Category Archives: Slovakia

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17.05.2013 Rroma and the Economic Crisis

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The philanthropist George Soros commented in the Romanian weekly Dilema Veche about the situation of Rroma in Europe. He sees the members of this minority to be particularly affected by the economic crisis. The impact of the crisis is now added to the already existing exclusion and human rights violations. He further criticises the EU for failing to provide Member States with a counterbalance. The EU is not a community of equals among equals, but represents tthe power of lenders. Soros stated:

[The Rroma community] which was already the victim of human rights violations and social exclusion, is one of the worst affected by the economic crisis and the poverty it has engendered. This has been compounded by the growing hostility to the Roma among the majority of the population, which also has to contend with economic difficulties. Worse still, the situation is being exploited by populist politicians (Presseurop 2013).

Conka (2013) informs about the infamous Rroma settlement Luna IX in Slovakia, where several thousands Rroma live. Conka himself grew up in Luna IX, when it was still less segregated, as he says, and had regular contact with Slovak non-Rroma. His family then moved to Prague, Holland and later to London, where he still lives now. Conka sees many of the Eastern European Rroma losers of the fall of the Iron curtain who were excluded in the news economy and will. He says:

“What I remembered as my happy home has turned into an unrecognisable ghetto with no way out for those who live there, trapped by poverty and prejudice. Some blame the collapse of communism. Although lacking in freedom, communism was like a sticky glue that bound everyone together, and my mum and dad said they would never have left had it not collapsed, because everyone had jobs and decent housing, and there was better integration between Roma and ethnic Slovaks, who shared the same houses, schools and jobs. In the 1990s the local factories closed, and since recruitment methods for smaller employers were relaxed, old prejudices against Roma resurfaced and Romani inhabitants of Lunik IX found it much harder to get work than their Slavic neighbours.”

Conka further references the debate about Rroma immigrants from Eastern Europe in the UK. Conka criticises the politician Nigel Farage for his blatant misrepresentation of the Rroma. He represents Rroma as hordes of welfare cheats who would only come to the UK for assistance. Conka counters this view decisively and explains that many of the disadvantaged Rroma are rather coming in order to get a fair chance to live a decent life. If this was not possible in their country of origin, they will migrate because of the lack of perspective. This must be taken into account in this undifferentiated discussion.

In his short documentary “Lunik IX: A Short Documentary” he shows a sobering images of life on the edge of subsistence, a vicious circle of poverty (Conka 2012).

Sources:

  • Conka, Artur (2013) What Is Life Really Like for Roma Families Around Europe? In: Huffington Post vom 14.5.2013.
  • Conka, Artur (2012) Lunik IX: A Short Documentary. In: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUFUkVivh_M (17.5.2013).
  • Presseurop (2013) For George Soros, Roma are victims of the crisis. In: Presseurop online vom 6.5.2013. 
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10.05.2013 Rroma in Slovakia

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Higgins (2013) reports on the segregation of Rroma children in Slovak schools. In the community Šarišské Michaľany in eastern Slovakia everything was segregated at the start of the headmaster’s tenure. Rroma children were playing on a separate playground, ate lunch separately from the white children and were placed in separate classrooms, officially due to different education levels. Higgins compares the fight against the segregation of Rroma with efforts to achieve racial equality in the United States in the 1950s. In Slovakia, the efforts to achieve equality are waged primarily through the courts. In spite of his advocacy for legal action, the headmaster of the school is described to be leaning more towards cultural mediation. He opened the school canteen for Rroma children, suppressed the segregated playgrounds as well as the rule that forbade Rroma parents to enter the school building. Common classes and teaching is still in its early stages. This process must be done slowly, as otherwise white Slovaks flee the school to go to other ones reinforcing racism and segregation. The prejudices of participating parties are deeply rooted. The Rroma, due to the prolonged segregation,  are reported now as having a wall in their minds.

