Tag Archives: Education

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07.02.2014 Integration efforts for Rroma families in Hellemmes-Lille

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La Voix du Nord (2014) reports on the installation of several caravans, where Rroma who moved to Hellemmes are supposed to stay in the future. The five Rroma families benefit from the assistance of local politicians, the help has at the same time drawn the anger of local residents. The children of the five families are already enrolled in local schools. The mayor is optimistic despite the resistance: “We remember that the announcement of the opening of the insertion village angered many residents. What’s about now? “The residents of Hellemmes now make the difference between the Roma and our Roma”, said the mayor.” The integration efforts on part of the mayor of Hellemmes are very commendable, but they form an exception to the otherwise very repressive policy towards the Rroma. Also one should not forget that there are many Rroma in France who have been living integrated and unobtrusive in the country for many years. Of them is never spoken in the media.

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07.02.2014 Increasing discrimination of Rroma in Greece

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Roumpis (2014) paints a bleak picture of the social situation of Rroma in Greece: Segregated schools, growth of extreme right-wing groups, maintenance of pejorative stereotypes and harsh economic conditions make life for many Rroma in Greece an unhappy thing. The prejudice against the minority wad additionally fuelled by the media hype around the blonde Rroma girl Maria. Also, a conservative public accuses the Rroma to burden social welfare: “In Sofades, a town of 6,000 that’s evenly divided between Roma and “balamos” — what Roma call white Greeks — many Roma live in unheated, barely fitting houses made of asbestos, stone and zinc. Although they patronize local Greek-owned shops, they aren’t welcome in cafes and bars. […] Greece’s financial crisis has made matters worse. Many Roma families receive financial assistance for low-income households and having more than three children, an issue that has bred resentment.”

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31.01.2014 Media attention on immigrant Rroma in illegal settlements continues

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Huguenin (2014) of France 3 reports on a recently evicted illegal settlement in Languedoc- Roussillon, near which Rroma have again resettled. The article reproduces – despite its emphatic perspective – a negative image of poor, uneducated Rroma, as the French right so often portrays.

In Val-de-Marne, a Rroma settlement with 1000 to 2000 inhabitants is being evicted. Residents were informed a week before the eviction about the upcoming action. The majority of the children are enrolled in Bonneuil. This clearance challenges the continued schooling of minors (Le Parisien 2014/I). The one-sided media focus on Rroma in slums increases the biased public impression that all Rroma live in such conditions. It is constantly neglected that there are many Rroma in France who lead an integrated and unobtrusive life.

The mayor of Roquebrune-sur-Argens, Luc Jousse, doesn’t have to fear any sanctions from his party, the UMP, which dropped all charges against the mayor. Jousse had stated in December 2013, that a fire in a Rroma settlement was reported too early to the authorities, which from his point of view was a pity. For this tasteless statement, Jousse had been suspended until further notice (Le Parisien 2014/II , Francetv info 2014 Nice Matin 2014/I, Nice Matin 2014/II).

Guévart (2014) from the Courrier Picard meanwhile mocks himself without shame about the fate of the Kosovar Rroma girl Leonarda and her family. He accuses the left-wing supporters of the family of blind humanitarianism and sees the rejection of the asylum application as a just conclusion to this matter: “The left has criticized the evictions as being managed like an industry in the era of Sarkozy-Guéant, being continued now in its his own camp [through Manuel Valls]. What now? Not applying the law to avoid controversy? Hold a press conference to reach out to a teenager who stands up to the president of the French state, and offer her … what to do? Home, studies, all expenses paid by whom?” Guévart is totally indifferent towards the situation Rroma face in Kosovo. He doesn’t care that they are confronted with the aftermath of the civil war and all its consequences.

Paupe (2014) meantime questions the effectiveness of the French migration policy regarding Rroma. Manuel Valls ordered 20,000 deportations of Rroma in 2013. The number of foreign Rroma in France meanwhile stays around 17,000 people. The numbers are misleading because the same people were often deported multiple times, the author states. The organization Romeurope criticizes the usefulness of a rigorous deportation policy. What is really wanted is constructive solutions, improving the conditions of all actors involved. To only remind continuously of the necessity to cut down public spending isn’t solving anything, Umberto Guerra from Romeurope criticized. The evictions indeed exacerbate the long-term improvement of the life situation of those affected. They complicate a regulated access to health, education, and labour institutions.

