Chilling report on Italy and on some of the proposed measures of mayors to prevent refugees, and of course Rroma, from settling in their towns. Bulldozing camps, burning down empty houses, or even building a wall around the town.
Back to the middle ages!
Massimo Bitonci, the mayor of Padova, is literally fuming against refugees and tries by all means to get rid of them. He has also little good to say to Roma in general. This is DANGEROUS.
At long last, the Rroma camps – veritable ghettos that surround the Italian capital will be dismantled. Italian court have found the Rome municipality to be guilty of racial discrimination in the setup of these camps, camps that were established by the municipality, with the police and NGOs.
A new book about the Bulgarian Rroma migration to Italy called “the Silent Migration” was recently published in Italy. The article and book reviews the situation of these migrants in various parts of Italy.
A worthy read!
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!
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…
The camps and barracks in which many Rroma live in Italy will be closed if the current initiative from the government takes hold. Rroma will be re-lodged in social apartments but will have to sign a covenant legalising their situation in Italy.
This is quite a surprising initiative, as those camps are run by the state together with NGOs and are watched over by the police which checks who comes in and out. Let’s see how this is going to be implemented.
According to a new survey, 9 out of 10 Italians have a negative view on Rroma. This is motly due to the negative image of the Rroma camps, camps, one should note, that are organised by the Italian state with the help of NGO and under police surveillance.
A shame.
Rroma are petitioning the Pope to prevent evictions from their camps due to the so-called “Year of Mercy” Jubilee in Rome. Authorities in Italy tend to “park” Rroma in makeshift camps that are under NGO and police surveillance. These camps are still provisional, although many of them exist since decades.
An article in Daily Sabah, a Turkish based paper, sharply criticised the handling of Rroma in Italy, France, and in Serbia. Especially on the Italian side, their critique is to the point and seldom mentioned in the Press in Europe: Namely that in many cases in that country, Rroma are artificially segregated into camps and prevented from integrating. Police and NGO are working hand in hands on this. And these Rroma in camps are only a minority … Like iN France.
The European Roma Right Centre criticised several European countries on their handling of Rroma in general and on very particular cases too, such as in the case of France.
France, Macedonia, Italy, Czech Republic, and Bulgaria were cited.
A court in Rome has found a publishing house that published a text book suggesting that „Gypsies“ were criminals, has been condemned for discrimination. This is a landmark case in Italy where these statements are all too often tolerated if not encouraged.
An Italian social Policy councillor Francesca Danese, has suggested that Rroma in Italy should be hired to sort garbage, adding that they have the “skills to rummage through waste”. We are not sure on which facts she bases her statement but are positive that it shows a total misunderstanding of the minority, and constitutes a racist act. This is not acceptable from a government official.
Sigona (2014) reports on increasing xenophobia and Rroma-hostility in Italy. The author is concerned about how Rroma have frequently become the target of xenophobic attacks in the last few months and years. To counteract this increasingly xenophobic climate, the president of the Tuscany region, Enrico Rossi, set an example with a photo – showing him together with a group of Rroma: “In the photo, Rossi stands flanked by a family of men, women and children. It’s a Sunday afternoon in Florence. “Let me introduce my neighbours” reads the description posted on Facebook. His neighbours are Romanian Roma. […] The picture was taken just a few weeks after Matteo Salvini, the new leader of the anti-immigration, anti-EU Northern League, paid a controversial visit to a Roma camp in Bologna to see how “tax money was spent”. Salvini has made regular verbal attacks on Roma and migrants, a core part of his party’s attempt to rebrand itself as Italy’s answer to the French Front National. The steady rise in his approval rating would suggest that it’s working.” As in France is, the public focus in Italy lies on a marginalised minority of Rroma, who live in informal settlements and are presented in a most biased way. Right-wing nationalist parties present the minority as scapegoats for problems that have their origin in society as a whole. The majority of the estimated 90,000 to 110,000 Rroma that have been living integrated in Italy since generations are largely hidden.
