Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

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21.12.2013 The Invisible Rroma

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Gabriela Mirescu (2012) – a Romanian political scientist – wrote a short article for the publication TANGRAM30 by the national commission against racism. In it, she approaches the question of why a majority of Rroma living in Europe – which are well adjusted to the mainstream society, keep their identity a secret, form the “invisible Rroma”. The reasons are quite apparent but not the less forth of detailed covering. The negative stereotypes about Rroma, which have settled in the course of history, make it a social disadvantage to out oneself as Rroma in the public. Discrimination in the working environment but also the personal life can be the consequences. Mirescu sees the behavior of this invisible majority as an indicator for social expectance. If the integrated Rroma still keep their identity a secret, it shows the ongoing stigmatization of Rroma in most European societies and the social transformation and increase of education and enlightment which is still necessary to decrease negative, pejorative stereotypes. A high level of education for a majority of society has therefore to be a temporary and long-term objective.

Source:

  • Mirescu, Gabriela (2012) The other Roma journey: from visible to invisible. In: Tangram 30: Jenische, Sinti/Manouches und Roma in der Schweiz. Bern: Eidgenössische Kommission gegen Rassismus.
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20.12.2013 Duisburg and the myth of the Romany clans

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Unzensuriert.at, the right-wing populist platform (2013) railed in a recent contribution against the Rroma in Duisburg. The decision of the city government that not all Rroma who are affected by a the eviction from the house to be provided alternative housing is a gradual recognition of right-wing populist demands (cf. Fischer 2013). The one-sided article is clearly in the line of the fear of foreign infiltration of and dishes out the absurd notion of mobile Rroma clans who settle on one place like a swarm of locusts: “The Socialist City Council expects that the Roma clans, if one renders them the conditions in Duisburg as uncomfortable as possible and puts them in front of the door, will then just move on as far as possible. And there is no contingency plan for homeless Roma to be implemented in Duisburg, just to give them no incentive to remain there. In future, the new Apartment Supervision Act is meant to prevent new poverty migrants from Southeast Europe to immigrate in droves.”

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20.12.2013 Education crisis among Rroma in France?

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Kinne (2013) gives information on a creeping crisis in the Paris suburbs: According to his article, just 10 % of Rroma children living in a illegal or informal camp go to school. The majority of South Eastern Europe originating Rroma who live in a makeshift barracks and camps prefer this to the poverty and discrimination in their home countries. This perspective of events should give pause to the vehement opponents of Rroma. According to a French government report says the author, about a third of Rroma children who live in theses camps, are not enrolled in school: “Aaccording to a government report, in the entire country, only one third of Roma children living in illegal camps go to school. Even though all children aged six to 16 years who live in France are required to attend school. The rest falls through the net, never registers or fails because of the high barriers to enrolment. Families have, for example, to specify a fixed address. Impossible, if you live in an illegal camp.” Besides the problem of the missing address, there are official reservations about Rroma, as well as the danger of being evicted in the near future from one’s current place of residence. Then there is the fear of many parents that their children could be discriminated against in schools. Without a good education, it will not be easier for the next generation to break the vicious circle of poverty and exclusion. That should make us think. On the other hand, there are also quite well-integrated Rroma in France, which are completely ignored in the current debate. They should have a voice.

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20.12.2013 France: Policy of Isolation or Cooperation?

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Christian Vanneste (2013), a politician of the conservative UMP, argues in Les Observateurs against a liberal foreign policy for France. He takes a statistic about the crimes committed by foreigners in 2012 offenses as an opportunity to advocate a rigorous segregation policy. The number of illegal migrants living in France Rroma is already alarmingly high: 15,000, or perhaps three times as many. With its radical planning policy, Vanneste is opposed to any forward-looking society in which people of all backgrounds coexist peacefully with each other. Instead, he argues flimsily for foreclosure policies. The fact that there is no culture of delinquency seems far from clear to him. Instead he criminalises people who are affected by poverty and exclusion: “Il y a 10% d’immigrés en France, et 18% d’étrangers parmi les détenus de nos prisons. Qu’il y ait un lien entre insécurité et immigration est une évidence. Il y en a deux autres : il est nécessaire de limiter l’immigration au minimum et l’on ne peut absolument pas compter sur l’Europe actuelle pour nous y aider”. [There are 10% of immigrants in France and 18% amongst the prison population. That there is a link between insecurity and immigration is obvious. There are two others: It is necessary to limit immigration to a minimum and one absolutely cannot count on current Europe to help us.]