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31.01.2014 Rroma in Hungary are still taught segregated

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Le Point (2014) discusses the continuing segregation of Rroma in Hungarian schools. The article criticizes the ongoing discrimination against Rroma children by the Hungarian school system. Particularly outrageous about the segregation is, that it mixes ethnic categories with poverty. With this logic, a Rroma child is automatically mentally handicapped because he comes from a socially disadvantaged environment. Healthy Rroma children are attested disabilities based on flimsy arguments: “In this country of 10 million inhabitants, Roma make up about 8% of the population. One third of Roma children attend mixed schools, one third attend schools only for Roma, and one third is allocated to schools for the mentally disabled, according to unofficial estimates. There are no statistical studies based on ethnic criteria in Hungary.” The EU has repeatedly cautioned Hungary on its racist methods within the school system. Only mixed schools can ensure the integration of Rroma and educate all parties to become tolerant citizen.

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31.01.2014 Rroma Holocaust commemoration

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The 27th of January is the official day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism in Germany. On the 27th of January 1945, the Red Army liberated the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The state chairman of the Hessian Sinti and Roma, Adam Strauss, warned in his speech of the importance of civil courage and the danger of spreading false information about Rroma. He further noted a continuity of prejudice against this minority, which persists and is jointly responsible for the genocide. The Deputy Prime Minister of Hesse, Al-Wazir, pointed on the danger of intellectual arson and the way it is fuelled by ill-considered remarks: “He directly pointed to the current debate on poverty refugees from Romania and Bulgaria, who come to Germany. Al-Wazir called it “important that we do not build new walls due to reckless words.”  Prudence and respect are important “to us Germans in this debate.” On the same day Bouffier, in a newspaper interview, took a similar view of the debate on poverty migrants. It is important “to use appropriate words to designate the facts”, he stated” (von Bebenburg 2014).

In his text, Hagemann (2014), addresses the discrimination of Rroma by German teachers during and after the Second World War. NSDAP compliant teachers wrote students from ethnic minorities “characteristics of their race” into their testimonials and managed to obtain their deportation. During the memorial service in Menden, the secondary school students read frighteningly many names of young children. They were infants who were born after 1940 and were nonetheless deported in March 1943. It is particularly shocking that many of the teachers were allowed to teach after the war had ended and were supported by public institutions such as the Catholic Church: “The students called the names of the teachers who were allowed to educate the children of Menden in the post-war years. They criticized the Catholic Church, which did not protect these Catholics, the archbishops, who did not respond to petitions, although the brutal extermination of the Sinti and Roma was described in them in dramatic terms. […] One student described the terrible conditions that were faced by the Catholic Gypsies of Menden in Auschwitz, where they were branded as “asocial” with a black triangle on the clothing: they faced typhoid and diarrhoea, abuse and rape. Those who survived, were led into the gas chamber.”

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24.01.2014 The Rroma and the integration debate in France

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Le Nouvel Observateur (2014) reports on the lawsuit on the right of residence for the family of Leonarda Dibrani, whose deportation made national media coverage last autumn and led to strong criticism of French migration policies. The spokesman of the French administrative court stated that the application of the Dibrani family for a residence permit will be most likely rejected. The final verdict is still pending. The court criticised that Mr. and Mrs. Dibrani could not point to any real integration efforts. They isolated themselves and Mrs. Dibrani cannot speak any French, the court added. Leonarda and her family nonetheless still hope to be granted a residence permit for the whole family. France was her home, not the Kosovo, Leonarda stated. Also, she doesn’t speak any Albanian, which makes her integration in the Kosovo more difficult than in France. 

Dubasque (2014) takes the events of Leonarda as an opportunity to reflect on the French Rroma policies. The approximately 15,000 Rroma in France are and were the target of a rigorous order-policy, which takes no account of their historical exclusion and marginalization. The Rroma are being represented – Dubasque criticizes –  as if they uphold illegal migration, are not willing to work and want to live in degrading conditions voluntarily. Poverty is therefore being ethnicized: „Si l’on peut comprendre les problèmes que ces occupations sauvages peuvent poser aux maires et aux riverains, il convient de rappeler que ces installations constituent des occupations par défaut, conséquence du manque d’hébergements et de logements accessibles aux personnes à très faible revenu […].“ [While one can understand the issues of these illegal occupations can cause to mayors and to neighbours, one needs to state that these occupations occur by default, as a consequence of the lack of housing for people with very low income]. The continuing evictions of Rroma from illegal settlements strongly impairs their access to educational and health institutions and the labour market. Because basic human rights are withheld from them, for many Rroma, a successful integration is a highly demanding task.

