Tag Archives: Rroma

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

21.11.2014 Fidesz mayor Ferenc Haszilló agitates against Rroma

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Ferenc Haszilló, the recently re-elected mayor of the Hungarian city Kecel, has come under massive attack in the Hungarian media and politics, and has announced his resignation from office. The reasons for the furore around Haszilló are  a recordings of statements, which he made in 2012 after an official interview with the local television. The utterances, not meant for publication, include massive defamations of Rroma and Jews, criticism of the ruling party and great sympathy for right-wing extremist views: “An employee of the local television, who wishes to remain anonymous, confirmed Magyar Narancs the authenticity of the recording, but explained it should never have become public – it was leaked with the malicious intention to cause a scandal and bring the Mayor and city into disrepute. […] Regarding the Roma, he [Ferenc Haszilló] says: “dirty, worthless assholes, who grow up in piss, are as stupid as animals and come to the municipality if they need a little firewood; I wish I could go out and kick them in the face, the Jobbik is probably right about that.(…) One can not allow that they freeze to death (laughter) … The truth is that should they all die (…) and the state also … on this subject I totally agree with Jobbik, kiss my ass … one should chop them into shithouse.” – The context that led to the publication of the recordings is still unclear. Although Haszilló has now apologised for his comments, they are evidence of a great sympathy for misanthropic views that degrade certain ethnics groups and declare them inferior. Such statements meet the statement of facts of demagoguery and racism to the full extent and should be punished accordingly (Pusztaranger 2014).

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

21.11.2014 Great Britain: survey confirms discrimination, but perpetuates biased Rroma image

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A survey conducted on behalf of Anglia Ruskin University and the National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups, which interviewed 120 Rroma and Irish Travellers, confirms the discrimination and exclusion of Rroma and Irish Travellers in the areas of health care, access to education and the labour market, and indicates elevated levels of infant mortality and lower life expectancies. However, due to the very small group of subjects it seems likely that only already marginalised Rroma and Irish Travellers were interviewed for the survey. Of the 90,000 to 120,000 Rroma, who have been living integrated in England for generations, belonging to all social strata, not a word is said of in the study. The study seems concentrated on the easily identifiable, marginalised Rroma and Irish Travellers, who only represent a part of these groups. The investigation is understood as a critique of the Rroma policy of the British government, which so far only undertook insufficient efforts to help the minority integrate successfully: “Nearly nine out of every 10 children and young people from a Gypsy, Roma or Traveller background have suffered racial abuse and nearly two thirds have also been bullied or physically attacked. As a result many are scared to attend school. The infant mortality rate of Gypsies and Travellers is three times higher than the national average. The life expectancy of Gypsies and Travellers has been estimated to up to 12 years shorter than that of the general population. They are significantly more likely to have a long-term condition and suffer poorer health. Gypsies and Travellers use mainstream health services less than other members of the population because of practical difficulties, such as complex procedures for registering and making use of services. Traditional occupations such as scrap metal dealing are being made more difficult or disappearing altogether due to Government policies. Roma are often exploited by gang masters.” In addition to the one-sided focus of the study on a marginalised minority of the minority, it is must be criticised that one didn’t deal precisely enough with terminologies and cultural explanations. While the distinction between Irish Travellers with European roots and Rroma with Indian origins made, the differentiation between “Gypsies” in opposite to “Rroma” and “Irish Travellers” remains unclear. Moreover, the claim that clan chiefs often exploit Rroma is the reproduction of a popular prejudice about Rroma. Rroma are not organised in hierarchical clans, but structured largely egalitarian (compare Lane/ Spencer/Jones 2014).

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21.11.2014 Swiss German media: one-sided coverage of Rroma

