Tag Archives: Education

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

05.09.2014 Viktor Orbán: Rroma shall exercise the activities of unskilled immigrants

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Pester Lloyd (2014) reports on the latest speech of the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán in front of the Hungarian ambassadors in Budapest: In his speech, Orbán told that, in the last EU-meeting in Ypres, he pushed the idea that migration in Europe is fundamentally “wrong” and should be “abolished”: “The objective is to stop immigration completely”, because the “current liberal […] immigration policy, which is justified as morally and presented as inevitable, is hypocritical.” […] These policies, as well as Orbán’s statements, are based on an ethnically exclusionary, therefore ethnic-oriented “policy of nations”, as it is enshrined in the new constitution of the country, which the Fidesz introduced on its own. In it, ethnic Hungarians at home and abroad are classified as nation-building, the 13 recognized ethnic and national minorities however only as state-building; desired and tolerated people.” In this racist, ethno-nationalist policy of the Magyardom, Rroma take the role of unpleasant but tolerated workers that are supposed to carry out the jobs of unskilled immigrants: “Europe’s 10 million Roma could exercise the unskilled activities which today are mainly done by immigrants.” Orbán therefore ascribes the Rroma of Europe to be a bunch of uneducated day labourers, who must be kept busy by employment programs and shall undertake underpaid jobs such cleaning work. That he therewith denies a majority of integrated Rroma their existence, many of whom have good educational qualifications, and defames them, he seems to be indifferent to. The Rroma-network Romano Liloro consequently condemned Orbán’s statements strongly. What is needed are not employment programs that keep people in poverty, but educational opportunities that enable them a better future, the network states (compare Feher 2014, Gulyas 2014).

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05.09.2014 Sweden: Rroma lawyer receives Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Award

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The Local (2014) reports on the award of the Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Award to a Swedish Rroma lawyer. Emir Selimi migrated from Serbia to Sweden when he was eight years old. There, as an adult, he founded an organisation that fights for the rights of the Rroma and fosters the education and the language of the minority. Raoul Wallenberg, after whom the award is named, worked as a diplomat who, through his altruistic actions, saved thousands of Hungarian Jews’ lives. Emir Selimi, for his part, gave to understand that he did not think that one had to be a superhero in order to do good. Everyone can achieve that, he stated, if he or she champions it decidedly: “The jury were particularly impressed with how Selimi had attempted to combat Sweden’s sometimes negative image of the Roma population. As part of his work he has made strong contacts with the Jewish, Sami and Muslim communities and hosted lectures on intolerance in school. “When Emir was growing up in Serbia he said he experienced a lot of discrimination in school. He was kicked and spat at because of his Roma background which had a significant effect on him”, said Wästberg. Emir said when he came to Sweden that he didn’t suffer those problems at school. He said the problems started when he entered the labour market where he found his Roma background was a barrier to finding work. Now he is doing something about it by making a difference for the better.” Selimi is also a good example for a so-called “invisible Rrom” that does not conform to the negative stereotypes of the public perception of the minority. These invisible, integrated Rroma represent the actual majority of all Rroma.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

27.08.2014 Rroma settlement in Bobigny: controversy over planned eviction

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The French judges’ syndicate criticised the decision of Bobigny’s mayor to evict the local Rroma settlement in defiance of a judge’s decision from July the 2nd. The judgment rejected a request for eviction by the new mayor by referring to the fundamental rights to accommodation and family life and in recognition of the demands of the European Court of Human Rights. The mayoral decree refers to the allegedly precarious security situation in the settlement, whereby no judicial assessment is necessary. In early February this year, a little Rroma girl of the settlement in question had died, victim of a fire. The judges’ syndicate appraised the planned eviction as undermining of the judiciary: “Contacted by Metronews, the syndicate of judges condemns the strategy of sapping a court judgment: by acting this way, the mayor’s office “changes the judge”. “The mayor has the right to issue this decree and we do not know whether he has filed an appeal against the judge’s decision, which was made on July the 2nd, the syndicate explains, but this way he subverts a judgment.” The mayoral decree is already now controversial and will be studied by a new judge on Monday, as an emergency, at the administrative court of Montreuil at 14:30. “It will be interesting to see how he will judge” assures the syndicate which will observe the verdict with vigilance” (Bonnefoy 2014). For several years,  a debate has raged in France on how to deal with the informal settlements, built by Rroma immigrants. While many politicians from right to left are in favour of a rigorous eviction policy, individual exponents advocate long-term solutions, which aim at integrating the Rroma immigrants. Approximately 200 people live in the settlement of Bobigny. The organisation Ligue des droits de l’homme points out that the children of the camp attend local schools and would be the primary victims of a forced eviction (compare Breson 2014, Le Figaro 2014, Libération 2014). On the evening of August the 26th, it was announced that the administrative court of Montreuil endorsed the decree of the mayor. The settlement can therefore now be evicted at any time (France Bleu 2014, Mediapart 2014).  

