Category Archives: France

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25.05.2014 Integration of Rroma in France remains difficult

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Mouillard (2014) reports on a Rroma integration village in the Indre that was initiated by the former mayor in cooperation with the local aid organization Romsi (Rencontre Ouverture Métissage Solidarité à Indre). The flagship project, which shows mostly positive results, is now probably drawing to an end. The reason: at the last local elections, a populist candidate replaced the incumbent mayor. During the election campaign, he promised to take action against immigrant Rroma. At the same time, the integration project showed how they created positive experiences for all parties involved, by offering French courses, the enrolment of the children in school and other help. The employees of Romsi are particularly disappointed, since they are aware that integration is a long process that would be set back by the closure of the project: “For the activist of Romsi, the track record of the solidarity village still remains “positive”. “The children are enrolled in school, the rate of delinquency in the community has not risen. But people continue to talk [about it]. That is exasperating…” Jean-Luc Le Drenn [the former mayor] tries to remain optimistic: “To close this village would be really a failure. In any case, maybe the prefect will intervene to oppose to it? The experience works and the costs of the community are low.” A rather rare mix in France, where the about 18,000 Roma are often forced to wander from one camp to the next” (Mouillard 2014). A distinctive feature of the integration project is the finding that those who were actively involved with the Rroma, clearly show less reservations about the minority than those who only speak about the Rroma or are bothered about the sight of informal settlements. Director Sophie Averty, who made a documentary about the integration village in Indre, shares this insight. Of the original fifty families, only five could finally stay in the integration project, but in return were actively assisted in looking for a job, the enrolment of the children in school, and in learning French: “The hateful and violent suggestions, you heard them primarily during the arrival of the fifty Roma, above all when the parents of the children protested and spoke of the risks of transmission of scrabies and fleas … as if the little Frenchman had no fleas! […] Some people were very hesitant, often through ignorance. Those who complain are those who have never set foot into the village” (Mouillard 2014/II). The problem of integration projects that are specifically designed for Rroma is that they cause resentments about the special treatment of a specific group. It is therefore important to generally help people in difficult situations and not to talk always of a “Rroma problem” or the “Rroma question”. Such a focus fuels resentments among groups who are also in economically difficult situations, as one can see by means of the dubious success of the Front National, who repeatedly abuses the Rroma as scapegoats for general societal grievances in France. Consequently, Marine Le Pen calls for an isolation of France after the model of Switzerland. A very questionable development (compare Dumazert 2014, Le Monde 2014).

EurActiv (2014) draws a first balance in respect to the projected mass immigration of Rroma from Bulgaria and Romania. So far, no increase of Rroma in Île-de-France region could be observed, says Laure Lechatellier, Vice-President of the regional council. Due to fears of a mass migration to Western Europe, seven years of transitional provisions in 2007 were imposed on Romania and Bulgaria after their EU-accession. The free movement of workers since January 2014 now guarantees all Romanians and Bulgarians, including the Rroma, free access to the labour markets of the EU-member states. Because of structural problems, the Rroma have benefited only minimally from this opening: “The free circulation of workers has put an end to this system and opens another right: the one to enrol oneself at the employment office. But the population of Roma from Romania and Bulgaria on the Île-de-France has not yet benefited from this possibility, due to structural discrimination. In France, the anti-Roma sentiment has reached unprecedented levels. According to a study by the U.S. think tank Pew Research Center, 66% of French respondents declare a negative opinion towards the Roma.” EurActiv thus points to the important fact that for a successful integration of the Rroma, not only a legal but also a social and societal equality is necessary. Such a one is still far from a reality, due to the negative attitudes towards the minority.

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21.05.2014 Fire of Rroma settlement in Villeneuve d’Ascq

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In the night from 17th to the 18th of May, a Rroma settlement in Villeneuve d’ Ascq was the scene of a fire. Fourteen barracks were destroyed by the flames. One of the residents died in the fire. The fire had originated inside his hut. It is assumed that the incident is an accident: “The victim, whose age could not be clarified, passed away after a fire had started inside of his shack, at about two clock in the morning, in the night of Saturday to Sunday, the fire fighters stated [ … ] “It was not criminal, as it seems, but purely accidental. The man supposedly went to bed with a candle, Father Arthur Hervet, a priest from Lille who helps the inhabitants and was on location Sunday midday, told AFP.” Before the investigations are complete, one should not jump to conclusions. A special feature of the settlement of Villeneuve d’Ascq is that it is not illegal. The local Rroma live on the premises in agreement with the municipality of Lille. The settlement is equipped with running water and toilets. The children go to local schools (Le Figaro 2014, Hardy 2014, Libération 2014, RTL France 2014).

