Tag Archives: Racism

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22.02.15 A documentary on Rroma in Toulouse

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22.02.15 A documentary on Rroma in Toulouse

A young filmmaker Sahra Denard is currently making a documentary on Rroma migrants in the city of Toulouse. She is working with three Romanian sisters who live in an camp and will go with them in Romania, in their village of origin.

While the filmmaker wants to reduce stereotypes, the choice of subject contributes to re-enforce the general views on Rroma; Migrants from Romania or Bulgaria, poor, uneducated etc. On such a topic, the line between helping and damaging Rroma is a thin one to walk.

– Sarah Denard, un documentaire sur les Roms. In: La Dépèche. 19.02.2015. http://www.ladepeche.fr/…/2052220-sarah-denard-un-documenta…

Germany Kosovo News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

15.02.2015 Kosovo Refugees – German Calls for Action

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Following the sharp increase of people fleeing Kosovo to escape poverty and, in the case of Rroma, discrimination and outright racism, there are calls in Germany to be more stringent on theses asylum applications. Various measures have been suggested by politicians (Tagesspeigel) going to extraditing refugees also in the winter, as asked by politicians from the CDU (LNOnline). Some even deny that there is an issue in the country.

Politicians should be maybe remember, especially in Germany, that they recognised the country but also implicitly if not explicitly recognised the ethnic cleansing of minorities from the Kosovo. Ethnic states have no place in the 21st century!

– Simantke, Elisa; Monath, Hans. Streit um schnellere Abschiebung. In Der Tagesspeigel. 13.02.2015. http://www.tagesspiegel.de/…/fluechtlinge-aus…/11360670.html
– Streit um Asylbewerber aus dem Kosovo: Nord-CDU macht Druck. In: LNOnline. 13.02.2015. http://www.ln-online.de/…/Streit-um-Asylbewerber-aus-dem-Ko…
– Kosov ist kein Krisenland. Beate Merk im Gespräch mit Thielko Grieß. In: Deutschlandrundfunk. 14.02.2015.

 

News Eastern Europe Romania

08.02.2015 Meanwhile in Romania

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The Romanian television reports on the arrest of 19 Romanian Rroma in Milan for being procurers. They are reported to have trafficked Romanian women and forced them into prostitution. Again the criminal activity is clearly portrayed as an ethnic trait, fuelling the already strong racism against Rroma in Romania.

News Western Europe

08.02.2015 Two Rroma exhibited in an Art Gallery

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A contemporary art museum, the Malmö Konstall has an exhibition consisting of two homeless Rroma in a room begging. They are paid, and are not accepting any money from the visitors. The exhibition has been criticised by several organisations as being demeaning and as being an exploitation of human misery.

We would just say that in this particular case, the artist and the gallery have done their share to perpetuate age old stereotypes… This is clearly not acceptable.

 

 

France News Western Europe

08.02.2015 France expulsed a Rroma camp every third day in 2014

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The French Press reports on a report from the European Roma Right Center (ERRC) and the League for Human Rights (LDH) on the expulsion policies of the French state. According to them, France expulsed ca. 13’000 of the estimated 17’000 Rroma living in deplorable conditions in camps around the big French cities. Evictions occurred on average every third day. (Le Monde). L’Humanité adds that the state does nothing for an equality of chances for this population and denounces the underlying racism behind these policies. (L’Humanité). France Bleu notes that nearly 67% of these evictions were done in and around Paris. (France Bleu). The magazine Politis, on the same subject, notes that nearly 4 out of 5 people interviewed (around 100 people) were evicted up to 5 or 6 times. They stress that these policies are dehumanising and criticise that these evictions mostly occur around Paris. (Politis)

All journalists as usual missed the key point: The press only actually speaks about 17 to 20’000 Rroma in illegal settlement, and not of the overwhelming majority of Rroma who live in France and whose number is estimated at half a million.

