Category Archives: Romania

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21.02.2014 Discussion around the integration of Rroma in Duisburg

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Schlömer (2014) reports on a meeting of local organisations to discuss the possibilities for successful integration of immigrated Rroma. The presentation of the Romanian-German pastor Dieter Herberth is said to have revolved primarily around the deconstruction of prejudices: “Since a long time Roma migrants of In den Peschen are a controversial issue that haunts the population like no other. And just as long, dangerous half-knowledge about the new neighbours and wild speculations have been spread and constructed a terrifying vision.” The meeting was an attempt to provide historical facts instead of distorting culturalisms and to show the social structures in countries like Romania. The speaker also pointed out that integration requires patience and that the majority of the immigrants is willing to integrate, if they are allowed to. Schlömer’s statement about half-knowledge is very appropriate, since a lot of politicised and ethnicised knowledge was presented as total truth during the past year.  

Cnotka (2014) expands the topic by pointing out that beginning of next week, ten volunteer Rroma-Scouts will support the immigrant families in their integration efforts. The companions will help with administrative procedures or doctor visits in order to strengthen the autonomy of the immigrants: “The ten scouts will accompany their individual families to government offices, doctor visits, to shopping, or for finding accommodation”, says Jürgen Voss, head of the deaconry of Duisburg-West. Dieter Herberth adds that it will be easier for the Roma if they have a companion, not only because of the language barrier, but because refusals are common when the address In den Peschen is mentioned.”  One of the challenges is that none of the scouts speak Rromanes or Romanian. Thus, the families are actively encouraged to improve their German language skills as quickly as possible. Cnotka’s arcticle is written emphatically and objectively. Nevertheless, he indirectly promotes notions of Rroma who are hard to integrate and burden the social security system. The inconspicuous Rroma should get attention in the media as well.

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14.02.2014 Booklet on the rights of marginalized Rroma angries SVP

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Francey (2014) reports on the publication of a brochure by the legal faculty of Geneva that informs marginalized Rroma in the city about their fundamental rights. The brochure explains people in precarious financial situations their rights: if they are entitled to benefits from the state, if they can be fined by the police for begging or if they a license as a street musician. The booklet is written in both French and Romanian as well as in pictograms, to reach people who struggle reading. The brochure has now been attacked by the SVP-Geneva. The right-wing conservative party sees the publication as an invitation for socially vulnerable people to come to Switzerland. It has fielded a complaint against the brochure to the government of Geneva.

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14.02.2014 Eight-year-old Rroma girl killed by a fire

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Numerous French newspapers report about an incident in a Rroma camp in Bobigny. For reasons not yet known, in that camp in question, an unexpected fire started. The informal accommodations were giving refuge to more and more Romanian and Bulgarian Rroma, who fled from forced evictions in the neighbourhood. At the time the fire started, the camp encompassed around 200 inhabitants. About one-fifth of the informal dwellings were destroyed. The camp itself had no access to running water, which would have allowed to extinguish the fire, although a demand had been filed to the city major months ago. The victim of the fire, an eight-year-old Rroma girl, had been enrolled in a primary school in Bobigny. Rroma camps in France are regularly affected by fires and other incidents. However, there is uncertainty about how the fires are started. Manuel Valls stresses that they are linked to the precarious safety conditions in many camps, what legitimizes his harsh eviction practices. Another possibility is that they are linked to politically motivated arson. During the year 2013, twenty-two Rroma camps were affected by incidents, according to the Ligue des droits de l’ Homme, which compromised about 2’000 people. The mayor of Bobigny, Catherine Peyge, pointed attention to the persisting, severe marginalization of the Rroma that has made this incident possible. In collaboration with Cécile Duflot, the minister for social housing, they are trying to find permanent accommodation for the Rroma affected by the fire (Le Parisien 2014, Le point in 2014, Le Nouvel Observateur in 2014, Libération 2014 BFMTV 2014) .

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14.02.2014 «France’s unwanted Roma»

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As many before him, Astier (2014) reports about the forced evictions of illegal Rroma settlements in France. At first, he stresses that France has one of the harshest policies towards this minority. Every year, thousands of Rroma are deported and illegal settlements evicted. However, Astier wrongly assumes that all Rroma in France are immigrants from Southeast Europe, mainly from Romania. The integrated, invisible Rroma representing the actual majority, he considers as being non-existent: “Like most of the estimated 20,000 ethnic Roma living in France, Alex comes from Romania. And like most, he has been expelled from one squalid camp to the next for years.“ Regarding the forced evictions, Astier emphasizes that the expulsions don’t change much of the effective situation, since constantly new illegal settlements are built. The reference to precarious security situations is often just an excuse for evictions: „One aim of such operations is to remove unsightly, unsafe, and unsanitary sites that have no water or electricity. However, Loret and others point out that the exercise is self-defeating. As soon as police tear down one camp, another is built nearby. […] „They live in increasingly precarious living conditions that prevent them for integrating locally,” says ethnologist Martin Olivera. „They are being maintained in a nomadic way of life they have not chosen.““

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14.02.2014 Social perception of the Rroma in Great Britain

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Yaron Matras, the author of the recently published book “I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies”, talks in his latest article in the Guardian about the social perception and role of the Rroma in Great Britain. Simple employees, such as the hairdresser of a friend of the author, are said to be complaining about the greater economic competition from immigrants such as the Rroma. In this economically motivated racism, Rroma are wrongly equated with Romanians and commonly used stereotypes about Rroma are strengthened: “Romanians are equated with Roma – hence the association with caravans and the shyness to appear politically incorrect. […] It is the image of Roma on our streets that triggers an emotional reaction, more so than the thought of just any citizen from new EU member states arriving at a job centre in Basingstoke or Leeds. It was the Roma who were singled out last November by the deputy prime minister as “intimidating” and “offensive” in their behaviour. Unfounded allegations that Roma were kidnapping children in Greece and Ireland didn’t help either.“ The really important question – and here Matras is absolutely right – is not how to bring the Rroma to integrate themselves, but how to manage to change the incorrect notions of the majority society about the Rroma. Because if the Rroma are given the opportunity to integrate – what in most countries is only possible very limited so far – they will doubtlessly do it.