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Serbia

27.08.2014 Migration policy in Lower Saxony: Rromni to be deported after 28 years

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Akdag (2014) reports on an absurd case of regulatory practices. The Romni Suzana S., who has been living in Lower Saxony for 28 years, is supposed to be deported to Serbia, along with her five children. Even after almost three decades, the single mother still has no residency permit: “Suzana S. is 32 years old and just like her children she was born in Germany. When she was five years old, Suzana lived with her parents in Serbia for four years, but she doesn’t speak any Serbian. Emsland is her home and for her children this applies anyway. “I feel like a German”, she says. […] “I do not know how to feed my children in Serbia. There, we will have to live on the street”, says S. She and her children are Roma. Many members of the minority in Serbia suffer from harassment by the authorities and are exposed to racist attacks by the population. S.’ advocate Jan Sürig was in Serbia and is aware of the situation: “Even today, Roma in Serbia live forcibly on the margins of society, often in inhumane conditions. They are discriminated against in virtually all levels of everyday life.” […] The many applications for a residence permit were rejected.” In early September, Serbia is supposed to be classified as a safe country of origin by the German Federal Assembly. Then, asylum applications based on discrimination will only have a very small chance of approval, as the official status is more important than individual experiences of discrimination. Akdag criticises in particular that the district of Emsland justified its decision with the explanation that Suzana S. didn’t actively attempt to integrate because she receives welfare. Her language skills and working efforts and the schooling of children were classified as irrelevant. Now, the family S. is trying to receive a residency permit by approaching the commission for hardship cases. What is particularly disconcerting about the described circumstances is that Suzana S. and her children do not speak Serbian, which means that in the case of a deportation to Serbia, they would be excluded more than ever. That immigration authorities did not consider this is hard to understand.

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27.08.2014 Sweden: Textbook about the discrimination of the Rroma

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The Local (2014) reports on the plans of the Swedish government to create textbook about the discrimination of the Rroma in the country. The teaching material is supposed to be based on the white paper on the discrimination against Rroma in Sweden, which the government published this March. The white paper documented a largely ignored history of exclusion and marginalisation of the minority. In response to the negative findings of the investigation, a commission against Roma discrimination was initiated. It is now tasked with the realisation of the textbook: “On Thursday the government announced it had asked the commission to create school and teaching materials from the white book, to be used in all of Sweden’s secondary schools. “If we are going to fight the alienation of Roma that we see today, we must be aware of this dark history of abuse”, Ullenhag told newspaper Dagens Nyheter. The Swedish National Agency for Education, the Living History Forum, and the Roma discrimination ombudsman will collaborate to produce the school materials. Ullenhag said that Swedish students should already be learning about the history of Romani people in Sweden, but that the quality of available materials and information had been poor.” In November 2013, Sweden was in the headlines all over Europe because it became public that the police had created an illegal register with thousands of Rroma, which classified them as potential criminals solely because of their ethnicity.

