Daily Archives: Mai 9, 2014

09.05.2014 When the homeless are automatically assimilated to Rroma

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Several newspapers in Salzburg report on homeless Rroma who have took shelter under bridges after the closing of the emergency shelters. They are now being evicted again. Newspapers present once more a highly biased image of impoverished Rroma, which is regularly interpreted by right-wing nationalists as deliberate anti-social behaviour. The mentioning of ethnicity in newspaper articles is mostly counterproductive to the social position of the represented group. In addition, beggars, thieves or homeless are often automatically assimilated to Rroma through the view from the outside, although the ethnic membership is far from obvious: “The church aid organization has announced to provide the Roma beggars 15 to 20 beds now once more. [ … ] The Caritas had opened the night shelter “Arch South” in the district of Herrnau until January 11. In this emergency shelter,  only men were admitted. After that, the emergency shelter moved into the vacant care institution of the archdiocese in the district of Mülln, where ten men and up to 15 women were housed. At the end of March, this accommodation was closed” (Salzburg 24 2014). How the newspapers know about the ethnicity of the homeless, which is anything but easy to determine, is not discussed (compare Salzburger Nachrichten 2014).

09.05.2014 Survey shows desire for integration among immigrant Rroma in France

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The study conducted by the association “Les Enfants du Canal” surveying 120 Rroma, points to a desire for integration among immigrant Rroma. The survey results largely contradict the views of Manual Valls, who had proclaimed at the end of 2013 that the only viable solution was to evacuate the settlements and to bring the residents back to France’s borders. 53% of respondents live in France since more than five years. 95 % of the respondents want to obtain a stable paid job, 86 % would like to live in their own house, and 82% want to live forever in France. None of the respondents would like to live in a slum or in a caravan. Meanwhile, a predominant proportion of the interviewees has no access to toilets, running water and electricity and has no health insurance. Despite the opening of the labour market for Romanians and Bulgarians since January 2014, only 7.6 % of the respondents have a job. Regarding this, the lacking skills in French represent the biggest obstacle. To overcome these obstacles, Les Enfants du Canal suggests the following five measures are taken: 1. A permanent moratorium on forced evictions of informal settlements to provide sufficient conditions in terms of hygiene and safety. 2. An effective access to the housing market. 3. An ambitious integration policy, among others by learning French. 4. Accompaniment appropriate to the job. 5. Access to accommodation corresponding to the state law. – Les Enfants du Canal demands with its catalogue of measures a paradigm shift in the Rroma policy of France. This was until now dominated by repression and expulsion. An active integration policy indeed produces costs, but in return it offers promising long-term results for all persons involved (Les Enfants du Canal 2014).

09.05.2014 Lawsuits against NPD because of harassment and demagoguery

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Gensing (2014) reports on a complaint by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma against the right-wing nationalist National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). The occasion is the announcement of a panel discussion of the party, to which it wanted to invite Heinz Buschkowsky, Thilo Sarrazin and Romani Rose to discuss the immigration of “criminal East Europeans”. Rose never agreed to his participation in such discussions and forbids himself any contact with the right-wing party, which is why the Central Council has filed a lawsuit: “The Central Council filed complaint because for harassment to the public prosecutor against the Berlin state chief [of the NPD], Sebastian Schmidtke, who signed the letter. With the public promotion of the alleged discussion, the NPD untruthfully conveyed the impression that there is actually a contact between the Party and the Central Council, the complaint reads. This suggests the assumption that Rose was actually ready to discuss with the NPD on their racist slogans, which is absolutely not the case.” Gensing interprets the action of the party as an attempt to catch media attention, so far without success.

Schmidt (2014) reports a further complaint against the NPD by a German Sintiza. In Würzburg, on numerous locations one could find posters with the slogan “Money for grandma instead of for the Sinti and Roma”. The Sintiza Perla S. filed a complaint on demagoguery. In Würzburg, the posters were then removed, but not because of a verdict of the courts. Several administrative courts on the contrary approved the posters, on the grounds that they do not openly incite discrimination against Sinti and Rroma. Perla S. contradicts this decidedly. The racism against the minority is still widespread: “Perla S. […] knows what discrimination is. “Already in school I was treated with hostility”, she says, “Hitler forgot to gas you, the children said to me.” This hurt the Sintiza. Especially because in her environment “some older people” live “who lived through the Holocaust.””

09.05.2014 Integration support in Ennepetal loaded with prejudices

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Scherer (2014) reports on the advice on integration of the association “future-oriented support” of Duisburg in Enneptal. It had been invited by the local working group in order to get advices on integration of immigrated Rroma. Unfortunately, in this case also, the prevailing habit is to talk about Rroma, but not with them: “A major issue will be schooling. “The test will reveal which children have already been vaccinated, which have ever been to school and what type of school is fitting”, says [mayor] Wilhelm Wiggenhagen. For the enrolment of about 50 school-age children, there are also first thoughts and considerations. Integration classes – which do not exist in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis so far – could be a solution […] A concern is: the Roma are historically not very sedentary people. “In the worst case, we therefore take a lot of money and personnel for children, who after a few months live in a different country”, says the mayor of Ennepetal.” Wiggenhagen assessment mixes two different phenomena. One is the stereotypical view that most Rroma are travellers, which is wrong. The other is the migration to Germany because of societal and economic reasons. This migration has nothing to do with a travelling lifestyle. The article also conveys a picture of Rroma who are difficult to integrate, when the association “future-oriented support” speaks about the necessities of clear rules for the immigrants: “What the Roma need, are clear rules and consequences, if these are not adhered to.” Here, once more characteristics that are the result of poverty and lack of education, are mixed with cultural features (compare Scherer 2014/II).

