded allegations that Roma were kidnapping children in Greece and Ireland didn’t help either.“ The really important question – and here Matras is absolutely right – is not how to bring the Rroma to integrate themselves, but how to manage to change the incorrect notions of the majority society about the Rroma. Because if the Rroma are given the opportunity to integrate – what in most countries is only possible very limited so far – they will doubtlessly do it.

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14.02.2014 The Rroma policy of the European Union and the free movement of persons

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Gutschker (2014) spoke with justice commissioner and vice-president of the European Commission, Viviane Reding, on the Rroma policy of the European Union. In the first part of the interview, the conversation focused around the question as to whether social benefits for non-working immigrants from EU-member states are legal or not. Right-wing politicians regularly accuse immigrant Rroma to unfairly burden the German social welfare system. Reding takes the position that the social benefits come to the good of immigrants with very low wages who are dependent on assistance. Nobody will receive social assistance just for the good of it, she states. For the interviewer, the debate on social benefits is in truth an argument about pan-European solidarity. For Viviane Reding however, the debate circles around questions of a liberal economic market, which allows the needed workforce to freely circulate. It is astonishing that even Reding holds the idea most of the so-called poverty immigrants are Rroma, although the ethnicity is not recorded in statistics. She sees the need to support these disadvantaged Rroma, so that the spiral of poverty can be broken. Concerning the social benefits received by EU-immigrants, Reding sees the numbers as strongly exaggerated. Only a very small part of the support payments go to immigrants from other EU countries. An amount three times as high is said to go to immigrants from third countries. Reding also wants that the EU countries better use their allocated social funds from the European Union and defuse municipal focal points. The restriction of the free movement of persons – as the Swiss electorate decided on the 9th of February – is said to be incompatible with the principle of a shared internal market: “You can not take advantage of the internal market with all the advantages for export and at the same time restrict the free movement of persons. In December, we had a meeting of EU interior ministers, and all agreed to the above – with the exception of the British. There was also agreement that the right to move freely does not establish a right to access the social systems. Rights are always associated with duties” (compare Epoch Times 2014, Spiegel 2014).  

Frigelj (2014) reports on the visit of EU-commissioner László Andor in Duisburg. Duisburg was almost constantly in the headlines during 2013. Again and again, newspapers reported – in a more or less populist fashion – on impoverished, criminal Rroma clans from Romania and Bulgaria, which are supposedly flooding into the city. László Andor tried to get an idea of the situation on the spot. He attended employment-assistance institutions, talked with immigrants, residents, social workers, and police officers. Andor acknowledged, the article states, that the city is dealing with a problem of poverty and Germany and its municipalities were entitled to money from the new “relief fund for the poorest” of the European Union. The article seems factual and objective, but indirectly spreads the idea that Rroma are almost exclusively poorly educated, marginalized people who escape poverty and discrimination in their home countries: “The highly qualified doctors and nurses are attracted mainly to southern Germany. To Duisburg and Dortmund, which have a high proportion of vacant dwellings and lower end real estate, where up to 90% unqualified immigrants with large families are drawn. From around 600 monthly newcomers, almost half are children.” That there are also many well-integrated Rroma in Germany is not mentioned.

 

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14.02.2014 Romanian President convicted for racist abuse against Rroma

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Various newspapers report the conviction of Romania’s President Traian Basescu. Basescu who has been repeatedly noticed for his dismissive remarks against Rroma. In 2011, he commented publicly that Rroma steal in buses. During an official visit to Slovenia in 2010, he stated that travelling Rroma would traditionally live from what they steal. In 2007, he insulted a journalist as a “dirty gypsy”. In response to Basescu’s statements, the Rroma organization Romani Criss fielded a complaint at the Romanian Council against discrimination. The council has convicted Basescu for a symbolic fine of 600 lei (160 Swiss francs). Whether this conviction will change Basescu’s behaviour, is doubtful. The newpaper Zeit (2014) complements that Basescu has not yet responded to the conviction. However, for the Romanian Council against discrimination the message tthat even a president can be convicted for racist abuse is important (compare Aarauer Zeitung 2014, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung 2014, Le Figaro 2014, Neue Luzerner Zeitung 2014, Stimme Russlands 2014, TAZ 2014, 20 minutes).

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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.

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07.02.2014 France: the one-sided focus on slums and evictions continues

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Vermorel (2014) of the Midi Libre spoke to the prefect of Nîmes, Didier Martin. Martin called for the residents of an illegal settlement next to the Saint-Gilles highway to leave the place immediately. The argument was enforced with police presence. Only recently before this, the collective Solidarité Roms, was assured by Julie Bouaziz, the head of the cabinet of Nîmes, that there was no set date for the eviction. Martin indicates in the interview that the eviction is not only done for regulatory reasons, but primarily because of the railway project “Oc’via”, which is disturbed by the settlement. In March, a judgment by the district court of Nîmes was issued calling for the families to immediately leave the area in question. The construction company Oc’via agreed in their own negotiations with the families that they could stay on the area until December 2013. Now the company has suggested a replacement area to the families, not far from the current location, in order that the children can continue to go to school. – A major part of the French press focuses exclusively on problem cases that arise in connection with Rroma. That there integrated Rroma living in France, ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 people, depending on the estimates, is almost never mentioned. Also, there are Gens du Voyage in France that form their own ethnic group and are not related to the Rroma. They took up a travelling lifestyle in response to the political upheavals in Europe in the 15th century. Most Rroma are permanently sedentary (see Duret 2014 Midi Libre 2014).

