Tag Archives: Racism

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

07.03.2014 Desecration of Rroma Holocaust memorial in Merseburg

Published by:

Two unknown persons, who most likely belong to an extreme right-wing group, desecrated a memorial in Merseburg, which commemorates the Holocaust of the Rroma during the Second World War. The offense has been recorded by a video camera that was installed because of an earlier desecration: “In recent weeks, four foreigners were attacked in Merseburg. A suspect was taken into custody, several well-known right-wing extremists were investigated. On Saturday, about 600 people rallied on the streets against racism in Merseburg.” The Holocaust against the Rroma is insufficiently reappraised until now. Only in October 2012, a memorial remembering the murder of the Rroma by the Nazis was inaugurated in Berlin (Berliner Zeitung 2014, Focus online 2014).

Bulgaria France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

07.03.2014 Paul-Marie Coûteaux relaunches the Rroma debate anew

Published by:

Le Monde (2014) reports on the opinions of Paul-Marie Coûteau. Coûteau belongs to the national-conservative and Eurosceptic party Souveraineté, indépendance et libertés (SIEL), which he founded himself. On his blog, he expresses the idea that Rroma should be put in specialy established camps. The article has the telling title “On the establishment of Rroma in Paris and the slow extinction of the national sense of honour”. Coûteau perceives the sight of impoverished Rroma in the streets of Paris as aesthetically disturbing: “Their presence is an unworthy sight for Paris and unworthy of France, unworthy of a great country, and a problem for the aesthetic order.” He stands for election for the electoral coalition Rassemblement Bleu Marine as mayor for the sixth district of Paris. Coûteau expresses himself negatively towards the free movement of persons with Romania and Bulgaria, against which he voted.

Coûteau’s perspective on the Rroma is as one-sided as the majority of the public debate, which focuses only on visible Rroma. It is also telling, that he states to be hurt in his national honour by the sight of Rroma. He therefore reveals himself as a proponent of a radical order-policy that puts aesthetic feelings before human dignity, which is totally absurd. SOS Racisme has announced that it will file a complaint against Coûteau because of his racist remarks (compare 20 minutes 2014, Libération 2014, Théveniaud 2014).

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

07.03.2014 Francetv info: “Who are the Rroma?”

Published by:

In a series of five articles, Francetv Info presents the lives of immigrant Rroma in France. Unfortunately, the only Rroma getting a voice already stood in the focus of media attention through the focus on differences to the general population. Baïetto’s (2014) text focuses on the fate of a Rroma family in Champs-sur-Marne. The article accuses the eviction-policy of the French authorities, but at same time confirms stereotypical notions of neglected Rroma that beg and sell scrap metal. In addition, once again only visible Rroma get a chance to speak: “For many families in their situation, scrap iron and begging are the two basic sources of income. The men get up very early in the morning, looking for pieces of metal they can sell. The women beg in the streets of the city and make five or six Euros a day.” The Rroma interviewed emphasize that life in France, in spite of their apparently miserable conditions, is still much better than in Romania. Here they don’t go hungry and the children can attend the school. Since she is living in France, says one Rromni, she had to change her accommodation a dozen times due to forced evictions. This happened in a time period of four years.

Legrand (2014) portrays a young Rrom who left Romania at the age of thirteen. Elvetian works as a middleman. He provides his acquaintances with outlets for objects such as mobile phones or jewellery whose origin are doubtful. In the following section Elvetian tells about his childhood, in which he committed shoplifting and illegal copper collection. He was deported several times, but always travelled back to France, because his entire family lives here. Legrand’s article gives an overview of the difficulties immigrant Rroma face in their attempt to integrate into the labour market and French society. However, her article confirms stereotypes about stealing Rroma, as the have been widely disseminated by the media. Therefore, one cannot describe the selection of the portrayed Rroma as fortunate nor as representative.  

