Category Archives: Germany

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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 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 mass immigration initiative of the SVP and the Rroma

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Suter (2014) examines the role of anxiety and emotions in the debate on migration in the EU, referring to the controversial mass immigration initiative of the SVP. Suter takes up a liberal position in the debate: economically strong countries such as Germany, Great Britain or Switzerland are too afraid of poverty migrants who will supposedly burden the social welfare system or already do it. Thereby we easily forget how valuable well-educated migrants are to the economies of these countries: “The battle around the SVP-initiative is being fought on familiar territory: proponents speak of fears of unemployment, cultural unease and impending crime; opponents rely on tolerance, refer to the benefits of immigrants to the economy and prosperity.” In addition, it is easily forgotten that EU-citizens may only settle down in Switzerland if they are in possession an employment contract. Concerning the role the Rroma play in this debate, Suter is not free of prejudices himself: he incorrectly equals Rroma with travellers and repeats media prejudices who speak of unwillingness to integrate and culturally-related crimes.

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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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07.02.2014 Racism accusation to the German police

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The Central Council of German Sinti and Rroma accuses the German police of internal racism, referring to investigation-files on the NSU (National Socialist Underground) murder of a police officer in 2007. In the files, there seem to be racist remarks like “gypsies, who typically lie” and comments about a Rrom, for whom lies are said to be a “substantial part of his socialization”. The investigation into the murder, which was assigned to the National Socialist Underground later, paradoxically was conducted with racist prejudices. The central chairman Romani Rose calls for criminal penalties: “In the memos there were remarks that are highly racist and resemble the jargon of the Nazis”, Rose complained” (Spiegel 2014, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2014, Schultz 2014).

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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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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 Rroma holocaust museum to be opened at the end 2014 in Hungary

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Radisic (2014) informs about the impending opening of a Rroma holocaust museum in the Hungarian city of Pecs. The documentation centre is the result of shared aspirations of the local mayor’s office and resident Rroma. The aim of the institution is to remind students and the public about the much-neglected genocide of the Rroma during the Second World War. Due to the largely oral traditions among the Rroma, the genocide is far from well documented. The estimated death toll rage from 220,000 to one and a half million dead: „West Germany recognized the Roma Holocaust in 1982, but formal recognition and marking of this Holocaust have generally proven to be difficult due to lack of recorded collective memory and documentation of the Porajmos among the Roma, a consequence both of their oral traditions and illiteracy, heightened by widespread poverty and discrimination in this day and age […].“

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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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17.01.2014 Poverty-migration and the Rroma

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Nuspliger (2014) gives a cursory overview of the debate on poverty-migration and on the feared predictions of mass migrations to Western Europe. He qualifies the images of right-wing conservatives who predict a strong west migration from Romania and Bulgaria in 2014. Many residents of these countries migrated abroad in 2007 after the EU accession and did not wait for the unrestricted movement of persons. The statistics about the poverty-migration regularly treat seasonal workers and students as equivalent to real labour migrants and therefore create a distorted picture of migration movements. In addition it is observed that many would-be migrants go into countries with diaspora groups or related languages: “Against the backdrop of the northern European fears of a Romanian mass immigration it is remarkable that, according to Eurostat figures of 2012, over three quarters of exile Romanians have moved to Spain and Italy – for which there are also linguistic reasons. Half of relocated European Portuguese are living in France and three-quarters of the emigrants of Poland live in the UK and Germany, which attracted many immigrants from Eastern Europe before the end of the licensing restrictions in 2011.” Rroma are being disadvantaged as before. The funding provided by the EU is only insufficiently used. Additionally, Rroma slums in Western Europe are the evidence of the lack of integration of this ethnic group. In the debates on immigration, meanwhile, images of social abuse dominate the discourse, which is taken up readily by polemicists.