In Villeurbanne, the police evicted an occupied house with around 100 Romanian Rroma, the newspaper Libération (2014) reports. Half of the residents are children. The prefecture asked for the re-housing of families with children under the age of three: “The organisation in charge did not know if all families would be relocated, saying that a census by the department direction of social cohesion had previously been made to find solutions. “The prefect of Rhone requested the relocation of families with children under three years,” the prefecture indicated.”  

Bertrand (2014) reports from a slum on the outskirts of Marseille, where around 20 Rroma families try to integrate and are at risk of forced evictions. Cendrine Labaume from Médecins du monde reports that Rroma are increasingly victims of acts of violence committed by uninhibited residents: “the Roma are by far the most affected by the violence. National and local political discourses have uninhibited speech, and sometimes acts.” The statement is followed by spiteful and openly racist comments from residents of the settlement, who complain about dirt, noise and lack of adaptation of the Rroma and openly display their disrespect. The resident Rroma try to live in an as dignified way as possible. The order inside the huts is not seen from the outside, only the disorder. The increasing neglect of the settlements is partly due to the high frequency of evictions that hinder the establishment of an appropriate infrastructure, which leads to illegal tapping of electricity and water. The evictions are said to have somewhat improved since the interministerial circular from the 26th of August 2012. The government and aid organizations are now supposed to keep a minimal standard of hygiene, health care and safety in the settlements. However, according to Bertrand, this support meets the opposition of many local residents, who want to get rid of the Rroma.

Courtel (2014) of Nordéclair reports on a newly created Rroma settlement in Roncq, in northern France. Her article highlights the usual picture: Enraged residents, led by the mayor Vincent Ledoux, impoverished Rroma and the will to get rid of them as soon as possible. Courtel does not even tries to contextualize, but limits herself entirely to the reporting of “facts” about the occupation of the location, which was tolerated by the supra-regional and national authorities. She perpetuates the notion of asocial, non-integrable Rroma: “Meanwhile, the camp becomes a sewer. This land has turned into open battle space, a dirty slum” [Vincent Ledoux]. Unrest has taken hold of the residents living closest and the employees of the commercial area. […] A complaint was filed to establish a “clearly defined timeframe” [for the eviction]. The court authorizes the use of public force. But the prefecture did not respond. The timeframe passes, it is impossible to implement an evacuation. During the municipal council of the 17th of December, the represent ask for the help of the Government… the request remains unanswered.”

Ouest-France (2014) reports in a short article on three Rroma settlements in Saint-Herblain that were searched by the police. The occasion for the comprehensive police control was the theft of metal and metal cables that is attributed to Rroma from the settlements. As a result of the raid a Rrom was temporarily arrested. By not reflecting about discrimination against the Rroma, this article perpetuates ethnic stereotypes about criminal Rroma. Ethnic stereotypes build a great obstacle to the successful integration of this minority.

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07.02.2014 „I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies“ by Yaron Matras

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Matras is a linguist and advocates the rights of the Rroma. His new book “I Met Lucky People”, which was published on 6th of February. According to the reviewer Katharine Quarmby, the book presents a heterogeneous, non-political view on the Rroma, their social organization, their language, their traditions and identity. A non-political perspective is particularly desirable due to the polemical, un-objective debate about mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria. However, the book is not confined to the presentation of alleged facts, but holds a mirror up in front of the readers and shows them how the widespread knowledge about the Rroma tells more about the authors than about Rroma themselves: “The book […] makes a strong argument for his contention, that the way we gadjes, or non-Roma people, talk and write about the Romani people reflects more about us than reflecting their reality. This reflection is not a pretty one.” Matras remind the persecution of the Rroma in Europe, and also in Great Britain, where the author is based. The chapter on the language Rromanes falls into the expertise of the author, as he is a linguist. Quarmby qualifies as particularly compelling Martras’ writing about the creation of myths and identities by the majority society. This topic has already been investigated in the German-speaking world by Klaus Michael Bogdal. Towards the end of the book review, the reviewer outs herself as also charged with prejudice, when she indicates that the immigrant Rroma, British Rroma and Irish Travellers are said to only meet in scrap yards. She doesn’t seem to have an awareness of non marginalized, invisible Rroma living in Great Britain. Finally, Quarmby points to the important question of whether it is appropriate that non-Rroma represent Rroma people and to what extent this is practice is challenged by Rroma. Matras is optimistic that Rroma activists, academics and writers are increasingly questioning this status quo (Quarmby 2014).

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