Tag Archives: Roma

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02.07.2014 Rroma and asylum in Canada: renewed controversy over minority policy in Hungary

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Katawazi (2014) covers the asylum case of a five-member Rroma family in Canada. The family fled from discrimination in Hungary to Canada and applied for political asylum. However, Canada has declared Hungary a safe country of origin, whereby asylum applications from that country are seldom accepted. The Buzas’ family applied for admission based on humanitarian grounds in December 2013. The request remains unanswered until today. Nevertheless, Canadian authorities have set the family’s expulsion for July 3rd this year. Through the support of the public, the parents hope to avert the deportation: “In a statement to the public, Renata Buzas said she hopes to stay in Canada in order to protect her children. “Each day, my children suffered from mental and physical abuse at school because of their Roma origins. No mother can tolerate that. Here in Canada they don’t have to be afraid; they can be themselves, they can evolve and flourish,” said Buzas” (Katawazi 2014). Regarding the assessment of asylum cases, the problem remains that the personal experiences of migrants are not relevant compared to the official country analyses. Since individual fates are often difficult to prove, the regulatory assessment of the security situation in the countries concerned outweighs. Regarding the case of discrimination against minorities, the security situation is difficult to assess, because the individual experiences do not necessarily correspond to official assessments.

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02.07.2014 Institutional racism in the British police

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Green (2014) reports on institutional racism against Rroma among the British police. Jim Davies, Rrom and himself policeman in the Thames Valley police force, had started a lawsuit against his employer because of racist treatment of members of the Rroma community. Both he himself and Rroma people being in contact with the police are affected, he states. Davies accuses the police force to have discriminated against him for years because of his origin. In response to the discriminations, Davies founded an association for police officers of Rroma or traveller origin, the Gypsy Roma Traveller Police Association (GRTPA). In reaction to the accusations, the Thames Valley Police has begun internal investigation into the incidents criticized: “In a statement, Thames Valley Police said it would “not tolerate any form of discrimination towards any minority group”. It added: “In light of the issues and observations raised by PC Davies, a review of how Thames Valley Police engages with Gypsy Roma Traveller communities will be commenced. “This review will be conducted independently and will involve a review of existing policies and procedures to ensure Thames Valley Police serves all of its communities and ensures that any racial stereotyping or outdated practices and procedures are amended or removed.” Davies also states that most policemen with a Rroma background keep their identity a secret, because they otherwise will also be faced with prejudices and discrimination. With the founding of his Rroma police organisation, Davies wants to strengthen both the role of Rroma policemen as well as the acceptance of the police among the general Rroma population.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Serbia

02.07.2014 Rroma and stereotypes: Rroma arrested because of organised copper theft

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Certain (2014) and Labarre (2014) report on the arrest of seven Rroma in the Pays de la Loire. The detained persons are accused of having been involved in the theft and organised trafficking of copper. Most of the suspects live in an informal settlement Rroma in Saint-Herblain. The article suggests, as many before it, that hierarchical organised structures exist among Rroma and favour organised crime: “The network was ultra-hierarchised. With a boss, henchmen and assistants. In order to unravel the involvement of one or the other, and to investigate the black market, it took almost a year of investigation by the theft-brigade of Nantes. This was rewarded this week by eleven arrests, the majority in a Roma camp of Saint-Herblain, the hub of the commerce.” The stereotypes of organised, criminal Rroma clans persist. It has often been pointed out that this is not a Rroma-specific phenomenon and hierarchical structures are not part of Rroma culture. The reference to the ethnicity of the perpetrators is therefore completely unnecessary; it only encourages racial prejudice against members of the minority. Rroma are not more criminal than the representatives of other ethnic groups. Already in June, Le Matin (Grabet 2014) reported on the trial against three Serbian Rroma in Vevey, who are accused of being involved in the organised theft and black marketing of copper.

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27.06.2014 Fassin: lynching racially motivated or not?

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In his newest article for Libération, the sociologist Eric Fassin (2014) poses the question, of why only a few newspapers speak of a racist lynching of the young Rroma, and instead portray the incident as a vigilante justice between robbed banlieue residents and a criminal youth, both of which are poor. He contrasts this to the case of a young Moroccan Jew, who was tortured to death in 2006 by a group of Muslim immigrants. At that time, no one had any doubt that the act was racially motivated. However, this time one does. Even the public prosecutor denies that the offence was committed with racist motives. The thefts committed by Darius, which are regarded as nearly proven, are cited as the actual motive for revenge. Fassin criticises that the victim’s presumption of innocence, valid until his actions are really proven, are completely disregarded. He sees the reduction of the incident to a vigilante justice between robbed and thief as a trivialisation of the intellectual arson against Rroma in France. Negating the defamation of Rroma by politics and the media, also negates some of the possible motives: “In reality, masking the racism of the lynching is abandoning finding the culprits among the responsible people. In other words, it is the denial of the responsibility of politics towards the increase in Roma-phobia: if this act has nothing to do with racism, it has no political relevance. Nevertheless, the “lapses” in public discourse are so numerous and deliberate that it is appropriate to speak of an actual landslide.”

