{"id":1733,"date":"2014-01-24T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/24-01-2014-the-focus-magazine-propagates-the-mass-exodus-from-romania-and-bulgaria\/"},"modified":"2022-07-27T07:48:45","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T06:48:45","slug":"24-01-2014-the-focus-magazine-propagates-the-mass-exodus-from-romania-and-bulgaria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/24-01-2014-the-focus-magazine-propagates-the-mass-exodus-from-romania-and-bulgaria\/","title":{"rendered":"24.01.2014 The Focus magazine propagates the mass exodus from Romania and Bulgaria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dometeit\/Lehmkul \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2014) report from Romania. Armed with dubious facts they argue that there \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tindeed a mass migration to Western Europe and especially Germany is taking \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tplace. They portray poorly trained Rroma in western Romania who hardly earn a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tliving and see their future opportunities in Western Europe. According to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tauthors, all Rroma that have a reasonably decent life have been abroad for a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshorter or longer period of time: \u201cWhen \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe labor markets in the EU open at the beginning of the year, everyone will go\u201d, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpredicts Stefan and grins. \u201cThen we will all meet like on a huge wedding \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tparty.\u201d The big goal: North Rhine-Westphalia. Tens of thousands of Romanians \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand Bulgarians migrate annually. 30\u2019000 people from the two countries came in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2012 (comparing to 18 500 people emigrating). 2013 there will be even more \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigrants, the Ministry of Labour, Integration and Social Affairs of North \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRhine-Westphalia predicts.\u201d<\/em> Dometeit\/Lehmkul totally ignore that the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstatistics, as has already been discussed several times, count seasonal workers \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand therefore are massively exaggerated. That all Romanians and Bulgarians \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tliving in poverty will migrate to Germany is very unlikely, as the expansion of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfree migration to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland has already shown. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMasses of immigrants didn\u2019t show up. Dometeit\/Lehmkuhl provide a highly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tone-sided picture of Rroma. Those who have become rich are immediately \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tassociated with illegal activities: \u201cOn \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe so-called rose park there are palaces Roma clans have built through \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbusiness in Germany. Most of them are empty, the shutters are lowered. Two or \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthree times a year the families come to celebrate. Then the Porsches and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFerraris show up. Two years ago, the police raided some of the villas at the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trequest of the German prosecutor’s, based on suspicions of tax evasion, money laundering \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand human traffeking.\u201d<\/em> Such reporting is simplistic and patronizing. Dometeit\/ \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLehmkuhl completely ignore that there are well integrated, upright Rroma<\/p>\n

This \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tone-sided perspective is shared by the Schweizer Magazin (2014). The online \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnewspaper favors polemical generalizations and simplifications: \u201cSinti and Roma, as well as other social \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twelfare benefiters from Romania and Bulgaria \u2013 the two poorest countries in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEurope \u2013 are ready to flood Germany and to enrich themselves with the social benefits. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOnly the economy may approve, since every immigrant from these poor countries \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdepresses the wages and thus complicates the lives of all Europeans and only \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tincreases the profits of the companies.\u201d<\/em> To designate the Rroma people \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgenerally as social welfare benefiters is racist and stupid. Much more need not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbeing said about this. <\/p>\n

The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBaltische Rundschau (2014) strengthens fears of a mass immigration from Eastern \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEurope. The article is openly racist and speaks of social parasites and brown \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trats who are supposedly coming from Serbia to plunder the German welfare state: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cAfter the wave of Roma who migrate as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tofficial EU citizens from Romania and Bulgaria to the German welfare state, more \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand more Gypsies are now coming from Serbia. However, these do not use the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cprivileged\u201d status as EU citizens to flood the labour market and welfare \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsystem, but make use of the German asylum law. In 2013, the asylum applications \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom Serbia increased by 40 percent, almost all asylum seekers are Roma.\u201d <\/em>The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma Contact Point has stated very often that the prognosis of a mass \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigration to Western Europe is wrong. Moreover, not all immigrants \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tautomatically become welfare cases. A reduction of the west migration to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcase of the Rroma is racist and ethnicizes poverty problems.<\/p>\n