The third article deals with a fifteen-year old Rrom who prostitutes himself in front of the Gare du Nord in Paris. He earns twenty to thirty Euros per client, who he usually serves on the toilets of the train station and the surrounding fast food restaurants. He has no pimp, but regular customers. Between thirty and fifty young Rrom prostitute themselves in front of the Gare du Nord, according to the sociologists Olivier Peyroux. One of the reasons for this are the difficulties minors face in finding a regular job. The article paints a picture of prostitution that is practiced out of poverty and lack of alternatives and not equated with human trafficking. Nevertheless, also this article has to be described as one-sided, as it confirms stereotypes of prostituting Rroma (Legrand 2014/II).

The fourth article focuses on the fate of a Rroma family from Timisoara, in north-western Romania. The family of 32-year-old Viktor benefited from an active integration policy, which was conducted between 2000 and 2007 by the agglomeration syndicate Sénart. As a result of the active integration policy, the portrayed family received a council house on the condition that the children regularly attend school, that the parents actively seek work and they would not beg: “At the end of the 1990s, Rroma families settled down in the heart of the new town. Some voters complained and the prefecture decided to try something out.  […] Based on their behaviour and their history, the prefecture chose 23 Rroma families and settled them on a site with sanitary facilities.” In return for their active integration efforts, the families received first job offers and residence permits, so that they would be able to raise the necessary funds to purchase regular social housing. In 2007, Sénart stopped its support payments to the families due to lacking funds. Viktor and his family could remain in the social housing thanks to his job in a supermarket. They do not approve the one-sided portrayal of the Rroma in the French media: “I hear pranksters about Romanians in television, rants Viktor. […] If a Romanian causes problems, they equate all Romanians, he complaints. Look at me, I’m working, I have a house and my children go to school, he tells.” The fourth article, concerning the stereotypical representations of Rroma, clearly can be better rated than the other ones. It shows the positive example of a successful integration. However, that there are other integrated Rroma in France, who are living the country since generations or decades, a fact that is not mentioned here either (Baïetto 2014/II).

The fifth article in the series also tries to create a counter-image against stereotypical notions of Rroma. Florin, a Rrom of 25 years, works as a storeman and speaks perfect French. Only as a teenager, when he newly arrived from Romania in France, he was begging. Then he made the acquaintance of a mart trader, for whom he worked illegally for seven years. His girlfriend helped him to learn French. After problems with the residence permit, Florin’s family was one of the few beneficiaries of the infamous, inter-ministerial circular of the 26th August 2012. His parents got a council house and he and his wife a room in a hotel. In September 2013, he finally finds a legal job as a storeman in Rungis. However, he still has no definite residence permit, even though he would like to integrate and live his life in France (Baïetto 2014/III).

Belgium Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

28.02.2014 The integration of Rroma in Europe achieves only little progress

Published by:

Fontanella-Khan/Eddy (2014) take as a reference the fate of Rroma in Northeast-Hungary to question the effectiveness of European integration efforts towards Rroma. Analysts as well as people affected share the opinion that the situation of Rroma in Europe hasn’t changed. The controversial assessment that there is a European “Rroma problem” is also shared by the European justice commissioner Viviane Reding. However, it must be made clear that right-wing politicians connect the concept of a “Rroma problem” with an alleged lack of desire to integrate, while others use it to describe the striking marginalization of the minority. The latter view is shared by the authors of the article: “The biggest struggle for the Roma has been overcoming stereotypes that depict them as travelling petty criminals unwilling to integrate into mainstream society. [ … ] Images of Roma beggars across Europe have fortified past prejudices, even though a study by the UNDP of Roma migrants in Belgium showed that the overwhelming majority had emigrated to work rather than claim benefits or abuse the welfare system.” A brief recap of the history of suffering that Rroma endured since their arrival in Europe follows. The current situation of the Rroma in the European Union does not look rosy either. In most Western European countries, they are confronted with a rigorous policy of expulsion. Fontanella-Khan/Eddy criticise the EU and the national governments for having failed in effectively fighting racism and prejudice against the Rroma. An additional problem is declining public funds for the education of the younger generation. The Roma Education Fund regrets this in particular. Reasons for the lack of effectiveness of the integration programs are passed from various departments to others. Moreover, the EU shows little efforts in the implementation of minority rights through the governments of its member states. One of the problems lies in the lacking analysis of the effectiveness of the overall programs. Although the EU tracks where the money is spent, it doesn’t analyze the effectiveness of the programs it funds. Local politicians who are entrusted with the implementation of integration programs, often have a bad attitude towards the Rroma and intentionally corrupt the integration efforts.

