Another article on the group of young Rroma musicians and dancers from Slovakia, Kesaj Tchave and of a French association helping them.
In Nice, an exhibition on Rroma and travellers was stolen from the church it was in. The was certainly not for the value of stolen artefacts …
In France, the summer routine continues. In Grenoble, where the largest camp in the region was emptied; in Metz where 27 Rroma were expelled; and in Saint Ouen, near Paris where 56 people were evicted from an insertion village.
New camps, old camps, old stories: New camp in Paris in the 18th district on an old disaffected train line; manifestation in Saint Ouen next to Paris with Rroma sleeping in front of the city hall; In Bonneuil, an expulsion; a fire in a camp near Marseilles; and in Bobigny, near Paris, a camps that existed since 2011 is now going to be closed.
The French newspaper Liberation followed a young Rroma Child from Bulgaria and his family over a period of 6 months, documenting the illegal camps, expulsions, the social housing, etc. A face to the current plight of ca. 20’000 Rroma in France.
Local opposition is stiffening against the planned establishment in Toulouse of a second insertion village, a settlement where 32 Rroam families will find place to facilitate their integration.
We hope that the project will go ahead, as the first such village has proven to be a success.
And the cat and mouse game goes on. Camps were closed in Bobogny, near Paris; in the Val the Marne, were Rroma were expulsed of a house; while in the north, near Lille, a judge needs to decide whether a camps will be closed or not.
Évacuation du camp rom des Couteaux de Roubaix: le juge se prononcera le 10 août. In: Nord Éclair. 21.07.2015. http://www.nordeclair.fr/info-locale/evacuation-du-camp-rom-des-couteaux-de-roubaix-le-juge-se-ia50b12891n808772
A television in part in Rromanes, in the middle of the French capital. The television was established in 2012 by a Rroma from Macedonia who lives in France, and the television aims at helping Rroma to integrate better in French society. The TV chanel is called after the Šutka, the largest Rroma settlement in Skopje.
A reportage on French TV, prime time.
An article about the cohabitation of “gens du voyage” – the French version of Travellers, and Rroma. Travellers is used in France to denote both non-Rroma as well as Manouches and other local travelling Rroma, while Rroma (Roms in France) is a term that is only used to denote the “foreigners”. This is a remake of the Sinti and Rroma that we know from Germany, although all are Rroma.
Again a case of a Rroma wedding near Zurich were roughly 70 caravans gathered to celebrate a wedding. These travelling Rroma are from France and Germany (with a corresponding passport) and are members of a pentacostal church. A farmer rented them his land for 5’000 Swiss Francs. People in the village are annoyed and are asking why nothing is being done by the police.
A typical controversy, including the fact that people defecate in the open, and thus befoul the region and adjacent wood.
But the WORST are the commentaries: Bigots and racists seem to love these news.
Some news of the camps in France: In Bagnolet, near Paris, Bulgarian Rroma buried a man and his daughter who died during a fire; in Roubaix, in the North, activists take 60 Rroma to the sea; in Loos, also in the North, an article about the street with a prison, a Rroma camp and an unused land; while in Vaulx-en-Vélin, near Lyon, cohabitation seems to be difficult; and finally the MRAP (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peoples) denounces what they deem a “real harassment” of Rroma in Lyon.
An article about a few Rroma who stopped in a field near Payerne and had to leave as the field’s owner did not want them to stay highlights the misinformation and confusion among journalists:
The title uses “Gitans” – who are not travellers, by the way, and are found only in the South of France and Spain (also called Cale); the text uses “Gens du Voyage, i.e. Travellers, which can be Rroma but could also mean Jenische (Swiss travellers) or French Travellers; and finally the police states that these are most probably “Roma” from neighbouring France. We are just missing Sinti in this article to complete the confusion!
The European court of Justice has issued a warning against the Bulgarian electricity company which installed electric meters at a height that renders them inaccessible, this in a predominantly Rroma part of Dupnitsa. According to the court of justice, this constitutes “ethnic discrimination”.
Another report on the trial of a French mayor (we reported a while back) of the town of Sucy en Brie who was accused of having denied 5 Rroma children their right to education. The mayor was cleared of all charges, but the fact remains that Rroma children, without a formal housing document, as often denied education, in spite of French law.
A shame.
Volunteers from a catholic organisation are taking care of children in a camp near Paris during July. Let’s see what this bring, but more than playing with the children will be required to close the issue of illegal camps in France.
L’Humanité – the French communist newspaper – reports on the evictions of the large camp in Ivry and states that the state is devoid of means to help Rroma. One should also remind readers that expulsions have been requested by mayors of all political parties, including the communist one.
And one should also remind France that the migrant Rroma to which so much newspaper space is devoted are a small fraction of Rroma living in France.
As usual in the summer, the expulsions continue in France. In Marseille, where the expulsed came back and were again expulsed; in Lilles; in Chelles; in Croix; in Ivry, Aubervillers, and Ris Orangis near Paris; in Nantes; while in Hautbourdin (North) and Bordeaux, Rroma can still stay for a while; and in Grenoble, the fate of the camp is now in the hands of the justice; and finally in Roubaix, a fire destroyed a camp.
In a mock open trial, the French state was condemned for violations of the rights of children in the context of the evictions of Rroma camps.
Well done!
The mayor of a French village in the Dordogne region of France turned off the water supply to a Rroma camp in an attempt to chase them away. What else would he try?
According Human Rights League, France expulsed nearly 4’000 Rroma from camps over the first 6 months of 2015.
One needs to bear other numbers in mind: 20’000 Rroma migrants live in such camps according to the French authorities. And there are roughly 500’000 Rroma in France. Again, there is a question of proportion: The press devotes all its news to less than a percent of Rroma overall in France!
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