{"id":1478,"date":"2014-06-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/11-06-2014-medias-press-info-propagates-criminal-rroma-begging-networks\/"},"modified":"2022-08-21T07:32:49","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T06:32:49","slug":"11-06-2014-medias-press-info-propagates-criminal-rroma-begging-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/11-06-2014-medias-press-info-propagates-criminal-rroma-begging-networks\/","title":{"rendered":"11.06.2014 M\u00e9dias-Press-Info propagates criminal Rroma begging networks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a highly biased article, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tburdened with prejudice, Depauw (2014) from M\u00e9dias-Press-Info writes about \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcriminal Rroma begging networks in Brussels. All beggars, no matter in what \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tform they appear, are said to be meticulously prepared for the role they have \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto \u201cplay\u201d in front of the passers-by. The collection of funds for a fictitious \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\torganization, simulating disability or children begging with hollow hands, they \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare all said to be part of criminal, hierarchically organized begging networks: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cAll of these beggars are in reality part \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof well organized networks that leave nothing to change. The roles and the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlocations of allocation of each person are precisely planned. The heads of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthese networks know very well what the average income of each beggar is.\u201d <\/em>However, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDepauw says nothing about the exact structure of these networks and gives no arguments \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton the plausibility of his own reasoning. Would he do so, the massive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprejudices and value judgments in his article should strike him. He automatically \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmakes all beggars to be Rroma, although the ethnicity of beggars is far from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobvious. That there is organized begging may be the case, but its organisation, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tits frequency, and in particular its profitability is clearly refuted by sociological \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstudies. The incomes from the begging are anything but high, as Tabin (2013) \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshows in his study regarding Lausanne. Beggars that do indeed beg because of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpoverty are not interesting to the editors, because they do not obey to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlogic of sensationalist and investigative journalism. And yet, the journalists could \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbenefit from a little more sense for the complexity of the world. Reality goes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbeyond villains and heroes.<\/p>\n