Bulgaria Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania Serbia

28.02.2014 Die Zeit criticizes the victim discourse about Rroma

Published by:

In her article in Die Zeit, Lau (2014) criticizes the victim role to which Rroma activists are said to refer to constantly in Germany. In the debate about poverty migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, one mainly talks about the immigrants, but not with them. This also has to do with the focus of the activism of Romani Roses, who has been working for the rights of the Rroma in Germany for several decades. Rose focuses his policy on the recognition that Rroma were victims of the Nazi genocide, whereby other topics are to receiving less than enough attention: “Ironically, the central council and Romani Rose prevent elsewhere that the understanding between newly arrived Roma and the majority society improves. Since he can remember, Romani Rose fought for the recognition as victims of genocide, a fact repeatedly disputed by historians. […] Since they share neither religion nor written culture, there is actually only one link between the Sinti and Roma: the experience of persecution. And that is the reason why discrimination is the central topic in the political statements of their community, rather than strategies of advancement.” Lau’s article tries to find out why there is a lack of solution strategies in the current debate about immigrants from Southeast Europe. However, she is wrong when she accuses Rroma to stick to a victim status. This criticism was already expressed in the beginning of 2013 by another author: In his book Zigeuner – Begegnungen mit einem ungeliebten Volk, Rolf Bauerdick criticised the lack of self-initiative in improving the social integration of the Rroma. This criticism is one-sided and hides the mechanisms of exclusion. Although it is right that a successful integration involves two sides, promotion and self-initiative, the latter one can only happen if the necessary conditions are given. Otherwise, suppression remains the dominant factor.

Just the opposite is argued by the TAZ in its interview with the historian Patricia Pientka. Pientka researched the story of a Rroma detention camp in Berlin-Marzahn. The historian is shattered about how bad the persecution of the Rroma in Germany was researched so far, also concerning the Berlin-Marzahn detention camp. In 1936, Rroma were selected via by sociographic criteria for the camp: caravans, many children and certain profession groups were decisive for the internment as well as the living on welfare. In 1938, the pseudo-scientific criteria of the racial hygiene research unit under Robert Ritter were implemented. The continuity between the war and the post-war period is particularly shocking. Perpetrators from the Nazi era were appointed as experts in courts, where they could play down or even qualify the war horrors with false statements: “In Berlin and elsewhere, the police departments for “Gypsy questions” established at end of 1938 are of central importance. In Berlin, the head of the department was Leo Karsten. After the war, he was superintendent of the police of Ludwigshafen and throughout Germany was the appointed expert on compensation issues for Sinti and Roma. His testimony led, among other things, to the verdict that the senate didn’t recognize the Marzahn detention camp as a labour camp […]. One can definitely say that the racist persecution of Sinti and Roma in Nazi Germany hasn’t been critically analysed until today. We have a huge deficit. This is also reflected in the case with Roma from South Eastern Europe, for instance Serbia, who are absolutely not perceived as descendants of Holocaust victims – what they definitely are” (Memarnia 2014).

