Category Archives: France

France Italie Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

08.02.2015 Italy: An official says Rroma are good at sorting garbage

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08.02.2015 Italy: An official says Rroma are good at sorting garbage

An Italian social Policy councillor Francesca Danese, has suggested that Rroma in Italy should be hired to sort garbage, adding that they have the “skills to rummage through waste”.  We are not sure on which facts she bases her statement but are positive that it shows a total misunderstanding of the minority, and constitutes a racist act. This is not acceptable from a government official.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

08.02.2015 France expulsed a Rroma camp every third day in 2014

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The French Press reports on a report from the European Roma Right Center (ERRC) and the League for Human Rights (LDH) on the expulsion policies of the French state. According to them, France expulsed ca. 13’000 of the estimated 17’000 Rroma living in deplorable conditions in camps around the big French cities. Evictions occurred on average every third day. (Le Monde). L’Humanité adds that the state does nothing for an equality of chances for this population and denounces the underlying racism behind these policies. (L’Humanité). France Bleu notes that nearly 67% of these evictions were done in and around Paris. (France Bleu). The magazine Politis, on the same subject, notes that nearly 4 out of 5 people interviewed (around 100 people) were evicted up to 5 or 6 times. They stress that these policies are dehumanising and criticise that these evictions mostly occur around Paris. (Politis)

All journalists as usual missed the key point: The press only actually speaks about 17 to 20’000 Rroma in illegal settlement, and not of the overwhelming majority of Rroma who live in France and whose number is estimated at half a million.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

01.02.2015 France: Evictions in spite of the Winter

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Normally, Republican France refrains from deporting migrants and from evicting illegal settlement in the Winter. This is no longer the case. Evictions continue, and the problem is being shifted from one community to the next. It is as if, one can argue, that the authorities want to maximise the exposure of the general population to poor migrants, guaranteeing an increased racism. This has to stop. Evictions this week, as an example occurred in Cannes and in Chellois.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

01.02.2015 France: A few timid attempts at integration

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In spite of the constant evictions of Rroma that make the headlines in French Newspapers, there are a few attempts at finding longer term solutions. The law requiring evicted people to be relocated is being reluctantly applied, for example in Nimes, in St. Gilles, or in Choisy, while activists are pushing the case further by occupying empty or official buildings as in Noisiel. This is literally a drop of water on a hot stone, and the French state should rather try to definitively integrate these 15’000 migrant Rroma who have now been in France for several years.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

01.02.2015 France: A few timid attempts at integration

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In spite of the constant evictions of Rroma that make the headlines in French Newspapers, there are a few attempts at finding longer term solutions. The law requiring evicted people to be relocated is being reluctantly applied, for example in Nimes, in St. Gilles, or in Choisy, while activists are pushing the case further by occupying empty or official buildings as in Noisiel. This is literally a drop of water on a hot stone, and the French state should rather try to definitively integrate these 15’000 migrant Rroma who have now been in France for several years.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

01.02.2015 France: Evictions in spite of the Winter

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Normally, Republican France refrains from deporting migrants and from evicting illegal settlement in the Winter. This is no longer the case. Evictions continue, and the problem is being shifted from one community to the next. It is as if, one can argue, that the authorities want to maximise the exposure of the general population to poor migrants, guaranteeing an increased racism. This has to stop. Evictions this week, as an example occurred in Cannes and in Chellois.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

25.01.2015 The case of the dead Rroma baby in France:

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In a further development in the case of the dead Rroma baby in France, Jacques Toubon, in charge of the defence of the rights, stated that the order of the mayor denying the burial of the baby was illegal. He added that this constituted a discrimination. That Toubon, a rightist politician not know for his love of minorities in France says such things is a sign of progress, albeit a slow one!