Fassin is certainly right that in the investigation of the lynching case, all aspects need to be analysed and considered. The racist discourse against Rroma is an inherent part of this. However, one also has to be cautious to jump to conclusions and to insinuate motives of the  perpetrators that are not proven. The investigation has to show what motives stand behind the vigilantism. On this issue, Fassin engaged in a dispute with the deputy editor of Libération, Eric Decouty. Decouty (2014), in his commentary on Fassin’s article, criticises that the argument builds upon unsecured facts and is therefore not unproblematic. Rastello (2014) agrees in her analysis with the assessment that the evidence on the exact course of the event is still not verified: witnesses’ statements are contradictory, for example regarding the exact time of the abduction as well as the number of involved persons. Witnesses on  the Rroma side fear further reprisals and therefore hold back statements. On behalf of the residents, there is supposedly a “law of silence”, which is the result of the bad acceptance of the police in this impoverished neighbourhood. In addition, the offenders’ motives are still not clearly established.

Fassin (2014/III) replies that he goes from the position that the racist discourse is in part responsible for the committed crime. Pejorative words and opinions expressed about Rroma in recent years manifested themselves into a real act of violence in the case of the lynched Rroma. To trivialise the issue of intellectual arson against the Rroma is dangerous, as is the silence of the public on this incident, he states. However, what Fassin does not take into account prominently enough is the social dynamics of the suburbs themselves and the misguided social policy that allows this misery. The inhabitants of the suburbs are themselves victims of mechanisms of exclusion (compare Bilefsky/De la Baume 2014, Fassin 2014/II).

News Switzerland

27.06.2014 Swiss travellers: competition and racism

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Fuchs (2014) reports on the problems and hardships of travelling Swiss Yeniche. The focus centres on the experiences of Gérard Mühlhauser, the spokesman for the Swiss travellers’ movement. Mühlhauser criticizes the acute lack of permanent camping and transit sites. He states that the extensive use of existing sites by foreign Rroma, aggravates the lack of space. Once more, culturalising and generalising arguments are presented. These arguments make the Rroma responsible for all problems related to the lack of space and the lack of hygiene in certain stand and transit sites. Foreign Rroma are once again made scapegoats for social ills and problems that all involved parties are responsible for, and are not just caused by a specific ethnic group. That the sedentary population shows reservations against travellers should not be reduced to suspicions towards Rroma but rather generally towards all travellers. Mühlhauser, as well as Fuchs, who largely adopts his reasoning,  with their accusations against foreign, travelling Rroma, makes it to easy for themselves: ““We have a major problem, this is the transit travellers”, says Gérard Mühlhauser to the “Rundschau”. […] The foreign Roma are found throughout Switzerland. “They go on sites without authorisation, on Yeniche sites, they usually leave chaos and dirt. Therefore, one site after the other shuts down”, says Mühlhauser. Roma fiercely contradicts this. The Rroma priest Father Stefan states: “There are good and bad ones. But this is not a question of whether one is Swiss.” Among the Swiss travellers there are racists. Nowhere else in Europe foreign travellers would be denied access to certain sites. Here in Switzerland, there is a sign: when foreign people are on it, they need to get away and must clear space for the Swiss. That’s not right”, says Stefan. That makes him sad.” The criticism of Father Stefan is important. That there are stand and transit sites, which are available only to one specific ethnic group, the Yeniche, is unjust. The preference of nationals over foreigners contradicts accepted laws on equal treatment people of all nationalities. Such reasoning, which massively exaggerates the differences between the ethnic groups and negates similarities, is extremely patronising and creates racist values of desirable and undesirable and therefore valuable and less important people.

