{"id":1813,"date":"2013-11-29T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/29-11-2013-rolf-bauerdick-written-defence-of-his-book\/"},"modified":"2022-08-21T07:33:32","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T06:33:32","slug":"29-11-2013-rolf-bauerdick-written-defence-of-his-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/29-11-2013-rolf-bauerdick-written-defence-of-his-book\/","title":{"rendered":"29.11.2013 Rolf Bauerdick written defence of his book"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticle in die Welt, Bauerdick (2013) responds to the many sometimes violent \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcriticisms of his book, \u201cGypsies: Encounters with unloved people.\u201d He still \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tseems not to realise that his supposed revelations on culturally related \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgrievances is after all racist. He notes: \u201cIf \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe police, as currently in Westphalia, warns against bands of con artists, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthen this is no need for the Central Countil [of Sinti and Roma to read the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevites to their own clientele. If Roma pimps send thousands of young women to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbars and to brothels, not a single official stands up to protect the victims. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnd when in Paris, the Louvre closes because droves of abused children steal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom the visitors, then that has nothing to do at all with that ethnic group \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor which Heuss speaks as non-Gypsy. For the Central Council, Roma crime is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsolely responsibility of individuals. Only the racism of the dominant society \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis collective.\u201d<\/em> With his statements Bauerdick follows the same line as the Weltwoche. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHis criticism is one that builds on a very one-sided picture of the Rroma, pervaded \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby prejudice. Bauerdick wants to have encountered all the things that he wrote and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcriticised about in his book. But how does he knows with certainty that the begging \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildren are Rroma and the prostitutes are Rromnja? How does he know that the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildren are not begging for themselves or their parents, and the women prostitute \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthemselves out of poverty? Where does he take the authority as Gadjo to gauge Rroma? \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe problems he sees among the Rroma are exactly those that outsiders over and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tover again simplistically use to explain the observed events: Begging children \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare part of hierarchically organized clan networks, the same applies to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprostitutes or theiving Rroma. Behind them stands a mighty Rroma king who skims \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tall of them. That despite numerous refutations of his vision, Bauerdick still \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdecidedly insists on his position is incomprehensible. It hurts Rroma more than \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tit helps them, although the latter is his officially his goal. The fact that he \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthereby interprets the freedom of expression in an ethically very questionable \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmanner, does not seem to be clear to him (compare with the right-wing populist \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tplatform Unzensuriert.at 2013).<\/p>\n