The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tright-wing populist platform unzensuriert.at (2014) is even more racist. It \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpropagates the concept of a culture war and the collapse of the German welfare \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstate. The pretentious statements are one-sided, distorted, highly selective \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinterpretations of the real situation. The platform forecast an additional \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinflux of 200,000 Romanians and Bulgaria to Germany for the current year: \u201cThe city of Duisburg is paying dearly for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe unrestricted immigration of Roma clans. For the year 2014, the city \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tadministration predicts additional costs of at least 12 million Euro for the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cintegration\u201d of immigrant Gypsies from Romania and Bulgaria. Meanwhile, some \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t10,000 Roma live in the Ruhr city. Entire neighborhoods such as Duisburg-Rheinhausen \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare firmly in the hands of the Gypsies. Germans, but also guest workers from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTurkey and former Yugoslavia living here for many years, already feel as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstrangers.\u201d <\/em>With such polemical statements unzensuriert.at does intellectual \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarson and endangers social peace. Such xenophobic statements have nothing to do \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twith freedom of speech and freedom of the press.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

A \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdifferentiated and liberal attitude towards the immigration debate is taken by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMaike Freund (2013). She argues for complexity and rationalism concerning the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpredictions of a mass immigration: \u201cWho \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgoes through Neuk\u00f6lln in Berlin or the northern city of Dortmund, knows that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsuch scenes or similar belong to the reality in Germany – but they are only one \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpart of the truth. Because the numbers say: there are many highly educated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigrants, also from Romania and Bulgaria, and Germany relies on these \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprofessionals.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Mappes-Niediek \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2014) speaks of the conflicting reactions to the polemical predictions about \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria. Thus, ethnic Romanians and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBulgarians often separate themselves from the Rroma in response to the Western \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEuropean criticism: \u201cThat\u2019s not us, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat\u2019s the Roma: This is still the first reflex when some of the German and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBritish debates over poverty migration spill into the Rumanian and Bulgarian \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpublic.\u201d <\/em>Mappes-Niediek criticizes that a poverty problem is turned into an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tethnic problem by distinguishing between ethnic Romanians and the Rroma. After \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe collapse of the socialist system, the ethnic Romanians were given back the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpossessions of their ancestors, who had been collectivized. Since a large part \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the Rroma had possessed nothing before socialism, they emerged as losers \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom the change of system: \u201cOnly the Roma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgot back nothing because their grandparents hadn\u2019t possessed anything. They \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmoved into the slums, from which the poverty immigrants of today emerge. This \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tallows both the German and the Romanian public to keep the poverty problem a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoma problem \u2013 which it is not. If there were no Roma, there would not be any \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmore jobs.\u201d <\/em>The migration debate is also dominated by a double standard: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tone hand, one likes to get the well-trained professionals for the German \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teconomy \u2013 especially doctors \u2013 on the other hand one wants to keep out the less \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twell-off. <\/p>\n

Antiziganism \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresearcher Markus End criticizes the term \u201cpoverty migration\u201d as being negatively \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcharged and equated with Rroma in the public debate. The Rroma are discredited \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tas being lazy and social parasites. End criticizes this depiction and reminds \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tone of the integrated, invisible Rroma: \u201cThey \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twere sweepingly referred to as lazy and welfare scroungers. It was said that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey are noisy, produce garbage, and are prone to crime. People who follow the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmedia regularly have learned that Roma are poverty immigrants. [ … ]. In the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdebate, Roma are represented as strangers, even though many have being living \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin Germany since generations. Also that there are educated and uneducated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma, rich and poor, is totally neglected in the debate. The term Roma is used \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talmost synonymous with poverty, crime or waste.\u201d <\/em>Liberal journalists are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talso spreading antiziganist stereotypes, even though they welcome the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigration of skilled workers. A liberal journalist from Die Welt<\/em> compares well-educated, ethnic Romanians and Bulgarians with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcriminal, antisocial Rroma, producing a value list of welcomed and unwelcomed \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigrants. End comes to the conclusion that the coverage of the Rroma is the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmost biased of all minorities (Grunau 2014). <\/p>\n