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21.05.2014 Once more: north migration is an economic and not a Rroma phenomenon

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Peters (2014) reports on Rroma in Sofia and Berlin. She portrays the famous image of marginalized Rroma below the poverty level, for which the conditions in Germany represent a major development step, even if it is only by receiving a minimum wage. Thereby, she characterizes a fairly accurate picture of the economic causes of migration, but mixes these too imprudently with ascribed characteristics of the Rroma. Although she also mentions the large proportion of well-qualified immigrants and the discrimination against Rroma in Germany itself, she only covers these issues very marginally. The reductionist, defamatory statements of the Bulgarian deputy prime minister, Zinaida Zlatanova, are cited as evidence for the strong marginalization of the Rroma in Bulgaria, what is identified by Peters as the main reason for the northern migration of the minority: “Bulgaria is home to many different ethnic groups. We have problems only with Roma”, says Zlatanova. “And these problems exist in every country that is home to Roma. This is not a Bulgarian problem. In France, Hungary – the same.” The exclusion of Roma children in ghettos and their own schools? “We should not tear the Rroma from their natural environment. Better they go to segregated schools than never.” Whether Germany benefits from identifying the phenomenon “poverty migration” as a “Rroma problem”, is very questionable. Also in Germany the Rroma are exposed top exclusion. The exclusion of the Rroma must not be concealed that is out of question. However, the marking of migrants as Rroma migrants creates more problems than it solves. The Rroma want to integrate and not undergo special treatment, which excludes them additionally. This only creates new resentments, as can be read in Peters’ own assessment: “We must take care of the Roma, who come to us”, says Giffey [councillor for education in Neukölln]. The dilemma is this: If you do that – then more and more come.”

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21.05.2014 Rroma and the Jobbik in Tiszavasvári

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Legrand (2014) reports about the Rroma policy of the Hungarian city Tiszavasvári, in north-eastern Hungary. In October 2010, the right-wing nationalist Jobbik gained most of the votes and appointed a mayor from the party. However, this did not lead to any significant change regarding the segregation and oppression of Rroma in Tiszavasvári, Legrand concludes. Already before, the minority had been marginalized and ostracized. Under the new Jobbik mayor, Erik Fülöp, no significant change has occurred in this regard, Legrand states. He didn’t destroy their homes or tried to evict them, as he had promised during the election campaign, however in return, the social exclusion has increased dramatically: The Rroma are more often harassed by the police, some even from the local doctor. The social assistance counter is located at the other end of town, so that Rroma have to go as far as possible. Their district is sealed off like a contaminated zone. In 2011, an attempt was made to revive the militia of the city, but failed due to the intervention of the Fidesz government. It was declared illegal. The local militia “Tiszavasvári Csendőrség” was involved in the deportation of Jews and Rroma under National Socialism. The “big Rroma Plan” of the new mayor is designed not to evict the minority openly, but to isolate them more systematically in their quarters and harass them: “In the first phase, the party organized a massive clean-up campaign in the neighbourhood Valak. “Now, if someone is throwing away garbage in the outside, he has to hand in social assistance”, says Anna, who fears an excuse “to confiscate the last incomes of the families.” The following stages are kept secret and the mayor and his assistants reject any media stress. Before the community centre, funded by the European Union, [is] a big house with exposed bricks, Anna sighs: “Even that comes to us, everything is done to avoid that one get out of here.” On can therefore question whether Legrand’s assessment is correct, when she concludes that the policy of the Jobbik mayor is a continuation of the earlier policy of exclusion. Rather, it seems that he brings the marginalization of the minority to a whole new level.

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16.05.2014 Diocese of Lille cannot accommodate the displaced Rroma of Roncq

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Several French newspapers report on the fate of a group of displaced Rroma in Roncq. They were expelled last week from their accommodation without having been offered any alternative place to stay. Some families settled on the site of the church Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. The diocese of Lille has now announced that it does not possess the means and possibilities to accommodate the Rroma in reasonable terms: “The church has neither the necessary human nor the financial resources to find long-term, stable solutions for these families”, said the archdiocese in a press release. “That does not mean that we are indifferent to their fate! We have a team that could accompany the families.” “We cannot protect them. It is not an absence of charity (…) One seeks solutions for land and one doesn’t have any” the archbishop of Lille announced.” According to local Rroma organizations, the eviction of 700 to 800 Rroma in Lille is planned for July, following a court’s decision. Likely, there will be no alternative accommodation provided to them either. Around twenty Rroma, who settled near the church, can pitch their tents on a private estate in Haubourdin, through the mediation of ATD Fourth World. Another twenty have joined other illegal settlements in Lille (compare Belaïd 2014, France 3 Nord Pas-de-Calais 2014 I/II, Le Monde 2014, Le Parisien 2014, La Voix du Nord 2014 I/II). 

