{"id":1659,"date":"2013-09-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/20-09-2013-rroma-debate-in-germany\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:48:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:48:44","slug":"20-09-2013-rroma-debate-in-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/20-09-2013-rroma-debate-in-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"20.09.2013 Rroma Debate in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconservative weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit (2013) reports on \u201cGypsies […] they want the full right of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGerman social benefits if they declare Germany as their new centre of life.\u201d<\/em> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe paper evaluates the decision of Essen\u2019s Higher Social Court in a precedent \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat allows now all \u201cGypsies” from Southeast Europe to also be entitled to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tall social benefits in addition to the child benefit and emergency medical care. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe conservative weekly newspaper takes a clear judgmental \u00a0and order oriented perspective on the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigration debate: desirable are, if at all, only professionals and only if \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey do not compete with German workers. It also makes the economic \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\topportunities of immigrants a question of ethnicity: Rroma, in the paper\u2019s eyes, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare all potential welfare cheats. Mockingly they note that it is sufficient, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taccording to the Social Court, to declare Germany as one\u2019s new centre of life \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand for being awarded benefits.<\/p>\n

The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttown of Nordhausen ordered the prohibition of NPD election posters of the NPD in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe vicinity of the former concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora and prescribed the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tminimum distance. With the slogan \u201cMoney for grandma instead of Sinti and Roma\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe NPD generated a lot of resentment. \u00a0Legal proceedings were initiated by several people against \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe NPD for anti-Gypsy propaganda (MDR 2013). The anti Rroma propaganda has \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talso triggered legitimate fears among many Rroma in Germany, especially in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfamilies with children who have to see posters on their routes to school. Romani \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRose, chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma criticised that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tauthorities had only acted in some cities, but not pronounced a national regulation \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto ban the posters (Evangelical Press, 2013). In the city of Giessen, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdministrative Court ruled in favour of the NPD\u2019s posters: they must be hung back \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tafter the town had them removed. In a bipartisan action, critics of the NPD have \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnow hung posters with the slogan \u201cMy grandma also like Sinti and Roma\u201d (Hit \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRadio FFH 2013).<\/p>\n

The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTAZ (2013) reports the successful construction of a dormitory for Rroma in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNeuk\u00f6lln that is funded by the Housing and Community Society of Aachen. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPreviously a house in the Harzerstrasse gained media attention mainly because \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the waste and the noise. Through the intervention of Aachen Housing society, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe house has been renovated and overcrowding has been reduced. The housing \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproject has even won a social Architecture Prize. At the same time the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdispleasure of some of the neighbours has been awakened, who complained about \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe social advantage given to Rroma. However, Benjamin Marx, the project \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmanager, sees the project as an important sign of social acceptance of Rroma.<\/p>\n

The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSPD excluded Martin Korol from the party because of his anti-Roma statements. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKorol had made derogatory comments towards the Rroma immigrants from Southeast \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEurope Rroma on his website earlier this year, but then removed them due to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsiderable criticisms. Korol was elected in February 2013 into the Bremen \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstate parliament, and his previously published statements had previously not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\traised any attention (Mirror 2013).<\/p>\n