In spite of the picture, and in spite of the beliefs, not all poor people in Hungary are Rroma. Unicef claims 620 thousand children live below the poverty line. This is many more children as the Rroma minority, which all in all numbers ca. 800 thousands.
Note that three million Hungarian are now below the official poverty line.
Serbia wants to extend the so-called “Roma Decade” by another 10 years to continue furthering integration of Rroma in Europe. In a meeting organized by the Roma Education Center, Ivanisevic said that the Roma Decade will change: its seat will be in Sarajevo and the implementation will be placed under the Stability Pact for South East Europe.
The red-green coalition from Baden Württemberg will deport asylum seekers from Serbia and Macedonia, many of then Rroma, on the anniversary of the deportation of Rroma in that Region. This anniversary celebrated on the 24th of March commemorates the first train filled with Rroma and Sinti that departed from Offenburg.
What a date to choose …
Hungarian Rroma leaders have started a petition to the EU protesting against the ethnic cleansing that took place in Miskolc. In that eastern Hungarian city, Rroma residents were forcefully expelled from a neighbourhood to make space for the parking lot of a football stadium. This stadium – like many of its siblings being in funded in part by the EU, the Rroma leaders argue that the EU bears a moral responsibility to act.
We cannot but agree there!
Three years ago, a landmark judgement found that Slovakia was discriminating Rroma children with the practice of having segregated schools. A report from Amnesty International reveals now that the situation has far from improved. This is due to the introduction of so-called “container schools” are installed in predominantly Rroma settlement, and are attended exclusively by Rroma children, the non Rroma population preferring to send their children to other schools. This is no longer segregation, this is total isolation …
Černušáková, Barbora. Slovakia’s ‘container schools’ worsen segregation of Roma children from society. In: Amnesty International Blog. 13.03.2015. https://www.amnesty.org/en/articles/blogs/2015/03/slovakia-segretation-of-roma-schoolchildren-worsens/
Following the case of Rroma children being bullied and humiliated by the police in a police station in Kosice, an action filmed by the police, Roma civic associations asked psychiatrists to asses the police actions based on the video that a judge refused as evidence.
Their verdict is clear: This would not have been tolerated with anyone from the mainstream population. Some of the experts spoke of systemic failure of the system and society!
The BBC published a long reportage about the vanishing Gypsy “Cigan” Music in Budapest. This music, while played by Rroma musicians on some of the typical Rroma instruments such as the Cymbalom, has little in effect to do with Rroma music. It is and was a collection of Hungarian Schlagers, a few Hungarian folk songs and the odd typically Rroma song, these later ones can still be heard across the borders in Slovakia, still sung in Rromanes, and in Romania, especially in Transylvania.
There were and are still some great dynasties such as the Lakatos who perpetuate the style, but, in a time where recorded music is ubiquitous, the Rroma orchestras of Budapest are a vanishing breed, only kept in a few touristy restaurants. The past is gone, but music still stays, in new forms as for example with the munch more modern Roma Varadi Café!
While starting with a good intention, Planet.fr, in their article entitled “Roms: pourquoi tant de haine?” [Rroma: why so much hatred], manages to pack quite a few stereotypes and misinformation in a short article. They speak of 17’000 Rroma (only those who have arrived from Romania and Bulgaria), associating Rroma with migrants and neglecting the 500’000 who live in that country, speak of poverty, etc.
On the positive side, they mention that France is indeed quite racist at this stage against Rroma and tha French politics have a problem with Rroma.
The Czech government issued a statement in great fanfare a new strategy on Rroma geared towards helping the Rroma minority in the country to “better integrate in society”. Somehow we do hope that this time it won’t be like the Roma Decade of numerous other programs that effectively changed little if anything till now.
The Mail Online again distinguishes itself with ludicrous statements that girls as yound as 12 are forced married against thousands of pounds an are now living in Rotterdam. They call for an urgent investigation of how many such cases now live in the UK. As usual, several items are mixed in such news: The fact that Vlax Rroma (originally from Romania) pay for the bride. It by far doesn’t mean that they are “boufght” for this price, often in gold coins belongs to the bride and is a guarantee in case of divorces or difficulties. And again, from Rroma, the first boyfriend or girlfriend is considered to be the “husband” or the “wife”. Add these two facts, and you get a lurid headline that has little to do with reality.
A Hungarian Rroma family from Gyongyöspata in North Eastern Hungary has finally won their asylum case and are grated a stay in Canada. The asylum application and the back and forth and set backs have made the news since a long time. We welcome this decision!
Meanwhile a Canadian Lawyer who lost another prominent asylum case for Hungarian Rroma in Toronto admitted that he was negligent in preparing their defence. What can one say to this?
Slovak police, who filmed their abuse of Rroma children in that country were acquitted of all charges, as their own videos taken from their own mobile phones was deemed to be illegally acquired evidence.
That the crime took place is not in doubt with the court, only the guilt of the police officers has not been “proven”. Crimes without culprits, especially when the police is involved is not uncommon. Unfortunately.