Bosnia Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe North Macedonia Serbia

28.02.2014 Germany wants to declare Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina “safe countries of origin”

Published by:

Schäfer (2014) reports on the plans of the German federal government to declare the Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina “safe countries of origin”. As a result of this, asylum applications from these countries can be processed more quickly in the future. The letter of the German federal ministry of the interior states: “that in all these countries ( … ) neither political persecution nor torture or inhuman or degrading treatment takes place and no threat by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict.” Left-wing politicians like Ulla Jelpke demanded the deputies of the federal states to withhold the authorization for this policy. The new policy is said to primarily affect Rroma: “As a matter of fact, “90 percent of these people are Rroma, who are fleeing systematic discrimination and hazardous exclusion and poverty.” In the countries concerned, Rroma are exposed to “multiple forms of discrimination, taken together they certainly justify refugee protection”. But this protection  “is sacrificed on the altar of a populist debate”, said Jelpke.” While proponents of deportation rely on country analyses that state none or only very minimal discrimination against minorities in countries like Serbia, Macedonia or Bosnia-Herzegovina, proponents of the asylum seekers state the exact opposite. Subjective experiences, which can rarely be proved with documents, usually are dismissed in comparison to the official analyses that assess the social situation in a country. Bernd Mesovic from Pro Asly criticises that restrictive asylum practices are already in place now and serious examinations of the reasons for flight are not applied (compare Tiroler Tageszeitung Online 2014, Die Welt 2014, Zeit 2014).

France News Western Europe

28.02.2014 Social marginalization of the Rroma in France

Published by:

Brigaudeau (2014) addresses the relationship of French citizens towards the Rroma, referring to the new publication Roms & riverains: Une politique municipale de la race by Eric Fassin et al. She notes that in the French media the problems arising in connection with this minority receive massively more space than their discrimination and exclusion. The publication of Fassin et al. offer answers to this one-sidedness and thematises the political issues behind the unwillingness of the majority society to integrate the Rroma. First, there is the problem of local politics, which is entirely focused on the needs of local residents, because they re-elect the mayor. This leads consequently to shifting the Rroma from one place to another: “The state is content to answer the needs of the local voters. And when the mayoral elections approach, the mayors hand the responsibility for their decision down to the residents: the representatives are content to answer to the demands of their voters!” Because of this, Rroma are made the scapegoats of local politics, usually to their disadvantage. On the other hand, there are positive examples of towns and villages that have been actively trying to integrate the minority. When taking these actions, the politicians rely on the hope that voters will reflect on their intelligence and not on their emotions. Fassin also notes that the evacuation of a camp costs more than to equip one with water electricity etc. It is therefore also the French voters, and not only to the French politicians, who contribute to the marginalization of the Rroma: “The question that those responsible must ask themselves is: is it really in our interest to keep a population, who has settled down in Europe, in such a marginality?”

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

28.02.2014 Discrimination against Rroma in the Czech Republic

Published by:

Anna Šabatová has just been elected as the ombudswoman of the Czech Republic. In an interview with the Prager Zeitung she declares her intention of a dedicated combat against the discrimination of Rroma in the Czech Republic: “We should especially start to consistently call by name the discriminatory acts arising from prejudice. In this matter, I agree with the intention of the ministry of education, to make one year kindergarten for all pre-school children – including for Roma children – compulsory. This could have a positive impact on their entry into the school system. Education is the move toward integration into society and also to a balanced perception through society.” Rroma are affected by strong discrimination in the education system in the Czech Republic. They are often put into separate classes for learning difficulties or disabilities, although no deficiencies are present. In addition, segregated classes as well as segregated schools still exist (Prager Zeitung 2014).

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

28.02.2014 Teaching about Rroma: Promotion of critical thinking or confirmation of stereotypes?

Published by:

Koepping (2014) reports on special lessons that were designed to teach primary students of Höhenschönhausen on the culture and history of the Rroma.  The teacher for humanities and environment, Susanne Meier, was the project’s initiator. The goal of wanting to provide students with information about the lives of Rroma is laudable. Unfortunately, when reading the text one gets the impression that students were taught in positive stereotypes, rather than ask to think about issues such as stereotypes and exclusion: “Within their classes they travelled to the memorial at the Otto-Rosenberg-Platz in Marzahn, where a Nazi labour camp for Roma and Sinti was located during 1936-43. The musicians Janko Lauenberger and Wilfried Ansin came to visit and told the students of the world of gypsy-swing, and together with Susanne Meier they sang Roma songs.” Prejudice against an ethnic group are one thing, but one should be very careful what and how to teach about an ethnic minority. With the replacement of negative stereotypes with positive ones, one doesn’t help Rroma in their integration efforts. That the lessons described confirmed misconceptions of patriarchal structures and entrenched traditions can be seen in the response of an eleven year old student: “I don’t like that the boys have more rights and that the girls and women always have to wear skirts.”

