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09.04.2014 Amnesty International criticizes the continuing discrimination against Rroma

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Many newspapers chronicle the report published by Amnesty International on April the 8th, the International Rroma Day, which accuses the social discrimination against Rroma. Amnesty International comes to a grim conclusion in regard to the social integration of the minority: the Rroma in Europe are still highly marginalized, the political will to foster them is often deficient and hate crimes against the minority are all too often re-interpreted as a lack of willingness to integrate: “The violent offenders are encouraged by the passive attitude of the governments, which accept a systematic discrimination against the Roma silently”, notes Çalışkan [German secretary general of AI]. “Instead of resolutely opposing violence and discrimination, many European politicians even fuel the notion that Roma are responsible for their own exclusion. Such statements by high-ranking politicians encourage further violence in society and are a distortion of the facts. The current situation of many Roma can be traced back to the years of disregard for the rights of Europe’s largest minority” (Amnesty International 2014/IV). –  “In its report, Amnesty urges national governments in Europe [and the European Union] to condemn hate crimes and to clarify that racist acts will not be tolerated. Among other things, the human rights activists propose to collect data and publish data on hate crimes” (Kalkhof 2014). There follows an analysis of the status quo of the minority in the Czech Republic, France and Greece. In all three countries, the defamation of the Rroma is still massive, the report states. While right-wing extremist groups in the Czech Republic rally against the ethnic group, in France the already mentioned discourse of a supposedly lacking will to integrate dominates the debate. This view totally ignores the exclusion of the minority in the sense of a repressive, nationalist governance. If the Rroma are not given any opportunity to integrate, they cannot, no matter how hard they try. Especially worysome is the repression on Rroma exerted by state institutions. This includes both governments and their measures taken against the minority, as well as executive institutions such as the police and the judiciary. Romani Rose describes the voting share of 21% of the openly Rroma-hostile Jobbik party as a “danger signal for Europe” to no longer passively accept discrimination against the Rroma (Amnesty International 2014/I, Amnesty International 2014/II, Amnesty International 2014/III, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2014, Joerin 2014, Kalkhof 2014, Süddeutsche Zeitung 2014).

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09.04.2014 Hungary, Rroma and prostitution in Switzerland

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In her article, Kiss (2014) discusses the Hungarian prostitutes in Switzerland, the social background of sex work, the constitution of moral values, the role of the media and the current debate on a Europe-wide ban on prostitution. The effort to prohibit prostitution derives from the notion of a substantial or at least significant congruence of prostitution and human trafficking. Kiss qualifies this idea in relation to Zurich and replaces it with the notion of a grey area said to be organised by the family or the clan. This statement is dangerous, because it alludes to stereotypes of criminal Rroma clans, explained as being hierarchically organized and culturally determined: “In Zurich, however, the smallest part of prostitutes are victims of human trafficking and extreme exploitation, the women of the office for women migration [FIZ] say – and vice versa, there are also self-employed sex workers. The Hungarian women often work in the area in between, in a frame, which is organised by the family or the clan.” Kiss deals further with the prostitutes’ origin. She cites the Bernese sociologists Sachsa Finger, who assumes that most Hungarian sex workers in Switzerland are from Roma settlements in Nyíregyháza, Ózd and pecs. That there are also Magyar prostitutes is not stressed enough. It is mainly poverty, no or lacking educational qualifications, unemployment and suppressing role models, that lead women into prostitution. That this social ills cannot be easily eliminated with a prohibition of prostitution, Kiss is aware, even if she can not stress often enough the dishonouring of women through sex work: “Alice Schwarzer, you’re right. Let’s prohibit prostitution. These women don’t lead a life, in a few months they age by years. […] But her protest pales in comparison to the Eastern European reality. […] Should one make it impossible for the mothers to gain a livelihood for her hungry family? On the other hand, why does no one talk about the social policy in these countries? Why does no go into the villages and settlements in the tent cities, where women’s rights are worth nothing ? […] Who will feed my children?, asks the prostitute who arrives in Zurich by train. Where will I work when prostitution is banned? But to these questions, the latest turn in the discourse about free sexuality has no answer.”

