{"id":1176,"date":"2014-10-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/15-10-2014-ozd-new-jobbik-mayor-demands-of-rroma-assimilation-or-emigration\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:47:27","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:47:27","slug":"15-10-2014-ozd-new-jobbik-mayor-demands-of-rroma-assimilation-or-emigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/15-10-2014-ozd-new-jobbik-mayor-demands-of-rroma-assimilation-or-emigration\/","title":{"rendered":"15.10.2014 Ozd: new Jobbik mayor demands of Rroma assimilation or emigration"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the northern \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHungarian city of Ozd, a representative of the right-wing extremist Jobbik \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tparty has become the new mayor after the local elections of October the 12th. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlthough the party is known for its strong anti-Rroma rhetoric, the new, only \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t27-year-old city mayor presented himself diplomatically in his first public \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstatement. His oral statements are in contradiction to his campaign manifesto, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin which he promised an uncompromising policy towards the Rroma: \u201cHe said he would crack down on crime and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpoverty on behalf of all residents, whatever their ethnic background. Yet the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprogramme on which Janiczak ran in the election is explicit in singling out the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoma community. The manifesto, posted on the Jobbik Internet site next to a photograph \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof Janiczak, states: \u201cWe think there are two ways to solve the Gypsy \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tquestion… The first one is based on peaceful consent, the second on radical \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texclusion.\u201d \u201cOur party wishes to offer one last chance to the destructive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tminority that lives here, so first it will consider peaceful consent. If that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tagreement fails, then and only then the radical solution can follow.\u201d The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprogramme threatens to \u201cchase off people who are unable to conform\u201d\u201d <\/em>(Irish \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIndependent 2014). What the new Jobbik mayor is completely silent about in his \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcall for assimilation is that most Rroma have been trying to integrate for a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlong time, but were hindered to so by economic and social exclusion. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcontinued segregation of Hungarian Rroma is therefore above all the result of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe unwillingness of many Magyars to overcome their prejudices against the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma, and to facilitate their access to the labour market, to housing and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpublic schools (compare Dunai 2014). <\/p>\n

Aladar Horvath, a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHungarian Rroma activist, comments on the largely unchanged situation of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma in Europe that development funds were often not accessed or landed in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twrong places. He adds that the economic crisis of 2008 has exacerbated social inequality: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cSocial injustice has risen markedly in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe majority of EU countries since the economic crisis began in 2008, according \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto a recent study by the Bertelsmann Foundation. Discrimination and social \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdivisions have increased especially quickly in the Czech Republic, Hungary and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSlovakia, where the Roma face \u201csystemic discrimination.\u201d In Slovakia and the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCzech Republic, enrolling Roma children into classes or separate schools for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstudents with \u201cspecial needs\u201d remains a significant problem despite recent \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlandmark court rulings against segregation in both countries. Hungary in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tparticular appears to be moving in the wrong direction. Observers say that\u2019s \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbecause the popularity of anti-Roma rhetoric and policies outweigh influence \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom Brussels. The number of segregated, Roma-only schools has increased from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t128 in 1997 to more than 300 today, Horvath says. Geographical segregation has \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talso increased as the deteriorating job market and cuts to social spending have \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcombined to drive Roma into isolated \u201cislands of poverty,\u201d says Budapest-based \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresearcher Attila Agh, who worked on the Bertelsmann study\u201d <\/em>(Overdorf \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2014). Of the 600,000 to one million Rroma living in Hungary, there are indeed \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmany affected by poverty and exclusion. However, there are also numerous integrated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma, who do not live in segregated settlements and belong to the middle or \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teven upper-class.<\/p>\n