France News Western Europe

28.02.2014 Francetv Info confirms prejudices about criminal Rroma gangs

Published by:

Legrand (2014) confirms with her article prejudices about criminal Rroma gangs that operate from slums in the French suburbs. For her article, she refers to numerous accounts from police stations, expressing problems when dealing with underage beggars and thieves. Thereby common stereotypes of Rroma are perpetuated. Particularly problematic are the opinions from the office for prevention of crime by homeless people (office central de lutte contre la délinquance itinérante OCLDI): “Our investigation units determined that vans are driving away from the camps in the morning. The boys are dropped of on a street where they steal money and jewellery before they are taken elsewhere, confirms a police commander. But it is difficult to persecute the networks based on facts. You’d need to have a huge number of staff available to examine all the inputs and outputs of the camps, complains the police commander.” Legrand only uses one-sided sources to demonstrate her reasoning. Representatives from the Rroma or Rroma organizations are not allowed to speak. This leaves the false impression that the French penal code is too lax for the persecution of the delinquent Rroma. The Rroma are not more delinquent than members of other ethnic groups.  

Finland France Germany Italy News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania Spain

28.02.2014 The immigration debate and Rroma stereotypes

Published by:

The Romanian ambassador in London, Ion Jinga, writes against the stereotypical representation of the Rroma in the British media. Only recently, the English newspaper “Daily Mail” published an interview with the Romanian Rroma “Rudi”, who confirmed almost all prejudices against the minority: that Rroma steal and burden the British welfare system. That an individual of an ethnic group is taken to represent all members of a group, is not a new phenomenon, but it is amazing how well this presentation method works. Rudi stated: “I made my way by pick-pocketing, thieving and other small crimes. I was put in prison or arrested by the police in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Austria and Germany before I arrived here. [ … ] Your benefits system is crazy. It’s like finding a sack full of cash that has been dropped, picking it up and no one saying anything.” Jinga attempts to qualify the one-sided statements and to show the complexity behind the generalizations. Rroma are marginalized, but most of them are trying to find a job and work hard, especially when they migrate to another country. The portrayal of problem cases through the media confirms false prejudices and hinders a successful integration of the minority. The Romanian government has repeatedly pointed out that the integration of the Rroma is a pan-European task that cannot be handled by a single nation. Jinga also convincingly demonstrates that the Romanian economy performs very well in a pan-European comparison. However, one has to disagree in one point with him. Jinga claims that access to the Romanian labour market is equal for all. That Rroma in Romania are still heavily discriminated against, should not be denied (Jinga 2014).

The highly one-sided article from Daily Mail (Reid 2014) builds its argument on dubious statistics from the British bureau of statistics. The ONS (Office for National Statistics) stated that Romania has the highest birth rates in Europe and that the British welfare system animates Romanian immigrants to get even more children. These statements are supplemented with the effusive confessions of Rudi, who confirms all prejudices about social tourism. That, through his statements, he advocates for the restriction of immigration, doesn’t seem to come to his mind. At the end of the article he states: “We Romanians can go anywhere we want in Europe now — but, of course, it is only Britain that pays us to live.” Reid manages to fuel fears of mass immigration into the British social system and to consolidate them. She doesn’t seem interested in an objective assessment of the situation at all.