Czech Republic Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

22.08.2014 Integration of immigrant Rroma-children in German schools

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Der Westen and Radio Ennepe Ruhr report on the integration of children from immigrant Rroma families in the public schools of Ennepetal in North Rhine-Westphalia. This is said to proceed in a largely positive fashion. According to the journalists’ estimates, the families were a part of those families that received media attention while living in the “Rroma house” in Duisburg and who subsequently  moved to Ennepetal. Around 30 adults and 80 children are now living in the worker housinf of a former metal factory. While it is stressed that the integration of the families has enjoyed top priority from the start and will be actively promoted by the community, one is nevertheless irritated by the fact that the children are not integrated into regular classes, but are rather taught in so-called “integration classes”. Of the 52 Rroma-children who were enrolled into these integration classes, in which their viability for the regular school is assessed, only six now will go to regular classes with the new school year starting. For those responsible for integration, this seems to be a success. However, from the perspective of a real integration, the segregated teaching of Rroma children is extremely problematic, as they can hardly socialise with other children. Anke Velten-Franke from the mayor’s office sees this differently: since Rrroma children are taught in the buildings of the middle and primary school, they were able to make contact with other children during school breaks, she states. It is to be hoped that the politician proves right. Principally, segregated schooling, especially in the context of negative experiences from the Czech Republic or Romania, where it is still widespread, should be seen very critically, since it fosters and maintains the discrimination and marginalisation of the minority. The focus on the recently immigrated Rroma families should not obscure the fact already now 110’00 to 130,000 Rroma are living integrated in Germany, many for generations. Their children are not taught segregated. In addition, Stefan Scherer commits a gross error in judgment when he reproduces without comment that the social workers of Ennepetal would share a fear with many other residents: “The Roma are not sedentary people. The fear to invest a lot of money and energy, and then they move to the next town or the next country is still present in Ennepetal” (Scherer 2014). However, most Rroma are not travellers and never were. The alleged wandering lifestyle is rather the result of their continuous expulsion, which was and is reinterpreted in a false analogy to a travelling way of life (compare Radio Ennepe Ruhr 2014).  

Bulgaria Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

22.08.2014 The ambivalent concept of “poverty immigration”

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Eisenring (2014) reports on the debate about the so-called “poverty immigration”, that has now lasted for several years. This, he states, is now increasingly felt in Germany, whereby the immigrant Rroma receive particular attention. Of the unemployed Romanians and Bulgarians in Germany, many are Rroma, the journalist claims. In his ethnisising statement he forgets that ethnicity is precisely not recorded in the statistics and that the assessment is therefore a conjecture: “However, such average numbers conceal that in cities like Berlin, Dortmund, Duisburg, or Offenbach there have been deprived areas for a long time. Consequently, the unemployment rate among Bulgarians and Romanians in May was at 34% in Duisburg, at 27% ​​in Dortmund, and at 23% in Berlin. The cost of housing, health services and schools are transferred to the cities. However, this has not so much to do with the full freedom of movement, but with the generally difficult integration of Roma and Sinti, who often come from the two countries – a problem that also concerns other European countries.” The controversial thing about this assessment is that statistics on unemployment convey that there is indeed a poverty immigration. However, the number of Romanians and Bulgarians claiming welfare – 13% – is below the average number of foreigners with 16%, as Eisenring himself shows. Unfortunately, in terms of the Rroma, he argues uncritically and culturalising by ascribing them a generally difficult integrability. That there are well-educated Rroma and many who are very willing to integrate, he implicitly denies. Similarly, he denies that there are already now 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma living integrated in Germany, but are not perceived as Rroma. Moreover, the term “poverty immigration” is a highly politicised, prejudiced terminology, as it is often used synonymously with the immigration of Rroma and is based on political views, that there indeed is a mass immigration of poor, uneducated Rroma into the German welfare system. It is important to identify and critically question this indiscriminate equation of real facts and political views and opinions.

Bosnia Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe North Macedonia Serbia

22.08.2014 Germany: ongoing debate about the status of safe countries of origin

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Çaliskan (2014), general secretary of the German section of Amnesty International, reports on the upcoming recognition of Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as safe countries of origin by the German Federal Assembly. On this occasion, she elaborates on the contradictions behind the concept. According to her, the assessment that the countries concerned are free of persecution is not based on in-depth research and analysis, but on statistical findings that there are more applications for asylum from these states while there is a declining recognition of the applications; and are thus rejected by the courts as being unfounded. Çaliskan criticises this practice as a trivialisation of real discrimination taking place that particularly affects minorities such as Rroma: “The fact that only a few of the asylum seekers were recognised is not a proof of the “safety” in Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is rather a proof that even now the asylum applications are not examined thoroughly. Because the human rights situation in the three countries is anything from rosy. Especially Rroma are not “safe” from prosecution. They are structurally disadvantaged, living on the margins of society, often literally on the edge of cities, industrial areas, some families on dumping grounds. Often they are virtually cut off from work, medical care, and the children of reasonable education. Moreover, governments do not protect them from racist attacks and politicians partly stir up prejudices against them.” The denial of the status of “safe country of origin” would guarantee a more detailed examination of each case and protect the victims more effectively from discrimination and persecution. Admittedly, each case is still assessed in spite of the status of safe country of origin, but never as thoroughly and detailed, as it would if the status would not exist. Officially, a country can respect the security and rights of minorities. However, this does not mean that this really happens in everyday life and in individual cases, as shocking individual destines show. The legal evidence of an individual experience of discrimination is often difficult to prove, especially when official documents or witnesses are missing.