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

Therefore, the Swiss federal government should provide enough permanent and transit camps, which would defuse the competition for those sites. Racist reasonings are applied in the competition for resources for the few sites, which is not particularly astonishing. It is the same reasoning that is also used in the competition for jobs or apartments, and was applied by the SVP during the campaign for the mass immigration initiative. However, we all sit in the same boat, and form part of the same planet. Unfortunately, economic competitiveness also promotes racist attitudes among numerous people. This must be overcome and common solutions must be found. A first, important step in this direction was taken this week. The Swiss federal council has announced that it will establish a working group under the leadership of the department of the interior that will addresses the concerns of Swiss travellers. The foundation “Zukunft für Schweizer Fahrende will receive more funding. However, the foundation is controversial even among Yeniche themselves, as they feel their concerns are taken to little into account. For years, they have pointed out that there is an acute lack in permanent and transit sites. Applications for new sites are often rejected at the community level (compare 20 Minunten 2014, Blick 2014, Neue Luzerner Zeitung 2014, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen 2014). It should be stressed here that almost all Rroma resident in Switzerland, between 50,000 and 80,000, are sedentary and well integrated

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

25.06.2014 Lynching and Rroma as social scapegoats

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Willsher (2014) discusses the role of the Rroma in France in the context of the lynching of a young Rrom in the Paris suburbs. In addition to a political instrumentalisation of the minority for political campaign purposes and as scapegoats for social ills, Willsher also notes that Rroma are equated with petty crime, leading to a prejudiced association of thieves and Rroma: “It is illegal to compile data on the basis of ethnicity in France, so there is no evidence that the gangs of children who swarm around tourists to filch money, valuables and wallets, or pick pockets in the Métro, are in fact Roma. Because the word “Roma” has become synonymous with petty criminal and delinquent, the public perception is that they are.” Willsher as well as the people she interviewed have, besides the awareness of social inequalities, no understanding of the majority of Rroma who are living integrated lives in France. In the French media, they are continually ignored. The fact that these integrated Rroma do not call themselves Rroma is a consequence of their fear of discrimination and disadvantages if they do so, something journalists and politicians do not seem to be aware of. Thereby, the wrong conception that equates Rroma with an underclass that is uneducated and lives on the edge of crime, is becoming prevalent. That these ideas persist in the minds of people can be seen in the statements of Nassima Kleit, an assistant of the general council of Seine-Saint-Denis. She admits racism against the minority, but simultaneously reproduces xenophobic prejudices and culturally motivated crime: “Of course, we can’t put a gloss on this and say there’s no criminals among the Roma, and of course we need to change cultural attitudes that see Roma parents sending their children out to beg or steal; but we can only do that by educating them and getting them out of these shanty towns into places where they can live with dignity […].” Kleit confirms with her statements the misconceptions of criminal, culturally determined Rroma gangs, as the Weltwoche repeatedly conveys them. However, there is no ethnic-based culture of crime. If anything, there are massive social inequalities that make criminal activities appear more attractive to certain social layers than to others. As already said, it is wrong to equate the Rroma with a social underclass. There are educated and well-off people among Rroma. Rroma are part of all social classes.  

Bouvet (2014) identifies the latest incident not only as the outcome of a failed policy towards Rroma, but primarily as a failed social policy in France. The lynching incident shows that the social policies of the last decades have not been able to create a social balance: “What the lynching of Pierrefitte tells us is the failure of social policy, which was conducted in France for decades in neighbourhoods such as that of the Cité des poètes […]. The failure of employment policy and integration, not least those concerning the young people, who did not prevent an unemployment rate of more than 35%.”

Piquemal (2014) points out that the incident with the young Rrom is symptomatic of the ongoing expulsion and oppression of immigrant Rroma in France. The violence against the minority has increased. Since one hinders the immigrated Rroma to install themselves in the long term, one also makes it impossible to them to build a longer-term existence, which includes regular schooling of the children, adequate housing and a job. This rigorous expulsion policy must finally come to an end. Nathalie Godard, from Doctors of the World, states: “One clearly notices it on the site: with this policy, groups get fragmented, they are scattered throughout the territory of the department. But still they do not leave Seine-Saint-Denis. It’s always the same persons living here, some for a very long time. We follow the family for years, even if it is increasingly difficult for us to work. This is really complicated. Today, we use our time to find them again. With each eviction, all relationships that you try to create, to treat them, for example, must be restarted again. Everything is falling into the trap doors. I do not want to talk about the school to you! How do you want to enrol children, when they sometimes only sleep one or two nights at the same place.” What is also continuously hidden in the French press is that there are 100,000 to 500,000 integrated Rroma living in France. Therefore, the people living in the slums Rroma make up only a small percentage of Rroma in the country. Nevertheless, only they are present in the media.