  • Kiss, Noëmi (2014) Bereit zur Verrichtung. In: Das Magazin Nr. 14/2014, S. 12-19.
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09.04.2014 “Roma stereotypes enforce racism”

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Mappes-Niediek (2014) explores the intimate integration of poverty and Rroma, which are too often used interchangeably in the discussion on the minority, and prevent a critical inquiry about the reasons of poverty: “If somewhere beggars appear, it is sufficient to be written in the newspaper: those are Roma! – and no one will ask what their mendicant existence has to do with the social conditions in their country of origin or even with the euro crisis. The ethnic name replaces a rational explanation. Even if no one mentions the name, it is always present in the backs of their heads. But even if we avoid to call the Roma by name, we do not eliminate the clichés. We have just made them irrefutable.” Mappes-Niediek, on the occasion of the international Rroma-day of April the 8th, calls to talk about the reasons for the impoverishment and defamation of the Rroma, and to not just apply a politically correct vocabulary. Otherwise one trivializes poverty and promotes the stereotypes, and thus racism. Mappes-Niediek criticism is legitimate, but his statement, that the Rroma represent both an ethnic group and a social class, is problematic. Although it should not be negated that there are many Rroma living in great poverty, but one discredits with this statement all those Rroma who live integrated and belong to the middle or upper class. It is therefore questionable whether one fosters the social integration of the Rroma, if one defines them as an underclass: “In reality, the Roma in Europe have never completely become a nation, but at the same time always remained a social group, a underclass. That they were always both, never crossed ours, the majority’s mind. Firstly, until the 20th century, the “Gypsies” were just a “roving rabble”. Then they were, definitely since the Roma national movement of the 1970s, a “nation” as the Germans, the French, the Danes – a nation however that did not succeed, for whatever reasons, to organize itself like the others, and therefore secretly always was considered inferior by the majority.”  

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09.04.2014 Stigma and the international Rroma Day

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On the occasion of the international Rroma Day, Grunau (2014) spoke with the president of the central council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose. Rose’s assessment of the social integration of the Rroma is mediocre. While there has been progress in terms of political and historical recognition of the Rroma, there still are massive stigma and appalling living conditions in which Rroma have to exist: “In some areas some things have improved, but what we are not satisfied at all with is the situation of the Roma minority in Eastern Europe. There are situations that are catastrophic. […] These are particularly Bulgaria, Romania, but also the Czech Republic and Slovakia. There are informal ghettos that are without sewerage, without electricity, and water. There are villages, where over a thousand people live without any perspective. This situation has been known for many years. It is no longer acceptable. There is an infant mortality-rate that is four times higher and a life expectancy that is ten years lower compared to the majority population.” In this regard, Rose demands easier access to funding that doesn’t need not be refinanced by the states themselves. He proposes the creation of a special fund for the Rroma. Next, Rose criticizes the continuing discrediting and instrumentalization of the Rroma by right-wing nationalist parties and actors, but also by bourgeois politicians in the wake of the immigration debate in Western Europe. Thus, the openly racist Jobbik party made a share of 21% of the votes, in the elections in early April. At the end of the interview, Rose also points to the still highly distorted perception of the minority. 64% of the people of a survey said that they did not want Rroma as neighbours. However, many of them already have neighbours, friends or acquaintances that are Rroma are, but they do not know that they belong to the minority: “However, these 64 percent do not know that they already have work colleagues, neighbours and tenants, they do not know that they are shopping in stores with people who are members of the minority. Also in show business or in football, everywhere there are members of the minority.”

Caspari (2014) emphasizes in her conversation with the antiziganism researcher Markus End that there are not only negative but also positive stereotypes that encourage the idea of a cultural alterity of the Rroma: “Those who say that all Sinti and Roma make such great music just positively present a stereotype. It implies that members of the ethnic group are different, that they only make music and do not like to work as “we” do.” The same is the case with emphatic articles about the Rroma that still reproduce stereotypes: “In many – also benevolent – reports clichés of supposedly typical characteristics of the Roma are used, even though the Rroma do not exist at this general level. [ … ] An online editor recently headlined concerning the debate over free migration: “not only Roma are coming, but also academics” – as if there were only uneducated members of the ethnic group. About the nurse, the doctor or the construction worker, who are well integrated in Germany, rarely if ever is reported. Images that are added to the articles on the situation of Roma, often show poor, barefoot children. Here again, a cliché is conveyed.”