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania Spain

20.08.2014 Rroma willing to integrate in Dortmund

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Bandermann (2014) reports on a Rroma family from Romania who is trying to integrate in Dortmund. The article attempts to show that the ideas of the anti-social Rroma, not willing to integrate, are actually loaded with prejudices. Anisoara and Fabian Lazar-Ion, who worked eight years in Spain before the economic crisis, just want to live a normal life and want to provide a good future for their children. In Romania, they did not see any possibility to build an existence. Too strong was the discrimination, too weak the economy, too corrupt the politicians: “Fabian and Anisoara Lazar-Ion do not fit the image of Roma parents who send their children to steal. Because the couple has a plan. The two want to work honestly and get a fair wage. Social assistance? “For us, no perspective”, they say briefly and succinctly. Both do not hang around on the street and take their fate into their own hands. […] Both have a heart’s desire, in addition to a secure future. Fabian is proud to be a Roma. He calls himself Gypsy – and asks the Dortmund people: “We are not all the same. There are parents who lack education. We do not agree with the fact that they send their children out, so that they commit crimes. Also his wife sees their own countrymen critically: “They simply have no plan for their lives. But it is a false impression that all gypsies are criminals.” The 39-year-old had to experience himself how it feels to be discriminated against: in his former homeland Romania. “I had several interviews. Once it was known that I’m a gypsy, I had no chance.””  The fate of Fabian and Anisoara Lazar-Ion is a good example that willingness to integrate is not a question of ethnic origin. Already now, 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma are living integrated in Germany, many of them for generations. They are the proof that the inclusion of the Rroma is possible without problems if they are not restrained by marginalization and discrimination.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

15.08.2014 Saint-Étienne: displaced Rroma live in the streets

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Brancato (2014) reports on the fate of some 200 Rroma who were expelled from their informal settlements in mid-July. Since then, they have been wandering in the streets of Saint-Étienne and are regularly prevented by the authorities from setting up a camp at a new place. The organisation Solidarité Rom calls for a round table with the Rroma and local authorities to discuss the issue of accommodation, employment and integration. Meanwhile, the organization provides the Rroma with the essentials. However, the Saint-Étienne’s government seems to have no interest in integrating the Rroma, as the security advisor of the mayor, Claude Liogier, shows: it is not the duty of the city to find jobs for the Rroma, he states. He adds that he thinks that the lifestyle of the Rroma is very different from the customs of France. Thereby, Liogier reproduces almost an identical reasoning as the one of Manuel Valls at end of last year when justifying the continuous expulsion of Rroma. Liogier does not seem to be aware of that this is an extremely one-sided and politicised interpretation of culture. Pierre Rachet, president of Solidarité Rom, states almost the exact opposite: some thirty Rroma families, who were part of an integration program in Saint-Étienne a few years ago, now live integrated and have steady jobs. Repeatedly, the media suggest that poverty, illiteracy, educational alienation, abundance of children or living in slums are part of Rroma-culture. That these are rather the symptoms of exclusion and socio-economic hardships is hidden most of the time. Rroma belong to all social classes and should not to be equated with an underclass, as it is claimed repeatedly, also by self-appointed Rroma-experts. In France, there are living 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma, the majority of them integrated and since generations. Eventually they should also be addressed in the media (compare Despagne 2014).

