Daily Archives: Oktober 8, 2014

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08.10.2014 Wolfgang Benz: „The return of enemy stereotypes“

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The German historian and researcher on prejudices Wolfgang Benz has published a new book in which he thoroughly investigates the mechanisms of prejudices towards Rroma. Benz tries to comprehend the reasons for the emergence and adherence of the negative stereotypes, which are consciously instrumentalised politically by various protagonists. In his article for the Tagesspiegel, he conveys the most important theses of his book. Part of these are self-appointed experts, who blame Rroma living in misery for their own fate, by playing off liberal self-reliance against societal injustices: „Sinti and Roma are rejected and despised, because they are poor, are regarded as placeless and without culture. Cherished through fears of foreign domination, enemy stereotypes are being reactivated. Self-appointed experts argue that they have to blame themselves for their misery in Slovakia, in Hungary, in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Rumania or Serbia and the Kosovo. The situation of the Roma in Southeast Europe has become a tourist attraction, topic of hypocritical sensitive reports, which are being created with the point of view of master men – and confirm the majority in their rejection of the minority. Roma-foes call the object of their interest unashamed once more “Zigeuner”, even though (or because) it is hurtful. By the use of generalisations, fears are fuelled, and dubious knowledge about Sinti and Roma is spread, fears are evoked, which allegedly threaten us. The unpleasant characteristics, which are projected sweepingly on all Roma from Southeast Europe, are welcomed reasons for discrimination. Immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania are seen as the incarnation of a threat, which is usually equated with Sinti and Roma. The traditional stereotypes of the “gypsy” have sowed the seeds for generations, the new images of the slums from which they come, and the poverty in which they live, are seamlessly compatible. […] Xenophobia, racism, petty-bourgeois fears for their property and identity weaknesses condense into an enemy image of poverty migrants, whose feared attack on social funds, bourgeois order and the German way of life must be resisted. Right-wing populists and -extremists benefit from it, and operate their enemy image with success – in the middle of society.” The perpetuation of prejudices has become a vicious circle which is difficult to break. A possible way out is a public, media-catchy discussion of the integrated Rroma, the “invisible Rroma”. However, many of these integrated Rroma keep their identity a secret, for fear of discrimination among friends and colleagues, at work or in the housing market. Here again, there exists a vicious circle of legitimate fears that cannot be so easily overcome (compare Benz 2014).

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08.10.2014 Visible Rroma in Serbia

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Ivanji (2014) reports on visible Rroma in Serbia. In a Belgrade suburb, next to a refugee centre, where even two decades after the war, refugees from Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo are living together with other asylum seekers, there is a Rroma camp. Kameraj Sajin lives there with his family. He is one of those who is directly affected by the new status of Serbia of “safe country of origin”. Although the Sajins are not persecuted, they are affected by severe poverty and exclusion: “Eight months the family spent in Steinfurt, this year “three months and eleven days.” A few weeks ago, they were deported to Serbia. The stay was “really nice” tells Sajin. After the family had moved between several asylum homes, they received an apartment and around 1,200 Euros a month. At Caritas they could buy clothing and food for two Euros. The daughter went to school, the two sons to the playschool. “Not like here”, says Sajin […]. Here, in Krnjaca, his daughter has to go to evening school because, she lost her place in the regular primary school and he has no confirmation that she attended a German school. For the boys, there is no kindergarten, and from the state he gets only 10,000 dinars (around 85 Euros) of child benefit.” This article addresses the important question of whether one should not recognise poverty and exclusion as legitimate reasons for asylum, and not only political persecution. It must also be added that Rroma in South Eastern Europe, even though many are affected by severe poverty, are not living exclusively in slums. Rroma, especially in the former states of Yugoslavia, belong to all social classes, but are usually only perceived as Rroma if they conform to the stereotypes of the minority. But there are also Rroma doctors, policemen, teachers, etc., which are fully integrated, and have been so for generations.

Deutschland News Osteuropa News Westeuropa

08.10.2014 “The Roma have to stay”

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A primary school teacher from Ennepetal calls for the integration of immigrated Rroma families. He demands that the immigrant families be accepted and supported in their integration efforts, with special regard to the future of their children. The primary school teacher Folkert Köppe therefore decidedly speaks against a policy of expulsion, as the owner of the houses in which the families are currently located, intends to do. He announced a few weeks ago to terminate the lease of all families, although temporary leases have no legal basis in Germany. Folkert Köppe states: “Given the dubious behaviour of the owner of those dilapidated houses in the Hagenerstrasse, where the Roma currently live, it is time to address the children’s situation. They are the real victims of the current conflict, because a shift from here to another city would mean a new change of school for them. Here in Ennepetal, special collection classes have been established for these children, within which I am working as a teacher. And as such, I say in all determination: the Roma must stay! Because already now, some of them show significant academic deficits, caused by frequent changes of residency and thus of schooling. The exhaustive lessons show signs of success; the children are happy in school and we educators are gradually finding “the right turn”, to equip them with the basic knowledge important for their future. All this would be abruptly terminated by a departure, and the children would have to start all over again elsewhere” (Köppe 2014). According to estimates of the Rroma Foundation In Germany, an estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma. Before the genocide by the Nazis, there were many more. Many have been living for generations in Germany, speak fluently German, go to work, and send their children to school. They are the living proof that integration is possible.