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Roumanie

04.04.2014 Racist excess at the “Daily Star”

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Tom Rawle (2014) from the Daily Star presents a racist excess on Rroma in the UK: He talks about the upcoming TV show called “Gypsies On Benefits And Proud”, which reports on migrant Rroma in England. The program is said to show clearly how easy it is for Rroma migrants to travel to England and abuse the local social system: “Ion Lazar, 36, who came to the UK with five other immigrants, says it is so simple to walk into Britain and get everything given to you. He says on the show: “I know it’s very, very easy to take benefits in England… She [England] gives me a free home, she gives me free money, she gives me everything.” He is now focusing on earning £40,000 to take home to Romania to build a house in the small village where he grew up.” Rawle and the program Gypsies On Benefits And Proud encourage racial prejudice with their un-reflected reporting. They unjustly denigrate an entire ethnic group by establishing a clear link between ethnicity and social abuse. They thus make themselves indictable for racist defamation. Politically charged knowledge is presented as if it was a scientific fact. That the presented cases are extreme individual cases is not discussed at all.

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04.04.2014 Rroma strongly discriminated against in Austria

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News.at (2014) and APA (2014) report on the latest survey of the Austrian Volkshilfe, on the occasion of the international Rroma day on April the 8th. The organization comes to the conclusion that the discrimination against Rroma in Austria is perceived as a massive by the questioned people: “A clear majority of Austrians (74 percent) sees Roma and Sinti currently affected by persecution, expulsion and racist violence. 68 percent of the polled people said that Roma and Sinti are group particularly discriminated against in Europe. Concerning Austria, 54 percent agreed with this statement. Measures against discrimination, in support of Roma and Sinti (for example, social counselling and labour market projects) are favoured by 59 percent of the population.” The president of the Volkshilfe, Erich Fenniger, demands more clarification about the Rroma in Austria and the promotion of positive images about Rroma by all members of society.

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04.04.2014 Stereotypes of criminal Rroma gangs

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20 Minuten (2014) reports on tricksters in the canton Aargau. The number of offenses, which were carried out by con artists, is said to have increased rapidly in recent times. This information is followed by a detailed description of the specific offenses and the appearances of the offenders, who are said to have dark hair. The remark at the end of the article, which states that the perpetrators are mostly Rroma is problematic: “According to the police, it mostly involves Roma, who are travelling in cars with foreign licenses. Victim of con artists are predominantly elderly people.”  The reference to the ethnicity of the perpetrators is unnecessary; it merely encourages racial prejudice against members of the minority. Rroma are not more criminal than members of any other ethnic groups. To ascribe them a culturally related delinquency lacks any reason and respect. Stereotypical notions of criminal Rroma gangs can be found in Western Europe since the 15th century. They have survived to the present day.

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04.04.2014 Correct, half-right and wrong information about the history and culture of the Rroma

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On the occasion of the 8th of April, the international Rroma day, Zimmermann (2014) discusses the history and culture of the Rroma. She spreads truths, but also some half- truths and misinformation about Rroma. She begins with the migration history from India, which she unfortunately only sees authenticated by the DNA-analysis. The linguistic analysis of the Rromanes, which gives an undeniable proof of the Indian roots of the Rroma, as Rromanes is related to Sanskrit, remains unmentioned. However, she rightly acknowledges that the repeatedly falsely attributed travelling lifestyle is related to the expulsion of the Rroma: “The Romani people were discriminated against for their dark skin and once enslaved by Europeans. They have been portrayed as cunning, mysterious outsiders who tell fortunes and steal before moving on to the next town. […] Also, as a matter of survival, the Romani were continuously on the move. They developed a reputation for a nomadic lifestyle and a highly insular culture. Because of their outsider status and migratory nature, few attended school and literacy was not widespread. Much of what is known about the culture comes through stories told by singers and oral histories.” Unfortunately, Zimmermann emphasizes far too little the big quantity of misinformation and pejorative stereotypes that were maintained through these oral histories. Particularly problematic is her reference to the spiritual energy “dji”, which she cites as a reason for the alleged lack of willingness to integrate: “Romani also believe that spiritual energy, also known as dji, can be depleted by spending too much time with those outside of their community, which is another explanation for why they are reluctant to assimilate.” To allege the Rroma a deliberately chosen anti-social behaviour is very dangerous. It trivializes a centuries-old history of exclusion and persecution that is the actual reason for the continued segregation of the Rroma. At the end of the article, Zimmermann rightly acknowledges that the Rroma are almost exclusively sedentary today, but often keep their identity a secret, due to continuing discrimination.