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

25.01.2015 Perpignan: Gitans and North Africans Traders at a market.

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Street press reports on the Perpigna market in the South of France where Rroma (Gitan) trades work alongside North African immigrants and where both communities make sure the market is safe for visitors. The article, while positive on the whole, still dishes out a few standard clichés: The Gitans were sedentarised (they always were sendentary), both communities are extremely “masculine” with little space for women, etc. As usual, the Rroma realities are not reflected in the press.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

25.01.2015 UK Commissioner Eric Pickle looses a case against Rroma in the UK

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London Green Belt Commissioner Eric Pickle lost a landmark case against two Rroma. The judge stated that Pickle’s department breached both human rights and equality laws in denying Rroma to pitch in the green belt. This case highlight the current policies in England but also in France of evicting Rroma settlements, even, if in this case, these existed for generations.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Roumanie

14.01.2015 Nicolas Dupont Aignan … Is ignorance an excuse?

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Interviewed by Metro News on January 5th, the Mayor of Champlan, Essone (France), Mr. Noicolas Dupon Aignan stated “Rroma should be in Romania”. This clearly show that his understanding of the subject   is limited if not non-existent. We do wish that people who obviously have little if any understanding would rather simply avoid the subject rather than blabber the same platitudes and stereotypes as have already been heard for ages.

Roma are not Romanian, although there are Romanian Rroma, and not all Rroma are uneducated migrants begging in the street… Please take note.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

14.01.2015 France and Integration: Yes, Rroma Can be Integrated

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In an editorial, the Huffington Post advocates the acceptance of migrants and minorities in France, stating that they contributed to the enrichment of the country and that they contribute to cement the idea of Europe. De Gouyon calls for people to fight against racism anf eork towards the integration of Rroma.

However, again, as usual, Rroma are reduced to the migrant part of the population, to the 10 to 15 thousands who live in Ghettoes and camps on the outskirt of the big French cities. There are more Rroma than that in France (and elsewhere).  Stating that the problem is limited to these 15 thousand people is a great first in France, a country where the discussion on immigrations often takes an irrational path, and where one could easily get the impression, reading the press, that there are millions of Rroma migrants. There are very few, this is a fact worth stating!

De Gouyon Matignon, Louis. Oui, les Roms sont intégrables. Huffington Post. 6 January 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/louis-de-gouyon-matignon/oui-les-roms-sont-integrables_b_6417666.html

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

14.01.2015 France and Rroma

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Hounding Rroma in France, titles the New York Times following the refusal of burial for burial of the young Rrom who died on New Year. The NYT stresses that the current government continues the repressive policies started by Nicolas Sarkozy although, according to the article, France received EU funds for the integration of minorities and for Rroma in particular.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

14.01.2015 Rroma Baby burial in France

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A Rrom baby died in France over the New Year and was denied burial in the town of Champlan. The mayor of that town, who in the meantime claims he has not prevented the burial, has been unanimously condemned by the press and politics, among which, Prime Minister Valls. Vall, who, as we have repeatedly written in this blog is himself not beyond populist racism, for once stated this was an insult to France.

We hope that this insult to France doesn’t stop at dead Rroma and that the living ones will also be allowed to stay.

Meanwhile, the young Maria Francesca was buried in a neighbouring town… May she rest in peace.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

31.12.2014 France: Segregated classes for Rroma

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The movement against racism and for the friendship between people (Mrap) has denounced the creation of a segregated class for Rroma children in Bron (close to Lyon) for the children living in an illegal camp there.

We cannot stress enough that segregated classes and segregated education is an absolute no go. This has proven to be the way to create an underclass rather than to integrate people.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

31.12.2014 France – Between Expulsions and Integration : The Integration Attempts

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While expulsions are going on, there are nevertheless some efforts in France to try to integrate the migrant Rroma who are currently living in ghettoes at the outskirts of the major cities of that country. For example in Tourcoing, the Church is inviting to a debate on Rroma and their place in Society. The priest who initiated the debate stress their exclusion and lack of integration.