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20.12.2013 Freedom of Speech, Political Correctness or Intellectual Arson?

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Vanneste (2013) argues in his article against too much political correctness in dealing with ethnic appurtenance. He argues for one to be able to express onself fully about everything, everything else is an unreasonable suppression of the freedom of speech. However, he forgets that political correctness shows not only verbal respect for the dignity of other people, but also to the effective position of these people in the society. Verbal defamation and undifferentiated reports encourage and promote the exclusion of ethnic minorities such as the Rroma as they consolidate and preserve prejudices.

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20.12.2013 Jean-Marie Le Pen Sentenced for Defamation of Rroma

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The founder of the conservative party “Front National”, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was sentenced by a Paris court to a fine of 5000 euro. Le Pen referred to Rroma at a party meeting of the National Front as a natural thieves: “Roma would “naturally fly like birds ” – the French word “voler” means both “fly” and “steal”” Le Pen statements are symptomatic of a variety of prejudices against Rroma that are stubbornly maintained and which promote their exclusion (Spiegel, 2013, Les Observateurs 2013).

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20.12.2013 Manuel Valls Acquitted in Racism Indictment

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Manuel Valls was acquitted by a French Court of the charge of racism (Le Monde 2013). The movement against racism had filed a lawsuit against Valls after he had publicly stated that Rroma have an extremely different lifestyle to the French, and had the habit of returning to Romania and Bulgaria. The court justified its decision with the reasoning that Valls’ statements were made in connection with a debate over the public interest and were not racist in the choice of words. The Court thereby ignores the role of intellectual arson and the power of derogatory cultural attribution to the public. A conviction would have been a sign of a more tolerant society, where defamatory statements do not fall under the category of freedom of expression. The court stated: “il n’apparaît pas [que ces propos] excèdent les limites admissibles de la liberté d’expression”  [It does not seem that these statements exceed the admissible limits of the freedom of expression] (Libération 2013).

 

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20.12.2013 Right-Wing Populists and Rroma

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The Mirror (2013) examines the role of right-wing populist parties in Europe in terms of a recently published study by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The authors call for moderate parties to take action against the increasing radicalization of politics. They determined five key conditions that favour the renewed rise of national populist parties: “1. A critical mass of unbound and disappointed voters is available. 2. Immigration and European criticism are the determining issues of public debate. 3. Major media are open to extremely shortened and radically intensified representations of immigration and European issues. 4. The institutional conditions of the electoral system are favourable for rapid success of new parties. 5. There is a charismatic leader and / or “political entrepreneurship”” (Grabow / Hartleb 2013). The Rroma are particularly affected by the policies of these national populist parties like the Front National or Fidesz. The parties build their programs on rigorous order policies that are designed to buikd and increase barriers between people. They thus endanger the peaceful coexistence between people and hamper a holistic implementation of democratic principles of equality.

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20.12.2013 Right-Wing Radicals Indicted in Salzburg for Incitement

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Twelve people from the region Pognau were indicted by the Court for Constitutional Protection for hate speech. In early September of 2013, the individuals in question had called for action against travelling Rroma who legally stayed next to the ski jump in Bischofshofen. They threatened them both verbally and physically, and on the internet, called for the final solution against the Rroma. The possible punishment is of up to two years in prison (Salzburg24 2013, Salto, 2013).

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20.12.2013 Undifferentiated Coverage of the Grandchildren Trick Scam and Rroma

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Ruch (2013) reports about a Polish Rroma clan who is allegedly behind the rising cases of so-called Grandchildren scam in Switzerland. The otherwise analytical report misses the critical use of ethnic categories. Instead, the popular public image of a mafia-like, hierarchical Rroma clan is dished, which stand behind the criminal offenses. Due to the indiscriminate attribution ofethnicity, Ruch feeds the idea of a culturally conditioned delinquency among Rroma. He states, “behind the vast majority of grandchildren trick in the German-speaking lands one finds the same group of offenders. A widely branched, Polish-German Roma family which earlier sold worthless carpets as expensive Oriental rugs and therefore stood in the crosshairs of investigators. In 1999, they probably invented the grandson trick scam in Poland, which they perfected successfully until today. The several hundred members of the clan are professionally organized according to the police. They operate literally call center and earn so well with this trick that they can afford a lavish lifestyle with expensive sports cars and extravagant family celebrations”. From Ruch’s article, it is not clear that there is no direct relationship between ethnicity and the offenses described. Instead, a cultural explanation is presented, an explanation that needs no further discussion because it is justified by itself. Such a reasoning is racist. Most Rroma are integrated citizens who are never named in the media. Unfortunately, journalists like André Ruch are still not aware of this.

