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20.08.2014 Lynching in Paris: case remains unresolved

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The lynching of a seventeen-year-old Rrom in the suburbs of Paris remains unresolved. Although the victim of the vigilante justice, who was beaten nearly to death, has in the meantime come out of the coma, he can only remember few details of the incident, because he was unconscious for extensive parts of it. Even though there will be a confrontation with the potential suspects in which Darius is supposed to identify them, as an informant of the newspaper Libération states, there is little hope that the case will ever be solved. Although Darius (the young Rrom) insists that he did not commit a burglary on the day in question, the evidence suggests he did not always act within the bounds of legality either. It is stated that both sides have no interest for the case to be resolved: “Undoubtedly, Darius is the victim of an attempted murder, but he has also been accused of things. The perpetrators of this private revenge will admit to nothing. The Roma are also not totally innocent. If one presents the suspects to the Roma to identify them, I do not believe that they will help us. From both sides, no one has an interest that the matter comes out” (Tourancheau/Le Devin 2014). However, this can be seen differently. The informant not only assumes that Darius, but also other residents of the now abandoned, informal settlement in the Cité des Poètes were involved in illegal actions. Whether these allegations are based upon physical evidence is not clear. Furthermore, it is problematic to put theft on the same level as attempted homicide. Anyhow, the incident around Darius has shown that the social policy in the suburbs of Paris is still strongly deficient, so that crimes are not solved with the involvement of the police but with vigilante justice.

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20.08.2014 Rroma willing to integrate in Dortmund

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Bandermann (2014) reports on a Rroma family from Romania who is trying to integrate in Dortmund. The article attempts to show that the ideas of the anti-social Rroma, not willing to integrate, are actually loaded with prejudices. Anisoara and Fabian Lazar-Ion, who worked eight years in Spain before the economic crisis, just want to live a normal life and want to provide a good future for their children. In Romania, they did not see any possibility to build an existence. Too strong was the discrimination, too weak the economy, too corrupt the politicians: “Fabian and Anisoara Lazar-Ion do not fit the image of Roma parents who send their children to steal. Because the couple has a plan. The two want to work honestly and get a fair wage. Social assistance? “For us, no perspective”, they say briefly and succinctly. Both do not hang around on the street and take their fate into their own hands. […] Both have a heart’s desire, in addition to a secure future. Fabian is proud to be a Roma. He calls himself Gypsy – and asks the Dortmund people: “We are not all the same. There are parents who lack education. We do not agree with the fact that they send their children out, so that they commit crimes. Also his wife sees their own countrymen critically: “They simply have no plan for their lives. But it is a false impression that all gypsies are criminals.” The 39-year-old had to experience himself how it feels to be discriminated against: in his former homeland Romania. “I had several interviews. Once it was known that I’m a gypsy, I had no chance.””  The fate of Fabian and Anisoara Lazar-Ion is a good example that willingness to integrate is not a question of ethnic origin. Already now, 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma are living integrated in Germany, many of them for generations. They are the proof that the inclusion of the Rroma is possible without problems if they are not restrained by marginalization and discrimination.

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15.08.2014 Stereotypes: Rrom sentenced for burglary and copper theft

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Schleer (2014) reports on the trial against a Romanian Rrom in Rheinfelden. Because of repeated burglaries, the 24-year-old was sentenced to two and a half years of jail by the Lörrach district court. As witnesses, four other Rroma, with whom the defendant allegedly committed the crimes, were questioned. The culprit was granted mitigating circumstances, as he confessed all committed crimes. Mentioning the ethnicity of the perpetrator is not necessary as it only encourages racist stereotypes about a “culture of crime among the Rroma”. Rroma are not more criminal than any other ethnic groups, but this is exactly suggested by the media through an explicit thematisation of Rroma in connection with various crimes. A cultural interpretation of the offences is necessarily racist, as it ignores and discredits the majority of Rroma living a respectable and integrated life. The idea of ​​hierarchical family ties goes back to the projection of a medieval caste system onto Rroma. This is wrong. While it is true that the family has an important place among the Rroma, its organisation remains largely egalitarian. Rroma are also often used synonymously with Romanians or the Romanian language. While Romania has indeed a large Rroma minority, an estimated one and a half to three millions, Rroma make up only a minority of the total population of 22 million. However this fact is often interpreted one-sidedly by the Romanian side, who quite often state that Rroma are indeed responsible for many crimes, whereby the difference between Rroma and ethnic Romanians is exaggerated to that of good Rumanians versus evil Rroma. That Rroma are often made ​​responsible for crimes, this without any evidence, can be seen in the article of the Basler Zeitung about a burglary series. On the ptential perpetrators, the article states at the end: “On the identity of the perpetrators, the conjectures go apart. Some say they are adolescents, others burglary tourists “or Roma”” (Gygax 2014).