Lübberding (2014) discusses the TV program “Maybrit Illner” on the topic “poverty on the move: how much freedom of movement can we afford?” The participants of the discussion were the Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann, the Green politician Cem Özdemir, the Councillor of Berlin-Neuköln Franziska Giffey, the head of the German police union  Rainer Wendt, the Duisburger citizen Sabine Kessler and the Rrom Dzoni Sichelschmidt. They discussed the pro and cons of unrestricted migration in the European Union. Lübbering shares the opinion that most of the immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria are Rroma, although the ethnicity is not recorded in the statistics. He states that in the city of Duisburg, with around 500,000 inhabitants, the 10,000 new immigrants are of Rroma origin. Lübberding takes side with the critics of unrestricted migration in the European Union when making fun of the integration targets of the European Union. He claims that the Union lacks sense of practice: “The error of the Brussels bureaucracy is not in their ambitious plans, but in the ignorance of their ambitiousness. On power-point slides just everything looks better than in the neighbourhood of Mrs. Kessler.” On the other hand it is a positive aspect of European networking that the problem of Rroma integration has now become a pan-European issue and no longer just concerns the countries with significant Rroma populations. Additionally, Lübberding qualifies the dimensions of immigration, which are anything but dramatic. Compared with the 1.2 million refugees who have fled from the civil war in Syria to Lebanon, the immigration to Germany is very modest. Dzoni Sichelschmidt emphasised the important fact that the Rroma have emerged in large part as losers from the events of 1989: the hostility towards them has risen. This circumstance is often neglected in Western Europe (compare ZDF 2014).

In debate about immigration, Kelec (2014) takes a right-wing conservative position. Additionally, with respect to Rroma, she present cultural arguments. She sees an unrestricted immigration as a failed policy of ignorance. Kelec accuses the left parties of downplaying the problems of reality and accusing right-wing populism of being responsible for everything. The Christian Democrats are supposed to insist stubbornly on their values. On Rroma she pretentiously claims: “The children of Sinti and Roma are left alone, in the Clans, medieval conditions often prevail [ … ]. Roma children are sent by their parents and clan chiefs to beg or work on the street – they are supposed to be in school. They also have an EU-wide right to childhood and education. In Roma families child-marriages and forced marriage is common – the right to independence and integrity must also apply for young girls and women. There can be no tradition of being above the constitution, even if some believe that medieval manners as “culture” are worthy of protection.” With these unwise generalizations Kelec discredits herself. She represents traditions and media cases as if they were deadlocked and universal. Her remarks are racist and offensive to a majority of the Rroma who do not follow these practices. Kelec reproduces uncritically polemical ideas about backwardness and exploitation that have nothing to do with the identity of the Rroma. Accusing Rroma living in poverty of their poverty as a crime is arrogant and stupid. Criticism of the traditions, which are no traditions, is no intelligent criticism.

Teigeler (2013) points out the important fact that the debate about unrestricted migration in the European Union is dominated by fears and irrational predictions. Before Poland’s accession to the Schengen area there were similar fears of a mass migration, which turned out to be unfounded. The discussion also often tends to forget the fact that with the immigrants also important needed professionals are recruited. Labelling immigrants sweepingly as poverty immigrants and benefit-freeloaders simplifies the complexity of reality too much: “With the multiple accusations that immigrants and in particular Roma from South Eastern Europe “will subvert the social system, old racist stereotypes are stoked”, criticized the speaker of the Green Party parliamentary group, Jutta Velte, on Tuesday (31/12/2013). “We need a more objective debate”, the representative urged.” 

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20.12.2013 Minute of Silence at the Rroma Murdered in Germany

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The Bundesrat of Germany commemorated this week with a minute of silence to the Rroma murdered under the Nazis. Around 500,000 Rroma, some estimates put the number significantly higher, fell victim of the genocide of the fascist regime. Germany discussed this year in details the possible consequences of the “Poverty immigration” from South Eastern Europe, and the Rroma were at the centre of the debate. A lot of non-objective and polemical statements were made about them but the historical guilt of Germany towards Rroma was rarely addressed: “”It is a humanitarian imperative that we never forget this genocide,” said the President of the Bundesrat, Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD), on Thursday in the Bundesrat in Berlin. It was the “collective failure of an entire generation.” The Bundesrat remebers every year the so-called Auschwitz Decree by the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler. T On December 16th, 1942 he ordered the deportation of members of certain ethnic groups in the concentration camp of Auschwitz –Birkenau”  (Greenpeace Magazine, 2013).

