{"id":1516,"date":"2014-08-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/13-08-2014-france-vicious-circle-of-expulsions-continues\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:48:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:48:11","slug":"13-08-2014-france-vicious-circle-of-expulsions-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/13-08-2014-france-vicious-circle-of-expulsions-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"13.08.2014 France: vicious circle of expulsions continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brunet (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 whereabouts of some 300 Rroma who were evicted from the informal settlement \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin Grigny (Essonne). While a small part of them has gone back to Romania, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmajority of the people will simply join other settlements or build a new camp in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta different location. The vicious circle therefore continues. 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, to which the Rroma aspire, remains unresolved. Many of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildren were enrolled in local schools and now have to interrupt or continue \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttheir education in a different class. Paradoxically, the local communist \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tadministration strived for an improvement of the infrastructure in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsettlement, despite its order for an eviction, which resulted in providing of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twater supply and in trash removal. Disregarding the suggestion of many organisations \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat the forced eviction hinder a long-term integration of the Rroma, the mayor \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof Grigny referred to the precarious conditions in the settlement to justify \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe forced eviction: \u201cA slum, in Grigny \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tor elsewhere, is not destined to stay forever. It would be contemptuous to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthink that these families with children can continue to stay there, with the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trates, in deplorable hygienic conditions\u201d, decided Claude Vasquez, deputy of Grigny, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho is responsible for the dossier.\u201d<\/em> Nonetheless, the policymakers of Grigny \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tseem to be aware that with the eviction the issue of integration has not been \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresolved and the situation of the affected families often is exacerbated: \u201cThe council of Grigny has filed a motion in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJuly and requested a financial contribution by the state for the implementation \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof a monitoring project, estimating that \u201cthe expulsion of the camp without \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talternative solutions does nothing other than aggravate the misery and causes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttheir misplacement to other place, often in the vicinity.\u201d <\/em>The statement of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe office of the mayor, which announced that one does not assume that the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma will settle again in Grigny after the eviction, is in contradiction with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthis statement. The goal was move the Rroma out of the slums, it was stated. This \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twould require long-term solutions, such as subsidised integration projects, as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey are available only for a small number of people. A long-term integration \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis therefore not yet realised. It must be added that the thousands of Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tliving in slums do in fact only represent a visible minority of the Roma in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrance. A majority of 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma have been living integrated in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrench society for generations, but are not perceived by the public. Meanwhile, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe eviction policy continues: in Bron, an informal settlement with 120 people, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thalf of them children, was evicted (compare Blanchet 2014 I\/II, Rue89Lyon 2014, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWojcik 2014).<\/p>\n