France News Western Europe

01.02.2015 France: Evictions in spite of the Winter

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Normally, Republican France refrains from deporting migrants and from evicting illegal settlement in the Winter. This is no longer the case. Evictions continue, and the problem is being shifted from one community to the next. It is as if, one can argue, that the authorities want to maximise the exposure of the general population to poor migrants, guaranteeing an increased racism. This has to stop. Evictions this week, as an example occurred in Cannes and in Chellois.

France News Western Europe

01.02.2015 France: Evictions in spite of the Winter

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Normally, Republican France refrains from deporting migrants and from evicting illegal settlement in the Winter. This is no longer the case. Evictions continue, and the problem is being shifted from one community to the next. It is as if, one can argue, that the authorities want to maximise the exposure of the general population to poor migrants, guaranteeing an increased racism. This has to stop. Evictions this week, as an example occurred in Cannes and in Chellois.

News Western Europe

01.02.2015 Daily Racism: A dire view on the Austrian situation

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An Article in the “Standard” in Austria analyses the daily racism against Rroma that still exist 20 years after the attacks against this minority in Oberwarth. They explicitly state that as soon as an “invisible” Rroma, that is a Rroma who is integrated and does not says he is one, outs himself, he or she is immediately confronted to racism. The old stereotypes, stereotypes that have never really been accurate are difficult to eradicate.

France News Western Europe

25.01.2015 UK Commissioner Eric Pickle looses a case against Rroma in the UK

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London Green Belt Commissioner Eric Pickle lost a landmark case against two Rroma. The judge stated that Pickle’s department breached both human rights and equality laws in denying Rroma to pitch in the green belt. This case highlight the current policies in England but also in France of evicting Rroma settlements, even, if in this case, these existed for generations.

France News Western Europe

25.01.2015 The case of the dead Rroma baby in France:

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In a further development in the case of the dead Rroma baby in France, Jacques Toubon, in charge of the defence of the rights, stated that the order of the mayor denying the burial of the baby was illegal. He added that this constituted a discrimination. That Toubon, a rightist politician not know for his love of minorities in France says such things is a sign of progress, albeit a slow one!

France News Western Europe

14.01.2015 France and Integration: Yes, Rroma Can be Integrated

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In an editorial, the Huffington Post advocates the acceptance of migrants and minorities in France, stating that they contributed to the enrichment of the country and that they contribute to cement the idea of Europe. De Gouyon calls for people to fight against racism anf eork towards the integration of Rroma.

However, again, as usual, Rroma are reduced to the migrant part of the population, to the 10 to 15 thousands who live in Ghettoes and camps on the outskirt of the big French cities. There are more Rroma than that in France (and elsewhere).  Stating that the problem is limited to these 15 thousand people is a great first in France, a country where the discussion on immigrations often takes an irrational path, and where one could easily get the impression, reading the press, that there are millions of Rroma migrants. There are very few, this is a fact worth stating!

De Gouyon Matignon, Louis. Oui, les Roms sont intégrables. Huffington Post. 6 January 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/louis-de-gouyon-matignon/oui-les-roms-sont-integrables_b_6417666.html

France News Western Europe

14.01.2015 Rroma Baby burial in France

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A Rrom baby died in France over the New Year and was denied burial in the town of Champlan. The mayor of that town, who in the meantime claims he has not prevented the burial, has been unanimously condemned by the press and politics, among which, Prime Minister Valls. Vall, who, as we have repeatedly written in this blog is himself not beyond populist racism, for once stated this was an insult to France.

We hope that this insult to France doesn’t stop at dead Rroma and that the living ones will also be allowed to stay.

Meanwhile, the young Maria Francesca was buried in a neighbouring town… May she rest in peace.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

14.01.2015 Nicolas Dupont Aignan … Is ignorance an excuse?

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Interviewed by Metro News on January 5th, the Mayor of Champlan, Essone (France), Mr. Noicolas Dupon Aignan stated “Rroma should be in Romania”. This clearly show that his understanding of the subject   is limited if not non-existent. We do wish that people who obviously have little if any understanding would rather simply avoid the subject rather than blabber the same platitudes and stereotypes as have already been heard for ages.

Roma are not Romanian, although there are Romanian Rroma, and not all Rroma are uneducated migrants begging in the street… Please take note.