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

13.08.2014 France: vicious circle of expulsions continues

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Brunet (2014) reports on the whereabouts of some 300 Rroma who were evicted from the informal settlement in Grigny (Essonne). While a small part of them has gone back to Romania, the majority of the people will simply join other settlements or build a new camp in a different location. The vicious circle therefore continues. A long-term integration, to which the Rroma aspire, remains unresolved. Many of the children were enrolled in local schools and now have to interrupt or continue their education in a different class. Paradoxically, the local communist administration strived for an improvement of the infrastructure in the settlement, despite its order for an eviction, which resulted in providing of water supply and in trash removal. Disregarding the suggestion of many organisations that the forced eviction hinder a long-term integration of the Rroma, the mayor of Grigny referred to the precarious conditions in the settlement to justify the forced eviction: “A slum, in Grigny or elsewhere, is not destined to stay forever. It would be contemptuous to think that these families with children can continue to stay there, with the rates, in deplorable hygienic conditions”, decided Claude Vasquez, deputy of Grigny, who is responsible for the dossier.” Nonetheless, the policymakers of Grigny seem to be aware that with the eviction the issue of integration has not been resolved and the situation of the affected families often is exacerbated: “The council of Grigny has filed a motion in July and requested a financial contribution by the state for the implementation of a monitoring project, estimating that “the expulsion of the camp without alternative solutions does nothing other than aggravate the misery and causes their misplacement to other place, often in the vicinity.” The statement of the office of the mayor, which announced that one does not assume that the Rroma will settle again in Grigny after the eviction, is in contradiction with this statement. The goal was move the Rroma out of the slums, it was stated. This would require long-term solutions, such as subsidised integration projects, as they are available only for a small number of people. A long-term integration is therefore not yet realised. It must be added that the thousands of Rroma living in slums do in fact only represent a visible minority of the Roma in France. A majority of 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma have been living integrated in French society for generations, but are not perceived by the public. Meanwhile, the eviction policy continues: in Bron, an informal settlement with 120 people, half of them children, was evicted (compare Blanchet 2014 I/II, Rue89Lyon 2014, Wojcik 2014).

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08.08.2014 Rroma: “They are all Europeans”

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Küpper (2014) spoke with Benjamin Marx, who creates and develops affordable housing for the Aachen housing association. He initiated the refurbishment of an apartment building in Berlin-Neukölln, which accommodates dozens of Rroma families from Fantanele, in Romania, that is considered a showcase project. With the Julius Berger Award, which was conferred for the housing project at the Harzer Strasse, the Aachen housing association wants to improve conditions in Romania itself. Marx emphasizes that by no means all Rroma want to migrate to Western Europe, but primarily a part of the middle class: “Many people go. Those who can afford it buy the tomatoes at discount stores rather than to grow them themselves. That irritates. Growing chickens and farming in the garden is considered a poverty stamp, especially among those who pay attention to “Western values​​”. Who can afford it shares “Western values” by consumption. […] If German children’s [social care] money, 215 Euros, arrives in Fantanele because the child lives there, this corresponds to the average salary of a teacher. No integration and employment program of Romania can compete with such transfers. […] Among the Roma, the “middle class” goes away, the poor and the rich stay.” Marx stressed that he sees the integration of the Rroma as a pan-European task. Deporting the minority from one country to another makes little sense; all European States must participate in the inclusion of the Rroma. This involves a reduction of the wealth gap between the different European member states, which makes migration attractive, disregarding the poor minority protection in certain countries, which is also an essential cause for migration to Western Europe. One must emphasise that already now a large part of the Rroma is integrated in the various European states, but are not perceived by the public as Rroma. The focus is on members of the minority that attract attention because of poverty or crime, but they only make up a minority of the minority.

France News Western Europe

08.08.2014 France: more evictions of informal settlements

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Several French newspapers reported on the eviction of two informal Rroma settlements in Grigny, in the department of Essonne. On August the 5th, at 7 o’clock in the morning, the French authorities began the evacuation of the camp. Around 100 people were still present. The two settlements housed up to 300 people. 30 people will be included in an integration project, which will helps them to find jobs, to enrol their children in school and to improve their French skills. The remaining displaced persons were offered temporary accommodation. However, this does not resolve their problems. Most of those affected have already been evicted several times. Eighteen months ago, they had been driven off the neighbouring village. Nicolas Covaci, a former resident of the camp, complains: “You always, always get displaced. Nonetheless you work. There are ten families who have worked here regularly” (Francetv info 2014, compare Europe1 2014, Le Figaro 2014, RTL France 2014). One has to emphasise that the evictions of settlements complicate a long-term integration of the Rroma immigrants. Through the evictions, the pending problems and the question of integration are simply moved from one location to the next, but not resolved. Normally, new settlements are rebuilt after a very short time. With the media focus on the informal settlements, one suggests that there are only Rroma belonging to the underclass and who are poorly educated. However, according to estimations of the Rroma Foundation, around 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma are integrated and live unobtrusively in French society. The French media, the public and politics continuously neglect them.

