{"id":1789,"date":"2014-02-28T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/28-02-2014-the-immigration-debate-and-rroma-stereotypes\/"},"modified":"2022-07-27T10:15:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T09:15:42","slug":"28-02-2014-the-immigration-debate-and-rroma-stereotypes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/28-02-2014-the-immigration-debate-and-rroma-stereotypes\/","title":{"rendered":"28.02.2014 The immigration debate and Rroma stereotypes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Romanian ambassador \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin London, Ion Jinga, writes against the stereotypical representation of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma in the British media. Only recently, the English newspaper “Daily \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMail” published an interview with the Romanian Rroma \u201cRudi\u201d, who confirmed \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talmost all prejudices against the minority: that Rroma steal and burden the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBritish welfare system. That an individual of an ethnic group is taken to represent \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tall members of a group, is not a new phenomenon, but it is amazing how well \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthis presentation method works. Rudi stated: \u201cI made my way by pick-pocketing, thieving and other small crimes. I \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twas put in prison or arrested by the police in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Spain, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tItaly, France, Austria and Germany before I arrived here. [ … ] Your benefits \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsystem is crazy. It’s like finding a sack full of cash that has been dropped, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpicking it up and no one saying anything.\u201d <\/em>Jinga attempts to qualify the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tone-sided statements and to show the complexity behind the generalizations. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma are marginalized, but most of them are trying to find a job and work hard, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tespecially when they migrate to another country. The portrayal of problem cases \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthrough the media confirms false prejudices and hinders a successful \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintegration of the minority. The Romanian government has repeatedly pointed out \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat the integration of the Rroma is a pan-European task that cannot be handled \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby a single nation. Jinga also convincingly demonstrates that the Romanian \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teconomy performs very well in a pan-European comparison. However, one has to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdisagree in one point with him. Jinga claims that access to the Romanian labour \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmarket is equal for all. That Rroma in Romania are still heavily discriminated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tagainst, should not be denied (Jinga 2014).<\/p>\n

The highly one-sided \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticle from Daily Mail (Reid 2014) builds its argument on dubious statistics from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe British bureau of statistics. The ONS (Office for National Statistics) stated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat Romania has the highest birth rates in Europe and that the British welfare \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsystem animates Romanian immigrants to get even more children. These statements \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare supplemented with the effusive confessions of Rudi, who confirms all prejudices \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tabout social tourism. That, through his statements, he advocates for the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trestriction of immigration, doesn\u2019t seem to come to his mind. At the end of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticle he states: \u201cWe Romanians can go \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tanywhere we want in Europe now \u2014 but, of course, it is only Britain that pays \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tus to live.\u201d <\/em>Reid manages to fuel fears of mass immigration into the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBritish social system and to consolidate them. She doesn\u2019t seem interested in an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobjective assessment of the situation at all.<\/p>\n