Other Swiss newspapers such as the NZZ (2013) wrote uncommented that the perpetrators are mostly belonging to a Polish Roma clan.

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13.12.2013 Racism Accusation for Luc Jousse

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The mayor of Rocquebrune-sur-Argens, Luc Jousse is suspended until further notice from his own UMP party. Jousse had made a racist remark towards Rroma during an interview. He had stated: “Je vous rappelle quand même que les gens du voyage, que dis-je, les Roms, m’ont mis neuf fois le feu. […] ils piquent des câbles électriques et après ils le brûlent pour récupérer le cuivre et ils se sont mis à eux-mêmes le feu dans leurs propres caravanes! Un gag! Ce qui est presque dommage, c’est qu’on ait appelé trop tôt les secours!” (L’Express, 2013). [I remind you nevertheless that these travellers, what do I say, these Rroma, laid nine times fires. […] they steel electrical cables, and after that, they burnt them to recover the copper, and they torched their own caravans! A joke! What is almost a pity, isthat one called the emergency services too early] With this tasteless remark Jousse makes himself clearly guilty of racism. As the Huffigton Post (2013) currently reports, Jousse was suspended from the UMP until further notice.

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13.12.2013 Rroma and Poverty in the Czech Republic

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Rühmkorf (2013) reports on the Czech city of Josefov, in which there is increasing tension between the resident Rroma who make around one third of the local population, and ethnic Czechs. The right-wing Workers’ Party (DSSS) succeeded increasingly in mobilising apolitical citizens against the Rroma. One of the grievances causing the frictions are real estate speculators who buy up town homes and flats cheaply, and then rent them to Rroma and who take social funds from them: “The city no longer rents apartment because of Rroma, instead they sell – often at bargain prices – their real estate to businesses, without any conditions on usage. The carve-up the spaces with partitions into smaller units. Their Clientele: socially deprived Roma, who have no work and are undesirable elsewhere. In order for them to get any social assistance and housing benefits, the landlord must confirm them a permanent address. That’s what he loves to do. The kickback:. Rents equivalent to 400 euro and more for residential units, which sometimes do not even have a bathroom” Rümkorf’s article shows once again that a poverty issues is made to be an ethnic problem r. The residents of Josefov should not demonstrate against Rroma, but against poverty and against exclusion. Instead Rroma and impoverishment are uncritically equated.

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13.12.2013 Rroma Debate in France

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France Info (2013), on the occasion of the statements made by Florian Philippot, vice-president of the right-wing National Front, focuses on whether after the free movement of people agreement with Romania and Bulgaria, there will be in fact large numbers of Rroma who will come to France. The author denies that there will be a noticeable change. Already, members of Romania and Bulgaria can freely migrate to France. They are only limited in their choice of fields of work. This barrier will be abolished in January 2014. However, there are still border and identity checks, as Romania and Bulgaria are still not part of the Schengen Agreement. In addition, the numbers that Florian Philippot states, he speaks of 10 to 12 million Rroma in Romania and Bulgaria, are completely over the top. In Romania according to realistic estimates there are about 2 million Rroma while  in Bulgaria around 800,000.

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13.12.2013 Rroma Expulsions Continue in France

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The expulsions of Rroma from illegal settlements in France are continuing. Bergès (2013) tells of a group of families who are temporarily housed in a trade union house. The mood in the temporary housing is good, but the problem of future apartments remains. In this regard Bergès speaks of invisible social problems that the government likes to overlook: “Les personnes réfugiées à la bourse du travail sont vraiment oubliées, écrivait, le 7 décembre le collectif Roms de la bourse dans un communiqué. Depuis l’expulsion, on est en train de frapper devant les portes de la préfecture, de la mairie, du Parti socialiste. Et toutes les portes sont fermées. Nous sommes invisibles pour eux.” [The people who took refuge at the work exchange are literally forgotten, wrote on December 7th, the Rroma collective of the work exchange in a statement. Since the expulsion, we are knocking at all doors, prefecture, town hall, socialist party. And all doors are closed. We are invisible to them.] Many activists and representatives from French politics are against forced evictions. Although many of the informal dwellings are legally in fact illegal, evictions are in fact complicating the longer-term integration of the people more than anything else.