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24.01.2014 Rroma in Great Britain and the Schengen policies

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Clark (2013) criticises the Romanian government for its Rroma policies. From his standpoint, it is not appropriate that Romania criticizes the UK for its restrictive migration policy. Romania itself, he emphasizes, has large shortcomings in its policies concerning Rroma. The remark of the Romanian Rroma commissioner Damian Draghici that one should not be angry with Rroma beggars but rather be angry at bankers, Clark considers to be arrogant and as distracting from the abuses in Romania and Bulgaria itself: „Over the past decade municipal [Romanian] authorities have ethnically cleansed their city centres of Roma and relocated them to shanty towns on the fringes. In Cluj-Napoca, in a case which has aroused the interest of Amnesty International, 300 Roma people were moved to a site next to a landfill and chemical dump, where families have been made to share one room. […] The inevitable result is a westwards flow of Roma fleeing from discrimination and poverty. The EU’s open borders policy should be suspended until Romania and Bulgaria have improved living conditions for all their citizens.“ Clark fails to recognize in his analysis that there are no overnight solutions for the social ills in Eastern Europe. In addition, the integration of the Rroma is a pan-European task requiring a pan-state solution. Isolation is therefore clearly the wrong answer to social and political shortcomings.

The forced relocation of several Rroma families in Cluj-Napoca onto the site of a former chemical factory was judged illegal by the local court. The incumbent mayor was convicted  for having exceeded his authority in authorizing the relocation. The decision was welcomed by many organisations, such as the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) that had supported the action against the forced relocation (Ekklesia 2014).

An antithesis to Clark’s presentation is Kelley’s (2014) article in The Journal. It reminds about the prejudices, the Rroma genocide, the fear fostered by politicians and journalists: A flood of immigrants hasn’t come to Great Britain so far and the British voters have proven to be less anxious than some politicians and journalists prophesied: „A survey revealed 68% of Britons welcomed Eastern Europeans who work hard, pay taxes and speak English. And, according to Martin Keles, a spokesman for the Roma community in Newcastle, that is exactly what they intend to do. “We just want the opportunity to provide for our families,” he said.“ Kelley further emphasizes the strong institutionalized racism against Rroma in countries like the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia. But not only in Eastern Europe, but in Europe as a whole, the Rroma have experienced a history of exclusion since their arrival in Western Europe in the 14th century. The human rights organization “A Living Tradition” conducted a survey among Rroma migrants on behalf of the council of Newcastle. It revealed that the Eastern European migrants are fleeing rampant racism in their home countries and appreciate the English educational institutions and the open society. Kelley’s article is a welcoming change to the many negative articles about Rroma and the European migration. His positive journalism helps to reduce prejudice and promotes the integration of the Rroma.

Knight (2014) from Gentlemen’s Quarterly takes an ambivalent position concerning the debate about immigration in Europe. On one hand, he propagates the idea of an impeding exodus of impoverished Rroma to Great Britain, on the other, he acknowledges their discrimination. He describes Rroma living in the streets of London, having to cope with very modest incomes. Again and again they are asked by the authorities not to beg and to no longer sleep on the streets. Knight sums up: „Courtesy of the ever-expanding European Union, the UK, and London, are finally waking up to one of Europe’s biggest embarrassments: that after the better part of a thousand years, our continent still does not know how to live at peace with its largest ethnic minority.“ Contrary to the generalising statements in the title, Knight recognizes that British society knows next to nothing about Rroma and that one cannot predict how many Rroma will come to the UK. The statistics on immigrants do not capture ethnicity. Knowledge about the Rroma remains dominated by many unknowns and wrong stereotypes. When Knight quotes a local resident of Bryanston Square, the landlady reproduces racist stereotypes and generalizations, even though her parents are said to be immigrants. She expresses the absurd image of culturally related crimes and otherness of the Rroma that they don’t want to integrate and deliberately choose a life in illegality. In the following paragraph Knight acknowledges that his presentation at the beginning of the article cannot hide is his derogatory attitude towards Rroma. He uncritically restates notions about organised begging, child prostitution, human trafficking and begging networks and qualifies the Rroma as having criminal habits: „Ever since, officers have wondered about the level of organisation within the group, and whether it is connected with more serious crimes, such as human trafficking or child prostitution. Hierarchical networks of beggars and street thieves – run by Gypsies, for Gypsies – have been on the rise in big European cities for the last decade: in Rome, in Milan, in Paris, in Madrid. London is a logical next target. Having spent day after day with the Gypsies this summer, I find they are never more than a few hours from their next visit from the police or their next arrest for begging.” His investigative journalism is biased and unreflective. He limits himself to what he could personally observe on the street and mixes it with crude culturalisations. The short trip to Romania is characterized by the common misery images that are often repeated in the coverage on Rroma: Large families crammed together in one two rooms and minor teenagers already being married and having kids. Knight quotes a Romanian historian, Viorel Achim, who no longer sees the future of the Romanian Rroma in training and the building of an educated, integrated middle class, but in emigration to Northern Europe. The therefore agrees with the predictions of conservative apologists, who warn of a mass migration to Western Europe. Knight cites a Rroma from Botosani: „You are going to be seeing a lot more of us in the future,“ says Manix. „We’re going to beg, do whatever we can. Anything to escape.“ Romanian Rroma commissioner Damian Draghici is particularly critical of NGOs who haven’t used the money entrusted to them. The next few paragraphs revolve around the prosperity gap between Eastern and Western Europe and whether this will result in strong migration movements. The fact that the opening of the border to other Schengen countries such as Poland and Hungary didn’t result in any mass migration is not assessed in any way. Knight communicates stereotypical notions of smuggler gangs and clan chiefs who tie off money for the adaptation to the new place and exploit poorer Rroma systematically: „You have to pay. You know from the outset. […] Everyone is controlled.“ At the end of the very long article, one impression dominates: A feeling of distrust from the journalist towards his informants, the Rroma.