République tchèque Hongire Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Slovaquie

04.04.2014 Integration of the Rroma in the Czech Republic

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The Prague Daily Monitor (2014) reports on the candidacy of two Czech Rroma parties for the European Parliament. The Equal Opportunities Party (SRP) and the Romani Democratic Party (RDS) will advocate for the rights of the Rroma at the forthcoming European Parliament elections of 23th and 24th of May: “With the participation of two Romani parties in the EP elections, the Czech Republic is likely to set a record in the EU as no Romani party from Slovakia and Hungary or any other countries with a numerous Romani minority has done so. […] The manifestoes of the SRP and RDS are similar. The parties advocate the law on social housing, work for people from ghettoes, the limitation of seizures and they want Romani children to be sent to normal schools, not to the “special schools” for retarded children […].” Rroma activist Radek Horvath criticizes that the insistence on ethnically based parties as counterproductive. The Rroma should seek admission in the major parties.

Kachlíkova (2014) reports on the demand of the Rroma opposition party “Top 09” to introduce Rromanes in Czech schools as a teaching language. Anna Putnová, of the opposition party, sees the lack of Czech language skills among Rroma children as an important reason why the children do worse in the schools: “We send the children to school so that they develop. However, through the language we are creating a hurdle. I would therefore like to start a debate about whether to allow students to use Romani as an auxiliary language in the first, second, and third grade to develop a positive relationship to the school.” Some parts of the lessons should be held in Rromanes, the politician demands. Critics counter that the introduction of Romani in public schools would promote the segregation of the Rroma, because it would require ethnically divided classes. Rroma representatives as Stanislav Daniel rather want a better promotion of Czech language skills among Rroma children.

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04.04.2014 Polemical defamation of the Rroma

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The right-wing populist platform unzensuriert.at (2014) in its latest article defames the Rroma as unwilling to integrate and as a burden for Western European welfare states. In addition, a corruption bias is ascribed to them: “On a ‘EU Roma Summit’ on April 4th in Brussels, a “relief and development program” for the South-East European gypsies is planned to be implemented. Since the EU-extension onto Eastern Europe, those migrate in hordes from Bulgaria and Romania to Central and Western Europe. Municipalities such as Duisburg or Dortmund are close to a socio-political collapse due to immigration of the Rroma and the associated neglect of entire districts. [ … ] Such financial assistance has already in the past “fuelled” the corruption channels and could be diverted into the registers of Roma clan-chiefs and corrupt administrators and politicians connected with them.” Unzensuriert.at operates totally uncritically with a highly distorted, politicized, and value-loaded image of the Rroma. Through that, it propagates racist stereotypes such as the notion of criminal Rroma clan-chiefs and culturally related anti-social behaviour. The fact that such alleged “facts” are the result of centuries-old prejudices, is totally neglected by the platform. The same is true for the right-wing populist website Politically Incorrect (2014), which also propagates against the alleged exploitation of Western Europe through the Rroma.

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02.04.2014 “Cause commune” shows the possibility of successful integration

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The documentary “Cause commune” by Sophie Averty shows the positive example of successful integration by five immigrant Rroma families. In the municipality of Indre, in the Loire-Atlantique, citizens, politicians, and immigrants together committed for a successful integration of immigrant families. The downside of this policy was the selection of the immigrant Rroma families, with five chosen. The rest were referred to other communities. Averty sums up: “The necessary condition is a commitment on the part of citizens and politics as well as the desire of families to integrate. The first approach of the mayor was to refuse the eviction in order to avoid the application of a pass the buck policy. And that changed everything for the families. […] The mayor, who based his views on the knowledge of the community police and the citizens collective, selected five families. Today, all the men work, the women do housework and the children are enrolled in school. But there are no supports payments! Each family pays a rent, water, electricity, the canteen of the children and there are no delays” (Barbier 2014).

