It starts also there … Activists are pushing the police and the prosecutor office to deal with the Rroma children begging in Belgium’s capital.
There would be simpler solutions … Like integration.
– Bruxelles: l’échevine Els Ampe dénonce les enfants mendicants. In: La Capitale. 13.03.2017. http://www.lacapitale.be/1806321/article/2017-03-12/bruxelles-l-echevine-els-ampe-denonce-les-enfants-mendiants
This week is quieter than the normal in France on Rroma. Close to Paris, in Pierefitte, the residents ask for the closure of a camp; in the Corbeil-Essonnes, also close to Paris, Rroma who were left of the street following the fire of their squat have found a place to stay; in Ervry-Grégy sur Yerres, the clean-up of a former Rroma camp will cost 360’000 Euro, here one has to say that often, non Rroma take the opportunity to dump their garbage in such situations; in Montreuil, the mayor and administration is going a long way to try to eliminate all traces of the presence of Rroma – Rroma who are still on the street.
In other parts of France, in the North, an association is promoting fraternity with Rroma; in the North still, a camp was evicted but the Rroma relocated themselves nearby; in Nantes, 80 voluntaries helped cleaning up the garbage left after the eviction of two Rroma camps; and near Toulouse, a mayor is asking for the closure of a camp.
In Nearby Belgium, a camp was closed and here, o wonder, its residents were lodged by the social services …
– Pierrefitte : les habitants réclament l’évacuation du camp de Roms. In: Le Parisien. 28.11.2016. http://www.leparisien.fr/pierrefitte-sur-seine-93380/pierrefitte-les-habitants-reclament-l-evacuation-du-camp-de-roms-28-11-2016-6387774.php
– Corbeil-Essonnes : les Roms sinistrés ont été relogés. In: Le Parisien. 27.11.2016. http://www.leparisien.fr/corbeil-essonnes-91100/corbeil-essonnes-les-roms-sinistres-ont-ete-reloges-27-11-2016-6382818.php
– Evry-Grégy-sur-Yerres : le nettoyage du camp rom évacué coûtera 360 000 €. In: Le Parisien. 28.11.2016. http://www.leparisien.fr/seine-et-marne-77/evry-gregy-sur-yerres-le-nettoyage-du-camp-rom-evacue-coutera-360-000-eur-28-11-2016-6386412.php
– Familles roms expulsées à Montreuil: un dispositif d’élimination. In: Mediapart. 01.12.2016. https://blogs.mediapart.fr/juliette-keating/blog/011216/familles-roms-expulsees-montreuil-un-dispositif-delimination
– Migrants, réfugiés, roms: une association valenciennoise promeut la fraternité. In: La Voix du Nord. 02.12.2016. http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/83661/article/2016-12-02/migrants-refugies-roms-une-association-valenciennoise-promeut-la-fraternite
– Expulsé, le camp de Roms déménage 10 mètres plus loin. In: La Voix du Nord. 27.11.2016. http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/80868/article/2016-11-27/expulse-le-camp-de-roms-demenage-10-metres-plus-loin
– 80 bénévoles pour nettoyer deux anciens camps de roms à Nantes. In: RCA. 28.11.2016. http://www.rcalaradio.com/article-15679-80-benevoles-pour-nettoyer-deux-anciens-camps-de-roms-a-nantes.html
– Le maire veut «évacuer le camp illégal» de Ginestous. In: La Dépèche. 01.12.2016. http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2016/12/01/2469601-le-maire-veut-evacuer-le-camp-illegal-de-ginestous.html
– Expulsion du camp de Roms au parc de la Ligne 28: les familles relogées par le Samusocial. In: SudInfor (BE). 02.12.2016. http://www.sudinfo.be/1732541/article/2016-12-02/expulsion-du-camp-de-roms-au-parc-de-la-ligne-28-les-familles-relogees-par-le-sa
Last week, a friend died. A friend not only on a personal way – we did tours together, kept in contact through the year – but a friend of Rroma music. Stephane Karo did soo much for it, it was his passion, it was his life. He discovered and managed the Taraf de Haïdouk, the Kočani Orchestar, and more recently the Romanian Mahala Rai Banda.
He was buried in Brussels, Belgium last week end.
As we say: Te ovel o drom angla leste phuterdo. Ame na bistras tut!