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Schindler (2014) reports on the November 18th Rroma Foundation’s press conference. The foundation presented the results of their five-year study on the coverage of Rroma in the Swiss German print media. The result is devastating: the various newspapers (NZZ, Blick, 20 Minuten Tages-Anzeiger, Beobachter, Weltwoche, Wochenzeitung (WOZ)), despite their different political orientation, all report in a one-sided way on the Rroma. In the media representation, the minority is reduced to a minority of marginalised, criminal Rroma. The majority of integrated Rroma – in Switzerland 80,000 to 100,000 people – is hidden: “If the is a report on Roma in Switzerland, the texts are exclusively speaking of beggars, thieves, and prostitutes, which are organised in patriarchal clans and cause problems. How many Roma are living in Switzerland, how unobtrusively they live and how well they are integrated, the reader does not learn – unlike in Germany or France, where the media report more balanced, according to the study. In the international departments however, the attention reduces them to victims, the study states. They are described almost exclusively as poor, uneducated and socially excluded” (Schindler 2014). Sutter (2014) focuses on the social effect of this one-sided reporting, in her reportage for SRF 2 Kultur. She emphasizes that at the press conference Stéphane Laederich appealed to ethical responsibilities of journalists. They should ask themselves whether a mentioning of ethnicity in relation to criminal offenses is morally acceptable: ““We want to point out that the image of begging clans does not correspond to reality.” The stereotypes that can be repeatedly found come in part of the Western European middle Ages. The image of child stealing, pagan, thieving Roma has legitimized their persecution and murder several times in the past. In connection with the reporting in Switzerland, Stéphane Laederich speaks of “intellectual arson that can all too easily turn into a real arson.” Therefore a ticking time bomb in the current European climate where right-wing nationalists celebrate great successes in voting” (Sutter 2014). Now the journalists are asked to act. It is up to them to replace this one-sided reporting with a differentiated picture of minority, and to encourage the readers to think critically. That alone can be the aspiration of good journalism. Therefore, the reference that the media necessarily report about the negative or extraordinary, misses the concerns of the Rroma Foundation: journalism hast to be more than just information, it must provide a realistic notion of the world and its minorities (compare Jirat 2014).

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

21.11.2014 Persistent segregation of Rroma pupils in the Czech Republic

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Beger (2014) reports on the continued segregation of Rroma pupils in the Czech Republic. The disproportionately high allocation of Rroma into so-called “practical schools”, with which the students have almost no chance to a job in a free market economy, was repeatedly criticised in recent months and years. A few weeks ago, the European Commission has threatened to initiate proceedings against the Czech government for violation of the anti-discrimination legislation. But  in spite several verdicts of the European courts, including the case “D. H. and Others vs. the Czech Republic”, which the condemned the Czech rulers for discrimination, until now, little has changed on segregation: “On a recent visit to Děčín, in the north of the Czech Republic, Amnesty International met Tereza. After her eldest son was transferred to a school for children with ‘mild mental disabilities’, having missed classes following a broken leg and surgery, she was determined not to let history repeat itself with her younger son, Dan. Despite pushing for Dan to remain in mainstream education, the director told Tereza that she didn’t want him in the school, and didn’t have the resources ‘to be bothered’ with him. Currently, both sons of Tereza attend a ‘practical school’. The prospects for Romani children who do make it to mainstream education aren’t much better. Many are segregated into ‘Roma only’ schools or classes with lower educational standards, with Romani parents given little choice as to where to send their children. In January 2014, a primary school in Ostrava rejected 12 children at registration; 10 were Roma. All the children lived in the catchment area.” Whether the Czech government will fulfil the demand of the European Commission to end desegregation, is still uncertain. In the Czech Republic, there live an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Rroma (compare Jurist 2014).

Bulgarie Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Roumanie

21.11.2014 Tagesspiegel: emphatic, but one-sided depiction of Rroma in Romania and Bulgaria

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Appenzeller (2014) reports on the visit of Neukölln’s education councillor, Franziska Giffey, in Romania and Bulgaria. The Berlin politician, who, among others, is in charge of the integration of immigrant families from Southeast Europe, wanted to get an idea of the Rroma situation in their countries of origin. However, Appenzeller’s Rroma representation remains one-sided, despite an emphatic perspective and the reference to well-educated immigrants: “The often heated debate revolves around Bulgarian and Romanian Roma families who are accused of migrating into the welfare system. Since they do not get regular jobs here, they sign up as contractors. The men then find underpaid work in the construction business, the women work as cleaners, gladly also in luxury hotels. […] And these people have children, many children. They go to German schools without speaking a word of German. […] A focal point of the Roma immigration in Berlin is the district of Neukölln. The official figures estimate 5,500 people, councillor Franziska Geffey, responsible for education and schooling, estimates twice as many.” However, critical studies could not detect any mass immigration of Rroma, as is repeatedly claimed. In addition, the claim that Rroma are needy, poorly educated, and have many children, is a massive generalisation. Rroma build part of all social strata and professions.

