16.07.2014 Seville: pogroms against Rroma

Wagner (2014) reports on pogroms against Rroma in the southern Spanish town of Estepa. After a series of break-ins, a mob of angry citizens formed which made Rroma responsible for the burglaries and invaded the local Rroma settlements. Several homes were destroyed. Fortunately, nobody was injured: “The protesters blamed the members of the minority for an increase in crime in the village of the province of Seville. According to media reports from Sunday, they attacked five Roma houses and put two of them on fire. In the incident from Saturday, no people were injured. The illegal rally had been organized on the social networks. The municipality of Estepa had stated the day before that the number of burglaries has increased dramatically in this town of 12,000 inhabitants. They convened an emergency meeting and announced a strengthening of the police forces.” The pogroms are symptomatic for failed European social policies that do not succeed in effectively addressing the social and economic inequalities. Instead, racist slogans that blame marginalised groups such as the Rroma as scapegoats for all ills, find approval among more and more people. A very worrying development that has been confirmed by the recent European elections, in which the right-wing populists gained massively in vote shares in all European countries. A society that disrespects its most vulnerable members – its minorities – is a failed society, as it violates the basic principles of democracy: the equality of all citizens.