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 Discrimination against Rroma in Hungary worryingly high

Published by:

Matache (2014) reports on the results of a study published by the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. The study criticises the increasing institutional racism against the Rroma in Hungary and the tolerance of extremist groups who rally against the minority. The discrimination against Rroma has strongly increased since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008. The Hungarian government did almost do nothing to respond to these recent development: “Though the rise of racially motivated crimes and violent attacks since 2008 should have given strong signals for intervention, the FXB report shows how weak Hungarian government’s response has been. Because of its failure to act definitively, perpetrators and their followers have been emboldened, unhindered by any public outrage or strong government sanction. Racist violence is increasingly accepted as a legitimate form of retribution, a model followed by citizens, organisations, and leaders alike.” The Hungarian minister of human resources, Zoltán Balog, meanwhile emphasises in his public statements the strong efforts of Hungary to successfully integrate the Rroma in the majority society. He particularly draws attention to the economic potential of the minority. In his opinion, great progress has been made. However, that his point of view is the one of a politician of the ruling party, should not be forgotten. Concern about the increasing racism is appropriate (compare FXB Center 2014).

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 The victims of the Rroma murders in Hungary

Published by:

Verseck (2014) discusses the role of the bereaved families of the victims of the Rroma murders in Hungary. Éva Kóka is the widow of Jeno Kóka, a Rrom from Tiszalök, in North-Eastern Hungary. Kóka was brutally murdered in April 2009 by members of an extreme right-wing group, when he wanted to start his night shift at the local pharmacy factory. Immediately after the murder, the health of Kóka worsened significantly: “Éva Kóka broke together after the murder of her husband, her health deteriorated abruptly. She was unable to work, had to give up her position in a wood factory and moved in with her daughter.” The murders, Verseck states, are symptomatic of the institutionalised racism against Rroma in Hungary. A Hungarian minister is said to have known about substantial evidence that would have led to the arrest of the perpetrators, already back in 2009. But this evidence was purposively obliterated. In addition, the members the families of the six victims and the 55 people heavily injured people didn’t receive any redress or apology from the state until August 2013. On the 6th of August last year, four of the murderers involved were convicted, three of them to life imprisonments. Following the convictions, the Hungarian government promised the victims and survivors financial compensation. To date, they haven’t received anything. Many are seriously ill and are still living in severe poverty.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 Photo exhibitions document the suffering in French Rroma camps but confirm prejudices

Published by:

During 2012, the photographer Hervé Lequeux spent four months in three French Rroma camps in the Paris region. His work shows the everyday life of immigrant Rroma, their misery, the life with modest means, the sale of second hand items in flea markets and some begging. He encountered only very few representatives of aid agencies or the government during his four-month study. He states that the Rroma are mainly left to themselves. One of the camps visited by Lequeux has already been evicted. The other two still exist, for the time being. With his photographs, Lequeux gives an emphatic look at the simple life in the slums, but at the same time reproduces stereotypes of impoverished, poorly educated, begging Rroma, who burden the French social system. He would have helped Rroma to successfully integrateif he had made a reportage about the integrated, invisible Rroma of France, a fact that doesn’t come to his mind. However, is clear to him that the immigrant Rroma do not voluntarily live in miserable conditions, as is assumed by some conservative politicians, but would like to integrate if they could so: “They want to live as the French do. They want a house, a car, that’s all” (Lindell 2014).  

Mathieu Pernot – in his exhibition – also focuses on the visible Rroma of France. With his camera, he accompanied Rroma living in a settlement near Arles. The photos are of an aesthetic brilliance, but it wouldn’t hurt if the photographer ad a bit more political awareness. The demonstration of misery alone, even when borne with dignity, does not help to change the socio-political discourse (Paris Match 2014).

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland News Western Europe

21.02.2014 The misconceptions of organized begging networks

Published by:

Ulmi (2014) qualifies stereotypes of organized begging networks among Rroma, as they are disseminated by numerous newspapers, in particular the Weltwoche in Switzerland. In his text, Ulmi refers to the study of the Lausanne sociology professor Jean-Pierre Tabin, who discussed the mechanisms of begging for the canton of Lausanne. Tabin qualifies nearly all conventional notions about organized begging: the income from begging is very modest and only secures the beggars most basic needs. High profits are a media illusion. Most beggars do not operate for organized, criminal networks, but for themselves. With his study, Tabin argues for begging to be considered as poverty mendicancy and not as an enrichment strategy. Tabin explains that the idea of organized begging is a misunderstanding of mendicancy. This incomprehension is then replaced by the apparently obvious answer of criminal networks: “Everything we think we know about begging, in our cities in general and about the begging Rroma in particular, is wrong. False is the idea of the organized networks that take advantage of the beggars. False are our ideas about the gains coming out of begging. Completely wrong is our idea of the identity of the Rroma…“