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13.12.2013 Rroma from South Eastern Europe: Economic Migrants or Refugees?

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The Welt (2013) reports currently on practices against migrant Rroma in Hamburg. The responsible Minister of the Interior Michael Neumann wants to continue the deportations of asylum seekers from South Eastern Europe, despite the massive criticism from Greens, the Left and the FDP. This does not mean, according to the Interior Minister that the deportations were not individually critically examined. Again, one must be amazed that migrants from Southeast Europe are held from the outset for Rroma, although this fact is not recorded in the statistics. Many immigrants from the Balkans are members of other ethnic groups. However, it is true that Rroma are particularly affected by exclusion. Radio Dreyeckland (2013) rightly criticised that the protection rate of asylum applications from Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia-Hercegovina fixed at 5% is too low. Many Rroma in these countries are discriminated against and should not therefore be treated as pure poverty refugees. This is also criticized by Jelpke (2013): The asylum applications of immigrants from the Western Balkans are being processed in shorter and shorter periods. This is due to the coalition agreement between the CDU and the SPD. This document plans to declare the western countries of South Eastern Europe to be “safe countries”. This makes it increasingly difficult for migrants from these countries to get a successful asylum application. A protective claim is still just awarded 0.1 to 0.6 percent of applicants from Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The federal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, meanwhile decided a deportation moratorium for the winter months (Carini 2013).

Haug (2013), in his article, points to the discrepancy between integration efforts communicated by the State and the real experienced exclusion. Rroma deported to Serbia mostly find there an income on the edge of society or live on welfare. Against the official statement of Serbia, that Rroma are not persecuted in the country stand in contrast to the misery and hopelessness: “Where it can be, they are marginalized, the victims reported. You get no jobs and are not informed of your rights. Even for food the meagre money barely suffice. […] “On paper, there are now many measures to end discrimination against these people,” says the lawyer. The trip did however convinced him that: “In daily life the affected ones feel little of it””

The President of the German Association of Cities Ulrich Maly goes against simple explanations in connection with immigrants from Southeast Europe. The migrants are often discriminated against and are hoping for a better life in Germany. He appealed to the historical responsibility of Germany in dealing with minorities and argued against a policy of isolation, as demanded by several parties. Rather, one must promote the integration in Germany and in the countries of origin: “These are not people who come and go with open hands to the administration. They come for other reasons. Because they are oppressed at home, perhaps even feel persecuted. They come because they believe that they will find a better life with us. These are reasons that one initially must respect.” Maly therefore goes against an alliance of politicians and citizens fearing a “social tourism” on the German social welfare system from the beginning of 2014. Bulgarians and Romanians will then be able to search unrestricted fro work in the European Union, thanks to the European free Movement Agreement (Kusicke 2013).

Leber (2013) sees the debate about immigration marked by varying degrees of coverage in social systems. The “general principle of European free movement” meets various forms of social welfare. That, however, this is not necessarily a contradiction in a polemical debate, however, it is often forgotten. Instead, it is dominated by a politics of fear, which flattens the heterogeneity of migration phenomena and propagandises the immigration of unskilled problem cases. It is this utilitarian thinking is criticized by Koch (2013) in his account of the problem. It means a ranking of people on questionable, inhuman principles.

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13.12.2013 Rroma in Romania

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France Inter (2013) in its coverage, points out at the often precarious situation of Rroma in Romania. The image of the impoverished, often unemployed Rroma corresponds to the idea of a broad French public that Rroma are a burden to the French social security system. The official figures counts about 600,000 Rroma in Romania. It is likely, however, that there are rather about 2 million members of that minority. The problem in this report lies in a mix of poverty issues with an alleged culture of delinquency and mutual exploitation. That these ideas are wrong will sometime soon hopefully be clear to a wider public.

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13.12.2013 The Tale of the Thieving Rroma Clans

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20 Minuten (2013) reports about two young girls who were arrested by the policie in Lucerne while trying to break into a house. Apparently, the girls come from a Roma camp in France. This short news confirms and is in line with the suspicion expressed in the Weltwoche (Gut, Philipp / Scherrer, Lucien 2013). In its article from early November it again talked of a “culture of crime”, which is brought into Switzerland by the Rroma. Articles with ethnic attributions that are not contextualized do promote racism towards an already heavily marginalized minority. More sensitivity in handling ethnic attributions would be highly desirable.