Meanwhile, RTL reports on the successful integration of more than 400 Rroma, 219 of them minors, in the region of Lyon. This article is one of the few so far in France showing that integration of these Rroma is feasible, in spite of what Valls stated last year, namely that Rroma cannot be integrated. (RTL)

In the department of Essone, a group of volunteers is working to integrate Rroma and is fighting the current expulsion policies of the French state. (Essonne Info)

While this is true of the minority of Rroma who are migrants and part of the current migration issue in France, there are many more Rroma in that country who are integrated and live “normal” lives. These should not be forgotten in this debate.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

31.12.2014 France – Between Expulsions and Integration : The Expulsions

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Again, and this in spite of the usual republican reprieve over the Winter period, the French authorities expulsed migrant Rroma from illegal camps in various places. Le Monde reports about these blanket expulsions, from Le Havre to Saint Denis (Le Monde, 28 Nov.); and more articles report on other expulsion such as in Saint Denis (Libération Dec. 12); in Bobigny, the Rroma who were expulsed of their camp have “vanished” (Le Monde, 29. Nov.); In Stains, Rroma are being forced to leave, and this, in a communist town where one could expect a bit more tolerance (Liberation, 18 Dec.); in Haubourdin as reported in la Void du Nord; and in Champs sur Marne, Rroma left their encampment prior to an announced eviction.

These evictions do not resolve any issues. They just displace the problem from one location to the next. And in addition, the press, by just reporting on these Rroma, who, by all accounts make up roughly 15 thousand people of the more than 150 thousand living and integrated in France, give a very biased and dangerous picture of the minority and play in the nhands of populists and extremists.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

05.12.2014 Bron: Mrap criticises planned segregated class for Rroma children

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Bevand (2014) reports on the latest matter of the French movement against racism (Mrap). The organisation criticises the decision of the mayor of Bron, to set up an extra class for Rroma children in the community. The class is supposed to encompass the children of a local Rroma settlement and to include Rroma children already enrolled in school. The movement against racism justifiably criticises that the children are thereby intentionally excluded and disadvantaged: “Towards a new controversy? In any case, the movement against racism and for the friendship between people (Mrap) condemned in a statement on Monday the decision of the mayor of Bron – a statement near Lyon – to open an “ethnic class” to receive the Roma children of a local slum. […] Without distinction, it groups together children who were already enrolled in previous years and speak French well, with other children who have just arrived in France, MRAP continues, which wants “to invoke the defenders of rights to finish this additional ethnic segregation.” Segregation is inevitably the wrong way to promote the integration of migrant children. Rather, it promotes the exclusion and marginalisation of the children as well as the immigrant families. As Bevand himself points out, so far, children with weak knowledge of the French language were additionally supported, but could attend regular classes. This is a much more elaborate method, which aims at integration and support, and not to at a special treatment and exclusion. – According to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, in France there are between 100,000 and 500,000 Rroma. The vast majority of them is integrated, goes to work, and sends their children to school. The estimated 15,000 Rroma living in informal settlements are a minority of the minority.

France Italie Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Roumanie

05.12.2014 Increasing xenophobia and Rroma-hostility in Italy

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Sigona (2014) reports on increasing xenophobia and Rroma-hostility in Italy. The author is concerned about how Rroma have frequently become the target of xenophobic attacks in the last few months and years. To counteract this increasingly xenophobic climate, the president of the Tuscany region, Enrico Rossi, set an example with a photo – showing him together with a group of Rroma: “In the photo, Rossi stands flanked by a family of men, women and children. It’s a Sunday afternoon in Florence. “Let me introduce my neighbours” reads the description posted on Facebook. His neighbours are Romanian Roma. […] The picture was taken just a few weeks after Matteo Salvini, the new leader of the anti-immigration, anti-EU Northern League, paid a controversial visit to a Roma camp in Bologna to see how “tax money was spent”. Salvini has made regular verbal attacks on Roma and migrants, a core part of his party’s attempt to rebrand itself as Italy’s answer to the French Front National. The steady rise in his approval rating would suggest that it’s working.” As in France is, the public focus in Italy lies on a marginalised minority of Rroma, who live in informal settlements and are presented in a most biased way. Right-wing nationalist parties present the minority as scapegoats for problems that have their origin in society as a whole. The majority of the estimated 90,000 to 110,000 Rroma that have been living integrated in Italy since generations are largely hidden.

France Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Roumanie

05.12.2014 Prosecutor of Paris: criminal court not competent to judge Manuel Valls

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Libération (2014) reports on a recent decision of the Paris prosecutor. The investigation covers statements by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, in which he claimed that Rroma had the inclination to stay in Romania or to return there, and they had a very different lifestyle than the French, which was inevitably in confrontation with the French one. The Paris prosecutor’s office now judged on December the second that the criminal court was not competent to judge the statements made by Manuel Valls. The criminal chamber will pronounce its verdict in this regard on December the 19th. However, the plaintiff against Valls, the organisation “La Voix des Roms”, wants that his statements are not judged independently of his function as the then Interior Minister, but are recognised as demagoguery: “For the lawyer of Manuel Valls, Mr. Georges Holleaux, the statements of his client are adjacent to “his ministerial competence”. In his view, the facts thus reverse the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only institution empowered to judge members of the government, for deeds which they have committed in the function of their office. Moreover, he pointed out that that Mrap (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples) had filed a lawsuit against Manuel Valls at the the Court of Justice of the Republic in September 2013, which was dropped it without further consequences.” Manuel Valls is not an isolated case with his racist remarks against the Rroma. In recent years, numerous French mayors and politicians have gained public attention with racist remarks about Rroma. Some were sentenced to mild fines, others were completely acquitted, referring to the freedom of expression. In the French public, Rroma are equated with 15,000 to 20,000 Rroma who live in illegal settlements. The 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma who are integrated in France since generations, are continuously ignored. The Rroma are also repeatedly exploited by various parties for political purposes and blamed for social ills that have their origins in society as a whole, and not in a single minority. Unfortunately, this scapegoat policy finds approval among a shocking number of people (compare L’Yonne Républicaine 2014).

France Italie Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

21.11.2014 Discrimination against Rroma in Italy

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As in the beginning of November, the Local (2014) reported about the discrimination against Rroma in Italy. Subject of contention are the numerous camps in which the Italian authorities deliberately hold the minority at the margins of society. The conditions in these state camps are heavily criticised: the air is insufficient to breath, an inmate says, as well as the hygiene: tuberculosis, scabies and lice are much more frequently than usual. The permanent monitoring in the camps, which is part of the facilities, leads particularly among children to anxiety and sleep disorders as well as phobias, the Rroma Rights Centre criticises in a report: “It [the Rroma Rights Centre] also warned of daily discrimination and violence against Roma in “an ever-growing climate of racism”, including repeated cases of local residents attacking camps with Molotov cocktails while police turn a blind eye. Although over half the 170,000 or so Roma and Sinti people in Italy are Italian citizens with regular jobs and houses, hate crimes against the poorest strata are rife, fuelled by inflammatory comments by politicians on both the left and right quick to paint Roma as crooks. […] Camp dwellers are prevented by council regulations from applying for public housing even if they were born in Italy, trapping them permanently in fenced-off centres far from schools, shops, health care centres or workplaces.” Because of this strong discrimination against Rroma, the European Commission has threatened legal actions against the Italian government for violation of the anti-discrimination legislation. Rroma belong to all social strata, but are indeed particularly affected by poverty and discrimination. Since the euro and economic crisis, various parties especially instrumentalise them as scapegoats for social ills. As in France, the public image of the minority is marked by extreme prejudice and misinformation: in the minds of many Italians, Rroma are synonymous with the residents of camps in the suburbs. The aspect of social exclusion is largely ignored.

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