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15.08.2014 Migration and Rroma in Canada: trial against a corrupt lawyer

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Metro News Canada (2014) reports on the newest developments in the case of the Hungarian Rroma family Pusuma. The father of the family, Jozsef Pusuma, worked for an NGO as an investigator of hate crimes in Hungary. In July 2009, according to the family’s statements, a fatal incident occurred: during a walk they were brutally attacked by right-wing extremists, the daughter remained unharmed only because of the sacrifice of her father, who protected beneath himself. The attackers said that this would not be the last attack, if Jozsef did not stop his activities. Subsequently, the family immigrated to Canada. The Pusumas have now been living in the sanctuary of a church in Toronto for two years. Fearing to be deported, they have never left their refuge. Their asylum application was rejected. Against the lawyer himself, who should have represented their case, a lawsuit because of misconduct was submitted: “The family, originally from Hungary, is one of 18 complainants against Toronto lawyer Viktor Hohots, the subject of an ongoing disciplinary proceeding by the Law Society of Upper Canada for failure to “adequately prepare” a defence of his clients’ asylum claims. […]“Jozsef and Timea have finally been summoned to appear as witnesses in the lawyer’s misconduct case. They have been waiting for this moment for almost three years now, because it’s their chance for vindication,” said the family’s new lawyer, Andrew Brouwer, of the Refugee Law Office clinic. “But now they are facing a Catch-22. They are required by law to attend the hearing. If they don’t, they could be arrested for contempt of court. But if they do go, they face arrest for deportation the moment they set foot outside of the church.” The new lawyer of the family and numerous supporters demand a temporary residence permit for the family, so they can attend the lawsuit without fear of deportation. – Canada is being criticised for uncompromisingly applying the status of safe countries of origin, which Hungary has been assigned by the Canadian law, and to address to little the individual stories of asylum seekers (compare Brosnahan 2014).

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15.08.2014 Saint-Étienne: displaced Rroma live in the streets

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Brancato (2014) reports on the fate of some 200 Rroma who were expelled from their informal settlements in mid-July. Since then, they have been wandering in the streets of Saint-Étienne and are regularly prevented by the authorities from setting up a camp at a new place. The organisation Solidarité Rom calls for a round table with the Rroma and local authorities to discuss the issue of accommodation, employment and integration. Meanwhile, the organization provides the Rroma with the essentials. However, the Saint-Étienne’s government seems to have no interest in integrating the Rroma, as the security advisor of the mayor, Claude Liogier, shows: it is not the duty of the city to find jobs for the Rroma, he states. He adds that he thinks that the lifestyle of the Rroma is very different from the customs of France. Thereby, Liogier reproduces almost an identical reasoning as the one of Manuel Valls at end of last year when justifying the continuous expulsion of Rroma. Liogier does not seem to be aware of that this is an extremely one-sided and politicised interpretation of culture. Pierre Rachet, president of Solidarité Rom, states almost the exact opposite: some thirty Rroma families, who were part of an integration program in Saint-Étienne a few years ago, now live integrated and have steady jobs. Repeatedly, the media suggest that poverty, illiteracy, educational alienation, abundance of children or living in slums are part of Rroma-culture. That these are rather the symptoms of exclusion and socio-economic hardships is hidden most of the time. Rroma belong to all social classes and should not to be equated with an underclass, as it is claimed repeatedly, also by self-appointed Rroma-experts. In France, there are living 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma, the majority of them integrated and since generations. Eventually they should also be addressed in the media (compare Despagne 2014).

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13.08.2014 Gilles Bourdouleix sentenced because trivialization of the Holocaust