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14.02.2014 The Rroma policy of the European Union and the free movement of persons

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Gutschker (2014) spoke with justice commissioner and vice-president of the European Commission, Viviane Reding, on the Rroma policy of the European Union. In the first part of the interview, the conversation focused around the question as to whether social benefits for non-working immigrants from EU-member states are legal or not. Right-wing politicians regularly accuse immigrant Rroma to unfairly burden the German social welfare system. Reding takes the position that the social benefits come to the good of immigrants with very low wages who are dependent on assistance. Nobody will receive social assistance just for the good of it, she states. For the interviewer, the debate on social benefits is in truth an argument about pan-European solidarity. For Viviane Reding however, the debate circles around questions of a liberal economic market, which allows the needed workforce to freely circulate. It is astonishing that even Reding holds the idea most of the so-called poverty immigrants are Rroma, although the ethnicity is not recorded in statistics. She sees the need to support these disadvantaged Rroma, so that the spiral of poverty can be broken. Concerning the social benefits received by EU-immigrants, Reding sees the numbers as strongly exaggerated. Only a very small part of the support payments go to immigrants from other EU countries. An amount three times as high is said to go to immigrants from third countries. Reding also wants that the EU countries better use their allocated social funds from the European Union and defuse municipal focal points. The restriction of the free movement of persons – as the Swiss electorate decided on the 9th of February – is said to be incompatible with the principle of a shared internal market: “You can not take advantage of the internal market with all the advantages for export and at the same time restrict the free movement of persons. In December, we had a meeting of EU interior ministers, and all agreed to the above – with the exception of the British. There was also agreement that the right to move freely does not establish a right to access the social systems. Rights are always associated with duties” (compare Epoch Times 2014, Spiegel 2014).  

Frigelj (2014) reports on the visit of EU-commissioner László Andor in Duisburg. Duisburg was almost constantly in the headlines during 2013. Again and again, newspapers reported – in a more or less populist fashion – on impoverished, criminal Rroma clans from Romania and Bulgaria, which are supposedly flooding into the city. László Andor tried to get an idea of the situation on the spot. He attended employment-assistance institutions, talked with immigrants, residents, social workers, and police officers. Andor acknowledged, the article states, that the city is dealing with a problem of poverty and Germany and its municipalities were entitled to money from the new “relief fund for the poorest” of the European Union. The article seems factual and objective, but indirectly spreads the idea that Rroma are almost exclusively poorly educated, marginalized people who escape poverty and discrimination in their home countries: “The highly qualified doctors and nurses are attracted mainly to southern Germany. To Duisburg and Dortmund, which have a high proportion of vacant dwellings and lower end real estate, where up to 90% unqualified immigrants with large families are drawn. From around 600 monthly newcomers, almost half are children.” That there are also many well-integrated Rroma in Germany is not mentioned.

 

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Roumanie Slovénie

14.02.2014 Romanian President convicted for racist abuse against Rroma

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Various newspapers report the conviction of Romania’s President Traian Basescu. Basescu who has been repeatedly noticed for his dismissive remarks against Rroma. In 2011, he commented publicly that Rroma steal in buses. During an official visit to Slovenia in 2010, he stated that travelling Rroma would traditionally live from what they steal. In 2007, he insulted a journalist as a “dirty gypsy”. In response to Basescu’s statements, the Rroma organization Romani Criss fielded a complaint at the Romanian Council against discrimination. The council has convicted Basescu for a symbolic fine of 600 lei (160 Swiss francs). Whether this conviction will change Basescu’s behaviour, is doubtful. The newpaper Zeit (2014) complements that Basescu has not yet responded to the conviction. However, for the Romanian Council against discrimination the message tthat even a president can be convicted for racist abuse is important (compare Aarauer Zeitung 2014, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung 2014, Le Figaro 2014, Neue Luzerner Zeitung 2014, Stimme Russlands 2014, TAZ 2014, 20 minutes).

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14.02.2014 Acid attack on Rroma as symptomatic for the radicalization against the minority

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As already last week, by many French newspapers address an acid attack against Rroma who live outdoors near the Place de la République. The offender is most likely the owner of an adjoining house, who regularly passed by the Rroma with his dog. Libération (2014) points out that the acid attack is emblematic of the repressive policy of France towards the Rroma. This opinion is shared by an organization of concerned citizens – Entraides-Citoyennes – which complains about an increasing radicalization and dis-inhibition in the public behaviour towards the Rroma, which isn’t far anymore from an open incitement against the minority (Entraides-Citoyennes 2014). Thouny (2014) from Le Nouvel Observateur points out that already last August, a Romanian Gypsy woman was victimized by an acid attack and suffered burns on her arms and legs. Volunteers have invited the affected Rroma to file a complaint against the perpetrator to the local police.

