{"id":1497,"date":"2014-04-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/12-03-2014-talking-to-each-other-instead-of-about-each-other-german-visit-in-bulgaria\/"},"modified":"2022-07-26T14:05:46","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T13:05:46","slug":"12-03-2014-talking-to-each-other-instead-of-about-each-other-german-visit-in-bulgaria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/12-03-2014-talking-to-each-other-instead-of-about-each-other-german-visit-in-bulgaria\/","title":{"rendered":"12.03.2014 Talking to each other instead of about each other: German visit in Bulgaria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pl\u00fcck (2014) reports about \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe visit of the German FDP deputies Alexander Graf Lambsdorff and Joachim \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStamp in Plovdiv, where 50,000 Rroma are living in mostly precarious \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconditions. Lambsdorff states that the aim of the visit is to talk with the people \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconcerned and to thereby get rid of the one-sidedness in the debate on Rroma. Unfortunately, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthere isn\u2019t really anything new to hear in Pl\u00fcck\u2019s article: Bulgaria is said to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbe an economically weak country that is plagued by severe corruption. Because \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof nepotism, EU funding programs are very poorly implemented. The Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trepresentative Anton Karagyozov meanwhile confirms stereotypical notions of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclan structures, widespread crime and misery: \u201cHe reported plainly of the financial support for children whose \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfathers are dead or sitting in jail and whose mothers have left them in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStolipinovo to earn money with prostitution in Western Europe. He reports from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe strict clan structures, such that a woman can be \u201cstolen\u201d by a man if she \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdoes not want to marry him. In plain language this means rape and a subsequent \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twedding.\u201d<\/em> Such stories may be useful for obtaining support funds. But they \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdo not contribute at all to the successful integration of the Rroma. Rather, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey nourish the clich\u00e9d notions that are mentioned again and again in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdebate on \u201cpoverty immigrants\u201d. Pl\u00fcck\u2019s article does not change any of these \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmisconceptions.<\/p>\n

Merkelt (2014) meanwhile \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treports on a cultural event in Duisburg. In an old fire station, a Rrom sang \u201cGypsy \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSongs\u201d for the visiting Gadje. Author Rolf Bauerdick read from his \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcontroversial book, trying to counteract clich\u00e9 ideas in his own way, even \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthough he inevitably confirms many stereotypes. As he only portrays already \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvisible Rroma in his book, most of which live in economic misery, he does not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treally confront the public image with new ideas. <\/p>\n

Scherfig (2014) \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcomplements the theme with a report on the integration project \u201cHarzer Strasse\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin Berlin-Neuk\u00f6lln. In 2011, the Aachen housing company bought three mostly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinhabited by immigrant Rroma and massively overcrowded apartment buildings, and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trenovated them. The adult residents almost exclusively work and try to improve \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttheir language skills. The housing complex \u201cHarzer Strasse\u201d is considered a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshowcase project, as it demonstrates the possibility of successful integration, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbased on promotion and simultaneous demand: \u201cSince the first of January 2014, the free movement of persons is valid \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor Romania and Bulgaria. [ … ] Critics fear the \u201cimmigration into the German \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsocial system.\u201d […] However, almost all Roma in the Harzer Strasse have been \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tworking for several years and also pay into the social system. […] According \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto the federal employment agency, Bulgarians and Romanians only make up 0.7 percent \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof Hartz IV recipients.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Another aspect of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigration debate are immigrants from former Yugoslavia. Blasius (2014) \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treports on the sharp rise in the number of asylum procedures by immigrants from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSerbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, many of them are said to be Rroma. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlmost all applications for a permanent residency permit are rejected because \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe citizens of the former Yugoslavia are not recognised as political refugees: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cDespite the often miserable living \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconditions, Roma are not recognized as political refugees from former \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYugoslavia. Unlike Roma from the EU-countries Bulgaria and Romania, they have \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tno permanent right to stay.\u201d <\/em>In response to this, Blasius states, many of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe rejected just file new applications, as they are entitled to under the law. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTherewith, the flood of applications can be explained. The German grand \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcoalition meanwhile plans to classify Bosnia, Macedonia and Serbia as safe \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcountries of origin in order to enable accelerated deportations. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclassification will be done at the expense of the immigrants who get no voice \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin the process, but de facto are affected by precarious conditions in their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcountries of origin. While the proponents of deportations rely on country \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tanalyses, which declare no or very minimal discrimination against minorities in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcountries like Serbia, the proponents of the asylum seekers state the exact \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\topposite. Subjective experiences, which can rarely be proved with documents, are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tusually neglected in favour of official country analyses that assess the social \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsituation in a country.<\/p>\n