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Gilles Bourdouleix, wha was the mayor of Cholet in the department of Maine-et-Loire from 1995 to 2008, was sentenced to a fine of 3000 Euro for his statements trivialising the Holocaust against the Rroma. Therewith, the court of appeal of Angers confirmed the judgment of the criminal court, which had passed the sentence in January of this year, however this time not suspended. The judgment of the court reads: “With the public uttering in sufficiently audible voice to be perceived (…) his regret that the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the German authorities during the Second World War towards the travellers were not committed long enough, the defendant has in fact made ​​such a glorification” (Delève 2014). The prosecutor, who viewed the offense of glorification of crimes against humanity as proven, called for a prison sentence of 6 months on probation. During a confrontation with travellers that camped illegally on a field of his congregation, Bourdouleix announced: “Hitler may not have killed enough of them.” According to his own statement, the travellers had provoked him with the Hitler salute, which is likewise punishable. A journalist of the newspaper “Le Courrier de l’Ouest”, who was present at the incident, wrote an article about the events and published an audio recording of the statement on the newspaper’s website. Bourdouleix denied all allegations and threatened a lawsuit for defamation. The recording was a manipulated montage, he stated. Bourdouleix’ lawyer stated that they will appeal to the court of cassation. Bourdouleix was forced to resign from the UDI party in response to his Holocaust trivialisation. The maximum penalty for the glorification of the Holocaust is five years in prison and a fine of 45,000 Euros. Bourdouleix was additionally sentenced by the court to pay the organisations La Ligue des droits de l’homme (LDH), Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples (Mrap), la Fondation pour la Memoire de la Deportation, la Licra und la Fondation nationale des déportés et internés, who had filed the suit against him, one symbolic euro of compensation. – In most of the cited articles, as well as in the verdict, travellers are used synonymously with Rroma. However, most Rroma are sedentary. There are also other ethnic groups which have a minority of travellers, such as the Yeniche, who have European roots (compare 20 minutes 2014, Le Cain 2014, Libération 2014).

  1. 20 minutes/AFP (2014) Son dérapage sur les Roms lui coûte 3000 euros. In: 20 minutes Suisse online vom 12.8.2014. http://www.20min.ch/ro/news/faits_divers/story/29343403
  2. Delève, Elise (2014) Propos anti-Roms : Bourdouleix condamné en appel à 3.000 euros. In: France info online vom 12.8.2014. http://www.franceinfo.fr/actu/justice/article/propos-anti-roms-gilles-bourdouleix-condamne-en-appel-une-amende-de-3-000-euros-548821
  3. Le Cain, Blandine (2014) Propos anti-Roms : l’élu Gilles Bourdouleix condamné en appel. In: Le Figaro online vom 12.8.2014. http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2014/08/12/01002-20140812ARTFIG00122-propos-anti-roms-l-elu-gilles-bourdouleix-attend-la-decision-en-appel.php
  4. Libération/AFP (2014) Gens du voyage : le maire de Cholet Gilles Bourdouleix condamné à 3 000 euros d’amende. In: Libération online vom 12.8.2014. http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2014/08/12/bourdouleix-condamne-a-3-000-euros-d-amende-en-appel_1079498?xtor=rss-450
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13.08.2014 Investigation of war crimes against the Rroma in Kosovo

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Ernst (2014) reports on the legal and political investigation of the war crimes committed against Rroma, Serbs and other minorities during the Kosovo War. The accused are the leaders of the liberation movement of Kosovo (UCK), who, according to the just-concluded report of the American judge John Clint Williamson, but also according to the findings of the Swiss correspondent of the council of Europe, Dick Marty, were involved in systematic acts of violence against ethnic minorities in the Kosovo. The Kosovo ministry of foreign affairs stated that the actions of the UCK were correct and committed for the sake of the independence of the Kosovo. Williamson’s report contains no new facts or insights, it stated. Nevertheless, a trial on the responsibility of the UCK, built on the insights of Williamson’s report, will be held: “In the coming year – probably in the Netherlands – a special tribunal will be initiated. International judges will then evaluate Williamson’s allegations on the basis of Kosovar law. This court will formally report to the European rule of law mission EULEX in Kosovo. The unpublished accusations are directed against a ring of high functionaries of the UCK, which are accused of crimes against humanity. It is a matter of a “brutal attack on almost all Serbs who wished to remain in the Kosovo, the Roma and those Kosovo-Albanians who opposed certain UCK groups.” Large parts of the minority population of the Kosovo south of the Ibar river were displaced. The crimes were so numerous and so systematically committed, that they meet the statement of facts of a crime against humanity.” Ernst sees the continuity of former warlords as current policy makers in Kososvo as a decisive factor for the slow investigation of war crimes. These policy makers were not held accountable for these facts not for the intimidation or even murder of witnesses of the war crimes, and is due in part on the inadequate work of the international Kfor peacekeepers and international police and judicial authorities, which neither were able to prevent the atrocities nor did pursue them. Regarding the fate of the Rroma, their persecution and displacement is only known among very few. However, their discrimination and marginalisation continues to the present day (compare Echo der Zeit 2014, Robelli 2014, Rroma Foundation Reports 2008, Schulte von Drach 2014).