Le Monde (2014) reports on 11th of February that the perpetrator was taken in police custody. The man denies having doused the mattresses of the Rroma with acid. Rather, he claims to have used soap and Javel water as expression of his displeasure against the homeless in his quarter.

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14.02.2014 An unemotional perspective on immigrants from Southeast Europe

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Mappes-Niediek (2014) takes a dispassionate look at immigrants from South East Europe who are settling down in Germany. He tries to draw a differentiated picture of the reasons for their migration, which lies beyond simple generalizations. Poor Rroma from Southeast Europe don’t migrate to Western Europe or Germany with the aim to abuse the local social welfare system. They come with the aim to lead a life in dignity. Their own family and close friends provide a social safety network, on which one can rely on during hard times: “The poverty immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria don’t come here because of the social benefits in Germany, but because you can live a better life here. They come with their families and with close friends. [ … ] The poorest of the poor who live in Romania, mainly in rural areas, mostly don’t migrate at all.” Mappes-Niediek then turns against the widely held view that education is the key to solving most problems. Education only brings something, the author states, if Rroma are allowed to integrate into the economy and the economy offers enough available jobs. Otherwise, a university degree doesn’t helps to improve one’s situation: “Education is not the key, or at least not there where the poverty immigrants come from. Everywhere in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe the relationship between education and a good life is broken, and indeed for everyone, not only for the Roma. An entire generation has made the experience that education doesn’t help in anything. They have seen it with their parents. The father was an engineer, his mother a Russian teacher. Today, the mother goes to clean and the father is drinking […].” With these statements, Mappes-Niediek takes a pessimistic view at the stagnant economies of many countries of the former Eastern bloc. The denial of benefits and possibilities to integrate is said to create what many want to prevent: slums, problems, crime. Mappes-Niediek takes a dispassionate look at the debate about poverty immigrants from Eastern Europe. However, he also perpetuates ideas of mainly impoverished, marginalized Rroma, as they are spread by the mass media and therefore established and culturalised.

This view contrasts with the short article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which focuses on the work of the social worker Lucia Bleibel with immigrant Rroma. Bleibel grew up in Slovakia and speaks Rromanes and Romanian. On behalf of the Internationale Bund and the city of Hanau she takes care of the integration of marginalized Rroma in the Hessen town. Bleibel’s task is to remind the immigrants of the compulsory schooling, the German health care system and the compliance with general rules. The short text focuses entirely on the visible, impoverished Rroma and thereby keeps politicized notions of cultural alterity upright, despite or perhaps because of its emphatic perspective on the topic (Glaser-Lotz 2014).

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07.02.2014 France: the one-sided focus on slums and evictions continues

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Vermorel (2014) of the Midi Libre spoke to the prefect of Nîmes, Didier Martin. Martin called for the residents of an illegal settlement next to the Saint-Gilles highway to leave the place immediately. The argument was enforced with police presence. Only recently before this, the collective Solidarité Roms, was assured by Julie Bouaziz, the head of the cabinet of Nîmes, that there was no set date for the eviction. Martin indicates in the interview that the eviction is not only done for regulatory reasons, but primarily because of the railway project “Oc’via”, which is disturbed by the settlement. In March, a judgment by the district court of Nîmes was issued calling for the families to immediately leave the area in question. The construction company Oc’via agreed in their own negotiations with the families that they could stay on the area until December 2013. Now the company has suggested a replacement area to the families, not far from the current location, in order that the children can continue to go to school. – A major part of the French press focuses exclusively on problem cases that arise in connection with Rroma. That there integrated Rroma living in France, ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 people, depending on the estimates, is almost never mentioned. Also, there are Gens du Voyage in France that form their own ethnic group and are not related to the Rroma. They took up a travelling lifestyle in response to the political upheavals in Europe in the 15th century. Most Rroma are permanently sedentary (see Duret 2014 Midi Libre 2014).

In Villeurbanne, the police evicted an occupied house with around 100 Romanian Rroma, the newspaper Libération (2014) reports. Half of the residents are children. The prefecture asked for the re-housing of families with children under the age of three: “The organisation in charge did not know if all families would be relocated, saying that a census by the department direction of social cohesion had previously been made to find solutions. “The prefect of Rhone requested the relocation of families with children under three years,” the prefecture indicated.”  

Bertrand (2014) reports from a slum on the outskirts of Marseille, where around 20 Rroma families try to integrate and are at risk of forced evictions. Cendrine Labaume from Médecins du monde reports that Rroma are increasingly victims of acts of violence committed by uninhibited residents: “the Roma are by far the most affected by the violence. National and local political discourses have uninhibited speech, and sometimes acts.” The statement is followed by spiteful and openly racist comments from residents of the settlement, who complain about dirt, noise and lack of adaptation of the Rroma and openly display their disrespect. The resident Rroma try to live in an as dignified way as possible. The order inside the huts is not seen from the outside, only the disorder. The increasing neglect of the settlements is partly due to the high frequency of evictions that hinder the establishment of an appropriate infrastructure, which leads to illegal tapping of electricity and water. The evictions are said to have somewhat improved since the interministerial circular from the 26th of August 2012. The government and aid organizations are now supposed to keep a minimal standard of hygiene, health care and safety in the settlements. However, according to Bertrand, this support meets the opposition of many local residents, who want to get rid of the Rroma.