Appenzeller then discusses the educational journey of Giffey to Romania and Bulgaria. There, the education councillor was able to see the misery of the Rroma with her own eyes, the journalist emphasises. Unfortunately, Appenzeller reduces the Rroma situation in Romania and Bulgaria to marginalised Rroma in the slums, and the present, but not omnipresent racism, as he represents it: “Politics begins when looking at reality. Franziska Giffey wanted to know from what environment Roma families come from. This reality has opened her eyes. She has seen that Roma children have no way to be admitted to normal schools in their homeland. She saw that their parents have fewer opportunities for jobs, because they are discriminated against because of their origin and darker skin colour. She has experienced how these families are stigmatised by the prejudice that Roma are lazy and not willing to work. […] German politics may well ask the question of how the EU intends to sanction two member states, who brutally discriminate against an ethnic group that lives on their territories for centuries.” Rroma are discriminated against in Romania and Bulgaria, but they are not faced with an all-embracing state racism, as Appenzeller claims. The plight of marginalised Rroma in the two countries is the result of weak economies and the historical discrimination and exclusion of Rroma – in the case of Romania their enslavement that lasted until the mid 19th century. – The marginalized Rroma in the ghettos, who get all the media attention, are juxtaposed by an big part of integrated Rroma, which belong to the middle class, and some even to the upper class (compare Mappes-Niediek 2014).

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

19.11.2014 Rome e.V awarded with integration medal

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The Cologne “Rome e.V.” association, under the direction of Simone Treis, which is committed to the integration and acceptance of Rroma in Germany, was awarded the integration medal of the Bundestag. The school “Amaro Kher”, founded by the association, especially supervises Rroma children from refugee camps. Despite the very positive work of the association, stereotypes about Rroma are also reproduced here, when speaking about alphabetisation coursers and migrants. 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma have been living in Germany for generations, can read and write and are integrated. This integrated, invisible Rroma are not mentioned here: “Simone Treis is chairman of “Rome e.V.”, which since 1986 is committed to fight antiziganism and discrimination against Sinti and Roma. Her projects include literacy classes, social counselling and intercultural festivals. The goal is a lived practice of integration, which includes the Sinti and Roma into the society and at the same time indorses them in preserving their traditions. Because, according to Treis, many of them have the option of either hiding their culture or to face hostility. […] At the ceremony, Volker Beck pointed to the continuing problem of antiziganism in Germany. Education is the foundation for a free and independent life, this is particularly true for marginalized minorities such as Sinti and Roma, he stated” (Iding 2014).

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19.11.2014 Stereotypes: criminal Rroma clans

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Guggisberg (2014) reports on criminal Rroma clans that allegedly force children into crime. Parents surrender their children to an omnipotent clan chief – to whom they are indebted – for begging and theft and some even end up in prostitution. Guggisberg uncritically reproduces the perspective of the “Wiener Drehscheibe”, a social service for begging and stealing children who have been arrested by the police. Guggisberg does not question that the social educator Norbert Ceipek – the head of the institution – who identifies each begging or stealing child as a victim of human trafficking, could himself be subject to prejudices and be providing misinformation on Rroma: “Ceipek opens another photo file. It shows a Roma village in Romania, which he recently visited. He tells of houses, cobbled together from planks and plastic sheeting, and dirt roads full of garbage. In the middle is a magnificent villa. “It belongs to the clan chief. He rules the villages as a state within a state”, says Ceipek […]. Many of the children dealt with in Vienna belong to the Roma. […] “The phenomenon of Eastern European gangs of beggars is not new. But since a couple of months, it taken new proportions”, says Ceipek. Very active are the Bosnian gangs, he states. Every few weeks, they would bring the children to different European cities, according to a rotating system. The social worker explains that his aim was to provide a perspective to the children, a little education. They might get on better path.”” Alexander Ott, head of the Foreign Police Bern, who has already been quoted repeatedly in articles about criminal Rroma gangs and trafficking of children, has his say. He reproduces the usual prejudices about hierarchical Rroma clans with a clan chief who leads children into crime: “The network of child traffickers reaches from Eastern Europe to Switzerland. “The victims are recruited in Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Often they come from large Roma families, are purchased or borrowed”, says Ott. One sends the boys to steal, urges them into prostitution, or forces them to beg. The instigators know well that the Swiss justice system cannot prosecute the perpetrators because of their young age. Adolescent burglars are booming in the autumn and winter months. Ott emphasises that they have to deal with highly professional, specialised and hierarchically-run clans, who practice their craft since generations.” Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups. They are not hierarchically organised, as is often claimed, but structured largely egalitarian. So-called “Rroma kings” are self-elected and have purely representative character. Guggisberg and experts’ claim that behind begging children there is inevitably trafficking and organized crime, is wrong.