09.05.2014 Foreign Rroma as an uncivilized horde

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The latest article of the Weltwoche by Alex Reichmuth (2014) claims a feud between Swiss Yeniche and foreign, travelling Rroma. However, Reichmuth argues with such absurd evidence that he actually refutes himself. At the beginning of the article, he states: “The camp Augsterich in Kaiseraugst, Aargau, is hidden between a main road and the railway line. […] Behind bushes there is a small gravel area: the so-called cleansing place. Here, foreign travellers, who because for cultural reasons don’t use toilets, do their businesses. […] Augsterich is the only place in Aarau, which is open to foreign travellers. In the summer, it is mainly used by French Roma, who usually stay for a few days or weeks. […] With the place, it was intended to prevent the chronic wild camping by foreign travellers in the lower Frick Valley, and related problems such as waste and faeces.” Reichmuth applies a highly reductionist reasoning, by presenting the foreign, travelling Rroma as a wild horde. To ascribe them a cultural alterity that prohibits the use of toilets, due to individual extreme cases, is totally absurd. Hygiene, on the very opposite, has a very high priority among Rroma, as it is reflected in the tradition of ritual purity. Most Rroma, as Reichmuth also states for the Yeniche, are not travelleres. By repeatedly talking of asocial, unhygienic Rroma, the article conveys the impression that this is a cultural feature of the Rroma, what is false and racist. In addition, the terms “foreign travellers” and “Roma” are largely used interchangeably. The enemy stereotype is also confirmed by the interviewed Yeniche: “The social control works. But it upsets them that the population does not distinguish between Swiss and foreign travellers. Fatal for their reputation was a Roma wedding in the Lower Valais two years ago, says one of the Yeniche. At that time, about 400 foreign travellers illegally occupied a field, threatened the landowner with death and left a terrain strewn with garbage and faeces.” Foreign travellers are also held responsible for the hesitant creation of new camping places, because reservations under of the local population are said to be large. In places where only domestic travellers stop, as in the canton of Aargau, extensions and new camps are said to be much easier to realise. Jörg Hartmann, from the building department of Aargau, supports this racist view. More eyewitnesses are cited to document the bad experiences with foreign, travelling Rroma. These experiences interpret single events in an ethnic and racist context. In addition, they automatically take for granted the suspicious fact that the foreign travellers are Rroma. How they identify the ethnicity remains unclear.

Reichmuth takes a completely different viewpoint. Authorities as lobbyists are accused of sugarcoating and moralizing the real problems, as is Stéphane Laederich, director of the Rroma Foundation: “Think about whether you really need to wirte “Roma” each time, recommended Stéphane Laederich […] in a journalists magazine”, or whether it would be possible, for example, to denote people as Romanians or Hungarians.” Reichmuth interprets this recommendation as an invitation to cover up nuisances. Rather, Laederich wants to protect the reputation of the majority of the Rroma, who are living integrated and unobtrusively in Switzerland. This invisible Rroma are denied their existence by the Weltwoche. Instead, it presents a minority of problem cases as general cases and requires a rigorous implementation of the mass immigration initiative for foreign travellers, what is said to help the Swiss travellers.

The issue is addressed more diplomatically in the Tagesanzeiger. There, representatives of the new Yeniche protest movement “Movement of Swiss Travelers” have their say. These emphasize that the distinction between Yeniche and foreign Rroma is important for their reputation, because the views of their minority has declined in recent time: “While the Swiss travellers use chemical toilets and showers in their caravans, the foreign travellers prefer a meadow for their business. “We do not want to be racist”, says [Silvan] Waser. But the Roma, who travel through Switzerland in large groups of cars and leave the places in a mess, harm the image of the Swiss travellers. “We are tired of being responsible for something which we did not do.” A minority who argues against another minority, that’s disconcerting. And not all are of the opinion that one should do this. “The Roma are travellers like us, they have wives and children and are looking for places to stay” say some women later” (Schmid 2014). The biased distinction between integrated Yeniche and asocial, foreign Rroma can be found in numerous other articles. They also spread prejudiced knowledge as objective facts or point to this very fallacy (compare Ferraro 2014, Fuchs 2014, Jecker 2014, Waldmeier 2014, Wanner 2014).     

09.05.2014 Again racist propaganda against Rroma in Daily Mail

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Allen (2014) reports on the plans of the Chinese government to send security forces to Paris to protect its tourists. The reason is said to be an increase of attacks by criminal Rroma on Chinese tourists. The Chinese prevention troops are supposed to deter the Rroma from their offenses, in consultation with the French Ministry of the Interior. The article suggests the highly racist idea that the ethnic group of the Rroma is responsible for an increase of crime in the French city: “Romanian police are already working in Paris to try and catch members of the Roma gangs, many of whom come from Romania. Gangs of young Roma, including women and children, can regularly be seen harassing tourists. Many of the Roma beggars who congregate around cash points and banks have very young children with them, including babies. Most of them live in large shanty towns on the outskirts of Paris, but more and more are setting up new camps in central parks and squares.” Daily Mail conducts with its ongoing series of racist articles against Roma xenophobic propaganda that equals demagoguery. What for journalists such as Peter Allen is the demonstration of reality, is in truth intellectual arson against the integrity of the Rroma.

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