Bulgaria Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

08.08.2014 Chronicle of the „Rroma house“ in Duisburg

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On the occasion of the evacuation of the so-called “Rroma house” in Duisburg, Jakob (2014) takes look at the history of the three apartment buildings that housed up to 1,400 people at peak times. Since 2009, the residential complex “In den Peschen”, which had been purchased by the real estate agent Branko Barisic, was in the headlines. It was mostly due to the voices of angry residents who were complaining about noise, pollution, and petty crime. The Rroma themselves – if they really were all Rroma from Romania and Bulgaria, as it was claimed – remained largely unheard and were stylised as a bunch of uneducated poverty immigrants abusing the German social welfare system and spreading disorder and chaos. Again and again, culturalising arguments were evoked, one spoke of two colliding worlds, of the alleged anti-social behaviour and backwardness of immigrated Rroma. That the immigrants are socially disadvantaged families who are looking for better life in Germany was largely concealed. Likewise, that poverty has nothing to do with ethnicity and therefore there are also poor ethnic Romanians, Bulgarians who move to Western Europe. However, that it a mass exodus of “poverty immigrants” into the German social welfare system occurred, as was repeatedly claimed, is doubtful: there were always well-educated migrants, who didn’t receive any media attention. Critical statistics could not detect a mass influx from the new Schengen countries Romania and Bulgaria. Many stayed at home in their familiar social environment.

Jacob tries to show that the immigrants were largely left by themselves in their attempt to integrate and that a little bit more help by the authorities and residents would not have allowed the situation to escalate in such a way: “Little by little, the citizen protests against the Roma mixed with right-wing radicals. In the Internet there were calls to attack the house. In the local elections in May, right wing extremists received nowhere more seats than in North Rhine-Westphalia [NRW]. Pro NRW, which had demonstrated in front of the house, has since then send four representatives into the city council, the NPD one representative. The city saw the Roma mainly as a problem: a year ago, city director Reinhold Spaniel explained in the taz that the “social behaviour of many Roma” was “an impertinence”. The city was “completely overwhelmed” by them financially, Spaniel said. Duisburg feared the influx of other “economic refugees” and probably also an escalation of the situation. The Roma should go. […] While the neighbours were giving interviews to the TV-crews, Horst Wilhelm B., former caretaker, sat separately on his scooter and watched the exodus of the Roma. “They are pigs”, he says later quietly. He meant the neighbours. “They simply did not want any Gypsies here.” They were already offended when the children went to school and made ​​some noise. […] He himself didn’t want to live in the house any longer either, but the city didn’t do anything to give the people a chance in Duisburg. “Maybe”, says B., “everything would not have been so bad if the people had got some help.”” Jacob shows memorably that the integration of the people doesn’t only depend on their adaptability and willingness to integrate, but also on the willingness to incorporate them by residents and authorities. When both sides endeavour a successful integration, integration is usually effective. That this is absolutely possible prove the 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma who live integrated in Germany, often since generations. They are mostly ignored by the media.  

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

06.08.2014 KZ Lety: demand for an appropriate memorial instead of pig farm

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During the occupation by the Nazis, there was a concentration camp for Rroma in the South Bohemian town of Lety, which was operated by Czech collaborators. Some 1,300 people were interned there; hundreds of them were murdered. Despite this grim finding, today there still is no memorial at the site of the former labour camp. Instead, there is a pig farm built under communist rule. This irreverent handling of a memorial site was protested against for years. Culture Minister Daniel Herman reaffirmed in a broadcast by the Czech radio the plans to establish a permanent memorial: “I am very pleased that the Prime Minister has asked me and Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier this spring during the commemorations in Lety to find a solution for the pig farm, and if appropriate, to seek its transfer. The aim is to build a memorial at the site of this former concentration camp, since currently, the memorial is located on the former burial ground. […] Of course, we want that there is a solution during the mandate of our government, because we feel responsible that it has not yet happened. It is certainly a disgrace in the accounting of our past. I think it is necessary that one also confronts the painful moments. And it is necessary to remember that this camp was not under the auspices of German Nazis, but was led by their Czech collaborators. The guards were Czechs. And that’s actually our share of the Holocaust against the Roma. We have to face this issue.” The poor handling of the historical heritage of the Rroma Holocaust is emblematic of the insufficient respect for the minority in the present. Segregated schools, discrimination in the labour market and widespread prejudices continue to make the life of the Rroma anything but easy (compare Kraus 2014). – The chairman of the right-wing nationalist Úsvit party, Tomio Okamura, provoked a political outcry on Monday when he announced that no one had died in Lety. The concentration camp of Lety was a myth, he stated. Numerous politicians, including the Czech minister for human rights, Jiří Dienstbier, called for his resignation (Prager Zeitung 2014).

