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…
Rroma camps still make the headlines in France. As if a small minority of 15 thousand Rroma was representative and was news. News is that they are being used, misused, and are becoming victims of French politics.
In Marseilles, a camp was closed; while in Antibes, the expulsion will have to wait a little; and in the North, around Roubaix, volunteers and Rroma are still mobilising to further integration and to prevent further expulsions; and in the South West of France, an expulsion of Bulgarian Rroma is reported while in Antibes, they are getting a short respite. Finally, In Nantes, a judge granted a permanent address to Rroma currently living in a camp, are-requisite to any integration in France.
The real pity is not the fate of these migrants, it is the fact that the French Press can’t seem to get over their short sighted stereotypes…
Another documentary on Rroma beggars in Switzerland. It is amazing how a very small number of people seems to fascinate an entire country. In Lausanne, there are no more than 60 beggars at any time, and not all of them are Rroma. In Switzerland, there are at most 1’000 such beggars, thieves, prostitutes, and they are represented as a horde invading this peaceful country… Even theough there are 80 to 100 thousand well integrated Rroma there.
In Brief, another movie, another view on the same old stereotypes.
In October 2012, a Rromni, Paraskevi Kokkoni was savagely beaten by local men in a context of racism and of attacks by rightist extremists against Rroma in that town. Three men were subsequently condemned to 8 months of jail and to a further suspended sentence of three further years.
A petition signed by 82’000 people was handed over to the Greek minister of the interior on March 6th. This petition urges Greece to act decisively against hate crimes.
A controversy in the UK followed a ruling finding a politician guilty of racism and discrimination against Rroma. A British Rrom and a Green candidate to the elections says no politician is different from another in this matter, and that newspapers tend to cover such comments in a way that portrays them defending the order and the community against Rroma.
Travellers and Rroma represent a community that is non-negligible and are voters. But only 10% of them voted in the last elections. This article offers an interesting analysis of the reasons why and the ways in which this is currently changing.
The city of Duisburg produced a study that clearly shows that extreme rightists parties started using the theme of Rroma and how this is based on daily racism, enabled by the media and politics. The broschure can be downloaded freely.
While starting with a good intention, Planet.fr, in their article entitled “Roms: pourquoi tant de haine?” [Rroma: why so much hatred], manages to pack quite a few stereotypes and misinformation in a short article. They speak of 17’000 Rroma (only those who have arrived from Romania and Bulgaria), associating Rroma with migrants and neglecting the 500’000 who live in that country, speak of poverty, etc.
On the positive side, they mention that France is indeed quite racist at this stage against Rroma and tha French politics have a problem with Rroma.
A court in Rome has found a publishing house that published a text book suggesting that „Gypsies“ were criminals, has been condemned for discrimination. This is a landmark case in Italy where these statements are all too often tolerated if not encouraged.
In Geneva, a theatre piece directed by Jérôme Richer questions the way we see Rroma. His show, oscillating between humour and seriousness serves many of the stereotypes on Rroma and their origins in the family and traditions. However, the actor and director mixes several topics in his presentation, speaking about travellers, speaking about Jenische, and the resulting picture, while coming from good intentions, misses the point. Rroma are clearly not as the gadže see them…
– Genecand, Marie-Pierre. Les Roms, ces inconnus qu’on adore détester. In: Le Temps. 19.02.2015. http://www.letemps.ch/…/Les_Roms_ces_inconnus_quon_adore_dé…
The Economist reports on a wall that was erected in the Romanian city of Baia Mare around one of its Rroma settlements. The economist cites poverty, segregation, education as some of the biggest hurdles faced by Rroma in Romania. Interviewing the town’s mayor, he reports that there is nothing discriminatory in the wall and states that the commune is investing in desegregated housing, and that one of the building in the settlement will anyhow be renovated, with its inhabitants being re-located. A NGO helping Rroma integration is blunter: People like the wall, and there is “latent racism” against Rroma.
– Romania’s Roma: The art of exclusion. In: The Economist. 20.02.2015.http://www.economist.com/…/21644532-wall-segregated-towns-r…
A young filmmaker Sahra Denard is currently making a documentary on Rroma migrants in the city of Toulouse. She is working with three Romanian sisters who live in an camp and will go with them in Romania, in their village of origin.
While the filmmaker wants to reduce stereotypes, the choice of subject contributes to re-enforce the general views on Rroma; Migrants from Romania or Bulgaria, poor, uneducated etc. On such a topic, the line between helping and damaging Rroma is a thin one to walk.
– Sarah Denard, un documentaire sur les Roms. In: La Dépèche. 19.02.2015. http://www.ladepeche.fr/…/2052220-sarah-denard-un-documenta…
Following the sharp increase of people fleeing Kosovo to escape poverty and, in the case of Rroma, discrimination and outright racism, there are calls in Germany to be more stringent on theses asylum applications. Various measures have been suggested by politicians (Tagesspeigel) going to extraditing refugees also in the winter, as asked by politicians from the CDU (LNOnline). Some even deny that there is an issue in the country.
Politicians should be maybe remember, especially in Germany, that they recognised the country but also implicitly if not explicitly recognised the ethnic cleansing of minorities from the Kosovo. Ethnic states have no place in the 21st century!
– Simantke, Elisa; Monath, Hans. Streit um schnellere Abschiebung. In Der Tagesspeigel. 13.02.2015. http://www.tagesspiegel.de/…/fluechtlinge-aus…/11360670.html
– Streit um Asylbewerber aus dem Kosovo: Nord-CDU macht Druck. In: LNOnline. 13.02.2015. http://www.ln-online.de/…/Streit-um-Asylbewerber-aus-dem-Ko…
– Kosov ist kein Krisenland. Beate Merk im Gespräch mit Thielko Grieß. In: Deutschlandrundfunk. 14.02.2015.
The Romanian television reports on the arrest of 19 Romanian Rroma in Milan for being procurers. They are reported to have trafficked Romanian women and forced them into prostitution. Again the criminal activity is clearly portrayed as an ethnic trait, fuelling the already strong racism against Rroma in Romania.
A contemporary art museum, the Malmö Konstall has an exhibition consisting of two homeless Rroma in a room begging. They are paid, and are not accepting any money from the visitors. The exhibition has been criticised by several organisations as being demeaning and as being an exploitation of human misery.
We would just say that in this particular case, the artist and the gallery have done their share to perpetuate age old stereotypes… This is clearly not acceptable.
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.
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.
An Article in the “Standard” in Austria analyses the daily racism against Rroma that still exist 20 years after the attacks against this minority in Oberwarth. They explicitly state that as soon as an “invisible” Rroma, that is a Rroma who is integrated and does not says he is one, outs himself, he or she is immediately confronted to racism. The old stereotypes, stereotypes that have never really been accurate are difficult to eradicate.
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.
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!
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.
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