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02.04.2014 Criminalization of Rroma in Duisburg

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Cnotka (2014) reports on the official cancellation of Rroma registered in Duisburg. The administration of Duisburg is said to have deliberately deleted many Rroma from the local registry, particularly the ones residing in the disputed tenement “In den Peschen”. However, the persons concerned are still resident there. This procedure is said to consciously push the concerned Rroma outside the law and enable their arrest and deportation. This viewpoint is contradicted by the city of Duisburg, which denies any criminalization of immigrated people: “Rolf Karling from the association “citizens for citizens” says that the city takes the Roma all their rights by unsubscribing them from the registry: “you can arrest and deport the people now at any time.” This view was contradicted by the city of Duisburg […]: Bulgarians and Romanians can stay legally and without a special permit in Germany. Just because they are not reported in Germany, they can not be arrested or deported.” Eduard Pusic, from integration organization “Zof”, claims that the Rroma were deregistered under pressure from the owner of the tenement. Overall, one could see anyhow an exodus into the districts Meiderich and Homberg. The Rroma of the tenement “In den Peschen” were repeatedly in the focus of a heated debate about immigration from Eastern Europe during last year. Polemicists instrumentalised this house and its inhabitants as a negative example of a “culture war” between Germans and Southeast-European immigrants. The integrated, unobtrusive Rroma, which make up the majority, were again once more not heard. Sanches (2014) quotes interior minister Thomas de Maizière, who, regarding the immigration from Romania and Bulgaria, claims that an above-average number of people from those countries would abuse social benefits. He contradicts several statistics and findings that cannot detect any additional usage of social benefits by immigrants from this region. These alleged facts are in fact emotionally charged views on an alleged mass immigration into the German social welfare system.

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02.04.2014 Elections in Hungary: Hungarian Rroma party (Magyarországi Cigány Part, MCP) aims to strengthen the rights of the Rroma

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Murphy (2014) reports about the Hungarian election campaign on the occasion of the forthcoming parliamentary elections of the 6th of April. On this occasion, the newly established Rroma party Magyarországi Cigány Part tries to give more emphasis to the concerns of the Rroma. The president of the party, Aladar Horvat, held a campaign speech before the residents of Ozd, a former industrial city, with a majority of Rroma: “If we stick together, we can fix our problems. No one else will”, the soft-spoken 49-year-old told Agence France-Presse in Ozd, a rusting former industrial town right on the Slovakian border. Vast steelworks once employed thousands of Roma in Ozd, a town of about 34,000 inhabitants, but today, they lie derelict. Widespread unemployment and poverty has fuelled mistrust against the Roma, and far-right party Jobbik – the country’s third biggest party – is building on that anger.” So far, there were only two Rroma politicians in the 386-member parliament of Hungary, two of them members of the ruling party Fidesz. Murphy describes the distrust of many Rroma against the Hungarian politicians as being massive. The consistent poverty and discrimination over the years made many lose their faith in politics. In addition, several Rroma criticized that a party focusing on ethnic membership was not working in the sense of a successful integration, but would rather make it more difficult.

Bulgarie France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Roumanie

02.04.2014 Insidious racism in France

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Several French newspapers report on the latest publication of the National Commission for Human Rights (CNCDH). The commission concludes that racism in France is in overall decline, but that it has become more insidious, subtle and sneaky as a result. Christine Lazerges, the president of the commission, concludes: “In the long view, racism in France decreases, the time of the riots is long gone, but the racism that is propagated today is much more insidious and no longer limited to the extremist edges. It pervades all strata of society.  […] The scapegoats today are particularly Rroma, who are stigmatized, including from the government, and then the Arab Muslims.” Whether the time of racially motivated riots actually belongs to the past may be doubted. Marches of right-wing groups against ethnic minorities such as the Rroma regularly take place in several Eastern European countries. The results of a recent survey, mandated by the commission, makes clear that negative stereotypes towards the Rroma are persisting in the minds of many people. 85% of the thousand respondents said that they believed that Rroma often exploit children and 78 % that they live of theft and the black market. In addition, the suspicion towards anti-racism actors is said to be significant. The commission recommends to continuously foster the education of the population, because it has been shown that there is a clear link between educational alienation and racism. The commission’s authors acknowledge that the Rroma are a heterogeneous group and are not belonging to a homogeneous culture or a single religion. However, they mistakenly assume that the Rroma live in France only since the early 20th century (CNCDH 2014: 201). However, they appear in France in early chronicles since the beginning of the 15th century. Tassel (2014) emphasizes the particular context in which the book is published. On the weekend of March 30th, the right-wing nationalist National Front, which bases significant parts of its policies on xenophobia, achieved a new high in the electorate. In addition, a new Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, has been inaugurated. He is notorious for his repressive policies towards the Rroma. The commission also emphasises the distinction between visible and invisible Rroma, a differentiation that has been fostered by the Rroma Foundation for quite some time: “Only a small minority of the Rroma define themselves in this way – between 15,000 and 20,000, who generally originate of a recent immigration from Bulgaria and Romania – live in a very large uncertainty, that means in the slums. The others are not “visible” and do not live in a state of extreme poverty. The vast majority consists of Gens du voyage, an estimated 350,000 people” (CNCDH 2014: 201-202). This view is contradicted by Tcherenkov/Laederich (2004: 4, 513), who make a clear distinction between travellers of European origin and Rroma. The latter are almost invariably not travelling and belong to the groups of the Manouche, Sinti, Gitans, Kaldersha, Lovara and Yugoslav Rroma (20 minutes 2014, La Croix 2014, CNCDH 2014, Tassel 2014, Vincent 2014).