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13.08.2014 Allegations of racism against the family fund of Oberhausen

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Dowe (2014) reports on allegations of racism against the family fund of Oberhausen. According to the critique of association “Mensch ist Mensch”, the social institution treats immigrated Rroma families with many children in a condescending way. Frank Knott from the association “Mensch ist Mensch” criticises that there deliberately create administrative obstacles that are not legitimate but racially motivated: “Therefore, unnecessary documents such as a kindergarten certificate, the last electricity bill or evidence of a possible deposit are demanded from Roma who apply for child support, which lengthens the procedures in an unnecessarily way. “Such things are certainly not required of German applicants – this is pure harassment”, complains Knott and goes even further in his criticism: “In general, there is a harsh tone among the administration when they are dealing with Roma. The feeling is conveyed that they are considered social parasites. […] Meanwhile, the federal labour agency in Nuremberg responded to Knott’s criticism, answering in details in a press release to those objections: “In certain cases additional certificates of child benefit recipients have to be required. However, this is due to the circumstances of each case and does not constitute unequal treatment of nationalities”, it is stated. For a right to child benefit applicants must have their residency in Germany, which explains the need of proof of rent contracts and suchlike.” Racism is a serious offence and should not be handled lightly. Therefore, allegations of racism should be proven by clear evidence and not be handed lightly. If the suspicion of intentional unequal treatment is confirmed, the offence must be punished.

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13.08.2014 Anti-Rroma demonstrations in Halle-Silberhöhe

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Halle Spectrum (2014) reports about an anti-Rroma rally in Silberhöhe, a district of the city Halle in Saxony-Anhalt. In Silberhöhe, numerous Rroma families have been living for several weeks. At the rally, around 200 people expressed their anger about the neighbourhood’s new residents. On banners, slogans like “We live here!” could be read. According to estimates of Halle Spectrum, in addition to angry residents, there were also members of the extreme right among the 200 protesters: “According to police representatives on site, several participants were known to the police, some of them as criminals […]. A total of eight criminal complaints were filed, among other things for libel, assault and criminal damage. In five cases, simple physical violence had to be applied to enforce dismissals. In one case, the offense of demagoguery is being examined.” – Demonstrations against ethnic minorities such as the Rroma are always also an expression of the ambivalent policies and public opinion towards minority groups. Under the header of “poverty immigrants”, the press repeatedly stated that uneducated Rroma would supposedly migrate en masse into the German social security system, would not want to integrate and would create social tensions. That Rroma were made to an instrument for political debates on migration has rarely been explicitly addressed. Beyond the problematic and political notion of the “Rroma question”, there is the reality that gets far too little attention: For generations, 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma have been living in Germany in an integrated fashion. They work, pay taxes, and contribute to public prosperity. Among the immigrants there are many well-trained, highly skilled workers, who are rarely mentioned in the one-sided discussion. Among immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria, there are not only Rroma, but also ethnic Romanians, Bulgarians and members of other ethnic groups. Conspicuous immigrants are not seldom simply made to be Rroma ​​because of prejudices. The right-wing nationalist protesters, who rebel against foreign immigration, deny all this. The Rroma are not social parasites, but people like you and me. Rroma are not an underclass, but belong to all social classes. Most of them want to integrate many already have, but are not perceived as Rroma.

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13.08.2014 British elections campaign: Rroma as carriers of disease

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Boffey (2014) reports on the candidacy of the politician Jane Collins for a parliamentary seat in Rotherham. In the spring of 2014, Collins was elected as a representative of the right-wing nationalist UKIP party as a deputy to the European Parliament. Besides to the refusal of an alignment to the EU and the free movement of persons, her policy is based on a critical up to a openly racist attitude towards the Rroma. She repeatedly demanded a comprehensive vaccination of all local children who are in contact with the community of Slovak Rroma in Rotherham. These, she argues, possess a significantly higher hepatitis-B rate than the rest of the population. The Rroma children themselves need to be dealt with within a comprehensive vaccination campaign, she states. On what kind of information does Collins build her claim of an increased hepatitis-B rate among Slovak Rroma? Are these truly objective data or are they rather deliberately politically constructed assessments? It is very doubtful that there are statistics that capture health information based on ethnicity. With the portrayal of Rroma as carriers of disease, who pose a risk to public health, they are additionally discriminated against and marginalised. Already now, a variety of prejudices about Rroma circulate in the British media and in politics, defaming them as social parasites, as unwilling to integrate, and as uneducated and criminal. These statements are not based on facts but on numerous prejudices and on the expressions of suspicion that many people simply accept uncritically. Collins fuels this thinking by making a racist differentiation between healthy British children and virus-loaded Rroma children, in which the Rroma pose a threat to public health. Such statements should not be tolerated under the paragraph of the freedom of expression but rather be prosecuted and punished under the paragraph of defamation.