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08.10.2014 Stereotypes: Rroma as gangs of thieves

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Brönnimann (2014) reports on gangs of thieves, who especially steal the valuables of hospital patients who are not in their rooms at the moment of theft. After a detailed description of a recent incident at the canton hospital of Nidwalden, in which the perpetrators asked for a Mr. Müller – one of the most common last names in Switzerland – it is noted that a witness identified the perpetrators as Rroma: “Of the men, there is no trace yet”, says Lorenz Muhmenthaler, head of the Nidwalden security police in the newspaper. According to the testimony of a witness, the suspects are Roma.” The mentioning of the ethnicity of the perpetrators is not necessary, as it only encourages racist stereotypes about a culture of crime among the Rroma. Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups, rather, this is suggested by the media through the explicit thematisation of the Rroma in connection with criminal offenses. Moreover, the statement that the perpetrators looked like Rroma is based on racist criteria: it is undoubtedly meant that they were dark-skinned. There are also many light-skinned Rroma. Whether the criminals were in fact Rroma is not assured. It is rather an expression of suspicion, based on prejudices. A cultural interpretation of the offenses is necessarily racist and ignores and discredits the majority of Rroma living respectable and integrated lives. More caution when using ethnic criteria and fomenting prejudice and resentment would be appropriate. The negative stereotypes about Rroma have become a generally unquestioned canon.

Ungarn News Osteuropa News Westeuropa

08.10.2014 Hungary: government holds back poverty report

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Pester Lloyd (2014) reports that the latest poverty report of the Hungarian central statistical office (KSH), which usually always appears in late September, will probably appear this year only after the municipal elections of October the 12th. According to the opposition, with high probability this is the result of wanting to conceal the significant rise of the poverty rate, which would cast a poor light on the ruling Fidesz party. The spreading poverty creates a fertile ground for nationalist ideas that are also directed against the largest minority of the country, the Rroma: “A survey of the OECD, together with Gallup, found that nearly half of the Hungarian households cannot buy regularly enough food for an adequate nutrition, around 40,000 children hunger on a regular basis (2010: 20,000) and 250,000 (120,000) children are not properly fed. The 2010 study the Fidesz government did by itself, to illustrate the failure of the predecessors; the numbers four years later were contributed the abovementioned foreign organizations. At this point, it is necessary to clarify that a child who is hungry, is done violence to by the state. It is a crime against humanity. The government has – also with EU funding – again launched a multi-million dollar aid program and intensified it in the face of the coming winter, which provides, among other things, subsidised or free cafeteria food for the needy and distributes food parcels and firewood to households. However, it is regularly reported of humiliating allocation practices, especially towards the particularly affected Roma minority, which is either excluded or only benefit from this charity under specific conditions.” Given this news, it seems not without irony that the minister for human resources, Zoltan Balog, demanded in a recent statement the better integration of Rroma into the European labour market and a better use of their work force. As the current situation demonstrates, in many cases, the will to work alone is not sufficient to get a good job, because the equal access to training and the labour market is not given. Moreover, to designate the Rroma as cheap labour, who could do non qualified labour, is an ambivalent appreciation of a minority who also encompasses many skilled members (compare Politics.hu 2014).