Source:

  • Higgins, Andrew (2013) In Its Efforts to Integrate Roma, Slovakia Recalls U.S. Struggles. In: New York Times vom 9.5.2013. 
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05.04.2013 Segregation in Slovakia

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Aaron Lake Smith (2013) reported on the continued segregation of Rroma in Slovakia. The fire in the Castle of Krásna Hôrka in March 2012, which was attributed to arson by two Rroma boys, gave rise to an increase in the discrimination of Rroma in Slovakia. Nationalist movements and among them for example politician Marian Kotleba reasoned that the stereotypes about Rroma are true and unavoidable. Open xenophobia against Rroma in the Hlinka Slovak People’s Party, a party which has the same name as the fascist regime during World War Two, is not unusual. Rroma are the cause for the discrimination against “honest people”, the ethnic Slovaks. Followers of Hlinka support geographical segregation of the Rroma in reservations or even their extermination modelled after the one of the Jews by the Nazis. The one billion dollars in development funds that the EU and the World Bank provided for inclusion of Rroma in the workforce, the schools and the social community seem to have borne little fruits and have often been diverted to realize local pet projects of municipalities. An interviewed member of parliament sees these funds as an pretext to help prevent the migration of the Rroma in the West, where they also are usually undesirable.

Smith then goes on about the history of Rroma in Eastern Europe. Under the Soviet Union rule, they were generally well integrated into the workforce, the official policy being at full employment. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, they were progressively excluded in segregated suburbs. Paradoxically, the new minority status led to more exclusion and to less protection, mainly because it was soon politicized and instrumentalised. Rroma are also discriminated because of their purportedly poor hygiene. Rhat hygiene should not be judged based only on observations of the conditions of gardens and courtyards is not part of this discussion. Until 2004, according to the journalists, forced sterilizations of Rroma women were undertaken. From the State’s perspective, these women exploited the social system by excessively drawing on children’s allocations. The segregation of Rroma children in Slovakia continues to this day. Many are excluded from regular schools by fictitious diagnosis of disabilities.

A section is devoted to the fate of Rroma during World War II. The persecution and extermination of approximately 500,000 to 1.5 million Rroma by the Nazis was historically never really acknowledged. One explanation for this omission is the no less racist reasonning that Rroma were persecuted and killed by the Nazis, not for racial reasons, but because of their anti-social and criminal behaviour. Lake Smith concludes his article with a statement of his journalist colleagues Markus Pape that the nationalisms of Eastern Europe are the result of a crisis of identity after the fall of the Soviet bloc. In this new form of identity, there is no room for Rroma.

Source:

  • Lake Smith, Aaron (2013) The New Roma Ghettos. Slowakia’s Ongoing Segregation Nightmare. In: Vice United States vom 4.4.2013. 
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22.03.2013 Rroma and Lunik IX in Slowakia

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When, during the 1980s, it was decided to renovate the old city of Kosice, a large part of the local Rroma population which used to live in the historical centre was moved out to the newly build Prefab Housing estate Lunik IX. Contact with the rest of the population was not established, so Rroma were soon isolated and Lunik IX became what can be qualified as a ghetto. Alena Wagnerova (2013) questions precisely this state of ghettoization. What the numerous journalists who travelled missed in their standard reports is to take a look at the inside of apartments, an inside that contrary to the staircases and courtyards is clean, well maintained and generally very much “petit bourgeois”. She notes:

The Roma distinguish between indoors and outdoors: indoors is maintained a, outside is simply considered as a storage space associated which does not matter is not even perceived. […] The “White” are interested in the outdoor, which one sees, but the inside, where you could get closer look at the life of the Roma, no one sees.

Wagnerkova then draws a picture of the Rroma as the losers of the transformation from socialism to post-socialist system. While full employment prevailed in the East Bloc before 1989, after the fall of socialism, the number of jobs diminished drastically. Especially affected were often poorly trained Rroma. During this transition period, she identifies a constant, namely the tutelage and external attribution of stereotypes on Rroma. This vicious circle leads to this negative external view of Rroma to be internalised among them. The ascription of collective guilt for negative actions of single individuals is a large concern, but this attitude is prevalent amongst the majority:

“And the culprit was not a Jew?” Franz Kafka’s mother used ask, with worry in her voice, whenever they heard or read about a crime. […] With Jews this would no longer be allowed today, but with Roma the act of a single one them is sufficient for all to be blamed. […] The most important thing to understand is that the Roma issue is a problem of poverty and not a problem of an “inferior ethnic group,” “which now falls on us.” This can certainly not be solved with an increase in social assistance, which leaves people in a state of passivity and dependence, but only through employment and skills improvements.

Wagnerova’s article manages to present a differentiated picture of the situation of Rroma in Slovakia. They are not made pretty and not romanticized. Her article should be taken as an example for other journalists who report on Rroma.

Source:

  • Wagnerova, Alena (2013) Die Lehre von Lunik IX. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung vom 22.3.2013. 
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