{"id":1091,"date":"2014-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/01-10-2014-lille-evacuation-of-an-informal-rroma-settlement-2\/"},"modified":"2022-07-26T13:57:16","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T12:57:16","slug":"01-10-2014-lille-evacuation-of-an-informal-rroma-settlement-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/01-10-2014-lille-evacuation-of-an-informal-rroma-settlement-2\/","title":{"rendered":"01.10.2014 Lille: evacuation of an informal Rroma settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Berg\u00e8s (2014) reports on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe evacuation of an informal Rroma settlement in Lille. Numerous families \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinhabited it. However, the journalist does not report any exact numbers. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma were repeatedly exposed to the pressure of the police and local residents, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho demanded the closure of the site. Under the threat of eviction, the last \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tremaining inhabitants have now abandoned the settlement. The camp was built on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twasteland next to a motorway junction. The site will now be immediately fenced \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand handed over to the authorities of a real estate program, who wants to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcreate office and residential premises on the parcel. At an adjacent \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintersection, there are other Rroma camps that have not been evicted yet. <\/p>\n

Also in Loos, in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNord-Pas-de-Calais, one discusses the eviction of an informal Rroma settlement, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twhile the affected Rroma and their supporters plead for a referendum. The focus \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the discussions is especially concerned with the location of the settlement: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe parking field of the prison of Loos (Mocellin 2014). <\/p>\n

It should be emphasised \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat the forced evacuations of informal settlements complicate a long-term \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintegration of the Rroma immigrants. The forced evictions or the harassment of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresidents do not solve the existing problems and the integration question, but \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsimply move them from one location to the next. The rigorous expulsion of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tminority reflects the unwillingness of the French government to engage in an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tactive integration policy. Also, through the biased media focus on the informal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsettlements, the impression is created that there are only Rroma belonging to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe lower class, who are poorly educated. However, the Rroma from the informal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsettlements constitute only a small portion of all Rorma in France. According \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto estimates of the Rroma Foundation, 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma are integrated and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlive unobtrusively in French society. They belong to the middle or even \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tupper-class and are constantly ignored by the French media, the public and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpoliticians. Out of fear of discrimination, a lot of these integrated Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tkeep their identity a secret (compare Nord \u00c9clair 2014, Radenovic 2014). <\/p>\n