Courtel (2014) of Nordéclair reports on a newly created Rroma settlement in Roncq, in northern France. Her article highlights the usual picture: Enraged residents, led by the mayor Vincent Ledoux, impoverished Rroma and the will to get rid of them as soon as possible. Courtel does not even tries to contextualize, but limits herself entirely to the reporting of “facts” about the occupation of the location, which was tolerated by the supra-regional and national authorities. She perpetuates the notion of asocial, non-integrable Rroma: “Meanwhile, the camp becomes a sewer. This land has turned into open battle space, a dirty slum” [Vincent Ledoux]. Unrest has taken hold of the residents living closest and the employees of the commercial area. […] A complaint was filed to establish a “clearly defined timeframe” [for the eviction]. The court authorizes the use of public force. But the prefecture did not respond. The timeframe passes, it is impossible to implement an evacuation. During the municipal council of the 17th of December, the represent ask for the help of the Government… the request remains unanswered.”

Ouest-France (2014) reports in a short article on three Rroma settlements in Saint-Herblain that were searched by the police. The occasion for the comprehensive police control was the theft of metal and metal cables that is attributed to Rroma from the settlements. As a result of the raid a Rrom was temporarily arrested. By not reflecting about discrimination against the Rroma, this article perpetuates ethnic stereotypes about criminal Rroma. Ethnic stereotypes build a great obstacle to the successful integration of this minority.

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07.02.2014 „I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies“ by Yaron Matras

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Matras is a linguist and advocates the rights of the Rroma. His new book “I Met Lucky People”, which was published on 6th of February. According to the reviewer Katharine Quarmby, the book presents a heterogeneous, non-political view on the Rroma, their social organization, their language, their traditions and identity. A non-political perspective is particularly desirable due to the polemical, un-objective debate about mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria. However, the book is not confined to the presentation of alleged facts, but holds a mirror up in front of the readers and shows them how the widespread knowledge about the Rroma tells more about the authors than about Rroma themselves: “The book […] makes a strong argument for his contention, that the way we gadjes, or non-Roma people, talk and write about the Romani people reflects more about us than reflecting their reality. This reflection is not a pretty one.” Matras remind the persecution of the Rroma in Europe, and also in Great Britain, where the author is based. The chapter on the language Rromanes falls into the expertise of the author, as he is a linguist. Quarmby qualifies as particularly compelling Martras’ writing about the creation of myths and identities by the majority society. This topic has already been investigated in the German-speaking world by Klaus Michael Bogdal. Towards the end of the book review, the reviewer outs herself as also charged with prejudice, when she indicates that the immigrant Rroma, British Rroma and Irish Travellers are said to only meet in scrap yards. She doesn’t seem to have an awareness of non marginalized, invisible Rroma living in Great Britain. Finally, Quarmby points to the important question of whether it is appropriate that non-Rroma represent Rroma people and to what extent this is practice is challenged by Rroma. Matras is optimistic that Rroma activists, academics and writers are increasingly questioning this status quo (Quarmby 2014).

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07.02.2014 The integration of the Rroma as a pan-European task

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On the occasion of the visit of the Romanian President in Berlin, Von Borstel and Lachmann address the roles of the individual EU countries in the integration of Rroma. Von Borstel/Lachmann quote the federal office of labour which estimates that about 180,000 Rumanians and Bulgarians will migrate to Germany, from which a quarter is reported to have University degrees. For what period of time this forecast is done is not stated. After this relatively differentiated preface, the article quickly becomes very one-sided. The authors only speak of the salient, visible Rroma and extrapolate them to the norm: “Even at that time [2013] they were drawn to the district of Neukölln, the melting pot of Berlin with residents from 160 countries. And quickly through organised begging some Roma became an integral part of the cityscape: Women with small children begging in front of churches, larger children harassing tourists, young people making noise on old instruments in the subway, or annoying drivers as “window cleaners” at major intersections. Every now and then a man from the clan comes and collects the begged money.” Some time later, the Romanian president Băsescu is quoted indicating that these very visible Rroma are a minority of the minority. But the statement is immediately followed by the next stereotype: the migrating Rroma are said to be the ones that Romania failed to integrate. Immigrants are sweepingly made into problem cases. Rroma willing to integrate do not exist, the article suggests. The European Union social affairs minister László Andor is quoted saying that the debate about immigration must be more rational and less emotional. The Rroma Contact Point strongly agrees with that.

The right-wing populist platform unzensuriert.at (2014) presents the visit of president Traian Băsescu in Berlin in an extremely biased fashion: it only emphasizes the negative aspects and is openly racist towards Rroma: “More and more Roma migrate from the two South-Eastern European countries to Austria, Germany or France and thereby cause a whole series of problems; from social welfare to crime. Cities like Dortmund or Duisburg and the district of Neukölln have seen thousands of Roma arrive. Side effects such as begging, crime and the neglect of entire districts are the consequence.” Such generalising, unreflecting, and xenophobic reporting can only be described as stupid. The comment column of the article is also permeated by racist arguments.