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13.08.2014 France: vicious circle of expulsions continues

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Brunet (2014) reports on the whereabouts of some 300 Rroma who were evicted from the informal settlement in Grigny (Essonne). While a small part of them has gone back to Romania, the majority of the people will simply join other settlements or build a new camp in a different location. The vicious circle therefore continues. A long-term integration, to which the Rroma aspire, remains unresolved. Many of the children were enrolled in local schools and now have to interrupt or continue their education in a different class. Paradoxically, the local communist administration strived for an improvement of the infrastructure in the settlement, despite its order for an eviction, which resulted in providing of water supply and in trash removal. Disregarding the suggestion of many organisations that the forced eviction hinder a long-term integration of the Rroma, the mayor of Grigny referred to the precarious conditions in the settlement to justify the forced eviction: “A slum, in Grigny or elsewhere, is not destined to stay forever. It would be contemptuous to think that these families with children can continue to stay there, with the rates, in deplorable hygienic conditions”, decided Claude Vasquez, deputy of Grigny, who is responsible for the dossier.” Nonetheless, the policymakers of Grigny seem to be aware that with the eviction the issue of integration has not been resolved and the situation of the affected families often is exacerbated: “The council of Grigny has filed a motion in July and requested a financial contribution by the state for the implementation of a monitoring project, estimating that “the expulsion of the camp without alternative solutions does nothing other than aggravate the misery and causes their misplacement to other place, often in the vicinity.” The statement of the office of the mayor, which announced that one does not assume that the Rroma will settle again in Grigny after the eviction, is in contradiction with this statement. The goal was move the Rroma out of the slums, it was stated. This would require long-term solutions, such as subsidised integration projects, as they are available only for a small number of people. A long-term integration is therefore not yet realised. It must be added that the thousands of Rroma living in slums do in fact only represent a visible minority of the Roma in France. A majority of 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma have been living integrated in French society for generations, but are not perceived by the public. Meanwhile, the eviction policy continues: in Bron, an informal settlement with 120 people, half of them children, was evicted (compare Blanchet 2014 I/II, Rue89Lyon 2014, Wojcik 2014).

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08.08.2014 Chronicle of the „Rroma house“ in Duisburg

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On the occasion of the evacuation of the so-called “Rroma house” in Duisburg, Jakob (2014) takes look at the history of the three apartment buildings that housed up to 1,400 people at peak times. Since 2009, the residential complex “In den Peschen”, which had been purchased by the real estate agent Branko Barisic, was in the headlines. It was mostly due to the voices of angry residents who were complaining about noise, pollution, and petty crime. The Rroma themselves – if they really were all Rroma from Romania and Bulgaria, as it was claimed – remained largely unheard and were stylised as a bunch of uneducated poverty immigrants abusing the German social welfare system and spreading disorder and chaos. Again and again, culturalising arguments were evoked, one spoke of two colliding worlds, of the alleged anti-social behaviour and backwardness of immigrated Rroma. That the immigrants are socially disadvantaged families who are looking for better life in Germany was largely concealed. Likewise, that poverty has nothing to do with ethnicity and therefore there are also poor ethnic Romanians, Bulgarians who move to Western Europe. However, that it a mass exodus of “poverty immigrants” into the German social welfare system occurred, as was repeatedly claimed, is doubtful: there were always well-educated migrants, who didn’t receive any media attention. Critical statistics could not detect a mass influx from the new Schengen countries Romania and Bulgaria. Many stayed at home in their familiar social environment.

Jacob tries to show that the immigrants were largely left by themselves in their attempt to integrate and that a little bit more help by the authorities and residents would not have allowed the situation to escalate in such a way: “Little by little, the citizen protests against the Roma mixed with right-wing radicals. In the Internet there were calls to attack the house. In the local elections in May, right wing extremists received nowhere more seats than in North Rhine-Westphalia [NRW]. Pro NRW, which had demonstrated in front of the house, has since then send four representatives into the city council, the NPD one representative. The city saw the Roma mainly as a problem: a year ago, city director Reinhold Spaniel explained in the taz that the “social behaviour of many Roma” was “an impertinence”. The city was “completely overwhelmed” by them financially, Spaniel said. Duisburg feared the influx of other “economic refugees” and probably also an escalation of the situation. The Roma should go. […] While the neighbours were giving interviews to the TV-crews, Horst Wilhelm B., former caretaker, sat separately on his scooter and watched the exodus of the Roma. “They are pigs”, he says later quietly. He meant the neighbours. “They simply did not want any Gypsies here.” They were already offended when the children went to school and made ​​some noise. […] He himself didn’t want to live in the house any longer either, but the city didn’t do anything to give the people a chance in Duisburg. “Maybe”, says B., “everything would not have been so bad if the people had got some help.”” Jacob shows memorably that the integration of the people doesn’t only depend on their adaptability and willingness to integrate, but also on the willingness to incorporate them by residents and authorities. When both sides endeavour a successful integration, integration is usually effective. That this is absolutely possible prove the 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma who live integrated in Germany, often since generations. They are mostly ignored by the media.  