Greece News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

14.02.2014 Social perception of the Rroma in Great Britain

Published by:

Yaron Matras, the author of the recently published book “I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies”, talks in his latest article in the Guardian about the social perception and role of the Rroma in Great Britain. Simple employees, such as the hairdresser of a friend of the author, are said to be complaining about the greater economic competition from immigrants such as the Rroma. In this economically motivated racism, Rroma are wrongly equated with Romanians and commonly used stereotypes about Rroma are strengthened: “Romanians are equated with Roma – hence the association with caravans and the shyness to appear politically incorrect. […] It is the image of Roma on our streets that triggers an emotional reaction, more so than the thought of just any citizen from new EU member states arriving at a job centre in Basingstoke or Leeds. It was the Roma who were singled out last November by the deputy prime minister as “intimidating” and “offensive” in their behaviour. Unfounded allegations that Roma were kidnapping children in Greece and Ireland didn’t help either.“ The really important question – and here Matras is absolutely right – is not how to bring the Rroma to integrate themselves, but how to manage to change the incorrect notions of the majority society about the Rroma. Because if the Rroma are given the opportunity to integrate – what in most countries is only possible very limited so far – they will doubtlessly do it.

Albania Germany Kosovo News Eastern Europe News Western Europe North Macedonia Serbia

14.02.2014 Debate about social conditions in the countries of origin of people threatened with deportation

Published by:

With the debate over the right to stay of a Rroma family from Macedonia in Germany, the massive disagreements over the conditions in the countries of origin of people threatened with deportation became apparent. While proponents of deportation rely on country analyses, which state that no or very minimal discrimination against minorities in countries like Macedonia exists, supporters of the asylum seekers claim the exact opposite: “With a deportation to Macedonia the Roma family faces a hopeless fate”, writes member of parliament Kühn-Mengel to Rosenke. If the family will be deported, the Rustems will be exposed to “institutional discrimination”, warns the politician.” The father of the Rustem family had been beaten so heavily in his home country that he lay in comma for several days, according to his own statement. Subjective expertise, which can rarely be proved with documents, usually face hard resistance against official analyses that assess the social situation in a country (Kölnische Rundschau 2014, Wochenspiegel 2014).

Gajevic (2014) reports on the deportation of Rroma from Germany to Kosovo. She points out that in the opinion of social scientists and left-wing politicians, the situation for many Rroma in the Kosovo is precarious. Because they often do not speak Albanian, an enrolment into school is usually not possible. The supply of water, electricity, food and sanitation is often poor and discrimination as a minority is anything but irrelevant:  „Largely unnoticed by the public, Rroma living here in Germany are increasingly forced to move back to Kosovo. According to the left party viewpoint, this is often a return into misery. The response to a request by the left party to the federal government shows that in the past two years, nearly 850 people were reported into the Balkan country, nearly half of whom were Roma. [ … ] The federal government signed in 2010 a readmission agreement – against fierce criticism – with the republic that split from Serbia, which allows to send back 2500 refugees every year.”

News Eastern Europe Romania Slovenia

14.02.2014 Romanian President convicted for racist abuse against Rroma

Published by:

Various newspapers report the conviction of Romania’s President Traian Basescu. Basescu who has been repeatedly noticed for his dismissive remarks against Rroma. In 2011, he commented publicly that Rroma steal in buses. During an official visit to Slovenia in 2010, he stated that travelling Rroma would traditionally live from what they steal. In 2007, he insulted a journalist as a “dirty gypsy”. In response to Basescu’s statements, the Rroma organization Romani Criss fielded a complaint at the Romanian Council against discrimination. The council has convicted Basescu for a symbolic fine of 600 lei (160 Swiss francs). Whether this conviction will change Basescu’s behaviour, is doubtful. The newpaper Zeit (2014) complements that Basescu has not yet responded to the conviction. However, for the Romanian Council against discrimination the message tthat even a president can be convicted for racist abuse is important (compare Aarauer Zeitung 2014, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung 2014, Le Figaro 2014, Neue Luzerner Zeitung 2014, Stimme Russlands 2014, TAZ 2014, 20 minutes).