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02.04.2014 Invisible Rromni in the book “Baxtale Romnia”

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The Nordstadtblogger (2014) reports on the publication of the book “Baxtale Romnia” by Magdalena Stengel and Helene Pawlitzki. Together, the photographer and the journalist visited integrated Rromnia living in Germany, England, France, the Netherlands, and Hungary. In the book, these invisible Rromnia give information on their lives, their decisions and their favourite recipes. Through that, they create positive counter-images to the persistent negative stereotypes about Rroma: “street prostitution, poverty, problematic houses, welfare fraud, truants: with these keywords, media report on Sinti and Roma in Germany. In contrast, success stories are all but missing: about well-integrated, educated, successful and creative Romnia one rarely reads or hears […] These are women who have succeeded in securing a nice place in life – sometimes against considerable opposition, says the author of the book-texts, Helene Pawlitzki […]. They are self-confident, successful, strong, and they know what they want. What life has thrown at their feet, they have taken up and made the best of it. For us their life stories were very inspiring.” The book launch will take place on April 4th in the Nordstadtgalerie in Dortmund.

  • Nordstadtblogger (2014) “Baxtale Romnia” zeigt erfolgreiche Roma-Frauen aus Europa: Studentinnen präsentieren ihr fotografisches Kochbuch. In: Nordstadtblogger online vom 30.3.2014. http://nordstadtblogger.de/10114
France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

02.04.2014 Manuel Valls and the French Rroma policy

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Manuel Valls is the new prime minister of France. President François Hollande is taking the consequences of the bad result the Socialists made in the French municipal elections. Valls is notorious for his repressive policies towards Rroma. Cécile Duflot, the minister for social housing, criticized Valls policy repeatedly in the past two years and described it as a threat to the Republican pact. Valls accused the immigrant Rroma sweepingly of not wanting to integrate, whereby justifying his repressive policy of forced evictions and deportations, which is no less rigid than the one of the Sarkozy government. He also spoke out against voting rights for foreigners, which was not implemented until now. Duflot will no longer be a minister in the Valls’ government (Beguin 2014, Le Figaro in 2014, Le Point 2014 Metro News 2014).

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02.04.2014 Pierre-Alexandre Bouclay’s supposed truths about the Rroma

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Bouclay (2014) offers himself as revelator of hitherto undisclosed grievances of the Rroma in France. He claims that the French welfare system fosters organised crime amongst Rroma through its humane legislation against minor offenders. That the ideas of organised gangs build upon suspicions and cultural stereotypes about Rroma is not discussed here. This is also the case about his massive criticism of the EU-funds for the Rroma integration, which he dismisses as largely ineffective because they are said to disappear in the black economy. That these are rather problems of coordination between EU-policies and national policy programs, he totally denies: “A circular on minors from 1945 prohibits that a child is placed under police custody. In 2012, 8’000 Rroma children were arrested at least once in Paris. They are systematically released. The mafia networks didn’t expect as much. With humanism and indulgences, one promotes the spread of organized crime. 17.5 billion Euros were assigned by the European Commission for the integration of the Rroma for the period of 2007 till 2013. It is of public notoriety that a significant proportion of these funds was diverted to fraudulent organizations and corrupt politicians. A part of this assistance is blocked today, due to lack of transparency.” Bouclay’s supposed revelations about Rroma and inefficient EU-funds build on crude generalisations and assumptions. What he represents as a public general knowledge are rather myths of public opinion, an opinion, which satisfies itself with simple explanations, regardless of their truthfulness. More critical, complex analysis would not hurt Bouclay.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