France News Western Europe

31.12.2014 France: Segregated classes for Rroma

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The movement against racism and for the friendship between people (Mrap) has denounced the creation of a segregated class for Rroma children in Bron (close to Lyon) for the children living in an illegal camp there.

We cannot stress enough that segregated classes and segregated education is an absolute no go. This has proven to be the way to create an underclass rather than to integrate people.

News Western Europe

31.12.2014 Paying for the Bride

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Another article in the UK Press referring to the allegedly common tradition of paying for the bride… In fact, only Vlax Rroma pay for the bride, but in traditional families, the bride receives the money as a guarantee and dowry that she will keep in any case.

Again, stereotypes and single cases are presented here as being the common factor among all Rroma.

News Western Europe

31.12.2014 The Pope and Rroma

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The pope urged Roma to “get a job” and to “integrate” into civic society. Speaking during a visit to a Roma community, the Pope told 40 Rroma: “Seek work and integration, without ever succumbing to despair. I greet you and I wish all good things for you. That you will always have peace in your families, that you have work, that you have joy.”

While we certainly greet the pope’s words, we would like to remind him and all who do not want to know, that most Rroma do have a job, are integrated and are living what can be said to be a normal life. They cannot say they are Rroma, because of the very strong prejudices and stereotypes that exist against this minority.

Bosnia News Eastern Europe News Western Europe North Macedonia Serbia

05.12.2014 Administrative court of Münster: Serbia not a safe country of origin for Rroma

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Die Zeit (2014) reports on a recent judgment of the Münster administrative court. When assessing the application for asylum by a Serbian Rroma family, the court reached the verdict that Serbia does not constitute a safe country of origin for the Rroma minority. The judges justified their judgment, among others, by pointing out that unsuccessful asylum applicants can expect to be criminally prosecuted upon return. Thereby, the court also questions the new law, which declares Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina but also Serbia to safe countries of origin. Several administrative courts had agreed to the asylum applications of Romany families in the recent past: “The administrative court (AC) of Münster questions the constitutionality of the new asylum reform of the federal government. The judges granted an urgent application for asylum by a Serbian Roma family, and stopped their imminent deportation, said the AC. The court has thus set itself in conflict with the federal government, which declared the Balkan countries Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to safe countries of origin in November. The AC wants to clarify now in main proceedings, whether the law should be submitted to the federal constitutional court for review. When declaring a state to a safe country of origin, the legislators must make an overall assessment of the significance of political persecution conditions in the relevant country. Decisive are the criteria prescribed by the constitution. The legislator maybe did not sufficiently comply with this regarding the Serbian Roma and the negative Serbian emigration requirements. Moreover, the legislative history did not show that the decisions of administrative tribunals were taken into account. For instance, the administrative courts of Stuttgart and Münster upheld the urgent complaints of Serbian asylum seekers in a variety of cases.” Rroma are not politically persecuted in Serbia. However, that does not mean that they are not exposed to repeated discrimination in everyday life. Particularly the Rroma already economically marginalised. The assessment of the individual case should always be favoured against a reductionist assessment of the social situation in a country. Rroma have been provably integrated in Southeast Europe for centuries – as, Ottoman tax registers, among others, show ­ and form part of all strata of society and professions. However, since the Yugoslav wars and the strengthened nationalism, Rroma increasingly face discrimination. Furthermore, there is the mentioned law of the Serbian criminal code that threatens asylum applicants with criminal prosecution upon return (compare Prantl 2014).