The characteristics of transnational operating trafficker networks, as presented here, are questioned by social science research. Their existence itself is not denied, something that cannot be in the interest of combating injustice. But their manifestation, their number, their omnipotence and the motivations attributed to them have to be questioned. These are often tainted by ideological fallacies, brought into connection or even equated with ethnic groups such as Rroma. Furthermore, the equation of child migration and trafficking has to be set into context. The stereotype of Rroma as child traffickers dates back to their arrival in Western Europe, and is in part based on the racist notion that Rroma did actively recruit children for criminal gangs. Regarding the topic of child migration, social science studies convey a more complex notion on the subject and point out that crimes such as incitement to beg and steal or alleged child trafficking are often permeated by various morals in the analysis and assessment by authorities, who don’t appropriately consider the perspective and motivations of migrating children and their relatives, and instead force on them their own ideas and definitions on organised begging, criminal networks or child trafficking. Structural differences of the societies involved and resulting reasons for a migration are given too little consideration. In reality, behind begging children there are often simply impoverished families, in which the children contribute to the family income and who therefore do not correspond to bourgeois notions of a normal family and childhood. De facto child trafficking is rare according to the sociological studies. Furthermore, the incomes from begging are very modest, which makes them unattractive for organised crime.  Guggisberg, who states that 200’000 children are recruited annually by the trafficking mafia, contradicts this. 

At the end of the article, Guggisberg quotes another expert opinion by Norbert Ceipek, the director of the “Wiener Drehschreibe”: At 15, many of them would get married and have children themselves, so that the cycle of crime continues. Likewise, Guggisberg reproduces this racist prejudice uncritically. The majority of Rroma, who live integrated, go to work and send their children to school, remain unmentioned (compare Cree/Clapton/Smith 2012, O’Connell Davidson 2011, Oude Breuil 2008, Tabin et al 2012).

  • Cree, Viviene E./Clapton, Gary/Smith, Mark (2012) The Presentation of Child Trafficking in the UK: An Old and New Moral Panic? In: Br J Soc Work 44(2): 418-433.
  • Guggisberg, Rahel (2014) Das Schicksal der Roma-Kinder von Wien. In: Tages-Anzeiger online vom 14.11.2014. http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/leben/gesellschaft/Das-Schicksal-der-RomaKinder-von-Wien/story/14626308
  • O’Connell Davidson, Julia (2011) Moving children? Child trafficking, child migration, and child rights. In: Critical Social Policy 31(3):454-477.
  • Oude Breuil, Brenda Carina (2008) Precious children in a heartless world? The complexities of child trafficking in Marseille. In: Child Soc 22(3):223-234.
  • Tabin, Jean Pierre et al. (2012) Rapport sur la mendicité « rrom » avec ou sans enfant(s). Université de Lausanne.
Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

19.11.2014 “Till the end of the world”: differentiated and prejudiced views about Rroma in Germany

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The feature film “Till the End of the World” tells about the relationship between a German pensioner and a young Rrom who recently immigrated to Germany. In the beginning, the woman has major reservations about the Rroma who moved into her house. However, her prejudices are increasing changed after she meets a young, extremely musically talented Rrom. Despite the desire to portray the Rroma as differentiated and unbiased as possible, the film is not without clichés: “The widow Maria Nikolai (Horbiger) dares barely to go out the door, since more and more foreigners live in her neighbourhood, especially Roma refugees in her house which she regards as riffraff. But as it is: When shopping, her wallet falls out of her pocket – and it is the Roma boy Bero (Samy Abdel Fattah), which brings it back to her. When he later finds shelter in her apartment from extreme right-wing thugs, the pensioner recognises his musical talent. The music-loving woman encourages the boy, meets his family and can overcome some of her prejudices. […] Of course, the film does not address the problems and biographies of all Roma in Germany. At the heart is the situation of a refugee family that suffers from poverty, their cramped living situation and back-breaking jobs. […] And that the boy can play the accordion so beautifuly, is ultimately a decision for a cliché” (Sakowitz 2014). In Germany, according to assessments of the Foundation Rroma, there are an estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma. Before the Nazi genocide, there were much more. Many have lived in Germany for generations, speak fluently German, have a job and send their children to school. They are the proof that the prejudices about the minority do not correspond to reality (compare Gangloff 2014, Hupertz 2014, Schilling-Strack 2014).