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24.01.2014 Hindu leader urges Pope to promote integration of the Rroma

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The statesman and head of the universal society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed, calls Pope Franciscus to a more involved commitment to the Rroma. Zed was disappointed that the pope, in his speech of January 13th, didn’t mention the issue of Rroma with a single word. The continuing exclusion of Rroma is one of the most burning problems of Europe: „Zed further said that alarming condition of Roma people was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the world as they reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, language barriers, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalization, appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse, racist slogans on Internet, etc“ (Baltic Review 2014, Zed 2014). The origin of the Rroma is found in India. But it would be wrong to call India their homeland. Rroma are a transnational minority without an own nation-state.

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24.01.2014 Rroma and the economic crisis

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Lee (2014) discusses the handling of Rroma in Europe in the context of the economic crisis that plunged the world into recession in 2008. He criticizes the fact that many conservative politicians and citizens in Europe are abusing Rroma as scapegoats. Many people have learned nothing from the events of the past but continue to defame Rroma with impunity. They create an image of work-shy, children-rich Rroma families that put a burden on society and are criminals: „The Roma didn’t have anything to do with the banking crisis, but they’re being blamed for Europe’s new poverty now. […] From London to Bratislava you hear the public and politicians saying they don’t want the Roma because they’re a burden on society, on public spending; that they don’t want to work, they just have more and more kids and then don’t even send them to school; that they’re lazy thieves. This is what the Fascists said about them, too. But nowadays, apparently it’s OK for the mainstream to say these things as well.“ In the accompanying video post Lee (2014/II) speaks with Slovak passersby: they reproduce the stereotypes of lazy, thieving, asocial Rroma. They totally ignore that it is the massive exclusion, which hinders the Rroma to successfully integrate. The article also shows how expressions of suspicion make street beggars automatically to Rroma, although there are also many beggars who are ethnic Slovaks.

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24.01.2014 Refutation of the prejudices against Rroma

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The Rroma organization “Romeurope” republished its booklet “Les Roms: luttons contre les idées recues”. The organization argues against the most stubborn prejudices that are spread about the Rroma immigrants from Eastern Europe: 1. They have no right to stay in France. This statement is incorrect because most European countries now are members of the Schengen area and Rroma are entitled as citizen of these countries to make use of the free migration policy. 2. The Rroma love to live in slums. Wrong, poor Rroma live in informal settlements in the suburbs because of lack of alternatives. This has nothing to do with their identity. 3. The Rroma are nomads. Also wrong. The Rroma are forced by evictions to change their location. The majority of the Rroma are sedentary. 4. They only want to live amongst their own clan. Wrong, the Roma live in family groups to be able to help each other and to master their often precarious living conditions. 5. Rroma do not want to work. Wrong, the Rroma are working as hard as other people. However, their access to the labour market is still very restricted. Institutional racism against the Rroma is still prevalent in many European countries. 6. Rroma prefer to beg. Also wrong. Due to the precarious economic situation of many immigrant Rroma and lack of alternatives many are forced to beg. 7. Rroma do not want to send their children to school. Wrong, often complicated regulations do prevent the enrolment of young Rroma. The regular evictions hinder an undisturbed schooling. 8. The Rroma are carriers of disease and bring diseases to France. Wrong, the precarious hygienic conditions in the informal camps and poor access to health care make immigrant Rroma susceptible to disease. 9. The Rroma are social parasites and exploit the French welfare state. Also wrong, most foreign Rroma have very poor access to public institutions (Romeurope 2014).