– HOMMAGE À STÉPHANE KARO : LES MUSIQUES DES BALKANS PERDENT L’UN DE LEURS PREMIERS AMBASSADEURS. In: Le Courrier des Balkans. 19.11.2016. https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/le-fil-de-l-info/hommage-a-stephane-karo-les-musiques-des-balkans-perdent-l-un-de-leurs-premiers-ambassadeurs.html
Myria, a Belgian Federal organisation on migration issued its 19th report on human trafficking. In Belgium, 33 infractions to the law on human trafficking were related to begging and implicitly to Rroma.
Enough for the Press to title and generalise that all beggars are in the hands of human traffickers and a mafia, stereotypes that are totally untrue and dangerous. Really BAD!!!
And across the border, in the North of France, the police tries to arrest beggars in Lille … This will not solve the problem.
– Quand les mendiants sont aux mains des trafiquants. In: Le Soir. 13.10.2016. http://plus.lesoir.be/63725/article/2016-10-13/quand-les-mendiants-sont-aux-mains-des-trafiquants
– Mendicité : la vérité sur les Roms. In: Le Vif. 13.10.2016. http://www.levif.be/actualite/belgique/mendicite-la-verite-sur-les-roms/article-normal-561385.html
– Des mendiants aux mains de trafiquants. In: La Libre. 14.10.2016. http://www.lalibre.be/actu/belgique/des-mendiants-aux-mains-de-trafiquants-57ffa651cd70cd5761c9f196
– Mendicité des enfants roms : série d’arrestations de parents par la police. In: La Voix du Nord. 13.10.2016. http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/58987/article/2016-10-13/mendicite-des-enfants-roms-serie-d-arrestations-de-parents-par-la-police
A positive presentation of a young Rroma migrant who works, but also lots of other clichés on Rroma in general.
The Rroma camp in Laeken – 50 people or so – is going to be dismantled. Belgium seems to follow the French model.
A few articles on a Rroma camp in Laaken in Belgium. All this for 50 people …
There is no space for Belgium “Gens du Voyage” – in this case, many Lovara and related groups.
Racist acts, against Moslems, but also against Rroma are on the increase in Belgium.
The story of the few homeless Rroma in Brussels (we reported on it), is drawing lots of attention in the Belgian press and now also in the Slovak one. Even the European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák stepped into the fray and stated that “We provide assistance to all of our citizens that approach us with a request for help, but this wasn’t the case in this instance.”
Lots is made of a few isolated cases, and the Rroma who migrated and integrated are barely mentioned. Again, only stereotyped views of the Rroma are pushed by the press.
The town of Watrelos in France, right on the Belgian border wants to erect a 2 ½ meter high concrete wall to “protect” its citizen from a camping site for travellers on the other side of the border in the town of Mouscron. The French press is full of several articles on this. Fact is, this is not acceptable in the 21st century in Europe. And these people are Europeans, and to a large extent citizen of Schengen states. A shame for France and for the socialist mayor to the French commune.
Meanwhile, evictions continue, and very few of the evicted people are re-lodged as per the directives from the Valls’ government. For example in St.-Fargeau; in Grenoble, where the eviction has been requested by the mayor; and so on…
Meanwhile, in Belgium, there are also calls to re-lodge Rroma, for example in Brussels, in Ixelles, and a bus is being used as a temporary abode for five Slovak Rroma families in Brussels.
Belgium’s federal centre for equality of chances is organising meetings between the media and Rroma representatives to combat negative stereotypes in the press and to further a Rroma voice in the articles. They note that only two out 74 articles allowed Rroma to present their point of view.