Bulgaria Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

14.02.2014 The Rroma policy of the European Union and the free movement of persons

Published by:

Gutschker (2014) spoke with justice commissioner and vice-president of the European Commission, Viviane Reding, on the Rroma policy of the European Union. In the first part of the interview, the conversation focused around the question as to whether social benefits for non-working immigrants from EU-member states are legal or not. Right-wing politicians regularly accuse immigrant Rroma to unfairly burden the German social welfare system. Reding takes the position that the social benefits come to the good of immigrants with very low wages who are dependent on assistance. Nobody will receive social assistance just for the good of it, she states. For the interviewer, the debate on social benefits is in truth an argument about pan-European solidarity. For Viviane Reding however, the debate circles around questions of a liberal economic market, which allows the needed workforce to freely circulate. It is astonishing that even Reding holds the idea most of the so-called poverty immigrants are Rroma, although the ethnicity is not recorded in statistics. She sees the need to support these disadvantaged Rroma, so that the spiral of poverty can be broken. Concerning the social benefits received by EU-immigrants, Reding sees the numbers as strongly exaggerated. Only a very small part of the support payments go to immigrants from other EU countries. An amount three times as high is said to go to immigrants from third countries. Reding also wants that the EU countries better use their allocated social funds from the European Union and defuse municipal focal points. The restriction of the free movement of persons – as the Swiss electorate decided on the 9th of February – is said to be incompatible with the principle of a shared internal market: “You can not take advantage of the internal market with all the advantages for export and at the same time restrict the free movement of persons. In December, we had a meeting of EU interior ministers, and all agreed to the above – with the exception of the British. There was also agreement that the right to move freely does not establish a right to access the social systems. Rights are always associated with duties” (compare Epoch Times 2014, Spiegel 2014).  

Frigelj (2014) reports on the visit of EU-commissioner László Andor in Duisburg. Duisburg was almost constantly in the headlines during 2013. Again and again, newspapers reported – in a more or less populist fashion – on impoverished, criminal Rroma clans from Romania and Bulgaria, which are supposedly flooding into the city. László Andor tried to get an idea of the situation on the spot. He attended employment-assistance institutions, talked with immigrants, residents, social workers, and police officers. Andor acknowledged, the article states, that the city is dealing with a problem of poverty and Germany and its municipalities were entitled to money from the new “relief fund for the poorest” of the European Union. The article seems factual and objective, but indirectly spreads the idea that Rroma are almost exclusively poorly educated, marginalized people who escape poverty and discrimination in their home countries: “The highly qualified doctors and nurses are attracted mainly to southern Germany. To Duisburg and Dortmund, which have a high proportion of vacant dwellings and lower end real estate, where up to 90% unqualified immigrants with large families are drawn. From around 600 monthly newcomers, almost half are children.” That there are also many well-integrated Rroma in Germany is not mentioned.

 

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Poland

07.02.2014 Photo series about Rroma in Wroclaw

Published by:

The NZZ currently published a short photo gallery on Rroma in Wroclaw (Breslau), in south-western Poland. The emphatic photo reportage by photographer Adam Lach focuses on the exclusion and marginalization of the Rroma in Eastern Europe. Despite his benevolent perspective, the photographer perpetuates and indirectly disseminates stereotypes about the Rroma, because he focuses exclusively on the impoverished, visible Rroma. That there are also integrated Rroma that do not correspond to the stereotype of poverty is not mentioned here (Lach 2014).

rroma.org
en_GBEN
de_DEDE fr_FRFR en_GBEN