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

19.11.2014 Rroma in Austria: Rudolf Sarközi and the Holocaust

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Rudolf Sarközi, Holocaust survivor and founder of the “Cultural Association of Austrian Roma” is celebrating his seventieth birthday. Sarközi has won several awards for his commitment to the Rroma: “Almost to the day 70 years ago, Rudolf Sarközi was born in the Nazi detention camp in Lackenbach (district Oberpullendorf). Of the approximately 4,000 imprisoned Roma and Sinti in Lackenbach, only a few hundred survived the Holocaust – one of them was Sarközi. On Saturday, at the memorial in Lackenbach, one was commemorating the people murdered by the Nazis. Gymnasium students of Oberpullendorf and young Roma and Sinti co-created the celebration with touching speeches. Sarközi, chairman of Austrian Roma, found clear words: “I hope that the young in the group can say one day that we are not disadvantaged.” At the memorial event, Governor Hans Niessl (SPÖ) and regional vice Franz Steindl (ÖVP) presented Professor Sarközi one of the highest awards in Burgenland: the Commander’s Cross. “The fact that Roma and Sinti today have equal rights as other ethnic groups would not have been possible without the commitment of Rudolf Sarközi”, said the governor” (Kurier 2014, compare Salzburg24 2014).

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14.11.2014 Rroma against racism: conference on anti-Rroma racism in Vienna

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APA-OTS (2014) reports on a current Rroma conference in Vienna. From November the 10th to the 16th, under the slogan “Putren le jakha! – Open your eyes”, around 70 young Rroma activists from eleven countries came together to discuss the topic of “antiziganism”. The event was hosted by the Austrian Rroma association Rromano Centro: “Antiziganism is a form of racism that is directed against people that are stigmatised as gypsies.” The manifestations range from daily discrimination and structural racism to violent assault and murder. Under National Socialism, half a million people defined as “Gypsies” were murdered. This genocide is still little recognised. […] Mustafa Jakupov from Macedonia reports that Roma are being prevented from leaving their country: “At the insistence of Western European countries, strict border controls are carried out. Racial profiling means that many Roma are no longer allowed to leave their country. 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, there is again a country in Europe that does not allowed its citizens to leave.” […] ““Beggars” dominate the representation of Roma in the Austrian media and many journalists spread stereotypes that they do not question. These images lead to an increasing rejection,” Samuel Mago from Vienna stresses the responsibility of the media.” The term “antiziganism” has become an established concept, but is actually an unfortunate term, because by using the word “gypsy” it reproduces the derogatory term for a variety of groups as the Rroma, the Yeniche, the Irish Travellers, which have different historical backgrounds and characteristics (compare Die Presse 2014, Kurier 2014).

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14.11.2014 ORF: “The struggle of the Rroma”

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Rudich (2014) tries to convey a differentiated picture of Rroma in Europe. On the occasion of the resurgence of right-wing nationalist parties, the journalist visited Rroma representatives in European politics, young Rroma students, but also marginalised Rroma in Hungary and Spain. By selecting a variety of Rroma from all strata of society, she succeeds in portraying the minority beyond highly popular stereotypes: “In Hungary, Roma are dispossessed and displaced and forced to hear that Hitler should have killed them all”, warns the Roma activist Agnes Daroczi, “it is hardly surprising that more and more are considering to emigrate to Western Europe.” But also in the countries of Western Europe, affected by the economic crisis, the poorest minority in Europe are made to scapegoats. “The ultra-right parties stir up similar prejudices against Roma as in the 1930s against the Jews”, says the Swedish Romni Soraya Post, who fights as MEP against discrimination, exclusion and persecution. […] Julieta Rudich also shows in her reportage the new, self-confident generation of Roma, who no longer wants to hide their origin though assimilation. She speaks with, among others, with Juan de Dios Ramirez, the first Gitano in the European Parliament, about how is it that the coexistence with the majority population in Spain works reasonably frictionless […]” (APA-OTS 2014). Julieta shows how the enrolment of Rroma children is actively encouraged in Spain, and how a Rroma mayor in Hungary boosts the work moral of his community. Nevertheless, the focus of the documentation remains on the marginalized part of the minority.