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07.02.2014 The Tagesspiegel fuels the idea of a “Rroma problem”

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After the debate on immigration from Romania and Bulgaria to Germany has now run for over a year, a few journalists like Christoph von Marschall still argue that because of political correctness, the debate doesn’t address the topic of potentially dangerous Rroma immigrant. What he identifies as too much political correctness is in fact a one-sided focus on the members of an ethnic minority. To ethnicize immigration doesn’t solve anything. Where he obtained the information that the immigrant population described by him is in fact primarily consisting of Rroma is not discussed. The ethnic membership is not covered by the immigration statistics for ethical reasons. Instead, Von Marschall relies on his supposedly profound knowledge as Rroma expert and spreads absurd and false ideas of travelling, mostly illiterate Rroma and the cultural incompatibility of Rroma and ethnic Germans:  “In the overwhelming majority – in other EU countries it is openly spoken about – these migrants are Roma. [ … ] Focal points, where this migration creates tensions with citizens and communities also exist in Berlin: in Neukölln, in Wedding, in parts of Schöneberg and Reinickendorf. What else is to expect when so different cultures clash? Roma have avoided for centuries the powers of regional authorities as a “traveling nation”; they developed their own solidarity and acquisition systems best suited to their way of life, long before there was an EU, guaranteeing freedom of movement. In Germany they now face modern administration for the sedentary. [ … ] Many Roma are illiterate. [ … ] Roma need modified integration concepts. They do not accept the usual help for the homeless, because their families can not be separated by gender.“

Von Marschall exercises epistemic violence on the Rroma by spreading false information about them. More insight into his own ignorance would not hurt him. Many Rroma can read and write, most Rroma are sedentary and strive to achieve successful integration, if one allows them to. Among the immigrants there are also many ethnic Romanians and Bulgarians. There can be no talk of cultural incompatibility. The supposed incompatibility is ascribed them entirely by Von Marschall with his massive prejudices. Fortunately, his article also imbued with the insight that successful integration requires the cooperation of all parties involved and should not be dominated by fear and prejudice. That after all, is to his credit.

Von Marschall, Christoph (2014) Bei der Zuwanderung werden Probleme geleugnet. In: Der Tagesspiegel online vom 6.2.2014. http://www.tagesspiegel.de/meinung/migration-von-roma-aus-bulgarien-und-rumaenien-bei-der-zuwanderung-werden-probleme-geleugnet/9441234.html

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31.01.2014 Immigration debate in Germany

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Wragge (2014) raises the question why the debate about the supposed mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria ever evolved. There are plenty of reasons to refute the arguments of the proponents of mass migration as the experiences with the free migration policy with Poland and the Czech Republic show. Also, the EU law protects Germany against excessive payments from the social security system. Wragge sees the origin of the debate in polemical statements by conservative politicians and in the dissemination of distorted images through the media: “An attempt to explain the existence of this debate leads to the images that we have of Bulgarians and Romanians. If one speaks of the predicted 80,000-200,000 newcomers – do we see only low-income families in Duisburg’s “problem houses” in front of us, or also the engineers, doctors and nurses who come to us? Around these images there is a raging “semantic battle” in the media […].”  Furthermore, the responsibilities of the EU and the German government are repeatedly mixed in the debate and a false image the various actors is spread. Wragge identifies the debate as permeated by fears and taboos, such as naming problems as the immigration of Rroma by their name. He is, however, clearly wrong if he means that the immigration debate is a problem with the Rroma. The Rroma are exploited and instrumentalised by politicians and journalists for their purposes. They create a distorted, negative caricature of the Rroma, what makes them the real aggressors in the debate.

The district Reinickendorf in Berlin has been allocated 130,000 Euros for the years 2014 and 2015 to support immigrant Rroma in their integration process (Schindler 2014). The integration assistance is supposed to encompass language courses and the teaching of general social competences. The awarded funding is surprising in the sense that the ethnicity of immigrants is not identified. The figures are based on estimates and speak of 900 to 1000 immigrant Rroma in Reinickendorf. Schindler reproduces a one-sided image of needy, uneducated Rroma, which has been spread the media for over a year.

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31.01.2014 Rroma Holocaust commemoration

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The 27th of January is the official day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism in Germany. On the 27th of January 1945, the Red Army liberated the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The state chairman of the Hessian Sinti and Roma, Adam Strauss, warned in his speech of the importance of civil courage and the danger of spreading false information about Rroma. He further noted a continuity of prejudice against this minority, which persists and is jointly responsible for the genocide. The Deputy Prime Minister of Hesse, Al-Wazir, pointed on the danger of intellectual arson and the way it is fuelled by ill-considered remarks: “He directly pointed to the current debate on poverty refugees from Romania and Bulgaria, who come to Germany. Al-Wazir called it “important that we do not build new walls due to reckless words.”  Prudence and respect are important “to us Germans in this debate.” On the same day Bouffier, in a newspaper interview, took a similar view of the debate on poverty migrants. It is important “to use appropriate words to designate the facts”, he stated” (von Bebenburg 2014).

In his text, Hagemann (2014), addresses the discrimination of Rroma by German teachers during and after the Second World War. NSDAP compliant teachers wrote students from ethnic minorities “characteristics of their race” into their testimonials and managed to obtain their deportation. During the memorial service in Menden, the secondary school students read frighteningly many names of young children. They were infants who were born after 1940 and were nonetheless deported in March 1943. It is particularly shocking that many of the teachers were allowed to teach after the war had ended and were supported by public institutions such as the Catholic Church: “The students called the names of the teachers who were allowed to educate the children of Menden in the post-war years. They criticized the Catholic Church, which did not protect these Catholics, the archbishops, who did not respond to petitions, although the brutal extermination of the Sinti and Roma was described in them in dramatic terms. […] One student described the terrible conditions that were faced by the Catholic Gypsies of Menden in Auschwitz, where they were branded as “asocial” with a black triangle on the clothing: they faced typhoid and diarrhoea, abuse and rape. Those who survived, were led into the gas chamber.”