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24.01.2014 Discrimination of Rroma in Europe continues

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The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (2014) published is “World Report 2014” on the discrimination of the Rroma in the European Union. The report notes that the Rroma are still victims of massive exclusion. They are the main victims of the significant increase in right-wing policies and politicians, together with immigrants and homosexuals. For Germany, this means that Rroma migrants are being confronted with strong prejudices and that the deportation practices do not verify the conditions and discrimination in countries of origin like the Kosovo. France has set a new record in evictions during 2013: around 13,000 Rroma were evicted from their informal settlements during the period of January to September. In Greece, Human Rights Watch critiques the continuing segregation of Rroma in public schools. Additionally, the Rroma are being illegally persecuted and monitored by the authorities. For Croatia, the organisation criticised the exclusion of Rroma from public institutions such as schools, hospitals and social institutions. In Romania, the Rroma are still victims of numerous evictions and are generally disadvantaged in public life. A particularly bad assessment befalls Hungary, when it comes to the integration of Rroma. The report notes: “Roma were faced also last year with discrimination and harassment. The mayor of the city Ozd in northern Hungary separated Roma settlements with an estimated 500 families from the public water network. In January, the European Court of Human Rights judged Hungary guilty of discriminating two Rroma students, because the authorities had placed them in special schools. In July, the court upheld the decision of a prohibition on the Hungarian Guard, an extremist group agitating against Jews and Rroma. In August, a Budapest court convicted four men for murder, who had been involved in racist attacks in the years 2008 and 2009, in which six Roma had been killed, including a child.” As long as the economic conditions in Europe remain poor, the Rroma face an unfavourable fate. They are the first to suffer from social ills. It is much to be hoped that the bad tradition of centuries-old discrimination against the minority will soon be consigned to history.

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24.01.2014 Rroma and education policy in Great Britain

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Le Bas (2014) takes a critical look at the education policies in Great Britain and the integration of Rroma into public educational institutions. He notes that the Rroma are strongly under-represented in public schools: „The mental age of an average adult Gypsy is thought to be about that of a child of 10, said the 1959 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14 years after the end of the Nazi genocide of Romany Gypsies. This week new analysis of the 2011 census has been released by the Office for National Statistics. It revealed that of the 58,000 people who identified themselves as being of Gypsy/Traveller ethnicity, 60% had no formal qualifications whatsoever.” However, the equation of Rroma and travellers as an ethnic group is wrong. Most English travellers can be traced back to Irish travellers who have their own origins. Le Bas continues on the question of what factors lead to low school enrolment rates among Rroma. In addition to obvious factors such as discrimination, he also deals with sensitive cultural explanations, but he immediately qualifies these to the benefit of individual experiences: As among other ethnic groups, there are some Rroma families who value education more than others. The crucial question remains how to integrate the Rroma successfully into society as a whole.

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24.01.2014 Education against racism in Hungary

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Weil (2014) reports on the work of the young Rrom Joci Márton, volunteer of the foundation for informal education of Roma (UCCU, Roma Informális Oktatási Alapítvány). Márton attempts to sensitize adolescents on prejudices and challenge thought patterns by discussions in Hungarian schools. He has had to deal with insults during the short teaching sessions without taking it personally. A study on eurocentrism in Central Europe shows the link between lack of education and the responsiveness to racist concepts: “An existing relationship between the predisposition for discrimination and poverty is reported by György Csepeli, Antal Örkény, and Mária Székelyi in their 2000 study on ethnocentrism in Central Europe. It found that both those who live under socially and educationally poor conditions are more susceptible to discriminate others and that poor people are more often victims of discrimination. Times of crisis bring forth scapegoats and those who point their fingers at them.” Meanwhile, Márton pins his hopes on the integrating, bridge-building impact of education. The still existing segregated schools must finally be abolished and access of the Rroma to educational institutions steadily improved (see Budapester Zeitung 2014).

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17.01.2014 Roma in Levenshulme, Great Britain

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Thomas (2014) discusses in the context of the new migration policies with Romania and Bulgaria the situation in the small town of Levenshulme, a suburb of Manchester. Contrary to the dire predictions Thomas draws a positive picture: the local authorities have adjusted to the immigration and support migrants in their integration efforts. Public schools have increased courses for English as a foreign language and the social institutions work closely with the local authorities. Nevertheless there are tensions because not all residents react to the rapid social change of the last years in the same way. Thomas summarizes: „Now there are around 2,000 Romanians in Greater Manchester. A lot has changed, but the change has been managed and unlike in Sheffield where senior politicians warned of serious unrest, there has been no similar talk here. Professor Yaron Matras, who leads the Romani project at the University of Manchester, worked alongside the city council, Greater Manchester Police, social business the Big Life Company and education officials to put a Roma Strategy in place.“ Through this project the integration of the immigrants into the educational institutions and the labour market has significantly improved (compare Manchester City Council 2014) .