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13.12.2013 Rroma Debate in Germany

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Kühn (2013) informs about the evacuation of several Rroma settlements in Duisburg. The houses, the majority of whom belong to a controversial real estate speculator who had already received a large coverage in the German media this year. One-sided reports of littering, noise, theft, prostitution, and begging evoked a distorted, almost absurd image of Rroma unwilling to integrate and adapt. Again and again, local residents were quoted as saying that their way of life was incompatible with the one of the new residents. The homeowner – Branko Barisic – now lets residents to be gradually evicted from his buildings and he will set up social flats or apartments for the elderly. He also speaks of Rroma as social parasites and discredits them unjustly as poverty migrants, with no valid reason for migration: “Most of them could not care less where they live. They want to enjoy the benefits of our welfare state. They need not live in Bergheim” (Kühn 2013/II). That many Rroma are well integrated and that many are also victims of massive discriminations in their countries of origin is once again not mentioned here.

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13.12.2013 European Rroma Policies: A Sobering Result at Year End

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Riesbeck (2013) discusses the prospects of the European Rroma policies, which are aimed at the promotion of Rroma in the areas of education, health, employment, and housing. The results of theses policy is meanwhile sobering. The current project that has now been running for two years does not get the ball rolling. One of the reasons for the lack of success stories is the lack of legal means of the EU administration: “The States indicate their goals in the Roma strategy, but the European Commission has no legal basis to call for the implementation of these objectives and make them binding.” therefore, the European Rroma policies fall to bureaucratic hurdles between EU policies and programs of the respective nation-states. In addition, Rroma are themselves insufficiently involved in the projects. One talks about and for them, but not with them. 7sur7 (2013) sees a fundamental problem in the voluntariness of the implementation of EU decisions on the part of the EU Member States.

Mappes-Niediek sees an alternative to increasing educational achievements among Rroma, something which does not necessarily guarantees a real improvement, in the creation of social funds to cover the basic needs of all EU residents. His thought stems from the fact that education alone cannot eliminate the discrimination by the majority society (Gędziorowski 2013).

Meanwhile, several Western European countries are trying to stem the migration of Rroma. Members of the EU Parliament again spoke against restrictive practices towards Rroma: “EU countries must stop illegal expulsion of Roma people and end ethnic profiling, police abuse and human rights violations perpetrated against them, says Parliament in a non-binding resolution adopted on Thursday. It assesses member states’ strategies to boost Roma integration and calls for more funds to prevent discrimination and reach small community projects” (European Parliament 2013). The undeniable tension between national political programs and pan-European plans are visible in particular also in the European Rroma policies. While the EU insists on integration and recognition, conservative politicians in Germany, France and Great Britain propagate an isolationist policy (see Flechter 2013).

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13.12.2013 Rroma from South Eastern Europe: Economic Migrants or Refugees?

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The Welt (2013) reports currently on practices against migrant Rroma in Hamburg. The responsible Minister of the Interior Michael Neumann wants to continue the deportations of asylum seekers from South Eastern Europe, despite the massive criticism from Greens, the Left and the FDP. This does not mean, according to the Interior Minister that the deportations were not individually critically examined. Again, one must be amazed that migrants from Southeast Europe are held from the outset for Rroma, although this fact is not recorded in the statistics. Many immigrants from the Balkans are members of other ethnic groups. However, it is true that Rroma are particularly affected by exclusion. Radio Dreyeckland (2013) rightly criticised that the protection rate of asylum applications from Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia-Hercegovina fixed at 5% is too low. Many Rroma in these countries are discriminated against and should not therefore be treated as pure poverty refugees. This is also criticized by Jelpke (2013): The asylum applications of immigrants from the Western Balkans are being processed in shorter and shorter periods. This is due to the coalition agreement between the CDU and the SPD. This document plans to declare the western countries of South Eastern Europe to be “safe countries”. This makes it increasingly difficult for migrants from these countries to get a successful asylum application. A protective claim is still just awarded 0.1 to 0.6 percent of applicants from Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The federal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, meanwhile decided a deportation moratorium for the winter months (Carini 2013).