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13.12.2013 European Rroma Policies: A Sobering Result at Year End

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Riesbeck (2013) discusses the prospects of the European Rroma policies, which are aimed at the promotion of Rroma in the areas of education, health, employment, and housing. The results of theses policy is meanwhile sobering. The current project that has now been running for two years does not get the ball rolling. One of the reasons for the lack of success stories is the lack of legal means of the EU administration: “The States indicate their goals in the Roma strategy, but the European Commission has no legal basis to call for the implementation of these objectives and make them binding.” therefore, the European Rroma policies fall to bureaucratic hurdles between EU policies and programs of the respective nation-states. In addition, Rroma are themselves insufficiently involved in the projects. One talks about and for them, but not with them. 7sur7 (2013) sees a fundamental problem in the voluntariness of the implementation of EU decisions on the part of the EU Member States.

Mappes-Niediek sees an alternative to increasing educational achievements among Rroma, something which does not necessarily guarantees a real improvement, in the creation of social funds to cover the basic needs of all EU residents. His thought stems from the fact that education alone cannot eliminate the discrimination by the majority society (Gędziorowski 2013).

Meanwhile, several Western European countries are trying to stem the migration of Rroma. Members of the EU Parliament again spoke against restrictive practices towards Rroma: “EU countries must stop illegal expulsion of Roma people and end ethnic profiling, police abuse and human rights violations perpetrated against them, says Parliament in a non-binding resolution adopted on Thursday. It assesses member states’ strategies to boost Roma integration and calls for more funds to prevent discrimination and reach small community projects” (European Parliament 2013). The undeniable tension between national political programs and pan-European plans are visible in particular also in the European Rroma policies. While the EU insists on integration and recognition, conservative politicians in Germany, France and Great Britain propagate an isolationist policy (see Flechter 2013).

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06.12.2013 Discrimination against Rroma in Austria

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The association Romano Centro (2013) published a report on the exclusion of Rroma in Austria this week. The authors of the report saw discrimination in everyday life, in public facilities as well as in access to the labour market. Here, the effective observable racism is only a part of what actually takes place. Discrimination in the private sector will often not be reported and therefore remain undetected. The internet on the other hand, is so rich on information, that the effective dimensions of antiziganism cannot truly bee assessed. Regarding the media coverage, as in Ettinger (2013), they see a one-sided focus on delinquency and the ethnicisation of poverty different phenomena: “The reports are usually unilaterally focused on begging or on the topics of poverty induced migration, human trafficking and specific criminality. The social problems that are seen by many as “grievances”, are attributed to an ethnic group which fuels the growth of the rejection of this group.” A further concern is that the racist acts against Rroma are by far not only committer by members of right-wing groups. Antiziganism is socially acceptable in broad sections of the population and anchored on the transmission of false prejudices. The authors therefore deem it as a truly important and viable challenge to break this institutionalized racism.

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06.12.2013 The Rroma and the European Free Movement of Persons

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The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma criticized the agreement of EU interior ministers to curb the free movement of persons in the EU. The European Interior Ministers have agreed this week to reduce the allowances for needy immigrants and, where appropriate, again can introduce a visa duty to restrict larger migration flows from South East Europe (Handelsblatt, 2013). The curb on migration within the EU will not solve any problems, but freeze and uphold the dependency structures and injustice among the States. There is also no denying that the exclusion of Rroma is practiced more in some countries than in others.

The German towns President Ulrich Maly asked meanwhile for more tolerance towards immigrants and appealed to the historical responsibility of Germany towards the minority of the Rroma (Unternehmen-Heute 2013).

Böhm (2013) meanwhile suggests that a veritable “competitive repression”  against Rroma is taking place. Western European countries such as France, Germany, or the UK up each others on measures aimed at wanting to limit immigration from Romania and Bulgaria. The widespread exclusion of Rroma, which only make the migration necessary and the real problem is usually ignored. Instead, virtually all immigrants from Southeast Europe are collectively identified as poverty immigrants and thus as migrants, who apart from their poverty have no real reason for asylum (20 Minuten, 2013). Furthermore one often forgets that the assessments of the security of countries done by the states to assess the discrimination of minorities such as the Rroma are often inadequate or euphemistic, especially if the analysis comes from the countries themselves. To declare the immigrants from South East Europe broadly as poverty immigrants ignores real practices of exclusion that are not looked at by these country assessments.    

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