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17.01.2014 Poverty-migration and the Rroma

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Nuspliger (2014) gives a cursory overview of the debate on poverty-migration and on the feared predictions of mass migrations to Western Europe. He qualifies the images of right-wing conservatives who predict a strong west migration from Romania and Bulgaria in 2014. Many residents of these countries migrated abroad in 2007 after the EU accession and did not wait for the unrestricted movement of persons. The statistics about the poverty-migration regularly treat seasonal workers and students as equivalent to real labour migrants and therefore create a distorted picture of migration movements. In addition it is observed that many would-be migrants go into countries with diaspora groups or related languages: “Against the backdrop of the northern European fears of a Romanian mass immigration it is remarkable that, according to Eurostat figures of 2012, over three quarters of exile Romanians have moved to Spain and Italy – for which there are also linguistic reasons. Half of relocated European Portuguese are living in France and three-quarters of the emigrants of Poland live in the UK and Germany, which attracted many immigrants from Eastern Europe before the end of the licensing restrictions in 2011.” Rroma are being disadvantaged as before. The funding provided by the EU is only insufficiently used. Additionally, Rroma slums in Western Europe are the evidence of the lack of integration of this ethnic group. In the debates on immigration, meanwhile, images of social abuse dominate the discourse, which is taken up readily by polemicists.

Lübberding (2014) discusses the TV program “Maybrit Illner” on the topic “poverty on the move: how much freedom of movement can we afford?” The participants of the discussion were the Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann, the Green politician Cem Özdemir, the Councillor of Berlin-Neuköln Franziska Giffey, the head of the German police union  Rainer Wendt, the Duisburger citizen Sabine Kessler and the Rrom Dzoni Sichelschmidt. They discussed the pro and cons of unrestricted migration in the European Union. Lübbering shares the opinion that most of the immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria are Rroma, although the ethnicity is not recorded in the statistics. He states that in the city of Duisburg, with around 500,000 inhabitants, the 10,000 new immigrants are of Rroma origin. Lübberding takes side with the critics of unrestricted migration in the European Union when making fun of the integration targets of the European Union. He claims that the Union lacks sense of practice: “The error of the Brussels bureaucracy is not in their ambitious plans, but in the ignorance of their ambitiousness. On power-point slides just everything looks better than in the neighbourhood of Mrs. Kessler.” On the other hand it is a positive aspect of European networking that the problem of Rroma integration has now become a pan-European issue and no longer just concerns the countries with significant Rroma populations. Additionally, Lübberding qualifies the dimensions of immigration, which are anything but dramatic. Compared with the 1.2 million refugees who have fled from the civil war in Syria to Lebanon, the immigration to Germany is very modest. Dzoni Sichelschmidt emphasised the important fact that the Rroma have emerged in large part as losers from the events of 1989: the hostility towards them has risen. This circumstance is often neglected in Western Europe (compare ZDF 2014).

In debate about immigration, Kelec (2014) takes a right-wing conservative position. Additionally, with respect to Rroma, she present cultural arguments. She sees an unrestricted immigration as a failed policy of ignorance. Kelec accuses the left parties of downplaying the problems of reality and accusing right-wing populism of being responsible for everything. The Christian Democrats are supposed to insist stubbornly on their values. On Rroma she pretentiously claims: “The children of Sinti and Roma are left alone, in the Clans, medieval conditions often prevail [ … ]. Roma children are sent by their parents and clan chiefs to beg or work on the street – they are supposed to be in school. They also have an EU-wide right to childhood and education. In Roma families child-marriages and forced marriage is common – the right to independence and integrity must also apply for young girls and women. There can be no tradition of being above the constitution, even if some believe that medieval manners as “culture” are worthy of protection.” With these unwise generalizations Kelec discredits herself. She represents traditions and media cases as if they were deadlocked and universal. Her remarks are racist and offensive to a majority of the Rroma who do not follow these practices. Kelec reproduces uncritically polemical ideas about backwardness and exploitation that have nothing to do with the identity of the Rroma. Accusing Rroma living in poverty of their poverty as a crime is arrogant and stupid. Criticism of the traditions, which are no traditions, is no intelligent criticism.

Teigeler (2013) points out the important fact that the debate about unrestricted migration in the European Union is dominated by fears and irrational predictions. Before Poland’s accession to the Schengen area there were similar fears of a mass migration, which turned out to be unfounded. The discussion also often tends to forget the fact that with the immigrants also important needed professionals are recruited. Labelling immigrants sweepingly as poverty immigrants and benefit-freeloaders simplifies the complexity of reality too much: “With the multiple accusations that immigrants and in particular Roma from South Eastern Europe “will subvert the social system, old racist stereotypes are stoked”, criticized the speaker of the Green Party parliamentary group, Jutta Velte, on Tuesday (31/12/2013). “We need a more objective debate”, the representative urged.” 

