The story of a migrant from Romania, who, before he managed to get a job with the RATP (Paris Transport Authority), was camping on the place de la République in Paris. He reports on his life and how he managed slowly and step by step to find his footing in Paris.
Worth reading!
The European court of Justice has issued a warning against the Bulgarian electricity company which installed electric meters at a height that renders them inaccessible, this in a predominantly Rroma part of Dupnitsa. According to the court of justice, this constitutes “ethnic discrimination”.
The metropolitan police has been engulfed in a controversy surrounding a “secret” Facebook page that officers used to air racist comments about minorities, including Rroma. In several comments, the comments accused the GT (Gypsy and Travellers) to live exclusively on crime.
This cannot be tolerated from the police!
There are apparently several beggars in Lausanne – Rroma – who are begging with a dog. A foundation for the protection of animals has accused them of drugging their dogs, an accusation that could not be substantiated by the cantonal veterinarian. This may be a new tack of these beggars, now that begging with small children is effectively forbidden.
In spite of all the drama in the Media, we speak here of a few scores of beggars, a very tiny number in comparison to the well established and integrated Rroma in Switzerland.
In a further escalation of the conflict in Garmen, around 150 residents from Garmen staged a protest in Sofia to request the demolition of 120 “illegal” Rroma houses in their village.
This escalation of an already festering problem will not resolve anything, and is providing ammunition to populist politicians on the overall minority “issue” in Bulgaria.
This has to stop!
A French book, called “La Route du Rom”, a wordplay on the famous transatlantic sailing race “la Route du Rhum”, raises questions about the nation states, and about Rroma nd their integration. Unfortunately, the book also serves quite a few of the standard stereotypes about Rroma, about clans, about persecutions, about poverty. While we can agree with the goal, we find the path rather difficult to swallow.
Another report on the trial of a French mayor (we reported a while back) of the town of Sucy en Brie who was accused of having denied 5 Rroma children their right to education. The mayor was cleared of all charges, but the fact remains that Rroma children, without a formal housing document, as often denied education, in spite of French law.
A shame.
A further article on the Dachau Theatre project, a project fighting stereotypes and played by Rroma and Sinti children. That this play is staged in Dachau, the site of one of the earliest concentration camps in Germany is really symbolically important.
For a change, something that is not in the news. A video, 28 minutes, on Polish Rroma in 1964, just before they were forbidden to travel. While it is definitively edited and in parts staged (see the chicken scene), we know several of the people who are seen in the movie… And yes, it was like this.
According to the Council of Europe, and this in spite of what populist politicians claim, there has been no “invasion” of Rroma from Bulgaria and Romania since citizen from these countries have been granted free circulation within the EU. The Council of Europe criticises the “unfounded” numbers cited by the press in the migration debate in several European countries, such as the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.
We wholeheartedly agree!
An article on a Rrom who fled Leskovac in Serbia and is now in Germany. He has few chances to stay as Germany has decreed Serbia to be a safe country, but still hopes he can stay.
Volunteers from a catholic organisation are taking care of children in a camp near Paris during July. Let’s see what this bring, but more than playing with the children will be required to close the issue of illegal camps in France.
Another article on the 4’000 Rroma that were expulsed by the French government in the first six months of 2015. Note the small mistake in the title : “Trimestre” – [quarter] instead of the half year. Never mind!
US Holocaust educators from Florida visited Lithuania to share and develop strategies on some of the controversial aspects (i.e. local participation) of the Holocaust; to better understand what happened in Lithuania; to learn international law; to understand prejudices and to fight against them. On prejudice, they will also discuss the one against Rroma. Let’s see!
Auschwitz’s accountant, Oskar Grönning, was condemned to 4 years of prison as an accessory to murder to 300’000 people. These are the documented victims of Auschwitz, with roughly 21’000 Rroma and Sinti. One should never forget though that people who were sent directly to the gas chambers were not registered and the overall number of victims was much higher in Auschwitz.
– Auschwitz-Prozess: Vier Jahre Haft für SS-Mann Gröning. In: Osnabrücker Zeitung. 15.07.2015. http://www.noz.de/deutschland-welt/niedersachsen/artikel/596012/auschwitz-prozess-vier-jahre-haft-fur-ss-mann-groning-1
L’Humanité – the French communist newspaper – reports on the evictions of the large camp in Ivry and states that the state is devoid of means to help Rroma. One should also remind readers that expulsions have been requested by mayors of all political parties, including the communist one.
And one should also remind France that the migrant Rroma to which so much newspaper space is devoted are a small fraction of Rroma living in France.
The OSCE has been urging Bulgaria to halt the evictions of Rroma in the village of Garmen. Gerge Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) also added: “Politicians should lead by example and refrain from anti-Roma rhetoric to gain support from the electorate.”
We agree wholeheartedly!
Another theatre representation in Worms (Germany) on the persecutions of the Rroma during the Nazi times.
Following the accusations by the Rroma MP in Turkey (we reported), an investigation was launched in Turkey on the police “march” into a Rroma neighbourhood of Edirne. During that police intervention, the police made racist statements besides arresting several people of these neighbourhoods on more than flimsy charges.
An Italian court in Turin found 6 people guilty of arson aggravated by racial hatred for a raid on a Rroma camp in December 20122. The defendants set the camp on fire after an Italian girl falsely claimed to have been raped by Rroma.
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