{"id":1776,"date":"2014-06-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-26T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/27-06-2014-swiss-travellers-competition-and-racism\/"},"modified":"2022-07-27T07:52:31","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T06:52:31","slug":"27-06-2014-swiss-travellers-competition-and-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/27-06-2014-swiss-travellers-competition-and-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"27.06.2014 Swiss travellers: competition and racism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fuchs (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 problems and hardships of travelling Swiss Yeniche. The focus centres on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe experiences of G\u00e9rard M\u00fchlhauser, the spokesman for the Swiss travellers\u2019 movement. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tM\u00fchlhauser criticizes the acute lack of permanent camping and transit sites. He \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstates that the extensive use of existing sites by foreign Rroma, aggravates the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlack of space. Once more, culturalising and generalising arguments are presented. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThese arguments make the Rroma responsible for all problems related to the lack \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof space and the lack of hygiene in certain stand and transit sites. Foreign \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma are once again made scapegoats for social ills and problems that all involved \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tparties are responsible for, and are not just caused by a specific ethnic \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgroup. That the sedentary population shows reservations against travellers \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshould not be reduced to suspicions towards Rroma but rather generally towards \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tall travellers. M\u00fchlhauser, as well as Fuchs, who largely adopts his reasoning, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0with their accusations against \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tforeign, travelling Rroma, makes it to easy for themselves: \u201c\u201cWe have a major problem, this is the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttransit travellers\u201d, says G\u00e9rard M\u00fchlhauser to the \u201cRundschau\u201d. […] The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tforeign Roma are found throughout Switzerland. \u201cThey go on sites without \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tauthorisation, on Yeniche sites, they usually leave chaos and dirt. Therefore, one \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsite after the other shuts down\u201d, says M\u00fchlhauser. Roma fiercely contradicts \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthis. The Rroma priest Father Stefan states: \u201cThere are good and bad ones. But \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthis is not a question of whether one is Swiss.\u201d Among the Swiss travellers \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthere are racists. Nowhere else in Europe foreign travellers would be denied \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taccess to certain sites. Here in Switzerland, there is a sign: when foreign \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpeople are on it, they need to get away and must clear space for the Swiss. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThat\u2019s not right\u201d, says Stefan. That makes him sad.\u201d <\/em>The criticism of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFather Stefan is important. That there are stand and transit sites, which are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tavailable only to one specific ethnic group, the Yeniche, is unjust. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpreference of nationals over foreigners contradicts accepted laws on equal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttreatment people of all nationalities. Such reasoning, which massively \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texaggerates the differences between the ethnic groups and negates similarities, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis extremely patronising and creates racist values of desirable and undesirable \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand therefore valuable and less important people.<\/p>\n

That living together \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twith fellow men can cause problems cannot be denied. We all know quarrels with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tour neighbours, work colleagues and even with friends. However, these problems \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshould not be judged according to ethnic criteria, which is unfair. Disputes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twith our fellow human beings have something to do with individual behaviour, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twith social structures and power relations that create conflicts. To reduce these \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto ethnicity is stupid, and does not do justice to the complexity of the social \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand individual problems behind it.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the Swiss federal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgovernment should provide enough permanent and transit camps, which would \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdefuse the competition for those sites. Racist reasonings are applied in the competition \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor resources for the few sites, which is not particularly astonishing. It is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe same reasoning that is also used in the competition for jobs or apartments, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand was applied by the SVP during the campaign for the mass immigration \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinitiative. However, we all sit in the same boat, and form part of the same \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tplanet. Unfortunately, economic competitiveness also promotes racist attitudes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tamong numerous people. This must be overcome and common solutions must be found. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA first, important step in this direction was taken this week. The Swiss federal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcouncil has announced that it will establish a working group under the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tleadership of the department of the interior that will addresses the concerns \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof Swiss travellers. The foundation \u201cZukunft f\u00fcr Schweizer Fahrende will \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treceive more funding. However, the foundation is controversial even among Yeniche \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthemselves, as they feel their concerns are taken to little into account. For \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tyears, they have pointed out that there is an acute lack in permanent and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttransit sites. Applications for new sites are often rejected at the community \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlevel (compare 20 Minunten 2014, Blick 2014, Neue Luzerner Zeitung 2014, Schweizer \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRadio und Fernsehen 2014). It should be stressed here that almost all Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresident in Switzerland, between 50,000 and 80,000, are sedentary and well \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintegrated<\/p>\n