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31.01.2014 The Rroma identity as a taboo

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Bollmann/Kloepfer (2014) draws an analogy between being gay and belonging to the Rroma ethnic group. Whereas the taboo around homosexuality has nearly disappeared and gays and lesbians are predominantly socially accepted, the Rroma still face great reservations: In the current debate, some authors only use the words Romanians and Bulgarians, although they are talking about the Rroma. Bollmann and Kloepfer do not state that this method is not only correlated with political correctness but with the prevention of further prejudices. It is repeatedly pointed out by Rroma representatives that ethnicity is usually mentioned within a negative context and thus discredits the Rroma and maintains a pejorative image of them. On the other hand, the authors are right when they state the maintenance of prejudices, who are caused by a negation of the subject: “The mechanism of concealment worked earlier with gays and lesbians as perfidious as it is today with the Roma. He who doesn’t call things for what they are plays – consciously or unconsciously – with hints and prejudices. The wider public then perceives only those exponents of the minority that correspond to the popular stereotype and thus appear as “fancy”. These are the “poverty refugees”, the “immigrants into the social system” who pile up garbage – or with benevolence the musician who sings “Gypsy Songs”. The successful lawyer from a Roma family remains as invisible as until recently the gay leaders in general. “I didn’t want to be a Roma, I was ashamed” said a lawyer from Essen last year to a journalist.” But the apparent taboo about Rroma should not obscure the fact that it is most appropriate to use great caution when applying ethnic terms and ascriptions. Imprudent statements free from any taboos can equally contribute to the spread of prejudice as a too politically correct handling of a subject. Not the ethnicity is crucial, but the identification of a problem and the recognition of poverty. If Bollmann and Kloepfer think they need to identify poor Rroma as Rroma in order to help them, they have misunderstood something significantly: “A particular Roma strategy is not required here”, the German government propagated just recently.” Here the federal government is perfectly right. The debate on immigration is not a debate about Rroma, but one that exploits and politicizes the Rroma for their purposes.

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24.01.2014 Discrimination of Rroma in Europe continues

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The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (2014) published is “World Report 2014” on the discrimination of the Rroma in the European Union. The report notes that the Rroma are still victims of massive exclusion. They are the main victims of the significant increase in right-wing policies and politicians, together with immigrants and homosexuals. For Germany, this means that Rroma migrants are being confronted with strong prejudices and that the deportation practices do not verify the conditions and discrimination in countries of origin like the Kosovo. France has set a new record in evictions during 2013: around 13,000 Rroma were evicted from their informal settlements during the period of January to September. In Greece, Human Rights Watch critiques the continuing segregation of Rroma in public schools. Additionally, the Rroma are being illegally persecuted and monitored by the authorities. For Croatia, the organisation criticised the exclusion of Rroma from public institutions such as schools, hospitals and social institutions. In Romania, the Rroma are still victims of numerous evictions and are generally disadvantaged in public life. A particularly bad assessment befalls Hungary, when it comes to the integration of Rroma. The report notes: “Roma were faced also last year with discrimination and harassment. The mayor of the city Ozd in northern Hungary separated Roma settlements with an estimated 500 families from the public water network. In January, the European Court of Human Rights judged Hungary guilty of discriminating two Rroma students, because the authorities had placed them in special schools. In July, the court upheld the decision of a prohibition on the Hungarian Guard, an extremist group agitating against Jews and Rroma. In August, a Budapest court convicted four men for murder, who had been involved in racist attacks in the years 2008 and 2009, in which six Roma had been killed, including a child.” As long as the economic conditions in Europe remain poor, the Rroma face an unfavourable fate. They are the first to suffer from social ills. It is much to be hoped that the bad tradition of centuries-old discrimination against the minority will soon be consigned to history.

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24.01.2014 Hindu leader urges Pope to promote integration of the Rroma

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The statesman and head of the universal society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed, calls Pope Franciscus to a more involved commitment to the Rroma. Zed was disappointed that the pope, in his speech of January 13th, didn’t mention the issue of Rroma with a single word. The continuing exclusion of Rroma is one of the most burning problems of Europe: „Zed further said that alarming condition of Roma people was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the world as they reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, language barriers, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalization, appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse, racist slogans on Internet, etc“ (Baltic Review 2014, Zed 2014). The origin of the Rroma is found in India. But it would be wrong to call India their homeland. Rroma are a transnational minority without an own nation-state.

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24.01.2014 The Focus magazine propagates the mass exodus from Romania and Bulgaria

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Dometeit/Lehmkul (2014) report from Romania. Armed with dubious facts they argue that there indeed a mass migration to Western Europe and especially Germany is taking place. They portray poorly trained Rroma in western Romania who hardly earn a living and see their future opportunities in Western Europe. According to the authors, all Rroma that have a reasonably decent life have been abroad for a shorter or longer period of time: “When the labor markets in the EU open at the beginning of the year, everyone will go”, predicts Stefan and grins. “Then we will all meet like on a huge wedding party.” The big goal: North Rhine-Westphalia. Tens of thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians migrate annually. 30’000 people from the two countries came in 2012 (comparing to 18 500 people emigrating). 2013 there will be even more immigrants, the Ministry of Labour, Integration and Social Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia predicts.” Dometeit/Lehmkul totally ignore that the statistics, as has already been discussed several times, count seasonal workers and therefore are massively exaggerated. That all Romanians and Bulgarians living in poverty will migrate to Germany is very unlikely, as the expansion of free migration to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland has already shown. Masses of immigrants didn’t show up. Dometeit/Lehmkuhl provide a highly one-sided picture of Rroma. Those who have become rich are immediately associated with illegal activities: “On the so-called rose park there are palaces Roma clans have built through business in Germany. Most of them are empty, the shutters are lowered. Two or three times a year the families come to celebrate. Then the Porsches and Ferraris show up. Two years ago, the police raided some of the villas at the request of the German prosecutor’s, based on suspicions of tax evasion, money laundering and human traffeking.” Such reporting is simplistic and patronizing. Dometeit/ Lehmkuhl completely ignore that there are well integrated, upright Rroma

This one-sided perspective is shared by the Schweizer Magazin (2014). The online newspaper favors polemical generalizations and simplifications: “Sinti and Roma, as well as other social welfare benefiters from Romania and Bulgaria – the two poorest countries in Europe – are ready to flood Germany and to enrich themselves with the social benefits. Only the economy may approve, since every immigrant from these poor countries depresses the wages and thus complicates the lives of all Europeans and only increases the profits of the companies.” To designate the Rroma people generally as social welfare benefiters is racist and stupid. Much more need not being said about this.