Haug (2013), in his article, points to the discrepancy between integration efforts communicated by the State and the real experienced exclusion. Rroma deported to Serbia mostly find there an income on the edge of society or live on welfare. Against the official statement of Serbia, that Rroma are not persecuted in the country stand in contrast to the misery and hopelessness: “Where it can be, they are marginalized, the victims reported. You get no jobs and are not informed of your rights. Even for food the meagre money barely suffice. […] “On paper, there are now many measures to end discrimination against these people,” says the lawyer. The trip did however convinced him that: “In daily life the affected ones feel little of it””

The President of the German Association of Cities Ulrich Maly goes against simple explanations in connection with immigrants from Southeast Europe. The migrants are often discriminated against and are hoping for a better life in Germany. He appealed to the historical responsibility of Germany in dealing with minorities and argued against a policy of isolation, as demanded by several parties. Rather, one must promote the integration in Germany and in the countries of origin: “These are not people who come and go with open hands to the administration. They come for other reasons. Because they are oppressed at home, perhaps even feel persecuted. They come because they believe that they will find a better life with us. These are reasons that one initially must respect.” Maly therefore goes against an alliance of politicians and citizens fearing a “social tourism” on the German social welfare system from the beginning of 2014. Bulgarians and Romanians will then be able to search unrestricted fro work in the European Union, thanks to the European free Movement Agreement (Kusicke 2013).

Leber (2013) sees the debate about immigration marked by varying degrees of coverage in social systems. The “general principle of European free movement” meets various forms of social welfare. That, however, this is not necessarily a contradiction in a polemical debate, however, it is often forgotten. Instead, it is dominated by a politics of fear, which flattens the heterogeneity of migration phenomena and propagandises the immigration of unskilled problem cases. It is this utilitarian thinking is criticized by Koch (2013) in his account of the problem. It means a ranking of people on questionable, inhuman principles.

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06.12.2013 The Media Coverage on Rroma in Switzerland is One-Sided and often Defamatory

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On behalf of the Federal Commission against Racism, the Research Institute for the Public and Society of the Zurich University made a study on the quality of the reporting in Swiss media about Rroma (Ettinger, 2013; compare NZZ, 2013; 20 Minuten, 2013; Südostschweiz, 2013). The study examined a representative sample of Swiss media of the period from 2005 to 2012. The study concludes that the contributions are highly selective and unbalanced: in the daily press on Switzerland,  Rroma are almost only referred to in relation to asylum abuse, begging, theft, or prostitution. They appear primarily as perpetrators or in the case of prostitution as the victims of clan-related forced prostitution. While some Rroma come to word in various newspapers, the tendency to let officials talk about them dominates “Because of the focus on crime and deviant behaviour, representatives of the executive branch (24%), respectively of the police (12%) and the judiciary (6%) are the ones who most frequently come to word” (Ettinger 2013). The coverage is dominated by an image of an enemy that hypes up individual cases as precedents and builds them to an attestation of the culturally determined Rroma delinquency, which needs not be further explained: “The explanation of the rationale behind their statements is waived in particular by spokesman for the police (60 %), who limits their statements to delinquent behaviour of Roma, and almost without exception the citizen who argument on the basis on the basis of their subjective concerns whose aversions and fears are expressive statements that do not require a justification.” The alleged facts are therefore based on suspicions and on the willingness to believe them as facts.

In the reporting on Rroma outside of Switzerland in turn dominated by the perspective of portraying Rroma as the victims of discrimination and exclusion. The usual defamation about Rroma in Switzerland are largely ignored.

However, the study does not sufficiently question to what extent journalists and concerned citizens just assume that the people one reports on are Rroma. The attribution of a Rroma identity to conspicuous people is not looked into and considered to be problematic, but simply taken as given. This became clear in particular in the study of the Zurich street prostitution that simply postulated that the women in question are Rroma. How these statistics came about, is not problematized: “The majority of sex workers surveyed include the groups of the two Roma groups Romunro or Olah on”  (Sex Educatio 2012: 43). A clear identification of ethnicity is anything but simple, as the case around the blonde Rroma girl has shown.