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17.01.2014 Rroma in Kosovo

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Based on selected informants, Woker (2014) presents an unbiased, nuanced view of the fate of Rroma in Kosovo. He portrays various projects in Pristina and the suburbs that were co-sponsored by returning or remaining Rroma. In the Serbian municipality of Gracanica they run a hotel, which was co-sponsored by a Swiss official. Nrecaj, a Rrom, wanted to set up small libraries in all public schools to improve children’s education skills. However, the Kosovo authorities showed no interest in his project. Andreas Worms, an official who assessed the return of Kosovo exiles in late 1999 on behalf of the Swiss Federal Government and some aid agencies, confirms the difficulties of reintegration. Not infrequently, the houses of the Rroma were destroyed in Serbian minority areas:  “Wormser had to assess the reasonableness of a return in the event of asylum applications. The current situation of the minority was often delicate: their homes in Serbian villages were destroyed and in the Albanian settlement area they were seen as collaborators with the Serbs and had to fear for their lives.” Woker’s conclusion is that the situation for the Rroma in Kosovo is still unsatisfactory. The conflicts from spring 2004 encouraged many in the decision to seek their luck abroad. From originally around 200’000 Rroma today about 50’000 remain in the Kosovo. Despite efforts by organizations such as  “Voice of Roma”, who work for better educational qualifications among the Rroma, there remain strong tensions between the two other ethnic groups in the country: the Kosovar Albanians who make up the majority of the population and the Kosovo Serbs, who constitute the second largest group. Whether the Rroma hotel will become a model project or not, will have to be seen.

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21.12.2013 The Invisible Rroma

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Gabriela Mirescu (2012) – a Romanian political scientist – wrote a short article for the publication TANGRAM30 by the national commission against racism. In it, she approaches the question of why a majority of Rroma living in Europe – which are well adjusted to the mainstream society, keep their identity a secret, form the “invisible Rroma”. The reasons are quite apparent but not the less forth of detailed covering. The negative stereotypes about Rroma, which have settled in the course of history, make it a social disadvantage to out oneself as Rroma in the public. Discrimination in the working environment but also the personal life can be the consequences. Mirescu sees the behavior of this invisible majority as an indicator for social expectance. If the integrated Rroma still keep their identity a secret, it shows the ongoing stigmatization of Rroma in most European societies and the social transformation and increase of education and enlightment which is still necessary to decrease negative, pejorative stereotypes. A high level of education for a majority of society has therefore to be a temporary and long-term objective.

Source:

  • Mirescu, Gabriela (2012) The other Roma journey: from visible to invisible. In: Tangram 30: Jenische, Sinti/Manouches und Roma in der Schweiz. Bern: Eidgenössische Kommission gegen Rassismus.
France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

20.12.2013 Education crisis among Rroma in France?

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Kinne (2013) gives information on a creeping crisis in the Paris suburbs: According to his article, just 10 % of Rroma children living in a illegal or informal camp go to school. The majority of South Eastern Europe originating Rroma who live in a makeshift barracks and camps prefer this to the poverty and discrimination in their home countries. This perspective of events should give pause to the vehement opponents of Rroma. According to a French government report says the author, about a third of Rroma children who live in theses camps, are not enrolled in school: “Aaccording to a government report, in the entire country, only one third of Roma children living in illegal camps go to school. Even though all children aged six to 16 years who live in France are required to attend school. The rest falls through the net, never registers or fails because of the high barriers to enrolment. Families have, for example, to specify a fixed address. Impossible, if you live in an illegal camp.” Besides the problem of the missing address, there are official reservations about Rroma, as well as the danger of being evicted in the near future from one’s current place of residence. Then there is the fear of many parents that their children could be discriminated against in schools. Without a good education, it will not be easier for the next generation to break the vicious circle of poverty and exclusion. That should make us think. On the other hand, there are also quite well-integrated Rroma in France, which are completely ignored in the current debate. They should have a voice.

France Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

13.12.2013 European Rroma Policies: A Sobering Result at Year End

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Riesbeck (2013) discusses the prospects of the European Rroma policies, which are aimed at the promotion of Rroma in the areas of education, health, employment, and housing. The results of theses policy is meanwhile sobering. The current project that has now been running for two years does not get the ball rolling. One of the reasons for the lack of success stories is the lack of legal means of the EU administration: “The States indicate their goals in the Roma strategy, but the European Commission has no legal basis to call for the implementation of these objectives and make them binding.” therefore, the European Rroma policies fall to bureaucratic hurdles between EU policies and programs of the respective nation-states. In addition, Rroma are themselves insufficiently involved in the projects. One talks about and for them, but not with them. 7sur7 (2013) sees a fundamental problem in the voluntariness of the implementation of EU decisions on the part of the EU Member States.

Mappes-Niediek sees an alternative to increasing educational achievements among Rroma, something which does not necessarily guarantees a real improvement, in the creation of social funds to cover the basic needs of all EU residents. His thought stems from the fact that education alone cannot eliminate the discrimination by the majority society (Gędziorowski 2013).