Rudich, Julieta (2014) WELTjournal: Europa – Der Kampf der Roma. In: ORF online vom 12.11.2014. http://tvthek.orf.at/program/Weltjournal/1328/WELTjournal-Europa-Der-Kampf-der-Roma/8772882

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

14.11.2014 Stereotypes: marginalised Rroma in Albania

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Glass (2014) reports on Rroma living at a large garbage dump on the outskirts of Tirana. Both the children and parents, who live in extremely modest circumstances, participate in the search for re-sellable materials that ends up on the garbage dump. The children go to school and hope for a better future. A woman speaks of discrimination by a local hospital that did not want to treat her because she is Rroma. The short documentary gives an insight into a life of extreme poverty. In his statement, the mayor denies that people are living at the garbage dump. He claims that there was a wall built around it. Despite its emphatic perspective, the report reproduces one-sided stereotypes about Rroma: that they are poor, uneducated, have many children and live in slums. Economic misery is the fate of many people of former Soviet states, and is not restricted to Rroma. In Albania, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 90,000 to 100,000 Rroma. Many of them are well integrated and have their own homes, but are not perceived as Rroma by the public, because they do not conform to stereotypes about the minority. Especially in the Balkans, the integration of Rroma into the majority society is historically documented: there are Rroma teachers, doctors, lawyers, police officers and much more. Unfortunately, all too often, the media neglects this aspect.

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

14.11.2014 Institute Economic and Social Studies (INESS): Rroma in Slovakia are not financially advantaged

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The Slovak Spectator (2014) reports on the publication of a new study by the Slovak Institute for Economic and Social Studies (INESS). The study comes to the conclusion that Rroma, contrary to widespread stereotypes and myths arguing that the minority receives excessive social funds, are not treated differently by the state. The study also refutes established ideas about the high number of children among Rroma. The analysis came to the conclusion that 90% of the families who receive child benefits, have one or two children: “NOT even 2.2 percent of total public spending goes to Roma citizens even though they are often depicted as those who abuse the social welfare system in Slovakia. This is the finding from an analysis conducted by the Institute for Economic and Social Studies (INESS) released on October 22. The think-tank looked into numbers provided by the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (ÚPSVaR), social insurer Sociálna Poisťovňa and the Atlas of Roma Communities and concluded that the costs of welfare paid in districts with a two-thirds Roma population makes up 2.2 percent of public spending, which is €578 million. “Even though Roma are proportionally higher recipients of public transfers these don’t amount to such a proportion of public finances as is discussed in inns or at the family table,” INESS analyst Ján Dinga, one of the study’s authors, told The Slovak Spectator.” Jarmila Lajčáková from the Research Centre for Ethnicity and Culture also pointed out that the misinformation and prejudice about the alleged preferential treatment of the Rroma in the social system complicates the integration of the minority, because they are confronted with these prejudices when trying to access the education system and the labour market. In Slovakia, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 450,000 to 550,000 Rroma. Many of them belong to the middle class, have educations and their own apartments. They are almost constantly hidden in the public debate over the minority.

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12.11.2014 Rroma attend anti-racism rally in Waterford

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McCormack (2014) reports on an anti-racism rally in Waterford, Ireland. A racist pogrom against Rroma took place at the end of October, culminating in the attack of a house inhabited by Rroma. The protesters accused the Rroma of burglaries and thefts. The residents could be brought to safety thanks to the police’s intervention. In response to the pogrom, a rally against xenophobia took place in early November. A Rroma family from Dublin, who had kept their identity a secret until now also took part: „Roma woman Jennifer Ciuciu (20) concealed her true identity for three years for fear of persecution when she moved from Romania to Ireland with her family. […] So Jennifer and her four siblings said they were “Romanian instead of Roma gypsies.” And in the aftermath of the recent “anti-Roma protests” in Waterford, they have no regrets about denying their roots. “Some people are so racist. If had to go back I would hide it again because I wouldn’t like what happened here to happen to me”, she said standing in the middle of John Robert’s Square at last week’s Waterford Against Racism protest.” Chief superintendent Pat Murphy condemned the anti-Rroma pogrom as racist scapegoat politics by people who are not interested in public safety. In the UK, there are an estimated 90,000 to 120,000 Rroma according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation. The majority of them are integrated and have a job. Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups, but are particularly affected by discrimination and exclusion. In recent months and years, right-wing populist parties and the media have fuelled fears of a mass immigration of Eastern European Rroma, which allegedly would abuse the British welfare system and do not want to integrate. Such prejudices and misinformation also spread because of uncritical media coverage.

