{"id":1108,"date":"2014-10-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/03-10-2014-rroma-in-champs-sur-marne-different-notions-of-equality\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:47:29","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:47:29","slug":"03-10-2014-rroma-in-champs-sur-marne-different-notions-of-equality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/03-10-2014-rroma-in-champs-sur-marne-different-notions-of-equality\/","title":{"rendered":"03.10.2014 Rroma in Champs-sur-Marne: different notions of equality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kaps (2014\/I) reports on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigrated Rroma in Champs-sur-Marne and Noisy-le-Grand, two suburbs, 20 kilometres \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnorth of Paris. In the cities, many informal settlements were created, which \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare not tolerated by Maud Tallet, the communist mayor of Champs-sur-Marne. Astonishingly, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tas a communist she has extreme views on equality, which categorically exclude any \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tspecial treatment of immigrant Rroma. Since they have settled on private and on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpublic land, she sees no reason why she should help them with services such as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twater or sanitary facilities. Rather, she demands their eviction. She also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdoesn\u2019t foster the enrolment of the children, but hinders it: children of Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigrants, such as those of Christian Bumbai, a Rrom from Romania, are usually \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tonly enrolled in school after the assistance by locals. Otherwise, it is difficult \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor them to attend school, because the Rroma families do not meet the minimum regulatory \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trequirements, such as a permanent residency. Maud Tallet conveys very \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tone-sided, stereotypical ideas about the Rroma minority: she calls them \u201ctravelling \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpeople\u201d, who require empty space and enough trash containers, where bulky waste \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand household items can be found. She does not seem to understand that poverty and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texclusion have nothing to do with the Rroma culture. Nor that Rroma are not travellers. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTherefore, the mayor demands for equal treatment cannot be met by the immigrant \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma and thereby, as a communist mayor, she creates inequality. Despite these \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobstacles, the portrayed Rroma families Bumbai and Lucan try to successfully integrate, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto find work, to send their children to school, and to find an own apartment. In \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrance, according to the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 100,000 to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t500,000 Rroma. The majority of them is integrated, goes to work, speaks French \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand has its own accommodations. Many of them have lived in France for several \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgenerations. These invisible Rroma are not perceived by the media, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpoliticians, and the public, they are even denied existence. On the opposite \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tside, there is a minority of the minority, approximately 17,000 recently \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigrated Rroma, who get all the media attention, as in the report by Kaps. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThey live in informal settlements and are affected by extreme poverty, but also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey only want to integrate, \u201cto get out of the slum\u201d (compare Kaps 2014\/II).<\/p>\n