Kerner (2014) reports on growing social tensions in Tor Sapienza, an agglomeration of Rome. In the suburbs, foreigners, religious and ethnic minorities like Rroma are increasingly reviled as scapegoats for social ills. Right-wing extremists but also right-wing nationalist politicians agitate against the minorities: “Until now, most suburbs were godforsaken places. This has changed since residents of Tor Sapienza demonstrated for one week in front of a shelter for minor refugees and asylum seekers, with the support of right-wing extremists. They threw stones and firecrackers, put dumpsters on fire and shouted “the Blacks have to go.” Now, they are in the focus of media attention. In Italy, one debates about the war of the poor against the poor, caused by decades of political neglect and the economic crisis. […] A member of parliament of the protest movement Five Stars, including an entourage and several camera crews, have gathered this evening in the courtyard. […] But the people who take their dogs for a walk at this time, either avoid her or get angry. […] “Here, with us, one just dumps everything – Blacks, Roma, criminals.” […] Another woman laments: “Just a few hundred meters away, the Gypsies burn cable, refrigerators, and waste. The smoke goes right into our homes.”” The scapegoat policy of the right-wing nationalists and their sympathisers ignores the real reasons for the growing social misery in the suburbs of Rome: A failed economic and social policy that did not succeed in including an increasingly impoverished underclass into the economy: “It is a mix of poverty, anger and xenophobia, which ignites more frequently, not only in Rome. But it is not directed against those who bear the blame for the decline of the periphery, but against those even weaker.” The affected minorities are increasingly dominated by fear. They do not dare to go onto the street by themselves. – Rroma belong to all social strata and professional groups, also in Italy. They are not a homogeneous mass, as repeatedly claimed by various sides.
As in the beginning of November, the Local (2014) reported about the discrimination against Rroma in Italy. Subject of contention are the numerous camps in which the Italian authorities deliberately hold the minority at the margins of society. The conditions in these state camps are heavily criticised: the air is insufficient to breath, an inmate says, as well as the hygiene: tuberculosis, scabies and lice are much more frequently than usual. The permanent monitoring in the camps, which is part of the facilities, leads particularly among children to anxiety and sleep disorders as well as phobias, the Rroma Rights Centre criticises in a report: “It [the Rroma Rights Centre] also warned of daily discrimination and violence against Roma in “an ever-growing climate of racism”, including repeated cases of local residents attacking camps with Molotov cocktails while police turn a blind eye. Although over half the 170,000 or so Roma and Sinti people in Italy are Italian citizens with regular jobs and houses, hate crimes against the poorest strata are rife, fuelled by inflammatory comments by politicians on both the left and right quick to paint Roma as crooks. […] Camp dwellers are prevented by council regulations from applying for public housing even if they were born in Italy, trapping them permanently in fenced-off centres far from schools, shops, health care centres or workplaces.” Because of this strong discrimination against Rroma, the European Commission has threatened legal actions against the Italian government for violation of the anti-discrimination legislation. Rroma belong to all social strata, but are indeed particularly affected by poverty and discrimination. Since the euro and economic crisis, various parties especially instrumentalise them as scapegoats for social ills. As in France, the public image of the minority is marked by extreme prejudice and misinformation: in the minds of many Italians, Rroma are synonymous with the residents of camps in the suburbs. The aspect of social exclusion is largely ignored.
The Local (2014) reports on an admonition of the European Commission to the Italian government. The commission threatens judicial proceedings for the infringement of the anti-discrimination law, because Rroma in Italy are still strongly disadvantaged: in Italy, special, supervised camps for Rroma were built that allow their precise control: “The EU’s executive arm has reportedly requested information on Roma accommodation in Italy, the only country in Europe to build camps specifically for the Roma community. Drawing on La Barbuta camp in Rome, the Commission said it was concerned about Italy housing people “on a very remote and inaccessible site, fenced in with a surveillance system”. Such a scheme “seriously limits fundamental rights of those concerned, completely isolating them from the surrounding world and depriving them of the possibility of adequate work or education,” the Commission letter said, according to 21 luglio [a Rroma rights organization].” In Italy, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 90,000 to 110,000 Rroma. Many of them have good educations, go to work and have their own homes. Rroma belong to all social classes, but are indeed particularly affected by poverty and discrimination. Since the euro and economic crisis, various parties exploit them as scapegoats for social ills. As in France, the public image of the minority is characterised by extreme prejudices and misinformation: in the minds of many Italians, Rroma are synonymous with the residents of camps in the suburbs. The aspect of social exclusion is largely hidden.