Meanwhile, several Western European countries are trying to stem the migration of Rroma. Members of the EU Parliament again spoke against restrictive practices towards Rroma: “EU countries must stop illegal expulsion of Roma people and end ethnic profiling, police abuse and human rights violations perpetrated against them, says Parliament in a non-binding resolution adopted on Thursday. It assesses member states’ strategies to boost Roma integration and calls for more funds to prevent discrimination and reach small community projects” (European Parliament 2013). The undeniable tension between national political programs and pan-European plans are visible in particular also in the European Rroma policies. While the EU insists on integration and recognition, conservative politicians in Germany, France and Great Britain propagate an isolationist policy (see Flechter 2013).

Germany News Switzerland News Western Europe

06.12.2013 The Media Coverage on Rroma in Switzerland is One-Sided and often Defamatory

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On behalf of the Federal Commission against Racism, the Research Institute for the Public and Society of the Zurich University made a study on the quality of the reporting in Swiss media about Rroma (Ettinger, 2013; compare NZZ, 2013; 20 Minuten, 2013; Südostschweiz, 2013). The study examined a representative sample of Swiss media of the period from 2005 to 2012. The study concludes that the contributions are highly selective and unbalanced: in the daily press on Switzerland,  Rroma are almost only referred to in relation to asylum abuse, begging, theft, or prostitution. They appear primarily as perpetrators or in the case of prostitution as the victims of clan-related forced prostitution. While some Rroma come to word in various newspapers, the tendency to let officials talk about them dominates “Because of the focus on crime and deviant behaviour, representatives of the executive branch (24%), respectively of the police (12%) and the judiciary (6%) are the ones who most frequently come to word” (Ettinger 2013). The coverage is dominated by an image of an enemy that hypes up individual cases as precedents and builds them to an attestation of the culturally determined Rroma delinquency, which needs not be further explained: “The explanation of the rationale behind their statements is waived in particular by spokesman for the police (60 %), who limits their statements to delinquent behaviour of Roma, and almost without exception the citizen who argument on the basis on the basis of their subjective concerns whose aversions and fears are expressive statements that do not require a justification.” The alleged facts are therefore based on suspicions and on the willingness to believe them as facts.

In the reporting on Rroma outside of Switzerland in turn dominated by the perspective of portraying Rroma as the victims of discrimination and exclusion. The usual defamation about Rroma in Switzerland are largely ignored.

However, the study does not sufficiently question to what extent journalists and concerned citizens just assume that the people one reports on are Rroma. The attribution of a Rroma identity to conspicuous people is not looked into and considered to be problematic, but simply taken as given. This became clear in particular in the study of the Zurich street prostitution that simply postulated that the women in question are Rroma. How these statistics came about, is not problematized: “The majority of sex workers surveyed include the groups of the two Roma groups Romunro or Olah on”  (Sex Educatio 2012: 43). A clear identification of ethnicity is anything but simple, as the case around the blonde Rroma girl has shown.

On the Rroma Contact Point side, we find it would be great to give unspectacular topics such as the lives of integrated Rroma a voice and speak of their everyday life in order to create a counterweight to the negative representations. Ettinger notes: Although “Roma themselves come to word in no small numbers in reporting, t in 13 percent of the contributions they present their reactions. But the opinions the Roma and respectively Jenische are usually only reactions to existing problems. Roma or Jenische therefore are not able to contribute their own issues and positions in the reporting.”

The aspect of the political instrumentalisation of the Rroma to political ends falls short in this study even though Ettinger notes that Rroma are exploited before votes for partisan political ends. But the continuous values projection on Rroma by politically varied oriented daily and weekly media are too little criticised. Yet it is precisely the Rroma who are continuously abused as a counter point to the construction of a civic identity. Ettinger’s study therefore lacks a historical perspective on the aspect of discrimination that could thematise the socio-political aspect of the exclusion. This view would show that there is a tradition of prejudice against Rroma that has been perpetuated for centuries. A good source in this respect is Klaus-Michael Bogdal (2011) study on the dissemination of false, distorting culturalisms. Another problem is that the misrepresentation of Rroma on poverty-related phenomena such as illiteracy, begging, prostitution, high childbirth rates, or low level of education is not discussed critically. It is not enough to expose these representations as racist. They must be identified as wrong and distorting representations. Otherwise, the impression may arise that while the coverage was indeed distorted, there nevertheless is a culture of delinquency and exploitation among Rroma, which, due to political correctness, one must not mention. In the context of the poverty immigration to Germany, numerous journalists are arguing this way. Rather, social problems such as poverty and exclusion must be considered as such. In addition, cultural explanations that are based on prejudice and not on effective knowledge must be recognised as such and deconstructed.

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