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08.08.2014 Forced evictions of Rroma in Miskolc

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Pester Lloyd (2014) reports on the government-initiated evictions of Rroma in Miskolc. The enforced relocation leads to sustained demonstrations by residents and activists. About 600 people are supposed to make place for the expansion of a football stadium with a large parking space. Previously, the administration tried to prompt the Rroma to a voluntary relocation with premiums. Most of the apartments have been released for eviction due to overdue in payments by the inhabitants: “With rallies on site one wants to prevent the eviction and forced resettlement of 200 families and up to 600 people – who are supposed to move into an auxiliary settlement in the suburbs or to completely move away, each with a few thousand Euro compensation. “Ethnic cleansing” this is termed by the activists. […] On Wednesday, the first two homes were evacuated, one of which was occupied by an elderly woman with an amputated leg, the other by a family with three minor children. The parents were absent at the time of the administrative action. Contrary to popular stereotypes, the father was working and the mother was attending a training session.” Pester Lloyd further criticises that the eviction is illegal, despite of official court rulings, since the eviction is dealing with a municipal housing estate and not illegal buildings. Rents were in fact paid what renders the blanket judicial decision unlawful: “The Fidesz city-government, first of all mayor Ákos Kriza, is – despite the criticism – happy that “the rule of law in Miskolc works”, “the evictions are legal, “because the families have not paid rent to the city for years”. Opposition parties, civil rights activists and representatives of affected persons speak of “inhumane” and “illegal” actions on the part of the city-government and handed documents to the media, which should prove the payment of overdue bills.” Pester Lloyd sees the action as a renewed proof that the constitutional system in Hungary is gradually being degraded by the Fidesz-government.

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08.08.2014 France: more evictions of informal settlements

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Several French newspapers reported on the eviction of two informal Rroma settlements in Grigny, in the department of Essonne. On August the 5th, at 7 o’clock in the morning, the French authorities began the evacuation of the camp. Around 100 people were still present. The two settlements housed up to 300 people. 30 people will be included in an integration project, which will helps them to find jobs, to enrol their children in school and to improve their French skills. The remaining displaced persons were offered temporary accommodation. However, this does not resolve their problems. Most of those affected have already been evicted several times. Eighteen months ago, they had been driven off the neighbouring village. Nicolas Covaci, a former resident of the camp, complains: “You always, always get displaced. Nonetheless you work. There are ten families who have worked here regularly” (Francetv info 2014, compare Europe1 2014, Le Figaro 2014, RTL France 2014). One has to emphasise that the evictions of settlements complicate a long-term integration of the Rroma immigrants. Through the evictions, the pending problems and the question of integration are simply moved from one location to the next, but not resolved. Normally, new settlements are rebuilt after a very short time. With the media focus on the informal settlements, one suggests that there are only Rroma belonging to the underclass and who are poorly educated. However, according to estimations of the Rroma Foundation, around 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma are integrated and live unobtrusively in French society. The French media, the public and politics continuously neglect them.

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08.08.2014 Hungarian film festival: movies about Rroma being censored

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In September, the Film Festival CineFest will take place in the north-Hungarian city of Miskolc. Two films about the situation of the Rroma were disinvited by the program director, because they have too much political brisance for the local elections that will be held shortly after the festival. The documentary group DunaDock, who submitted the two films, states: “probably they fear losing government funding if they show our films”, said Diana Gróo from DunaDock to the news agency dpa. The festival director told the Hungarian media that there would be very well a “Roma program” at CineFest, which would show film portraits of “successful Roma”. The festival management did not comment on the rejected films on Roma. CineFest is among others under the auspices of the media agency NMHH, which is often accused of political censorship on behalf of the right-wing nationalist government” (TAZ 2014). Miskolc is a focal point of social conflicts about Roma. The municipal elections will take place on October the 12th. The film festival takes place from the 12th to 21st of September. DunaDock should have expanded the festival with a program series “DunaDock Master Class” as a permanent section. The documentary group announced to totally cancel their contribution to the festival, given the current circumstances: “The explanation of the CineFest leadership is incomprehensible to us; according to them the film festival takes place at the time of local elections, thus to avoid political conflicts and for security reasons they cannot undertake the presentation of any film dealing with the topic of Roma in Hungary; even their usual Roma workshop is cancelled. We believe that the documentary film is a medium that helps the empathy towards our fellow humans and we find it unacceptable that an independent filmmaker professional program’s freedom can be restricted by current politics. Under these circumstances DunaDOCK will not be present at the CineFest and we have notified already the organisers about our decision” (DunaDock 2014). Critical commentators see the disinvitation of the films as symptomatic of the ongoing dismantling of democracy in Hungary, at the expense of media freedom, the protection of minorities, pluralism and the rule of law (compare Kleine Zeitung 2014, Pusztaranger 2014, Spiegel 2014).