Many newspapers reported about the racist demand of Borgaro Torinese’s mayor, a municipality neighbouring Turin. He asked for to transport Rroma in segregated buses. The focus of attention is on bus line 69, which runs along the outskirts of Turin, among others also along a large Rroma settlement. It is said that this line has been the site of repeated attacks, be it insults or physical ones. Wherefrom the certainty is taken that the perpetrators are Rroma, is not addressed. At a community meeting, Claudio Gambino promised to fight the asserted ethnically related crime of this minority: ““The Roma” have plagued us for more than 20 years”, he told the local media. In the buses, there are thefts and other petty crime. “To ensure the safety of our citizens, we need two buses”, he said, according to the reports. “One for citizens, the other for Roma.” The city council member Luigi Spinelli of the Party Left, Ecology, Freedom (SEL) also supports the initiative. His party leader Nichi Vendola called of Spinelli on Saturday. To ascribe people different rights, is called “apartheid”, he told the newspaper La Stampa” (TAZ 2014). Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups. Many people have unfortunately memorised the racist statement that criminal activities are part of the Rroma culture. In Western Europe, the racial prejudice has been passed down for centuries from generation to generation. In addition, since the economic crisis and the rise of right-wing nationalist parties, Rroma are more and more often scapegoats for social ills that de facto origin in society as a whole. Unsurprisingly, Claudio Gambino, member of the Social Democratic Party, received encouragement from the right-wing populist Lega Nord.
Brown (2014) interprets the incident in the context of a widespread Rroma hostility in Italy, which is fuelled by massive prejudices and misinformation, and is critically questioned only among few: “From the right to the left, Sinti and Roma are confronted with revulsion: 85 percent of Italians admit a negative opinion towards them, this is a European peak. The devaluation and hatred is associated with a completely distorted image: thus, 84 percent of Italians actually believe that “Zingari” are “travelling people” without residence. About 80 percent are convinced that they live voluntarily separated in miserable camps, because they want to be “among themselves”. Therefore it is not surprising that even the stereotype of Gypsies stealing children is still alive in Italy. In 2008, in Naples, a true pogrom against a Roma camp took place, because a young Romni had allegedly tried to rob a baby” (compare Die Welt 2014, RP Online 2014, Tiroler Tageszeitung 2014, Vogt 2014).
Adam Weiss, legal director of the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), criticizes in a recent press release a sign in a Sicilian supermarket that openly asks not to give any money to “Gypsy beggars”, because “their begging allows them to earn from 60 to 80 euro a day, an amount of money that a specialised ITALIAN worker doesn’t earn, considering that the total sum is free from tax” (The Local 2014). For Adam Weiss, the discriminatory sign is an expression of a broader discrimination of Rroma in Italy and completely unacceptable. The shame level on racist statement is never lowest towards Rroma, he states: “Discrimination against the Roma community is getting worse in Italy, with members of the Roma community increasingly being subjected to gang violence, he [Weiss] said. While there are more examples of anti-Roma discrimination in Italy than elsewhere, such problems are being documented by the ERRC across Europe. In Italy last year the ERRC discovered victims of theft were asked to fill out a police form in which they were able to name “gypsies” as the culprits, without any other options of ethnicity. Rights groups successfully campaigned to have the tickbox removed” (The Local 2014). Furthermore, the impression that large amounts can be earned by begging is wrong as is the belief that the most begging is done by organised gangs. Jean-Pierre Tabin (2013) concluded in his study about begging in Lausanne that one averagely earns 15 to 20 francs per day beging in Switzerland, which is only a fraction of the alleged 80 Euros in Sicily. In addition, no correlation between child beggars and organised networks was found, contrary to what is repeatedly claimed.
Newspapers in various languages report on the invitation of Pope Francis to greet Rroma with more respect. The Pope spoke with Rroma at a congress for pastoral care in the Vatican: “Francis criticized the discrimination against Roma and Sinti in the labour market, which often culminates in exploitation and modern slavery. Also in the educational and health care system, Sinti and Roma are disadvantaged. The Pope called for greater efforts word wide to better integrate Rroma into their countries. Members of these minorities are too often excluded from the political, economic and cultural life, he said. They would often be exploited and be forced to beg. Sinti and Roma are regarded regularly with hostility, he concluded” (Domradio 2014). Francis further criticized the lack of respect for the Rroma in Italy, which he himself had experienced. But he also urged the Rroma themselves for more efforts towards a successful integration: “The reality is complex, but surely they themselves are also called upon to contribute to the common good. And that is possible if they take responsibility, if the duties are just as respected as the rights of every individual person” (kipa 2014). Francis appeal is a valuable contribution to the development of society towards the full integration of the Rroma. However, his statement that Rroma are often forced to beg, has to be treated with caution. The idea of organized begging gangs persists, although sociological studies indicate that many beggars to so because of poverty and are not part of criminal networks. In addition, many beggars are identified as Rroma through the observer’s viewpoint, although their ethnicity is not evident. The reference to the agency of the Rroma is important, but it should not be forgotten that discrimination is often so strong that the radius of action is extremely limited (compare Davies 2014, L’Orient-Le Jour/AFP 2014, Radio Vatikan 2014, Wooden 2014).
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