France News Western Europe

05.12.2014 Bron: Mrap criticises planned segregated class for Rroma children

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Bevand (2014) reports on the latest matter of the French movement against racism (Mrap). The organisation criticises the decision of the mayor of Bron, to set up an extra class for Rroma children in the community. The class is supposed to encompass the children of a local Rroma settlement and to include Rroma children already enrolled in school. The movement against racism justifiably criticises that the children are thereby intentionally excluded and disadvantaged: “Towards a new controversy? In any case, the movement against racism and for the friendship between people (Mrap) condemned in a statement on Monday the decision of the mayor of Bron – a statement near Lyon – to open an “ethnic class” to receive the Roma children of a local slum. […] Without distinction, it groups together children who were already enrolled in previous years and speak French well, with other children who have just arrived in France, MRAP continues, which wants “to invoke the defenders of rights to finish this additional ethnic segregation.” Segregation is inevitably the wrong way to promote the integration of migrant children. Rather, it promotes the exclusion and marginalisation of the children as well as the immigrant families. As Bevand himself points out, so far, children with weak knowledge of the French language were additionally supported, but could attend regular classes. This is a much more elaborate method, which aims at integration and support, and not to at a special treatment and exclusion. – According to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, in France there are between 100,000 and 500,000 Rroma. The vast majority of them is integrated, goes to work, and sends their children to school. The estimated 15,000 Rroma living in informal settlements are a minority of the minority.

France Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

05.12.2014 Prosecutor of Paris: criminal court not competent to judge Manuel Valls

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Libération (2014) reports on a recent decision of the Paris prosecutor. The investigation covers statements by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, in which he claimed that Rroma had the inclination to stay in Romania or to return there, and they had a very different lifestyle than the French, which was inevitably in confrontation with the French one. The Paris prosecutor’s office now judged on December the second that the criminal court was not competent to judge the statements made by Manuel Valls. The criminal chamber will pronounce its verdict in this regard on December the 19th. However, the plaintiff against Valls, the organisation “La Voix des Roms”, wants that his statements are not judged independently of his function as the then Interior Minister, but are recognised as demagoguery: “For the lawyer of Manuel Valls, Mr. Georges Holleaux, the statements of his client are adjacent to “his ministerial competence”. In his view, the facts thus reverse the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only institution empowered to judge members of the government, for deeds which they have committed in the function of their office. Moreover, he pointed out that that Mrap (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples) had filed a lawsuit against Manuel Valls at the the Court of Justice of the Republic in September 2013, which was dropped it without further consequences.” Manuel Valls is not an isolated case with his racist remarks against the Rroma. In recent years, numerous French mayors and politicians have gained public attention with racist remarks about Rroma. Some were sentenced to mild fines, others were completely acquitted, referring to the freedom of expression. In the French public, Rroma are equated with 15,000 to 20,000 Rroma who live in illegal settlements. The 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma who are integrated in France since generations, are continuously ignored. The Rroma are also repeatedly exploited by various parties for political purposes and blamed for social ills that have their origins in society as a whole, and not in a single minority. Unfortunately, this scapegoat policy finds approval among a shocking number of people (compare L’Yonne Républicaine 2014).

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

28.11.2014 Award for Holocaust survivors Hugo Höllenreiner

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Trebbin (2014) reports on the award for the German Rroma-Holocaust survivor Hugo Höllenreiner. Höllenreiner is one of three thousand survivors who survived the “gypsy camp” of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Most of the approximately 30,000 prisoners, including many women and children, were killed. In the 1990s, Höllenreiner began to break his silence about this traumatic experience and henceforth committed himself as a contemporary witness. He has reported on the Nazi atrocities at Auschwitz-Birkenau to thousands of German pupils: “How SS men launched sheep dogs on naked people before his eyes. How they drove people into the gas chambers. How he had to witness mass shootings and then had to help with filling in the graves with the bodies of the murdered. And how little Hugo was lying on the operating table of camp doctor Josef Mengele… […] 36 family members of the Höllenreiners perished in the Holocaust. Hugo’s parents and their six children survived with a lot of luck and great courage. However, his education after the war and the liberation was short-lived: the teachers put the “Gypsy boy” unceremoniously out the door. The discrimination continued. So Hugo Höllenreiner had to start his career with peddling.” For his commitment as a contemporary witness to the Holocaust, Höllenreiner has now been awarded with the medal “Munich shines”. West Germany did not recognise the genocide of the Rroma until 1982, when many of the survivors had already died. The Holocaust of the Rroma is often incorrectly referred to with the word “Porrajmos”. The term, which traces back to the verb “porravav”, meaning to “open wide”, is often used in the context of sexual activity and therefore is not appropriate to describe a genocide.

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