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08.08.2014 Plombières: Rroma pursued by the authorities demand a break

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Barret (2014) reports on the fate of around 60 Rroma, a third of them children, who are being hunted by the police through the streets of Marseille since the eviction of the informal settlement of Plombières on July the 24th. As soon as they have settled in one place, they are already again disturbed by the police forces. The homeless demand a break from the governmental persecution. Aid agencies criticise that many of those affected are totally exhausted. The organization Arte Chavalo asks for a temporary moratorium of the police evictions until an appropriate site for the accommodation of the 60 persons is found: ““Not a single day goes by without the police coming and expelling them from a small piece of land, where they have sat down. Day and night they are hunted and the police have been ordered to not give them any rest until they have left the city”, the activist of Arte Chavalo explains about the families that each morning get evicted from another car park and another place nearby the Boulevard de Plombières. “We condemn the discriminatory policy which is waged against them and which causes serious risks and disturbances to the public order for the population as a whole, of which children and innocent people are affected”” (Journal La Marseillaise 2014). The municipality of Marseille is required to end this senseless hunt and to provide the displaced families with reasonable accommodation in order to enable the aid agencies to resume their work, it is stated (compare Vinzent 2014).

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08.08.2014 Rroma: “They are all Europeans”

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Küpper (2014) spoke with Benjamin Marx, who creates and develops affordable housing for the Aachen housing association. He initiated the refurbishment of an apartment building in Berlin-Neukölln, which accommodates dozens of Rroma families from Fantanele, in Romania, that is considered a showcase project. With the Julius Berger Award, which was conferred for the housing project at the Harzer Strasse, the Aachen housing association wants to improve conditions in Romania itself. Marx emphasizes that by no means all Rroma want to migrate to Western Europe, but primarily a part of the middle class: “Many people go. Those who can afford it buy the tomatoes at discount stores rather than to grow them themselves. That irritates. Growing chickens and farming in the garden is considered a poverty stamp, especially among those who pay attention to “Western values​​”. Who can afford it shares “Western values” by consumption. […] If German children’s [social care] money, 215 Euros, arrives in Fantanele because the child lives there, this corresponds to the average salary of a teacher. No integration and employment program of Romania can compete with such transfers. […] Among the Roma, the “middle class” goes away, the poor and the rich stay.” Marx stressed that he sees the integration of the Rroma as a pan-European task. Deporting the minority from one country to another makes little sense; all European States must participate in the inclusion of the Rroma. This involves a reduction of the wealth gap between the different European member states, which makes migration attractive, disregarding the poor minority protection in certain countries, which is also an essential cause for migration to Western Europe. One must emphasise that already now a large part of the Rroma is integrated in the various European states, but are not perceived by the public as Rroma. The focus is on members of the minority that attract attention because of poverty or crime, but they only make up a minority of the minority.

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08.08.2014 Zoltán Balog denies deportation of Hungarian Rroma

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The Hungarian minister of human resources, Zoltán Balog, made headlines with a controversial statement about the deportation of Hungarian Rroma during National Socialism. On the occasion of the uprising in the Gypsy camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, on August the second, 1944, every year on this day a commemoration of the victims of genocide is held. Balog also recalled the events in an interview on state radio Kossuth, but also used the conversation to make some highly problematic statements: “It is important to know that no deportations of Gypsies from Hungary took place. These were done from Austria, that is, the Hungarian gypsies [sic] were taken away from there, and this is why Hungary is also really affected [from the Roma Holocaust]. The figures, however, vary greatly, some speak of 70,000, another of half a million, so it is important to have a solid documentation and research, where we can confront ourselves with these facts. […] I tell you honestly, that’s why I’m cautious on the issue of the Roma Holocaust, because this is a new discovery. The greatest tragedy of these people is that they have no history (…), and what that means, the Magyars know well, whom one wanted to rob their history, we are for a thousand years in one place, and then they find out (say researchers) that we are not or were not there” (Puszta Ranger 2014) Historical sources as well as eyewitness accounts of Holocaust survivors refute all these statements: there were direct deportations of Hungarian Rroma into the concentration camps. The Hungarian national socialist party Arrow Cross provably deported thousands of Rroma into the concentration camps of the Third Reich. As regards the aspect of history: it is true that the Rroma don’t have an own nation-state, but that does not mean that they do not have a good documented history that is thoroughly reviewed. A transnational ethnic minority can have a collective identity without the need to operate on the same rules as nationalism, as one might interpret Balog’s allusion. Balog’s statement that the Rroma should not rely too heavily on their identity as victims of the Holocaust, also caused great resentment. He stated: “I have witnessed the process through which the Gypsy intelligentsia has begun to say:  ‘pardon me, but we too have a Holocaust, and as such we too are part of this history.’ Yet I would still like to caution my Gypsy friends from concentrating too much on this element of their identity. Because even among the Jewry, many have come to the realisation that if the experience of the Holocaust and the knowledge that ‘we were victims’ are the only (or the most important) aspects of Jewish identity, then this creates internal confusion and schizophrenia. And this does not help these communities look towards the future” (Hungarian Free Press 2014). Although this statement may be well intentioned in terms of the social integration of the Rroma in Hungary, it also demonstrates great disrespect for the actual victims of genocide and their memory. From a minister of human resources more tactfulness in dealing with such an issue can be expected. Critics point out that Balog has made himself indictable by denying of the deportation of Rroma from Hungary, which violates article 333 of the criminal code that punishes the denial or trivialization of the Holocaust with up to three years imprisonment (compare Hirsch 2014, Hungarian Free Press 2014, The Budapest Beacon 2014 I/II).