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12.11.2014 Stereotypes: Rroma and prostitution

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Szenogrady (2014) reports on the verdict against a Hungarian pimp who was sentenced for forcing a debtor and a long-time girlfriend into prostitution at the Zurich Sihlquai. The pimp is referred to as being Rrom. The victim’s ethnicity is not explicitly stated, but it is suggested that there are also Rroma. The pimp was sentenced to prison for four years: “With a now 34-year-old labourer from Hungary, a brutal Roma pimp had to stand trial for human trafficking, promotion of prostitution, extortion and other crimes at the Zurich high court. […] The pimp had threatened an indebted compatriot with death by shackling him in Hungary and menacing him to push him into a water channel. […] In Zurich, the offender forced his trafficked victim into prostitution on the Sihlquai. Although the victim is heterosexual, he had to disguise himself as a woman and to sexually satisfy diverse punters as a transvestite over several weeks. […] The brutal perpetrator also brought a long time girlfriend in his power. […] In Zurich, the young woman had to prostitute herself for several months and pass her winnings to her patron. If she protested, he hit her or threatened to throw her out the window.” Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups. However, by the one-sided media focus on delinquent Rroma, this impression is wrongly suggested and maintained. Few Rromni and Rrom are effectively involved in prostitution.

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12.11.2014 Rroma and asylum in Canada

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Cain (2014) reports on a new and controversial practice in the Canadian immigration policy. Financial subsidies are paid to immigrants when they voluntarily agree to renounce an asylum procedure and return to their homeland. From the perspective of immigration lawyers, this practice is not without problems, as asylum applicants are  encouraged to give up their rights in return for financial incentives: “Under the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Program, unsuccessful refugee claimants who agree to abandon the appeal process are given airfare home, which on average costs $1,500, and “in-kind reintegration assistance” to a maximum of $2,000. […] Immigration lawyers question how voluntary the program – targeted at people who are often extremely poor, worried about incarceration or deportation and may be unfamiliar with Canada’s refugee appeal system – really is. “The more appeal rights you give up, the more money you get,” says immigration lawyer Max Berger. […] “Essentially, it’s a bribe. The Government of Canada is offering refugee claimants money, which is tied to them forgoing their appeal rights.” In addition, Cain’s article discusses the fate of a Rroma family from Slovakia. The father portrayed points out on his ill-treatment and discrimination in his home country. He wanted to spare his two young sons such experiences through emigration to Canada. For five years, the young family man has been living there with his children and his wife. However, the personal experiences of discrimination have little impact compared to the official estimates of the authorities. Rroma are not politically persecuted in Europe. However, that does not mean that they do not experience discrimination in everyday life, in the education system and the labour market.

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12.11.2014 Goberling: memorial for the victims of the Rroma Holocaust

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ORF (2014) reports on the inauguration of a memorial for the victims of the genocide committed by the National Socialists. In Goberling, in the southeast of Austria, there were around 120 Rroma in the beginnings of the 1940s. Many of them were employed in the mining industry, as the historian Gerhard Baumgartner states. Then, in 1943, almost all of them were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau: “In the era of National Socialism, thousands of Roma have been murdered. Entire neighbourhoods were obliterated, including those in Goberling (District Oberwart). Now, a memorial for the victims of National Socialism was built there. […] Until their deportation, the Roma were virtually the only Catholics in Goberling. After the war, their church remained empty. About 60 years ago, the Catholic parish of Stadtschlaining sold the church, the evangelical pastor of Stadtschlaining, Gerhard Harkam, said. The municipality had initially taken over the church and later sold it to the Lutheran church of Goberling. Next to the Goberlinger Church, which is one of the oldest in Burgenland, a memorial stone has been built now on the initiative of mayor of Goberling, Hans Bieler.” In Auschwitz-Birkenau alone, 30,000 Rroma registered were murdered. Researchers estimate at least half a million casualties among the Rroma. The genocide of the Rroma is much less known in comparison to the mass murder of the Jews.

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07.11.2014 Stereotypes about Rroma in Ireland

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On the occasion of a racist mob in Waterford that agitated against Rroma at the end of October, McCarthy (2014) conducted a social experiment: She disguised herself as a Romni beggar in order to understand the experiences of marginalised people. The social experiment that was designed with good intentions, unfortunately prompts McCarthy to spread numerous stereotypes and misinformation about Rroma: she considers that all, or many Rroma, are poor and are beggars. In addition, she uncritically makes allusions to organised begging gangs, human trafficking and arranged child marriages. That a considerable proportion of the Rroma are not poor and criminal, but lead normal existences, remains unmentioned: “As a Romani in Dublin, you are either completely ignored or asked to move along. It’s no news to them to be treated poorly. It has defined their existence throughout history. They were expelled or enslaved, sentenced to torture and death, segregated and discriminated against pretty much ever since they were brought to Europe from northwestern India and Pakistan. They never identified themselves with a territory. They don’t have a distant homeland or any rights to national sovereignty anywhere. The world’s true travellers, on the fringes of society, they are a cultural enigma to the rest of the conforming, technologically-savvy world. In many cases they don’t own anything like social security numbers or credit cards.” In the UK, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 90,000 to 120,000 Rroma. The majority of them is integrated, goes to work, and is sedentary. However, in the in recent months and years, right-wing populist parties and the media have spread fears of a mass immigration of Eastern European Rroma, which would allegedly abuse the British social welfare system and do not want to integrate.