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16.05.2014 Pew-polling institute: Rroma are the most despised minority

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On the occasion of the upcoming European parliamentary elections, the Pew polling institute examined the opinions of the French, Germans, Greeks, Italians, Poles, Spanish, and English about the European Union, as well as on general social topics. The opinion research institute came, among others, to the finding that Rroma are the most despised minority in Europe, with prejudices in Italy, France and Greece being the greatest: “The most negative views in Europe aren’t directed toward Muslims or Jews. Rather, it’s Roma. [The] chart is really quite remarkable, showing that Spain is the only nation where more people hold positive views of Roma than negative. In Italy, just 10 percent have positive views about Roma, while 85 percent have negative views. Unfortunately, it’s not entirely surprising. Roma, often dismissively referred to as “gypsies” in Europe, have suffered discrimination in Europe for centuries, and some estimates suggest that 70 percent of their European population was killed during the Holocaust.” The study can also be interpreted as meaning that in countries with strong ideological debates about the minority, more people rejecting. Moreover, in the countries with the highest rejection – Italy and France – the media only report about Rroma living in Slums, which promotes a biased view.

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14.05.2014 Eviction of Rroma camps in Roncq

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Lefebvre (2014) reports on the eviction of two illegal Rroma camps in France in Roncq. A group of about forty people were quartered in a former school. They had to leave their accommodation at the insistence of the police. On the location, a building project will start. For lack of alternatives, the evicted will stay in the street for the near future, within sight of the former school. The vehicles and caravans that some residents had available were confiscated by the police. The eviction took place in the early morning. The second camp that was cleared consisted of makeshift assembled barracks that were destroyed by excavators after the eviction. The approximately fifty people from both camps had found shelter at the current location after the eviction of settlements in Lille Sud, Croix and Roubaix. A negative event overshadowed the current location: at the exit of the camp, a car driver overran a small Rroma girl who died. A few days later, a funeral march with the participation of Rroma and residents took place: “The forty persons, among them twenty children and infants, found themselves without a roof and means of transportation on the road, next to the former school. Some members from associations came to help them every day and found them severely at loss to find them a new home for the umpteenth time. “There are three infants, five children are less than three years old. We have no means of locomotion, all will sleep in the street until the authorities meet their obligations”, said Louis Minne, one of the breadwinners of the family Lingurar. At around five o’clock in the afternoon, the Roma start to pitch up the first tents, under the gaze of the still present police.” The evacuation of the camp of Roncq is typical of the continuing expulsion-policy towards immigrant Rroma. On several occasions it was pointed out that the systematic expulsion obstructs a long-term integration and deteriorates the hygienic and sanitary conditions of those affected. Consequently, the reactions to the evictions turned out very differently. While some welcomed the drastic measures by the mayor of Tourcoing, representatives of the French Human Rights League had harsh words against the expulsion of the Rroma and denounced the action as an act of demagoguery (compare Rebischung 2014).

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14.05.2014 Racist statements of Eric Zemmour have consequences

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Several French newspapers report the verbal attacks of journalist Eric Zemmour against criminal gangs of Rroma, Chechens, Maghrebians and Africans. He accuses the members of these groups to plunder, to steal, and to rape in France. Zemmour further argued that multi-ethnic societies have a higher potential for violence than ethnically homogeneous communities such as Japan, which he sees as better protected against mass immigration due to natural borders. The council of associations of the French Black (Le Cran) condemned Zemmour’s remarks as racist mania, calling for his immediate dismissal: “Le Cran is totally baffled by the violence of this xenophobic madness”, stated the association, which added “if you listen to Éric Zemmour, you get the impression that the current France is immersed in a kind of medieval nightmare, destroyed by alien hordes that are inevitably thieves and criminals.” “I urge RTL to consider the severity of Zemmour’s statements”, who “indirectly calls for a policy of ethnic cleaning”, the president of Le Cran, Louis-Georges Tin, announced.” Le Cran has also filed a complaint against Zemmour at the audiovisual council of France (compare Nabet 2014, Le Nouvel Observateur 2014, Le Point 2014). Metro News (2014) points out that Zemmour has repeatedly attracted attention due to radical views. In a television program, he asked for face controls by the police and urged the abolition of abortions in favour of political and economic empowerment of France. In another program, he favoured discrimination as an ability to choose and therefore as a liberal tool.