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06.08.2014 Debate on the status of safe countries of origin

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Rüssmann (2014) reports on the ongoing debate about the status of safe countries of origin, which Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are scheduled to receive from Germany. The draft law on the three Eastern European countries is currently being discussed in parliament. Because the representatives of the green party have turned against this attempt in all provinces until now, it is still pending. If only one green governed state agrees, the law can be adopted. Councils of refugees and asylum forums are decidedly opposing this attempt and they are reminding green party members of parliaments of the need for their steadfastness. The debate is fuelled by a recent decision of the Macedonian constitutional court: The court has ruled that the passport act, which allows the withdrawal of nationality when a Macedonian is deported due to a negative asylum application, is unlawful to Macedonia’s constitution and to the human rights. Added to this are questionable practices at the border, where potential asylum seekers are prevented from leaving: “Macedonia has, like Serbia, tightened its exit permits more and more. This was done under pressure from the EU to obtain the visa waiver. Therefore, since 2010, Macedonian border guards may prevent people from leaving when they harm international relations – as plain text: if a person wants to seek asylum in the EU. As a result, over 10,000 people, particularly Roma, have been denied exit by mid-2013, according to a pro-asylum reports, with reference to the human rights commissioner of the council of Europe and the U.S. state department.” To deny a citizen to leave his country contradicts international law. However, the German federal office for migration sees this differently and states that the right to leave is not a “basic human right”. As we already stated several times, there is also the problem that with the status of a safe country of origin, official assessments of the security situation of minorities in a given country are put above the real life experiences of individuals. Officially, a country can respect the security and rights of minorities. However, this does not mean at all that this really happens in everyday life, as shocking individual destinies reveal.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

06.08.2014 KZ Lety: demand for an appropriate memorial instead of pig farm

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During the occupation by the Nazis, there was a concentration camp for Rroma in the South Bohemian town of Lety, which was operated by Czech collaborators. Some 1,300 people were interned there; hundreds of them were murdered. Despite this grim finding, today there still is no memorial at the site of the former labour camp. Instead, there is a pig farm built under communist rule. This irreverent handling of a memorial site was protested against for years. Culture Minister Daniel Herman reaffirmed in a broadcast by the Czech radio the plans to establish a permanent memorial: “I am very pleased that the Prime Minister has asked me and Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier this spring during the commemorations in Lety to find a solution for the pig farm, and if appropriate, to seek its transfer. The aim is to build a memorial at the site of this former concentration camp, since currently, the memorial is located on the former burial ground. […] Of course, we want that there is a solution during the mandate of our government, because we feel responsible that it has not yet happened. It is certainly a disgrace in the accounting of our past. I think it is necessary that one also confronts the painful moments. And it is necessary to remember that this camp was not under the auspices of German Nazis, but was led by their Czech collaborators. The guards were Czechs. And that’s actually our share of the Holocaust against the Roma. We have to face this issue.” The poor handling of the historical heritage of the Rroma Holocaust is emblematic of the insufficient respect for the minority in the present. Segregated schools, discrimination in the labour market and widespread prejudices continue to make the life of the Rroma anything but easy (compare Kraus 2014). – The chairman of the right-wing nationalist Úsvit party, Tomio Okamura, provoked a political outcry on Monday when he announced that no one had died in Lety. The concentration camp of Lety was a myth, he stated. Numerous politicians, including the Czech minister for human rights, Jiří Dienstbier, called for his resignation (Prager Zeitung 2014).

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