The Baltische Rundschau (2014) strengthens fears of a mass immigration from Eastern Europe. The article is openly racist and speaks of social parasites and brown rats who are supposedly coming from Serbia to plunder the German welfare state: “After the wave of Roma who migrate as official EU citizens from Romania and Bulgaria to the German welfare state, more and more Gypsies are now coming from Serbia. However, these do not use the “privileged” status as EU citizens to flood the labour market and welfare system, but make use of the German asylum law. In 2013, the asylum applications from Serbia increased by 40 percent, almost all asylum seekers are Roma.” The Rroma Contact Point has stated very often that the prognosis of a mass immigration to Western Europe is wrong. Moreover, not all immigrants automatically become welfare cases. A reduction of the west migration to the case of the Rroma is racist and ethnicizes poverty problems.

The right-wing populist platform unzensuriert.at (2014) is even more racist. It propagates the concept of a culture war and the collapse of the German welfare state. The pretentious statements are one-sided, distorted, highly selective interpretations of the real situation. The platform forecast an additional influx of 200,000 Romanians and Bulgaria to Germany for the current year: “The city of Duisburg is paying dearly for the unrestricted immigration of Roma clans. For the year 2014, the city administration predicts additional costs of at least 12 million Euro for the “integration” of immigrant Gypsies from Romania and Bulgaria. Meanwhile, some 10,000 Roma live in the Ruhr city. Entire neighborhoods such as Duisburg-Rheinhausen are firmly in the hands of the Gypsies. Germans, but also guest workers from Turkey and former Yugoslavia living here for many years, already feel as strangers.” With such polemical statements unzensuriert.at does intellectual arson and endangers social peace. Such xenophobic statements have nothing to do with freedom of speech and freedom of the press. 

A differentiated and liberal attitude towards the immigration debate is taken by Maike Freund (2013). She argues for complexity and rationalism concerning the predictions of a mass immigration: “Who goes through Neukölln in Berlin or the northern city of Dortmund, knows that such scenes or similar belong to the reality in Germany – but they are only one part of the truth. Because the numbers say: there are many highly educated immigrants, also from Romania and Bulgaria, and Germany relies on these professionals.”

Mappes-Niediek (2014) speaks of the conflicting reactions to the polemical predictions about the mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria. Thus, ethnic Romanians and Bulgarians often separate themselves from the Rroma in response to the Western European criticism: “That’s not us, that’s the Roma: This is still the first reflex when some of the German and British debates over poverty migration spill into the Rumanian and Bulgarian public.” Mappes-Niediek criticizes that a poverty problem is turned into an ethnic problem by distinguishing between ethnic Romanians and the Rroma. After the collapse of the socialist system, the ethnic Romanians were given back the possessions of their ancestors, who had been collectivized. Since a large part of the Rroma had possessed nothing before socialism, they emerged as losers from the change of system: “Only the Roma got back nothing because their grandparents hadn’t possessed anything. They moved into the slums, from which the poverty immigrants of today emerge. This allows both the German and the Romanian public to keep the poverty problem a Roma problem – which it is not. If there were no Roma, there would not be any more jobs.” The migration debate is also dominated by a double standard: one hand, one likes to get the well-trained professionals for the German economy – especially doctors – on the other hand one wants to keep out the less well-off.

Antiziganism researcher Markus End criticizes the term “poverty migration” as being negatively charged and equated with Rroma in the public debate. The Rroma are discredited as being lazy and social parasites. End criticizes this depiction and reminds one of the integrated, invisible Rroma: “They were sweepingly referred to as lazy and welfare scroungers. It was said that they are noisy, produce garbage, and are prone to crime. People who follow the media regularly have learned that Roma are poverty immigrants. [ … ]. In the debate, Roma are represented as strangers, even though many have being living in Germany since generations. Also that there are educated and uneducated Rroma, rich and poor, is totally neglected in the debate. The term Roma is used almost synonymous with poverty, crime or waste.” Liberal journalists are also spreading antiziganist stereotypes, even though they welcome the immigration of skilled workers. A liberal journalist from Die Welt compares well-educated, ethnic Romanians and Bulgarians with criminal, antisocial Rroma, producing a value list of welcomed and unwelcomed immigrants. End comes to the conclusion that the coverage of the Rroma is the most biased of all minorities (Grunau 2014).