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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).

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02.05.2014 Eviction policy continues in France

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Several French newspapers report about the ongoing evictions of illegal settlements. In Bègles, a suburb of Bordeaux, a community of about sixty Rroma were evicted from a former industrial area. The eviction was carried out at the request of the landowner, the real estate company Aquitanis, which will build houses on the abandoned land. The displaced Rroma were offered temporary accommodation, but most of them rejected it. The eviction endangers the school enrolment of about a dozen children, whose further school career is called into question. A representative of the organization ‘Right to Accommodation’ (Droit au Logement) justifiably criticized that the evictions will only solve local problems, but nothing would change for the concerned people in the long term. In Grasse, a house occupied by immigrant Rroma was cleared by the police, and several inhabitants had to be carried away by the police (France Bleu 2014/I, Lebaratoux 2014, Nice-Matin 2014, Sud Ouest 2014/I).  

De Francesco (2014) reports on the eviction of three Rroma-settlements in Cran-Gevrier and in Annecy, in the Rhône-Alpes region, close to the Swiss border. The authorities carried out the evacuation in response to a court order from March. About 150 people had to leave their homes. The action was once again criticized by the organization ‘Right to Accommodation’, because it subverts and complicates the integration efforts of the Rroma. The local politician Anne Coste de Champeron justified the eviction with the untenable conditions in the camps. Politicians repeatedly use this reasoning to justify the many evictions. The fact that it is not the welfare of those affected, but the maintenance of order policy  that has priority, is most often concealed. For a long-term, successful integration of Rroma, tolerance and support of illegal settlements is desirable (compare France Bleu 2014/II).

Le Creurer (2014) reports on displaced Rroma after an eviction in Nice. The affected Rroma have no intentions to return to Romania, as is the wish of the French authorities. Rather, they want a future in France. Without integration in the labour market and appropriate training, this will be only difficult to achieve. The efficiency of the mentioned integration programs has been hitherto fairly little critically discussed in the media. The approach seems to be more promising than to simply evict the Rroma from one place to the next. Noël Mamère , the mayor of Begles, also wishes a long-term and collective solution for the integration of Rroma. However, for this purpose a collective policy of all the suburbs of Bordeaux is required (compare Sud Ouest 2014/II).

Several French newspapers moreover report on the eviction of two Rroma settlements in Saint-Denis. The European Rroma Rights Centre had filed complaint against the eviction at the European Court of Human Rights: “The ERRC referred to two articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (3 and 8), to appraise that the present eviction is a “degrading and inhuman treatment” and that it “undermines the right to a private and family life”” (Sterlé 2014). The court called the French authorities for information about the conditions of the evacuation, the future accommodation of the displaced persons and the dimensions of the expulsions. The prefecture of Saint-Denis replied that they applied the usual social diagnoses and offered the affected alternative housing. For Manon Filloneau, from the European Rroma Rights Centre, the intervention of the court is a success, despite the lack of consequences. It shows the interest of the court for the situation of the Rroma in France (see Breson 2014, Le Point, 2014, Sterlé 2014).

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25.04.2014 Call for a civil rights movement of the Rroma