On the Rroma Contact Point side, we find it would be great to give unspectacular topics such as the lives of integrated Rroma a voice and speak of their everyday life in order to create a counterweight to the negative representations. Ettinger notes: Although “Roma themselves come to word in no small numbers in reporting, t in 13 percent of the contributions they present their reactions. But the opinions the Roma and respectively Jenische are usually only reactions to existing problems. Roma or Jenische therefore are not able to contribute their own issues and positions in the reporting.”

The aspect of the political instrumentalisation of the Rroma to political ends falls short in this study even though Ettinger notes that Rroma are exploited before votes for partisan political ends. But the continuous values projection on Rroma by politically varied oriented daily and weekly media are too little criticised. Yet it is precisely the Rroma who are continuously abused as a counter point to the construction of a civic identity. Ettinger’s study therefore lacks a historical perspective on the aspect of discrimination that could thematise the socio-political aspect of the exclusion. This view would show that there is a tradition of prejudice against Rroma that has been perpetuated for centuries. A good source in this respect is Klaus-Michael Bogdal (2011) study on the dissemination of false, distorting culturalisms. Another problem is that the misrepresentation of Rroma on poverty-related phenomena such as illiteracy, begging, prostitution, high childbirth rates, or low level of education is not discussed critically. It is not enough to expose these representations as racist. They must be identified as wrong and distorting representations. Otherwise, the impression may arise that while the coverage was indeed distorted, there nevertheless is a culture of delinquency and exploitation among Rroma, which, due to political correctness, one must not mention. In the context of the poverty immigration to Germany, numerous journalists are arguing this way. Rather, social problems such as poverty and exclusion must be considered as such. In addition, cultural explanations that are based on prejudice and not on effective knowledge must be recognised as such and deconstructed.

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06.12.2013 The Rroma and the European Free Movement of Persons

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The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma criticized the agreement of EU interior ministers to curb the free movement of persons in the EU. The European Interior Ministers have agreed this week to reduce the allowances for needy immigrants and, where appropriate, again can introduce a visa duty to restrict larger migration flows from South East Europe (Handelsblatt, 2013). The curb on migration within the EU will not solve any problems, but freeze and uphold the dependency structures and injustice among the States. There is also no denying that the exclusion of Rroma is practiced more in some countries than in others.

The German towns President Ulrich Maly asked meanwhile for more tolerance towards immigrants and appealed to the historical responsibility of Germany towards the minority of the Rroma (Unternehmen-Heute 2013).

Böhm (2013) meanwhile suggests that a veritable “competitive repression”  against Rroma is taking place. Western European countries such as France, Germany, or the UK up each others on measures aimed at wanting to limit immigration from Romania and Bulgaria. The widespread exclusion of Rroma, which only make the migration necessary and the real problem is usually ignored. Instead, virtually all immigrants from Southeast Europe are collectively identified as poverty immigrants and thus as migrants, who apart from their poverty have no real reason for asylum (20 Minuten, 2013). Furthermore one often forgets that the assessments of the security of countries done by the states to assess the discrimination of minorities such as the Rroma are often inadequate or euphemistic, especially if the analysis comes from the countries themselves. To declare the immigrants from South East Europe broadly as poverty immigrants ignores real practices of exclusion that are not looked at by these country assessments.    

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29.11.2013 Segregation through an Integration Project?

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Klapheck (2013) reports on the integration project “Maro Temm” [Our country] in Kiel. The program financed 50 settlements for Sinti that were built in the district of Gaarden in the suburbs. The report, filled with a lot of empathy nevertheless gives a fairly questionable image of integration and Rroma: the journalist talks at the beginning of the settling the Sinti. Most Rroma are not travellers. In addition, settling Rroma in ethnically segregated quarters should really be questioned. How can an exchange take place with non-Rroma if they live in segregated settlements? Segregation is already there even without the help of such integration projects. The fact that the interviewed Sinti speak of widespread illiteracy among the Rroma is also one-sided. This is not true of many integrated Rroma living in Germany. They are simply hidden in this report. Klapheck evokes an emphatic but highly one-sided picture of Sinti and Germany. This also criticized by Romani Rose in his interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung (2013).