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24.01.2014 Rroma in Great Britain and the Schengen policies

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Clark (2013) criticises the Romanian government for its Rroma policies. From his standpoint, it is not appropriate that Romania criticizes the UK for its restrictive migration policy. Romania itself, he emphasizes, has large shortcomings in its policies concerning Rroma. The remark of the Romanian Rroma commissioner Damian Draghici that one should not be angry with Rroma beggars but rather be angry at bankers, Clark considers to be arrogant and as distracting from the abuses in Romania and Bulgaria itself: „Over the past decade municipal [Romanian] authorities have ethnically cleansed their city centres of Roma and relocated them to shanty towns on the fringes. In Cluj-Napoca, in a case which has aroused the interest of Amnesty International, 300 Roma people were moved to a site next to a landfill and chemical dump, where families have been made to share one room. […] The inevitable result is a westwards flow of Roma fleeing from discrimination and poverty. The EU’s open borders policy should be suspended until Romania and Bulgaria have improved living conditions for all their citizens.“ Clark fails to recognize in his analysis that there are no overnight solutions for the social ills in Eastern Europe. In addition, the integration of the Rroma is a pan-European task requiring a pan-state solution. Isolation is therefore clearly the wrong answer to social and political shortcomings.

The forced relocation of several Rroma families in Cluj-Napoca onto the site of a former chemical factory was judged illegal by the local court. The incumbent mayor was convicted  for having exceeded his authority in authorizing the relocation. The decision was welcomed by many organisations, such as the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) that had supported the action against the forced relocation (Ekklesia 2014).

An antithesis to Clark’s presentation is Kelley’s (2014) article in The Journal. It reminds about the prejudices, the Rroma genocide, the fear fostered by politicians and journalists: A flood of immigrants hasn’t come to Great Britain so far and the British voters have proven to be less anxious than some politicians and journalists prophesied: „A survey revealed 68% of Britons welcomed Eastern Europeans who work hard, pay taxes and speak English. And, according to Martin Keles, a spokesman for the Roma community in Newcastle, that is exactly what they intend to do. “We just want the opportunity to provide for our families,” he said.“ Kelley further emphasizes the strong institutionalized racism against Rroma in countries like the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia. But not only in Eastern Europe, but in Europe as a whole, the Rroma have experienced a history of exclusion since their arrival in Western Europe in the 14th century. The human rights organization “A Living Tradition” conducted a survey among Rroma migrants on behalf of the council of Newcastle. It revealed that the Eastern European migrants are fleeing rampant racism in their home countries and appreciate the English educational institutions and the open society. Kelley’s article is a welcoming change to the many negative articles about Rroma and the European migration. His positive journalism helps to reduce prejudice and promotes the integration of the Rroma.

Knight (2014) from Gentlemen’s Quarterly takes an ambivalent position concerning the debate about immigration in Europe. On one hand, he propagates the idea of an impeding exodus of impoverished Rroma to Great Britain, on the other, he acknowledges their discrimination. He describes Rroma living in the streets of London, having to cope with very modest incomes. Again and again they are asked by the authorities not to beg and to no longer sleep on the streets. Knight sums up: „Courtesy of the ever-expanding European Union, the UK, and London, are finally waking up to one of Europe’s biggest embarrassments: that after the better part of a thousand years, our continent still does not know how to live at peace with its largest ethnic minority.“ Contrary to the generalising statements in the title, Knight recognizes that British society knows next to nothing about Rroma and that one cannot predict how many Rroma will come to the UK. The statistics on immigrants do not capture ethnicity. Knowledge about the Rroma remains dominated by many unknowns and wrong stereotypes. When Knight quotes a local resident of Bryanston Square, the landlady reproduces racist stereotypes and generalizations, even though her parents are said to be immigrants. She expresses the absurd image of culturally related crimes and otherness of the Rroma that they don’t want to integrate and deliberately choose a life in illegality. In the following paragraph Knight acknowledges that his presentation at the beginning of the article cannot hide is his derogatory attitude towards Rroma. He uncritically restates notions about organised begging, child prostitution, human trafficking and begging networks and qualifies the Rroma as having criminal habits: „Ever since, officers have wondered about the level of organisation within the group, and whether it is connected with more serious crimes, such as human trafficking or child prostitution. Hierarchical networks of beggars and street thieves – run by Gypsies, for Gypsies – have been on the rise in big European cities for the last decade: in Rome, in Milan, in Paris, in Madrid. London is a logical next target. Having spent day after day with the Gypsies this summer, I find they are never more than a few hours from their next visit from the police or their next arrest for begging.” His investigative journalism is biased and unreflective. He limits himself to what he could personally observe on the street and mixes it with crude culturalisations. The short trip to Romania is characterized by the common misery images that are often repeated in the coverage on Rroma: Large families crammed together in one two rooms and minor teenagers already being married and having kids. Knight quotes a Romanian historian, Viorel Achim, who no longer sees the future of the Romanian Rroma in training and the building of an educated, integrated middle class, but in emigration to Northern Europe. The therefore agrees with the predictions of conservative apologists, who warn of a mass migration to Western Europe. Knight cites a Rroma from Botosani: „You are going to be seeing a lot more of us in the future,“ says Manix. „We’re going to beg, do whatever we can. Anything to escape.“ Romanian Rroma commissioner Damian Draghici is particularly critical of NGOs who haven’t used the money entrusted to them. The next few paragraphs revolve around the prosperity gap between Eastern and Western Europe and whether this will result in strong migration movements. The fact that the opening of the border to other Schengen countries such as Poland and Hungary didn’t result in any mass migration is not assessed in any way. Knight communicates stereotypical notions of smuggler gangs and clan chiefs who tie off money for the adaptation to the new place and exploit poorer Rroma systematically: „You have to pay. You know from the outset. […] Everyone is controlled.“ At the end of the very long article, one impression dominates: A feeling of distrust from the journalist towards his informants, the Rroma.

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