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Umberto Guerra (2014), by the French Rroma organization Romeurope, takes stock of the history of France Rroma. He regrets that the Rroma, who have been living in France for centuries, are still not recognized by the public as part of French society. Instead, one discriminates them further. In the French public, the Rroma exist only in the form of visible immigrants from Eastern Europe. The Rroma who have been living integrated in France for generations, are not seen by the media. According to Guerra they are still victims of racism and discrimination: “There are also several hundred thousand Roma who are French citizens. We are the object of racism and discrimination. But our situation is better than that of our immigrant brothers and sisters whom the French state continues to exclude. Racism against Roma is fed by widespread stereotypes. According to the national commission into human rights 85 percent of French people think Roma exploit their children. The idea of French national identity also plays a role. The true French person is supposed to speak French not regional languages, for example, and to be settled rather than travelling. And the economic crisis has seen things get worse. That’s true of racism in general, but particularly anti-Roma racism.” Moreover, Viviane Reding criticized that the Rroma have repeatedly been used as scapegoats for social ills in the French election campaign, when politicians did not want to talk about more relevant topics. Guerra expresses his disappointment about the fact that the political parties and politicians, from the right as well as from the left, were not reliable in respecting the rights of the Rroma and to come to their defence. At the end, he calls for the concentration of the various civil rights movements and a special dedication to the betterment of the situation of the Rroma: “In the last few years new anti-racist movements have developed, including Roma movements. We are working towards a Festival of Gypsy Insurrection to celebrate the revolt of Roma people in the Birkenau Nazi concentration camp on 16 May 1944. People on the receiving end of racism have taken the initiative and created “specialised” movements against Islamophobia, anti-black racism, etc. These movements are at the stage of getting to know one another. To succeed in their just struggle they will need to coordinate. Roma organisations take part in these movements and we attempt to play a role in bringing them together.” By such a movement, it could perhaps at last be made clear to the majority population that the Rroma have been living among them for generations, invisible and integrated and that they should be allowed to display their identity publicly and proudly without being discriminated.

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25.04.2014 Daily Mail confirms stereotypes about Rroma

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In its latest post, the British tabloid Daily Mail supported racist stereotypes about criminal Rroma gangs who attack tourists in Paris. Allen (2014) provides information on a group of young Rroma – how he knows about the ethnicity of the perpetrators, is completely unknown – who wanted to raid a middle-aged man at a cash machine in the centre of Paris, and were filmed by a surveillance camera. Allen further reports on the internal police writing that last week triggered a flood of press articles. The letter called for the systematic eviction of all Rroma in the sixth arrondissement, which is illegal under French law. Allen comments about this: “Charity and human rights groups were furious last week when a leaked police memo called for the ‘systematic eviction’ of Roma from the centre of the city. […] A spokesman for Charity group Catholic Help described the note as a ‘scandal’, saying that it ‘stigmatised a poor community’ and amounted to ‘racial profiling’- something which is illegal in secular France. But other Paris officials argued that Roma are behind most of the crime in the city, involving themselves in everything from aggressive begging to muggings and burglaries. 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.” Journalists such as Peter Allen still share the opinion that they spread the truth about Rroma, because they assume that reality consists only of the visible facts. The fact that a large part of the Rroma is not criminal is completely ignored in this logic. The focus is solely on the deviant behavior that is associated with ethnicity. The fact that the ethnicity of the perpetrators is anything but clear becomes obvious in Allen’s own article. He proceeds on the assumption that all perpetrators are Rroma and naturalizes this suspicion to a journalistic fact. Thus ethnic prejudices are maintained based on suppositions that are anything but hard facts.

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23.04.2014 Free movement of workers: access to the labour market remains difficult

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Pastural (2014) reports – on the occasion of the European free movement of workers with Romania and Bulgaria since January 2014 – about possible improvements in the access of Rroma to the French labour market. However, this is not the case. The access to the labour market for the low-skilled Rroma workers remains very difficult: “Full of experience as a result of working in agriculture or construction in Greece and Italy, Ionut Nica waited impatiently for the end of the transitional arrangements, towards the access of Romanian nationals to the labour market of the Schengen area. Since January 2014, Ionut has the right to work. “There was a tremendous hope on the part of Mr. Nica, who expected this splendid date of the month of January as if it would change his whole life”, laments Florence Marrand, social worker at the medical-social establishment of the Conseil général of Puy-de-Dôme, who advises Ionut Nica regularly for a little over one year. “Today, he is deeply disappointed. Certainly, he was able to enrol at the job centre, he could enrol at the work-assistant mission, he was able to answers vacancies. But nothing has changed specifically, absolutely nothing…“ It is to hope that Pastural is wrong with his portrayal of two individual cases, and the inclusion of immigrant Rroma into the labour market will enhance. At the latest, when the effects of the economic crisis are finally gone. One problem is, according to Pastural, the lack of resources to improve ones qualifications, and thus the appeal for the labour market.