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29.11.2013 Support versus recognition of the Rroma

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Mappes-Niediek (2013) provides information about a restaurant project in the Slovenian town of Maribor. The restaurant will be operated by Rroma and to a certain extent reduce the high unemployment locally. Against this project co-initiated by the mayor, local resistance has been organised: the critics, among them local representatives, fear that the restaurant will become a Rroma meeting place where there will be only Rroma. The cook Ajša Mehmeti decidedly stated that she wants it to be a restaurant for all. For Slovenes, Serbs, Bosnians and Rroma. But for the project to work, it needs not only the support of the mayor, but also the support of the local population. So far, this is missing: “Meanwhile, the Roma have the key for the local. The contract is signed, an architect has looked at the rooms. But the Maribor Rroma do not look like winners. Friendliness or integration you can not just win by fighting.”

On the basis of the fate of the young Rrom Orhan Jasarovski, Gojdka (2013) discusses the injustices of the social structures and asylum procedures. Orhan has epilepsy and a lame leg. He came with his family as a youngster from Macedonia to Germany. Here he hopes for a better life outside of poverty and exclusion. He works hard and wants to study. But the German migration authority has other plans. Orhan and his family have to return to Macedonia. After numerous legal hurdles and thanks to the support of German helpers, he manages to make it back to Germany. But the recognition as Rrom remains difficult. As before, there is a clear discrepancy between verbally expressed sympathy and real recognition: “In a literature seminar at the university a lecturer speaks finally about Sinti and Roma: “An anti-social people on the margins of society”. Jasarovski boils. His pulse skyrockets. Every word is like a knife in his heart. Anger about the lecturer. Rage over his own cowardice not to have outed oneself. Then Jasarovski stands up. “I know best what Roma are,” he says, “I ‘m Gypsy.” Many friends renounce their friendship. Too deep are the literary and non-literary stereotypes of the thieving Gypsies, the travellers and the child abductors. In the literature, one must analyse these pictures scientifically, says Jasarovski. But he also knows that he can not meet the bitter reality scientifically.”

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15.11.2013 Cementing of Prejudices with the Case of Maria

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In the case of the blond bulgarian Rroma girl Maria, Scholz (2013) sees a renewed strengthening of racist prejudices against Rroma. Both the researcher on racism Wolfgang Benz, as well as the Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, criticized the reporting of numerous media as well as the actions of the involved police agencies as being based on “racist patterns”. The un-reflected articles promoted the exclusion and general prejudice against Rroma living in Europe. Rose, according to  Scholz, loudly criticised the one-sidedness of the reporting that always relies only on problem cases and completely neglects the “invisible” integrated Rroma: “A few days ago in an interview with the “Südeutsche Zeitung” Rose had already warned  against “always focusing on only one part of the Roma.” One must distinguish between the ones “who live in anonymity and those who lead a perfectly normal life in Germany”.” Rose further calls for the establishment of a committee of experts to examine antiziganism in Germany and who would make public (also compare German Wave 2013).

Peters (2013) precises that according to a recent survey, 64 % of Germans would reject Rroma as neighbours. And this even though many already have Rroma as neighbours, but do not know it because they keep their identity secret. Peters also draws clear parallels to the discrimination against the Jews with reference to Wolfgang Benz. Such journalism would not be allowed in Germany about the Jewish minority due to the historical events. But for Rroma surprisingly, this is acceptable. Rose criticizes: “Worldwide, missing children are now suspected to be among Roma. Hundreds of parents now hope that their missing children are alive and were abducted by Roma. This makes all Sinti and Roma to potential child thieves.”

Gezer (2013) comes to a dismal conclusion about the current acceptance of Rroma in Europe. The public image is dominated by negative stereotypes, Rroma are used as scapegoats and as a projection for a wide range of social fears and debates that are taking place on their back: fears of immigration, of change, economic impoverishment, “Yes, Europe has a new villain, he is called Roma and is everywhere. The new villain has dark skin, sings and steals, gives his children no shoes on because it is their tradition to do so. In Europe it is acceptable again to stigmatize a group because of their ethnicity.” She especially criticizes the silence of many politicians and public figures who hush up the blazing racism against Rroma. It is the same type of behaviour that was observed when the migrants were the Turks.

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