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

06.08.2014 Stereotypes: Rroma as patriarchal and misogynistic

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Mühlenschulte (2014) reports on a ten-day German-language course at the Wisseler lake in North Rhine-Westphalia, which was organised by the youth organization Lalok Libre. Among the 35 children aged 4 to 17 years, there were 30 Rroma children. The article tries to show integration efforts of recently immigrated Rroma families, but reproduces numerous negative stereotypes and prejudices by equating Rroma with alienation from education, high numbers of children, patriarchal structures, and with poverty. That a lack of education and high numbers of children are the result  of poverty, a phenomenon that exist independently of ethnicity, is not discussed. Therefore, a one-sided notion of Rroma as poverty immigrants is mediated and erroneously equates socioeconomic circumstances with culture: ““You have to respect women girls”, says Venetia Harontzas to two Roma boys. “The girls here must be like your sisters!” […] Worlds are said to collide at the Dresden street/corner Grillostraße, reports Harontzas. But also among the Roma there big differences, she states. The majority are cooperative. “Actually, these are kids like everyone else, they just grow up in another community”, the Lalok president states. In a society in which women are often only seen as breeding machines, and girls are getting their first child at the age of 14, their second at 16, and many more would follow. The Roma Matei Rostas confirms this. “A sensitive issue”, says Harontzas. Soon one wants to talk with the Roma families about contraception, which is often a foreign word to them, she states.” There are also many well-educated Rroma who do not conform to these stereotypes. Especially in Germany, where a majority of 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma have been living integrated for generations and are represented by the central council of German Sinti and Roma to the public. Unfortunately, they are almost never discussed in the media. Contraception has nothing to do with ethnicity, but is influenced by the level of education and sometimes by religious affiliation. In addition, notions of cultural traditions such as an early age of marriage or the role of women should be treated with caution, since they apply only to traditional Rroma and are subject to social changes. Therefore, Rromni often have considerable influence in their families, especially women after the menopause. The supremacy of men has more representative character than that real hierarchies would exist.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

01.08.2014 Nanterre/Aulnay-sous-Bois: more Rroma settlements evicted

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In Nanterre and Aulnay-sous-Bois in the Paris suburbs, more illegal Rroma settlements were evicted following court decisions. The settlement in Nanterre housed 300 to 400 people and was located on a wasteland near a highway and a railway line. When the security forces started the evacuation, there were still about 150 people present on the premises. The prefecture of Nanterre said they had pre-booked 123 hotel beds, from which only nine people wanted to make use of. The lawyer of the Rroma, Julie Launois-Flacelière, applied to the European Court of Human Rights and called for the suspension of the evacuation. However, this had no effect. The city council communicated that maintaining a slum near a highway was not desirable either for the affected families or for the city. In Aulnay-sous-Bois an informal Rroma camp was also evicted. It encompassed about 400 people, including around 100 children, the majority of Romanian origin. François Siebecke, from a local charity, criticised that months of work for the children’s schooling and access to medical care had been destroyed by the eviction. According to the prefecture of Aulnay-sous-Bois, none of the displaced persons demanded alternative accommodation. In the summer months, the number of evictions usually rises significantly. On one side, this has to do with seasonal factors, since one usually admits the residents of the settlements a limited right to remain because of cold winters. On the other hand, some judges consider the enrolment of Rroma children in their decisions and wait with the evictions until the school year has ended (compare Hubin 2014, Le Parisien 2014 Libération in 2014, RTL France 2014). It has to be emphasized that the governmental evacuations of informal settlements significantly complicate a long-term integration of the Rroma migrants. Although the forced evictions solve the short-term problems of the local communities, the actual problems for those affected still remain. Mostly, after a very short period, new informal camps are established at other locations. Through the media focus on illegal settlements, the public gets the impression that there are only Rroma belonging to the lower class, who are poorly educated. However, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, an estimated 100,000 to 500,000 invisible Rroma live in an integrated and unobtrusive way in France, many since several generations. They are totally disregarded in the public debate. Rroma should not to be equated with an underclass. They belong to all social classes.