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23.04.2014 Le Progrès publishes racist article about delinquent Rroma

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Several French newspapers report on an article, published by the regional newspaper Le Progrès, which assigns different types of offenses to various nationalities, including the Rroma. These are named directly in connection with petty crimes, prostitution, scrap metal theft and burglary offenses. That the Rroma are not a nationality but an ethnic group, Annie Demontfaucon (2014), the author of the article, seems to have forgotten. In France, statistics based on national origin are allowed, but not those that capture ethnic membership. Therefore, Le Progrès makes itself liable to prosecution with the infographics, as the attorney of La Voix des Roms confirms. SOS Racisme will file suit against the newspaper for illegal, ethnic profiling of Rroma. The same will be done by Licra (Ligue internationalle contre le racisme et l’antisémitisme), which stated that even the mention of national identity in the context of crime is far from unproblematic. A third lawsuit will be filed by the Movement against Racism MRAP (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples). MRAP also raises the question of whether the sources of the article can be traced back to racist police statistics. But this question cannot be clearly answered: “For their sources, explains the chief editor, they simply contacted the offices of the police, the gendarmerie, and the customs authority, who communicated them the general trends, based on their observations and the arrests. The general trends therefore, but no official figures” (Metro News 2014). Christophe Soullez, head of the national observation post for delinquency and criminal justice (ONDRP), decidedly questions the quality and origin of the sources. While the ONDRP itself publishes statistics based on national affiliation, these only list perpetrators sentenced by the court and not conjectures on the membership of the actors. A link between ethnicity and crimes committed is clearly racist and illegal, he states. La Voix des Roms filed a complaint against an illegal, ethnic file a few years ago, with the name “Minorités Ethniques Non Sédentaires (MENS). Not surprisingly, on the side of the Front National, one praised the article of Le Progrès. Florian Philippot, vice-president of the National Front, announced that he thanked the newspaper that they showed the negative effects of immigration. The fact that this is a deeply biased and racist interpretation of the facts, the conservative nationalist politician cares little about (compare Conxicoeur 2014, Metronews 2014, Le Figaro 2014, Le Parisien 2014, Le Huffington Post 2014).

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16.04.2014 6th arrondissement: turmoil around a racist police letter against Rroma

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Several French newspapers report on an internal letter from the police of the 6th arrondissement in Paris. The note by a police officer orders the police of the  arrondissement to locate all Rroma living in the streets and to expel them: “From now on and until new directives to the staff of the 6th arrondissement are given, all Rroma families living in the streets have to be located day and night and systematically expelled” (Le Monde 2014). One senior police officer, interviewed by Le Parisien, expressed to be snubbed by “violent and illegal” nature of the text. The letter is illegal because it is explicitly forbidden in France to mark people based on their ethnicity and to make them the targets of interventions. The mayor of 6th arrondissement, Pierre Lecoq, was not surprised by the tone of the letter and announced that he did not want to see Rroma families with small children in the streets. The number of Rroma families in the area of Saint-Germain-des-Prés has tripled in the last two months, Lecoq stated. He also perpetuates the racist notion of child-trafficking gangs that deliberately educate Rroma children to beg and steal. Jean-Pierre Colombies, delegate of the national police syndicate, said that he regretted the fact that police officers have to implement instructions from the police headquarters, which are directed by ruling politicians. The expulsion of Rroma from one place to another doesn’t solve anything, he added. The Paris police prefecture in turn communicated that the proposed approach directly derives from the directives of Pierre Lecoq, who demanded decisive actions against the Rroma. Gérard Taieb, attorney for personal rights, discredits Lecoq’s argument as pure hypocrisy. Taieb stated that it was not about the protection of the children. By expelling the families from the streets, the minors and infants are not helped in any way. The detection and expulsion of a group of people based on their ethnic affiliation was clearly illegal. This view was assented by the new interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, in his public statement.

The new spokesman for the French government, Stéphane Le Foll, stated that there were clear guidelines and rules on how the police should behave in the event of such circumstances, regardless of internal proposals. Le Foll also denied estimates that there was an “invasion” of Rroma in 6th arrondissement. No increase in the number of Rroma had been recorded. Le Foll added that it must not be forgotten that there are actual slums and one should try to make the Rroma immigrants move back to their countries of origin. At this point, Le Foll must be contradicted, since this migration happens because of discrimination, poverty and lack of perspectives. Most immigrant Rroma want to integrate, have a job and lead a normal life. This intention is denied them repeatedly and decidedly, as one hear clearly in an interview with Louis de Matignon Gouyon on Europe 1 (20 minuntes 2014, Béguin 2014, Carez 2014, Europe1, Le Figaro in 2014, Le Monde in 2014, Le Parisien 2014, Politi 2014).  