About time…
Quambry (2014) reports on the increasing popularity of Pentecostal churches among Rroma communities in the UK and in continental Europe. With the example of the Appleby horse fair in Cumbria, in the north of Britain, she explains the effect of the Christian movement on the community: the “Life and Light Gypsy Church” recruits actively new members there, strengthens the social cohesion of the community and tries to overcome the discrimination against the minority: “There have been religious services at Appleby from the 1930s till the 1970s, according to local historian and town mayor, Andy Connell, but they were led by local Methodist or “Assemblies of God” ministers, rather than Gypsy pastors. Life and Light, by contrast, is a church for the Gypsy people, led by them. It is changing everything that we think we know about the communities, reinventing and redrawing the image of the Roma, Gypsy and Traveller people throughout Europe. They are presenting a new face to the outside world – one of forceful moral and political authority, as they seek to free their people from prejudice and poverty. This is a story of emancipation, similar to that of the Baptist church in the American Deep South, led by civil rights and religious leader, Martin Luther King. The movement has spread from Brittany throughout France, into Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, South America, Scandinavia, Britain and Eastern Europe. Around one third of all French Gypsies are now thought to be Pentecostal Christians – with about the same proportion in Spain and Portugal. Further east, in the former communist bloc, many Roma are Pentecostals […].” The self-empowerment of Rroma through the Pentecostal church can indeed be seen as something positive, if one focuses on the aspect of the strengthening of civil rights. However, one should be cautious when the Pentecostal morality is said to be superior to other social values. Many Pentecostal churches forbid contraception for their members, to abort and diabolise homosexuals as being possessed by demons. Such a morality is not based on an enlightened understanding of the world and independent critical thinking, but on Christian traditions, which in case of contradictions, put themselves above the traditions of the Rroma. An uncritical subjection to conservative role models and values should be questioned. They can also severely hinder a real self-determination.
Numerous French language newspapers reported about the verdict against fifteen Croatian Rroma in Nancy. The Rroma were convicted of inciting their children to commit about a hundred thefts in France, Germany and Belgium. The defendants were sentenced to prison sentences of two to eight years. While all Rroma were convicted for incitement to theft, individual defendants were indicted for trafficking and forced marriages. The court of appeal of Nancy thereby confirmed the judgment of the criminal court. The prosecution demanded maximum sentences of ten years. The evidence of the prosecution was based on the survey of 120 suspects, who confirmed the existence of organised, hierarchical gangs, let by a clan chief: “These children had no choice”, said the prosecutor in front of the audience. “It was not a matter of education and self-realisation, only one thing was important: to steal. It was a downright education to steal. Families borrowed children, according to their potential in theft and even bought wives for their sons to strengthen their teams” (Nicolas 2014, see 20 minutes in 2014, La Dépêche 2014 RTL 2014). The stereotype of criminal, hierarchically organised Rroma clans who commit thefts under the command of a clan chief, is widely spread. It cannot be critically evaluated at this point whether the judgment is justified, as the evidence is only discussed in passing. But it is important to emphasise that Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups. The idea of hierarchical family ties traces back to the projection of the medieval caste system on Rroma and on the equation of Rroma families to criminal organisations. However, this is incorrect. While it is true that the family has an important place among Rroma, its organisation is largely egalitarian. The case discussed here is therefore an exceptional occurrence and not the norm. In addition, the stereotype of arranged marriages is conveyed, which also is only true for a minority of the Rroma. The phenomenon of child trafficking as it is presented here, has furthermore to be critically assessed. As social science studies show, social realities behind begging or alleged child trafficking are largely hidden. Similarly, structural differences between the involved societies and related reasons for a migration to France need to be highlighted. The research conveys a more complex, less black and white notion on the subject and points out that crimes such as incitement to begging or stealing are pervaded by a wide variety of morals views in the analysis and assessment by the authorities. The authorities often deny the perspective and motivations of the persons concerned and impose their own ideas of organised begging, criminal networks or child trafficking on them. Not uncommonly, behind the accusations one just finds impoverished families in which the children supplement the family income by begging, and whose way of life thereby contradict the bourgeois notions of a normal family and childhood (compare Cree/Clapton/Smith 2012, O’Connell Davidson 2011, Oude Breuil 2008).