– Slovakia: Scandalous verdict acquits police of torturing Romani children. In: Romea.cz. 28.02.2015. http://www.romea.cz/…/slovakia-scandalous-verdict-acquits-p…
A theatre piece in Berlin, called “Zur Endlösung der Zigeunerfrage” – the final solution of the Rroma question – relates the murder of Rroma during the Nazi times. The collective behind the piece, composed of youngsters and scientists, have researched first hand accounts of Rroma and Sinti of that period and brought them to the stage. Questions on ethnicity, racial profiling are also raised in the piece.
A must, and a stark reminder that Rroma were murdered in scores by the Nazis during world war two. In some countries such as the Czech republic or in Croatia, the entire Rroma population was wiped out. In others, one estimate that 250 thousands to maybe a million or more were murdered in camps, but also simply shot on the spot.
– Dokumentartheater zur NS-Geschichte: Zur Endlösung der Täterfrage. In: TAZ. 20.02.2015. http://www.taz.de/Dokumentartheater-zur-NS-Geschichte/!155110/
Koza – the goat – is a Slovak docu-movie on the life of a young Rroma boxer whose career peaked at the Olympic game but has since gone wrong. He lives in poverty with his girlfriend and daughter in a run down estate. The film related his life, but does not touch the subject of Rroma in Slovakia, a touchy subject.
– Simon, Alissa. Berlin Film Review: ‘Koza’. In: Variety. 11.02.2015.http://variety.com/…/re…/berlin-film-review-koza-1201434408/
Rroma in Turkey are increasingly the victims of the urban renewal that was started by Erdogan and the AK party. Several Rroma neighbourhoods in Istanbul, most notably Sulukule, one of the oldest Rroma settlement in Europe were dismantled since 2012. Rroma have been relocated far from the centre, and those who wanted to stay cannot afford the new rents. The house destruction programs were all parts of the urban renewal concepts, but have resulted in dismantling some of the last Rroma mahala from Istanbul.
– Urban transformation threatens unique Roma way of life. In: Sunday’s Zaman. 20.02.2015. http://www.todayszaman.com/national_urban-transformation-th…
The Economist reports on a wall that was erected in the Romanian city of Baia Mare around one of its Rroma settlements. The economist cites poverty, segregation, education as some of the biggest hurdles faced by Rroma in Romania. Interviewing the town’s mayor, he reports that there is nothing discriminatory in the wall and states that the commune is investing in desegregated housing, and that one of the building in the settlement will anyhow be renovated, with its inhabitants being re-located. A NGO helping Rroma integration is blunter: People like the wall, and there is “latent racism” against Rroma.
– Romania’s Roma: The art of exclusion. In: The Economist. 20.02.2015.http://www.economist.com/…/21644532-wall-segregated-towns-r…
A young filmmaker Sahra Denard is currently making a documentary on Rroma migrants in the city of Toulouse. She is working with three Romanian sisters who live in an camp and will go with them in Romania, in their village of origin.
While the filmmaker wants to reduce stereotypes, the choice of subject contributes to re-enforce the general views on Rroma; Migrants from Romania or Bulgaria, poor, uneducated etc. On such a topic, the line between helping and damaging Rroma is a thin one to walk.
– Sarah Denard, un documentaire sur les Roms. In: La Dépèche. 19.02.2015. http://www.ladepeche.fr/…/2052220-sarah-denard-un-documenta…
Following the sharp increase of people fleeing Kosovo to escape poverty and, in the case of Rroma, discrimination and outright racism, there are calls in Germany to be more stringent on theses asylum applications. Various measures have been suggested by politicians (Tagesspeigel) going to extraditing refugees also in the winter, as asked by politicians from the CDU (LNOnline). Some even deny that there is an issue in the country.
Politicians should be maybe remember, especially in Germany, that they recognised the country but also implicitly if not explicitly recognised the ethnic cleansing of minorities from the Kosovo. Ethnic states have no place in the 21st century!
– Simantke, Elisa; Monath, Hans. Streit um schnellere Abschiebung. In Der Tagesspeigel. 13.02.2015. http://www.tagesspiegel.de/…/fluechtlinge-aus…/11360670.html
– Streit um Asylbewerber aus dem Kosovo: Nord-CDU macht Druck. In: LNOnline. 13.02.2015. http://www.ln-online.de/…/Streit-um-Asylbewerber-aus-dem-Ko…
– Kosov ist kein Krisenland. Beate Merk im Gespräch mit Thielko Grieß. In: Deutschlandrundfunk. 14.02.2015.
Another article from the Welt on the Romanian Movie we already reported on “Aferim” reminding people of the slavery that prevailed in Romania until the 1860’s. A state that explains a lot about the situation of Rroma in that country. One only need to think of the United States and realise that one is not far from what was comon until Martin Luther King.
– Als in Europa Sklaverei noch ganz normal war. In: Die Welt. 12.02.2015
The Romanian television reports on the arrest of 19 Romanian Rroma in Milan for being procurers. They are reported to have trafficked Romanian women and forced them into prostitution. Again the criminal activity is clearly portrayed as an ethnic trait, fuelling the already strong racism against Rroma in Romania.
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