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16.04.2014 Manual Valls has to go back to court

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The new Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls, must again appear in front of the court. The Rroma organization La Voix des Rroms accuses him of incitement to “discrimination, hatred, and violence” against Rroma. The lawsuit relates to statements that Valls made on the March 14th and on September 24th, 2013 in presence of the French press. He accused Rroma immigrants in France of wilfully not wanting to integrate and stated that there is widespread, intra-ethnic crime amongst them: “The inhabitants of the camps do not want to integrate into our country, for cultural reasons or because they are at the mercy of begging or prostitution networks. […] They have an extremely different lifestyle than we do and are obviously enough on a confrontation course: we all know, the proximity of these camps causes begging and theft and therefore delinquency. […] The Rroma have a tendency to return to Romania and Bulgaria.” Fassin wonders why the lawsuit against Valls has not received any media attention. He explains this lack of interest on the one hand with a focus on his political profile that is characterized by seriousness and rigor, and on the other hand, with the verdict of the French court of December 13th, 2013. This first lawsuit against Valls, filed by the French movement against racism (MRAP), was rejected with the explanation that Valls’ statements were not a minister’s instructions, but personal opinions of the politician: “[the minister] is in the exercise of his function when he is issuing instructions […] but not when he interacts with the media to express his opinion. […] The French Republic does not recognize the concept of race. [He] could only be in the exercise of his functions, if he recommended a different treatment of persons, based on their origin.” Fassin discredits this justification of the French court as absurd. It means that de facto a minister can never possibly speak on behalf of the government in matters relating to racism, but only ever on his own. Thus one allows Manual Valls and other policy makers to enjoy the privilege of fools, while it is denied to the rest of the population, whereby Fassin is absolutely right (Fassin 2014).

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11.04.2014 Robert Kushen: the integration of Rroma remains a challenge

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On the occasion of the international Rroma Day, the chairman of the European Rroma Rights Centre, Robert Kushen, reflects on the situation of the Rroma in Europe and the continuing challenges for this minority (Kushen 2014). He arrives at a sober view: the decade of Rroma inclusion, which was adopted in Sofia in 2005, and encompassed the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain, unfortunately cannot fulfil the expectations that it raised. Rroma are still affected by widespread poverty, discrimination, unemployment and insufficient access to public institutions such as schools and hospitals: “Despite this political recognition of an unconscionable social crisis, Roma remain among the poorest, unhealthiest, least educated and most marginalised European citizens. The data are devastating: Across Central and Southeast Europe, 90 percent of Roma live in poverty. Fewer than one third of adults have paid employment. Only 15 percent of young Roma have completed secondary or vocational school. Nearly 45 percent of Roma live in housing that lacks basic amenities. Life expectancy in Roma communities is 10-15 years less than in non-Roma communities, with many Roma lacking access to insurance and health care.” Kushen refers in his judgement to information from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP 2013). Reasoning with such figures is not without dangers, since the representation of the Rroma as uneducated, poor, and unhealthy is often interpreted by the polemical, public discourse as a cultural peculiarity of the minority, although these characteristics are inevitably a poverty phenomenon. Although is not to deny that numerous Rroma are poor and uneducated, the relevant question is whether such an argument can contribute to the  integration of the Rroma. In addition, surveys often only take into account the visible Rroma, because the integrated ones are hard to identify as Roma and difficult to contact. Not only images of misery are needed, which generate compassion, but also images of success that allow a positive identification.

Kushen continues with information about the marginalization of the Rroma in Italy, France, Sweden and Hungary, and then gets on to the latest report from the European Union on the situation of the Rroma. The report published on April the second this year, can not present success stories either: “In early April, the European Commission convened a “Roma Summit” and issued a report assessing how member states are doing in addressing the interconnected problems of poverty and discrimination which the Roma are facing. The report noted “the persistence of segregation” in education, a large and in some cases widening employment gap between Roma and non-Roma, big differences between Roma and non-Roma in health insurance coverage, and an “absence of progress” in addressing the need for housing. Finally, the report noted that discrimination remains “widespread” (compare European Commission 2014).