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01.08.2014 Baden-Württemberg: demand for a realistic Rroma image in schools

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Several German local newspapers report on the meetings of the council for the affairs of German Sinti and Roma in Baden-Württemberg. After a first meeting, the expert group stated that it wishes a realistic depiction of the Sinti and Roma in Baden-Württemberg’s schools. So far, the students were mainly taught clichés but not a critical, realistic picture of this minority: “[Daniel] Strauss criticised that the stereotypical image of the “Gypsy” is still widely used. If Sinti and Roma are at all a topic in lessons, they are often depicted as victims. Although there are many creative people [among them], not all of them out themselves as members of this minority. In addition, the future of the graves of Sinti and Roma who survived National Socialism was a central point of the discussion. The council agreed to maintain these graves in the long run. Their number in Baden-Württemberg is estimated at about 300” (Südwest Press 2014/I, compare Die Welt 2014, Südwest Presse 2014/II, SWR 2014). The predominantly pejorative stereotypes that ascribe the Rroma a culturally based delinquency and with hierarchical clans, are a projection on the minority of alleged knowledge that has prevailed the media and the public as the dominant narrative about the Rroma. However, these stereotypes are largely wrong. Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups, many are well educated, settled and belong to the middle class.

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01.08.2014 Montpellier: integration village will not be realised

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Dubault (2014) reports on the status of the planned Rroma integration village in Montpellier. Hélène Mandroux,  the reigning socialist mayor of the city until the spring 2014, had initiated the project together with her assistant. The integration village would have cost around 2 million Euros: 20 motivated families, especially willing to integrate themselves would have been selected and been actively supported in their search for work, in improving their language skills, in their children’s education, and in the integration into the community. The newly elected mayor Philippe Saurel and the local council of Montpellier who were voted in the spring of 2014 have shut the project down. The costs are too high, the hoped-for success of the project too uncertain, they stated. Dubault states that stopping the project didn’t cause too much consternation among the collective in support of the Rroma. Most of the other integration projects in the Paris region were also characterised by failure, she concludes. These pessimistic estimates are contradicted by success stories like those of Indre (Loire-Atlantique), which was able to announce almost exclusively positive assessments of its integration project (compare Barbier 2014 Mouillard 2014 I/II). Aid agencies have accused the authorities and politics of deliberately not wanting to promote the integration of the immigrant Rroma, but rather wanting to deport them. In the French media and the French public, one never hears of the estimated 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma living in an integrated fashion, who form part of French society since generations and contribute to it. They are present examples that integration is possible.

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01.08.2014 Halle: alliance against right refutes prejudices against Rroma

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In response to racist abuse against Rroma on the street and on the Internet in Halle (Silverhöhe), the “alliance against the right” has issued a statement in which it refutes the racist prejudices against Rroma and gives context around the the xenophobic slogans: “Apparently, for quite some time now there were prejudices against several Roma families who rented apartments in Silberhöhe. In the Facebook group, anti-Roma prejudices are connected with inhuman comments and calls for violence. The spraying of anti-Roma and Nazi slogans and symbols in Silberhöhe in the night of July 18th, 2014, we see as a direct result of the coverage of the Facebook group” (Halle Spektrum 2014). A detailed refutation of the common stereotypes about Rroma and “poverty immigrants”, with whom the minority is often mistakenly equated follows: Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups. The authorities have experienced no increase in crime, as members of the demagogic Facebook group claimed. Most children of Rroma immigrants go to school and are required to do so by German law. The prejudice of not wanting education is therefore also not true. Another racist stereotype is the accusation that Rroma only migrate to Germany to exploit social benefits and that the majority does not work. This prejudice is also refuted by critical studies: to receive social funds one has to provide evidence of previous work and of payments to social security. One is not automatically entitled to social benefits. In addition, there are also many well-qualified immigrants who are members of the middle class or even the upper class. Mistakenly, it is always assumed that immigrants from Eastern Europe are only Rroma: but there also are many ethnic Bulgarians, Romanians, Macedonians, Serbs, etc. Rroma constitute only a minority in these countries (Halle Spektrum 2014 I/II). An estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma live in Germany. The vast majority of them is integrated, has a steady job, pays taxes and lives in Germany since several generations.

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