Excellent interview of Romani Rose, head of the German Central Council of Sinti and Roma stating that special camps for refugees from the Balkan are simply not acceptable.
The next consul of Romania in Bonn, Germany (and the former capital) is a Rrom. Should not be a surprise, as they are indeed integrated Rroma, but nevertheless nice.
An article about the cohabitation of “gens du voyage” – the French version of Travellers, and Rroma. Travellers is used in France to denote both non-Rroma as well as Manouches and other local travelling Rroma, while Rroma (Roms in France) is a term that is only used to denote the “foreigners”. This is a remake of the Sinti and Rroma that we know from Germany, although all are Rroma.
Again a case of a Rroma wedding near Zurich were roughly 70 caravans gathered to celebrate a wedding. These travelling Rroma are from France and Germany (with a corresponding passport) and are members of a pentacostal church. A farmer rented them his land for 5’000 Swiss Francs. People in the village are annoyed and are asking why nothing is being done by the police.
A typical controversy, including the fact that people defecate in the open, and thus befoul the region and adjacent wood.
But the WORST are the commentaries: Bigots and racists seem to love these news.
Around 600 people – mostly Rroma – protested in Hamburg against the deportation of refugees back to their home countries, a policy Germany now strictly enforces for so-called “safe” countries. That these countries are not so safe and secure if you are part of a minority seems not to be taken into account, thus actually violating the rights of the refugees.
Let’s hope this will show results!
A further article on the Dachau Theatre project, a project fighting stereotypes and played by Rroma and Sinti children. That this play is staged in Dachau, the site of one of the earliest concentration camps in Germany is really symbolically important.
According to the Council of Europe, and this in spite of what populist politicians claim, there has been no “invasion” of Rroma from Bulgaria and Romania since citizen from these countries have been granted free circulation within the EU. The Council of Europe criticises the “unfounded” numbers cited by the press in the migration debate in several European countries, such as the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.
We wholeheartedly agree!
An article on a Rrom who fled Leskovac in Serbia and is now in Germany. He has few chances to stay as Germany has decreed Serbia to be a safe country, but still hopes he can stay.
Another theatre representation in Worms (Germany) on the persecutions of the Rroma during the Nazi times.
Following requests for some camps for travellers in the region of Biel/Bienne in Switzerland, the unfortunately usual discussion about who is what started anew in the press. Who are Jenische (Swiss travellers, also present in France, Germany, Austria); Sinti, who in Switzerland are often intermarried with Jenische but otherwise come from France, Germany and Italy; Rroma, whom the Swiss understand as “Foreign Travellers”, who are mostly French and German Rroma etc…
An exhibition of the persecution of Rroma in Germany over the last 500 years opened recently in Ludwigsburg. Worth seeing!
An article about a Rroma family from Kosovo which are due to be deported back to Kosovo.
First news since a long time in the Swiss Press about “foreign travellers”, i.e. Rroma. 500 of them camped in a village in Thurgau, North East of Zurich, to celebrate a wedding. Finally they left as one of the members of the group die in a car accident in Germany and the wedding was cancelled.
The journalist was not particularly sensitive: He used the word “Sippe” [clan], said that people were afraid that the same issues as a fews years back in the French speaking part of Switzerland would occur, etc. In brief, he or she regurgitated the usual stereotypes. Shame.
An article on a Rroma family from Serbia who had asked for asylum in that country and now faces deportation back to Serbia. Germany, since it declared Serbia to be a safe country now regularly deports Rroma from that country who ask for asylum.
An article on the schooling of Sinti children in the housing estate “Maro Temm” [our land] in the city of Kiel. Sinti children in Germany often don’t finish school, are often absent, and generally have a low education level. The article highlights some of the reasons.
Throughout the German press, there have been articles commemorating the 75th anniversary of the first deportations of Rroma and Sinti on May 16th, 1940, to concentration camps. Writers, politicians, clerics, all reflected on this dark chapter of German history. Even darker when one considers that the persecution of Rroma and Sinti was not recognised as an ethnic one by the German state until 1982 (Date at which the German Government under Helmut Schmid recognised the racial nature of the perecution). Until then, Rroma and Sinti had been persecuted officially solely for being “asocial” Needless to say, reparations were also not really forthcoming, even after that date.
Reportage on French Gitans (Gitanos) in Montpellier facing off the new immigrants. As in Germany, one has a similar reaction: We are Gitanos, they are [foreign] Rroma. We are not like them … This is the same as the Sinti in the famous Sinti and Rroma … While this is perfectly understandable, this should not be taken as a “truth”. Gitanos, Manouches, Sinti, and about 40 different other groups are all Rroma.
The Stern wrote an article on the usage of the word “Zigeuner” [Gypsy] and the controversy on that topic that arose in the last few weeks. They refer to the discussion the TV discussion panel “Hart aber Fair” [Hard but fair] on the topic burglaries. During that discussion, some of the participants used the terms of “Zigeunertrick” [Gypsy trick] or of “Zigeunerkönig” [Gypsy king] whereby a discussion followed on the use of the word Zigeuner. This is reminiscent of the discussion in the TAZ (see blog post on this topic) on that very same question. Here, the Stern states that the word is used by Rroma in many countries, and cites Rolf Bauerdick on that topic, and adds that the word is also fraught with shame. They also add with a somewhat twisted logic, that the term “Roma and Sinti” is false. Their main claim is that the new arrivals in Germany are certainly not Sinti. But they miss the point that Sinti, like all the other groups are also Rroma …
More than 100 organisations from various countries around the Danube gathered in Ulm, Germany, to discuss the situation of Rroma in Europe. Consensus seems to be that the Rroma are the losers of the changes that followed the fall of communism, and that in spite of the Rroma decase that started in 2004, their situation has gotten worse.
The red-green coalition from Baden Württemberg will deport asylum seekers from Serbia and Macedonia, many of then Rroma, on the anniversary of the deportation of Rroma in that Region. This anniversary celebrated on the 24th of March commemorates the first train filled with Rroma and Sinti that departed from Offenburg.
What a date to choose …
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