Deutschland News Westeuropa

08.10.2014 Germany: dispute over antiziganism study

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Fleischhauer/Petrovich (2014) criticise the study on antiziganism issued by the anti-discrimination agency in Germany, as being strongly biased and politicised. They accuse the agency of having “fudged” the methodology used by scientists to obtain clearer results. The German anti-discrimination agency denies this accusation: “The scientists who carried out the study cannot agree the interpretation of the anti-discrimination agency. “The difficult job of studies is that politics likes clear results, which science often cannot deliver”, says Wolfgang Benz, one of the two project managers. […] The social sciences are not an exact science. It’s about moods and attitudes, for which there are no exact measurement instruments. Therefore, it is important to formulate the questions so that they do not suggest a particular answer. The researchers intentionally designed a catalogue in which one has to rate statements on a scale of one to seven. […] The research team had made ​​the conscious decision to only interpret the values ​​ ​​6 and 7 as a dismissal. However, Luders and her colleagues have added to the 10.9 percent those who chose the scale value 5, to get a value higher and thus more media-suitable.” The dispute initiated by the Spiegel-journalists therefore concerns the qualitative weighting of the applied analytical tools. Indeed, statistics, their design and evaluation should be reviewed critically, for all studies. However, in the case of the methodology applied by the German anti-discrimination agency, one cannot identify a one-sided interpretation of the results, as the Spiegel-journalists claim. The negative values ​​of 5-7 are all above the mean 4, representing no opinion in favour of a rejection or acceptance of a statement. The accusation that the study results were artificially inflated, therefore only applies to a limited extent. It depends on how the statement “quite accurate” is weighted with respect to the statements “accurate” and “very accurate”. The researchers state, concerning the use of the Likert scale: “The scales were made uniformly, using a Likert scale of positive values ​​from 1 to 7, which were adjusted in a verbalised form to the respective question content. The context for the decision in favour of a finer scale division was the wish fore more graded answers instead of having a clear dichotomy into positive and negative, as for example, a 4-scale would have created” (Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes 2014: 34). The authors remark that is was the particular wish of the client, therefore the anti-discrimination agency, not to create values as high as possible, but also to capture gradations: “It would be contrary to the scientific intention of the study as well as towards adequate courses of action intended by the client, to cancel the graded answers in favour of the determination of maximum values possible​​. Therefore, the scaling values ​​were summarized in the presentation of the results as follows: 1 and 2, 3-5, and 6 and 7. Therefore, more nuanced opinion groups are eventuated: those who clearly agree or reject and a middle section, with opinions not as distinct (Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes 2014: 37).

This finding is contrary to the assertion of Spiegel-journalists that the anti-discrimination agency requested clearer results and therefore forced them for the presentation. In terms of a critical analysis, the demand for a nuanced presentation of the results is clearly to be agreed with: the heterogeneity of reality is rarely black and white. On the other hand, one must also realise that people can often be influenced by the views of the majority in their beliefs and subordinate themselves to social constraints. This phenomenon is studied in the social sciences, under the term “new institutionalism”. This includes stereotypical views about minorities such as the Rroma. That the federal agency for anti-discrimination did not totally evaluate the results is confirmed by the finding that the majority of the respondents were aware of the genocide against the Rroma through the Nazis. This point was communicated in the study as it is.

Fleischhauer (2014) himself didn’t create his research and viewpoints in a value-free space, and therefore can be described as a political journalist himself, as can be read in his commentary on Spiegel Online. There, he comments in a condescending ductus about the anti-discrimination agency, and alleges that the director has lost touch with reality outside of discrimination questions: “Who only meets people who believe in the same thing, eventually loses touch with reality outside his own world. There, one easily panics if one faces contradiction.” This is a meaningful comment insofar, because Fleischhauer outs himself as strongly prejudiced himself, and loses somewhat credibility (compare Saarbrücker Zeitung 2014, Süddeutsche Zeitung 2014, RP Online 2014).

Ungarn News Osteuropa News Westeuropa

08.10.2014 Forced expulsion of Rroma in Miskolc

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Odehnal (2014) reports on the eviction of around 600 Rroma from the North-Hungarian city of Miskolc. All the reasons cited for the eviction of the Rroma settlement, called by the locals the “numbered streets”, point to racist motives. On one hand, for nearby football stadium, which is to be developed into a Fifa-grade stadium, a bus parking for 400 buses is planned instead of the Rroma settlement. However, between the stadium and the settlement, there is a big, empty wasteland that would also serve this purpose. Much more obviously racist are the other reasons given. It’s the upcoming mayoral elections: “In the whole of Hungary, at October the 12th, local elections take place, and in Miskolc the campaign focuses completely on the topic of the alleged Roma crime. Also the coalition of the left parties participates in it. Their candidates campaign with the promise that they will “make order”: Miskolc should be returned to the natives of Miskolc [meaning ethnic Magyars]. Campaigns against the minority have been running in Miskolc for years. The former police chief of Miskolc, Albert Pasztor, stated in 2009 that exclusively Roma committed burglaries and robberies in the city: living together with the minority was “simply impossible””. Now Pasztor runs for election as mayor of Miskolc, as a socialist candidate. The incumbent city major, Akos Kriza of the Fidesz-party, justifies the destruction of the Rroma settlement on the grounds of wanting to improve public safety, which must be unequivocally interpreted as a deliberate expulsion of alleged “criminal Rroma”. The inhuman hierarchy of ethnic groups becomes most distinctly manifest among the far-right Jobbik: “One has to separate the constructive from the destructive people”, party leader Gabor Vona announced two years ago, when they organized a protest march through the Romani settlement. That the degradation of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary are not only propaganda by foreign media, as nationalist Hungarian repeatedly claim in newspaper articles and Internet forums, should be becoming clear. A state that does not want to protect its minorities from discrimination and expulsion, but even promotes it, is no longer a real democracy (compare Pusztaranger 2014).

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