02.04.2014 The Rroma and the French mayoral elections

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Rigaux (2014) discusses the relationship between French mayoral elections and the Rroma. The latter played a prominent role in the campaign, often in the figure of a scapegoat for social ills or in the form of slums. The frightening thing about the terminologies “Rroma question” and “Rroma problem” is their inevitable reference to the “Jewish question” under National Socialism. However, in the case of France, the important question is how to integrate immigrant Rroma as successfully as possible. To accuse them of a cultural unwillingness to integrate is counterproductive. But precisely this happened again and again in the course of the election campaign. Another point of contention are the so called “integration villages”, which are meant to facilitate the integration of the Rroma immigrants into French society. The proponents see the integration villages as a positive method to prevent the emergence of slums, to promote the enrolment of children in schools, to prevent begging and other unwanted activities and to foster the willingness to integrate among the immigrants. Critics fault the high cost of the institutions and see it as unfair advantage for one ethnic group at the expense of other taxpayers. In this discussion about the integration measures for immigrant Rroma, once more only the visible Rroma are in the focus. The ones who are living an integrated life in France, making up between 100,000 and 500,000 persons, are never addressed or considered in these discussions.

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02.04.2014 The Spiegel reinforces notions of criminal Rroma families

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Lehberger (2014) reports on the indictment of several members of the Goman family, “a network of Roma clans related by blood or marriage, whose exact relationships gives headaches to authorities. Not all members of the group are criminal. A demarcation […] is a challenge due to complex family ties.” The defendants are alleged to have defrauded seniors of tens of thousands of Euro through deliberate fraud. The initial differentiation, that not all family members were involved in criminal activities, is soon after followed by mentioning the Mannheim investigation unit “Cash Down”. This police group is said to be specialized in the analysis of criminal structures among Roma clans. If this is true, the Mannheim police actually makes itself punishable. Investigations directly aimed at ethnicity are illegal. They violate the anti-discrimination legislation. The article further nourishes stereotypes of Rroma kings, who supposedly coordinate criminal activities. If Lehberger were not explicitly referring to ethnic peculiarities, discrediting of the described individuals would be understandable, due to the offenses they are accused of. However, in this fashion an inevitable connection between the events and ethnic membership to the Rroma is made, which unjustifiably discredits a whole minority.

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29.03.2014 Discrimination against Rroma in Sweden

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Several newspapers report on the publication of a white paper by the Swedish government which discusses the discrimination against Rroma in Sweden. The Swedish minister of interior, Erik Ullenhag, announced in a public statement that the discrimination against Rroma in Sweden was especially large at the beginning of the 20th century, but still remains today. He said that he was shocked about how much this contempt towards this minority was anchored in history. This is reflected in the fact that even today many still keep their identity secret to the outside world. The publication also deals with discrimination at the workplace, denial of suffrage, schooling, child benefits and pensions, as well as racial biology registrations and forced sterilization. Om the occasion of the publication of the white paper, the chairman of the Rroma council of Gothenburg experienced herself during her stay in Stockholm that reservations towards Rroma are still massive. Employees of the Sheraton Hotels denied her access to the dining room, when she tried to enter the room in a traditional Rroma dress in the morning: “She was staying at the four-star Sheraton Hotel, a stone’s throw away from parliament and the government quarter, but when the 45-year-old went down for breakfast she was offered a modern-day example of the discrimination that the white-paper on Tuesday admitted had been endemic in Sweden. Nyman, who wears a traditional wide black skirt and frilly blouse and who recently fielded questions about beggars in an online chat, said she was almost knocked over by a staff member who rushed to bar the Roma expert and speaker from entering the breakfast room.” Nyman is particularly shocked by the fact that the hotel manager did not excuse the behaviour of the staff, but even justified it. A few days later only, the manager apologized in an open letter for the discriminatory treatment of the Rromni (Government Offices of Sweden 2014, The Local 2014/I, The Local 2014/II, The Local 2014/III, The Local 2014/IV, NZZ 2014).

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