{"id":1317,"date":"2013-11-01T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-01T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/01-11-2013-the-cliche-of-rroma-stealing-children\/"},"modified":"2022-08-21T07:33:33","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T06:33:33","slug":"01-11-2013-the-cliche-of-rroma-stealing-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/01-11-2013-the-cliche-of-rroma-stealing-children\/","title":{"rendered":"01.11.2013 The Clich\u00e9 of Rroma Stealing Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cBote der Urschweiz\u201d paper (The Messenger of Central \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSwitzerland) (2013) confirms in an article about the Rroma blonde girl Maria who \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twas found in Greece, the biological relationship to a Rroma family in Bulgaria. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoth the biological parents and the foster parents now raise claims to the care \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the girl. The media attention about Maria encourages still strongly rooted \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprejudices about Rroma, both of biological and social nature: Rroma have to be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdark-skinned and dark-haired. In addition, the case is hyped for all the wrong reasons: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt reinforces the still widespread but absurd ideas about Rroma and children \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttheft or sale. The foster mother is reported as having bought Maria for 500 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tleva (about 315 francs) from her biological mother, which the latter, however, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdenies. The Bulgarian Child Protection Authority claims that the biological \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tparents are not able to adequately care for their children. Which is why they \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twant to give Maria to a foster Bulgarian family (NZZ 2013).<\/p>\n

Versek (2013) \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talso criticised the concept of child-stealing Rroma which is reinforced by the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\toverall reporting as absurd and non-credible. What give to thin is in fact the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tuninhibited association of Rroma with human trafficking. In the case of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJews, the public would never allow such a link, for Rroma however yes. \u201cIn recent weeks, \u200b\u200bthe story of the little \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tblond Maria who was discovered in a Greek Rroma family made Europe’s headlines. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEven before the details of the case stood firm, the picture in the public mind was \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcreated as if it were a terrible case of kidnapping or at least of human \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttrafficking.\u201d<\/em> As Verseck sees it, it is the vicious circle of poverty falsely \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis often described as the Rroma culture that needs to be broken.<\/p>\n

Von Daniels \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013), states that the ideas of organised clans which are involved in begging \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand organised crime, are largely wrong. The police in Vienna recently tried to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsmash a so-called Rroma network. Only they could not find any. What they found, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twas \u201cthird world to touch\u201d, therefore blatant poverty. The idea of Rroma who \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texploit other Rroma is found among \u00a0those who want to criminalise them and discipline them. This \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis done for both the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator. Thus, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma themselves are not readily integrable for Manual Valls, which manifests \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\titself in a criminalising perspective on them. This apparent, lack of integration \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twill is elevated to a cultural characteristic: \u201c”These people have long been aware of impoverished and socially \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmarginalized,” says the also representative Kawczynski from Hamburg. What \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis often referred to as ethnic tradition, is a sign of social neglect. Once \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthis misery meets German conditions, it has a hard impact – for both sides. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tResidents are disgusted by the squalor of the homes in which Roma will live.\u201d <\/em>It \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis therefore the poverty that needs to be combated, not the culture of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma.<\/p>\n

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