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09.04.2014 Amnesty International criticizes the continuing discrimination against Rroma

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Many newspapers chronicle the report published by Amnesty International on April the 8th, the International Rroma Day, which accuses the social discrimination against Rroma. Amnesty International comes to a grim conclusion in regard to the social integration of the minority: the Rroma in Europe are still highly marginalized, the political will to foster them is often deficient and hate crimes against the minority are all too often re-interpreted as a lack of willingness to integrate: “The violent offenders are encouraged by the passive attitude of the governments, which accept a systematic discrimination against the Roma silently”, notes Çalışkan [German secretary general of AI]. “Instead of resolutely opposing violence and discrimination, many European politicians even fuel the notion that Roma are responsible for their own exclusion. Such statements by high-ranking politicians encourage further violence in society and are a distortion of the facts. The current situation of many Roma can be traced back to the years of disregard for the rights of Europe’s largest minority” (Amnesty International 2014/IV). –  “In its report, Amnesty urges national governments in Europe [and the European Union] to condemn hate crimes and to clarify that racist acts will not be tolerated. Among other things, the human rights activists propose to collect data and publish data on hate crimes” (Kalkhof 2014). There follows an analysis of the status quo of the minority in the Czech Republic, France and Greece. In all three countries, the defamation of the Rroma is still massive, the report states. While right-wing extremist groups in the Czech Republic rally against the ethnic group, in France the already mentioned discourse of a supposedly lacking will to integrate dominates the debate. This view totally ignores the exclusion of the minority in the sense of a repressive, nationalist governance. If the Rroma are not given any opportunity to integrate, they cannot, no matter how hard they try. Especially worysome is the repression on Rroma exerted by state institutions. This includes both governments and their measures taken against the minority, as well as executive institutions such as the police and the judiciary. Romani Rose describes the voting share of 21% of the openly Rroma-hostile Jobbik party as a “danger signal for Europe” to no longer passively accept discrimination against the Rroma (Amnesty International 2014/I, Amnesty International 2014/II, Amnesty International 2014/III, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2014, Joerin 2014, Kalkhof 2014, Süddeutsche Zeitung 2014).

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02.04.2014 Elections in Hungary: Hungarian Rroma party (Magyarországi Cigány Part, MCP) aims to strengthen the rights of the Rroma

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Murphy (2014) reports about the Hungarian election campaign on the occasion of the forthcoming parliamentary elections of the 6th of April. On this occasion, the newly established Rroma party Magyarországi Cigány Part tries to give more emphasis to the concerns of the Rroma. The president of the party, Aladar Horvat, held a campaign speech before the residents of Ozd, a former industrial city, with a majority of Rroma: “If we stick together, we can fix our problems. No one else will”, the soft-spoken 49-year-old told Agence France-Presse in Ozd, a rusting former industrial town right on the Slovakian border. Vast steelworks once employed thousands of Roma in Ozd, a town of about 34,000 inhabitants, but today, they lie derelict. Widespread unemployment and poverty has fuelled mistrust against the Roma, and far-right party Jobbik – the country’s third biggest party – is building on that anger.” So far, there were only two Rroma politicians in the 386-member parliament of Hungary, two of them members of the ruling party Fidesz. Murphy describes the distrust of many Rroma against the Hungarian politicians as being massive. The consistent poverty and discrimination over the years made many lose their faith in politics. In addition, several Rroma criticized that a party focusing on ethnic membership was not working in the sense of a successful integration, but would rather make it more difficult.

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02.04.2014 Invisible Rromni in the book “Baxtale Romnia”

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The Nordstadtblogger (2014) reports on the publication of the book “Baxtale Romnia” by Magdalena Stengel and Helene Pawlitzki. Together, the photographer and the journalist visited integrated Rromnia living in Germany, England, France, the Netherlands, and Hungary. In the book, these invisible Rromnia give information on their lives, their decisions and their favourite recipes. Through that, they create positive counter-images to the persistent negative stereotypes about Rroma: “street prostitution, poverty, problematic houses, welfare fraud, truants: with these keywords, media report on Sinti and Roma in Germany. In contrast, success stories are all but missing: about well-integrated, educated, successful and creative Romnia one rarely reads or hears […] These are women who have succeeded in securing a nice place in life – sometimes against considerable opposition, says the author of the book-texts, Helene Pawlitzki […]. They are self-confident, successful, strong, and they know what they want. What life has thrown at their feet, they have taken up and made the best of it. For us their life stories were very inspiring.” The book launch will take place on April 4th in the Nordstadtgalerie in Dortmund.

  • Nordstadtblogger (2014) “Baxtale Romnia” zeigt erfolgreiche Roma-Frauen aus Europa: Studentinnen präsentieren ihr fotografisches Kochbuch. In: Nordstadtblogger online vom 30.3.2014. http://nordstadtblogger.de/10114
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