Engelberg (2014) reported on a case of forced marriage between a German and a Belgian Rroma family. A fifty-year-old, German Rromni – Esma J. – is said to have looked for a bride for her twenty-five year old son in Belgium. Thereupon, according to Engelberg, a seventeen year old, Belgian Rromni was married to the son of the mother. For the bride, the family is said to have had paid 16,000 Euros as a bride price. After the wedding, the young Rromni, which according to her testimony did not agree with the marriage, was forced to have sex with the groom several times so as to produce offspring. After about seven months, the bride was able to free herself from her husband’s family and she phoned her sister. The groom’s mother was accused of sexual abuse, as she arranged the marriage and is said to have urged the daughter-in-law to have sexual intercourse with her son. For lack of evidence, she was discharged. The presentation of Engelberg leaves many ambiguities open and gives space for questionable cultural explanations. For example, Engelberg claims a clear link between forced marriages and the culture of the Rroma at the beginning of the article, which does not correspond to reality: “Esma J. (50) hides behind her red criminal record an does not want to be recognized. The charge against her is severe and enables a deep look into the culture of the Roma. Esma J. is accused of sexual abuse.” If it is in fact a forced marriage in the sense of modern human trafficking, this should not be trivialized. However, given the unclear background of the events, one should be careful with hasty accusations. In any case, the association of Rroma and forced marriages has to be put into perspective. Although arranged marriages do indeed exist among the Rroma, these should be by no means be equated with forced marriages nor are they the norm.
Fontanella-Khan/Eddy (2014) take as a reference the fate of Rroma in Northeast-Hungary to question the effectiveness of European integration efforts towards Rroma. Analysts as well as people affected share the opinion that the situation of Rroma in Europe hasn’t changed. The controversial assessment that there is a European “Rroma problem” is also shared by the European justice commissioner Viviane Reding. However, it must be made clear that right-wing politicians connect the concept of a “Rroma problem” with an alleged lack of desire to integrate, while others use it to describe the striking marginalization of the minority. The latter view is shared by the authors of the article: “The biggest struggle for the Roma has been overcoming stereotypes that depict them as travelling petty criminals unwilling to integrate into mainstream society. [ … ] Images of Roma beggars across Europe have fortified past prejudices, even though a study by the UNDP of Roma migrants in Belgium showed that the overwhelming majority had emigrated to work rather than claim benefits or abuse the welfare system.” A brief recap of the history of suffering that Rroma endured since their arrival in Europe follows. The current situation of the Rroma in the European Union does not look rosy either. In most Western European countries, they are confronted with a rigorous policy of expulsion. Fontanella-Khan/Eddy criticise the EU and the national governments for having failed in effectively fighting racism and prejudice against the Rroma. An additional problem is declining public funds for the education of the younger generation. The Roma Education Fund regrets this in particular. Reasons for the lack of effectiveness of the integration programs are passed from various departments to others. Moreover, the EU shows little efforts in the implementation of minority rights through the governments of its member states. One of the problems lies in the lacking analysis of the effectiveness of the overall programs. Although the EU tracks where the money is spent, it doesn’t analyze the effectiveness of the programs it funds. Local politicians who are entrusted with the implementation of integration programs, often have a bad attitude towards the Rroma and intentionally corrupt the integration efforts.
Morel (2013) reports on decreasing rates of crimes that are apparently being committed by southern European Rroma clans. This isn’t supposed to mean that the numbers of offenses have effectively decreased, but that the offenders act more skilfully and unobtrusively, according to Morel. They are apparently acting in a more focused way, renting less rooms in cheap hotels, they are scattered in public transport to attract less attention. Recently, the suspects were mainly minor Rromnja in groups of two. For Morel and his informants there is no doubt that there are internationally organized Rroma clans behind these activities: „Les équipes de tziganes, qui agissent jusqu’à cinq fois par jour, ont également renouvelé leur manière de transporter leur butin, constitué d’argent et de bijoux. Désormais, elles n’hésitent pas à se l’insérer dans le sexe pour passer la frontière. Selon la police, elles font partie d’un réseau international qui pourrait être basé en Belgique, en région parisienne ou dans l’est de la France. Les délinquantes vivent la plupart du temps dans des camps de roms.” [These teams of Gypsies (Sic!), who act up to five times a day, also renewed their methods for transporting their bounty, mostly money and jewellery. They do not hesitate to put them in their sex in order to cross the border. According to the police, they are part of an international band possibly based in Belgium, in Paris, or in Eastern France. The criminals mostly live in Rroma camps.] Guggisberg (2014) also feeds the notions of criminal, organised Rroma clans, smuggling stolen goods over the Switzerland-Italian border. Once again it must be stressed that Rroma are not more delinquent than people of other ethnic groups. The idea of organised Romany clans feeds absurd and false ideas of culturally-related crimes. These assumptions are stupid and should be relegated ad acta.
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