Thompson (2014) conveys a more nuanced notion of the Rroma in Ireland. But also her portrait of a Rromni who has been living in the country for fourteen years, is permeated by stereotypes: Gaby Muntean works as a social worker in her community and speaks of the economic hardships that she and her husband faced at the beginning of their immigration. For a long time, they could not find any work and had to rely on the solidarity of their acquaintances. Aside from this stereotype, who mistakenly equates Rroma with educational alienation and poverty, Muntean also points to the Rroma living integrated, of whom many have the Irish nationality.

  1. McCarthy, Barbara (2014) My day on the streets as a Roma. In: Irish Independent online vom 2.11.2014. http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/my-day-on-the-streets-as-a-roma-30710575.html
  2. Thompson, Sylvia (2014) Behind The News: Anti-Roma protests in Waterford. In: The Irish Times online vom 1.11.2014. http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/behind-the-news-anti-roma-protests-in-waterford-1.1983698
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07.11.2014 Asylum application: Rroma from Miskolc travel back to Hungary

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Wacker (2014) reports on the whereabouts of the 65 Rroma who had applied for asylum in Switzerland two weeks ago. The Rroma were displaced from their homes by the city government of Miskolc because of the construction of a parking lot for a football stadium. While the city government pointed out that the persons affected were financially compensated upon presentation of a valid rental contract, journalists and Rroma organisations refer to the racist motives of the responsible Fidesz-politicians. One wanted to get deliberately rid of the Rroma by an act of “ethnic cleansing”. Wacker comments: “In preliminary consultative talks, one explained these 65 persons their chances to asylum, states Léa Wertheimer by the Federal Office for Migration FOM. Following this, everyone decided to withdraw their asylum applications. 41 people have already left Switzerland. The other 24 will leave in the next few days. A few of them are paid some hundred francs for the journey home. The Roma had stated that the Hungarian authorities evicted them from their homes in their hometown Miskolc, to build a new stadium. Beat Meiner of the Swiss Refugee Aid believes that Switzerland has handled the procedures correctly, but warns: “The Roma have it very difficult in Hungary. Repeatedly, violence occurs against them, there have also already been dead persons.” The Swiss authorities insist that they have examined the cases individually. As an EU country, Hungary applies as a safe state in Switzerland anyway, Léa Wertheimer of the FOM explains. “This means that the state protection from persecution is basically guaranteed.” Rroma are not politically persecuted in Hungary. However, this does not mean that they are not affected by severe discrimination in everyday life, especially since the rise of the right-wing nationalist parties, which consciously elevate ethnic differences. This fact is not recognized by the Swiss asylum agency. The returning Rroma, among them many children, face an uncertain future (compare NZZ 2014, Odehnal 2014).

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07.11.2014 European Commission threatens legal actions against the Italian government for discrimination against Rroma

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The Local (2014) reports on an admonition of the European Commission to the Italian government. The commission threatens judicial proceedings for the infringement of the anti-discrimination law, because Rroma in Italy are still strongly disadvantaged: in Italy, special, supervised camps for Rroma were built that allow their precise control: “The EU’s executive arm has reportedly requested information on Roma accommodation in Italy, the only country in Europe to build camps specifically for the Roma community. Drawing on La Barbuta camp in Rome, the Commission said it was concerned about Italy housing people “on a very remote and inaccessible site, fenced in with a surveillance system”. Such a scheme “seriously limits fundamental rights of those concerned, completely isolating them from the surrounding world and depriving them of the possibility of adequate work or education,” the Commission letter said, according to 21 luglio [a Rroma rights organization].”  In Italy, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 90,000 to 110,000 Rroma. Many of them have good educations, go to work and have their own homes. Rroma belong to all social classes, but are indeed particularly affected by poverty and discrimination. Since the euro and economic crisis, various parties exploit them as scapegoats for social ills. As in France, the public image of the minority is characterised by extreme prejudices 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 hidden.

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