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25.06.2014 Lawsuit concerning the Rroma camp of Bobigny

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Jabkhiro (2014) reports on a lawsuit concerning the Rroma camp of Bobigny. The settlement had gained nationwide attention after a young Rroma girl had fallen victim to a fire in February. The residents are trying to fight against the planned eviction of the camp with the help of organizations and a lawyer. The newly elected major of Bobigny, Stéphane De Paoli, requested an accelerated procedure for the implementation of the eviction from the prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis. The city administration’s lawyer emphasised in his plea the illegal nature of the camp, as well as the lack of security provisions in the settlement, which required a closure. The lawyer of the residents referred to the good social integration of the Rroma: 90% of the children are enrolled in school and the sanitary facilities have improved. There is no sensible reason why families in which the parents work, the children go to school and who show a clear desire for integration, should be evicted, the lawyer stated. Why the eviction is discussed in court, since all previous evictions usually took place without the consultation of the settlement’s inhabitants, Jabkhiro does not explain. The elementary school Marie Curie of Bobigny had previously been selected by the government to be portrayed in a short film, to show the successful enrolment and integration of Rroma children (compare Territoiresgouv 2013). The residents’ lawyer complains that those responsible for social assessments, that are required following the inter-ministerial circular from August 26th, 2012, did not exchange any information with the persons in charge on site. In the case of Bobigny, the application of the social assesment did not take place. So far, analyses by officials have been carried out only on a single day and cannot be classified as professional. The verdict of the lawsuit will be announced on July 2.

France News Western Europe

20.06.2014 After Lynch incident: Renewed debate about Rroma in France

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After the lynching of a sixteen-year-old Rroma in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, a new debate about the Rroma and the contact with them has started in France. However, as expected, one doesn’t only find expressions of compassion and condemnation of the barbaric lynching, but also expressions of sympathy for the bourgeois vigilantism. This worrying trend can for instance be identified in the article by Seelow (2014), in which residents of Pierrefitte-sur-Seine express their displeasure with Rroma and trivialize the act of revenge on the young Rroma as retributive justice: “The Roma, they are in same filth as we are […], but they take everything they see, they have no inhibitions. One day, I left my new fridge on the sidewalk and when I came out they were loading it. The Roma are poor that steal from the poor. The fact that they go for a walk, that’s all right, but you shouldn’t go to people like that, it’s like rape. He went crazy, this kiddo. Afterwards, the young went too far and it degenerated, because of the group effect.” More eyewitness accounts from local residents follow, that reduce the Rroma to a wild, uncivilized horde. This is not differentiated at all. Instead, the Rroma are accused of a collective predisposition to criminality. The author of the article, Soren Seelow, is content to reflect the opinions of local residents, who proclaim an increase in crime since the influx of the Rroma. However, it is surprising that the inhabitants of the Quartier des poètes in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine admit that rough manners prevail in the quarter. Many are said to be poor themselves and to have a criminal record. That is why almost no one calls the police if something happens, it is said. However, it is very dangerous to equate poverty with an automatic disposition for crime. Many poor people are living decent and blameless. Once again, these are statements from individuals.

Meanwhile, senior French politicians condemned the deed. This view of the events is at odds with the French Rroma policies that have consistently evicted immigrated Rroma and discouraged them of integrating. Politicians of the right-wing nationalist Front National, as Louis Alliot, justify the lynching as the response of the population to a non-functioning state of law. That such acts of violence are promoted by a xenophobic propaganda against Rroma is not mentioned here. The politicians and journalists who accuse Rroma of collective criminality and antisocial behaviour are accomplices of this drift towards violence. Their marginalisation and exclusion promotes violence, as it is now happening in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine. The press secretary of Romeurope, Laurent El-Ghozi also criticised this. One must not be surprised that the integration of immigrant Rroma fails, he suggest, if one consistently prevents them from integrating into society. Bastié (2014) denies this viewpoint. She accuses the sociologist Eric Fassin of producing ideological hot air. It is, she states, not the political discourse about the Rroma which is responsible for the recent violence, but the state, which does not comply with its obligations and has given rise to areas of legal freedom, where people take the law into their own hands. This, she argues, is complemented with the economic crisis and the new migration flows since the creation the Schengen area. Bastié is right that the marginalisation of the Rroma is not only due to the political discourse. However, she is wrong when she trivializes it with her criticism and declares it irrelevant. Words are often the first step, followed by deeds. Therefore, on the contrary: intellectual arson exists. Le Monde (2014/II) also accuses the silence of the French public in its latest editorial. The indifference of large parts of society implies that the denigration of the Rroma has become an accepted fact and has slowly but steadily established itself in French society. This indifference is very dangerous and prone to more vilence. It means a de facto toleration of massive injustices and grievances (compare De Gouyon Matignon 2014 I/II, Euzen 2014, Le Monde 2014, Molinié 2014).

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

18.06.2014 Lety: protest against pig farm at the site of the former concentration camp

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Several newspapers reported on the protest by activists in several European countries, who objected to the presence of a pig farm at the site of a former concentration camp in Lety, in the Czech Republic. In the Czech Republic itself, several representatives of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM) were present. They remembered the approximately 1,300 Rroma women and children who were interned between August 1942 and May 1943 in the concentration camp of Lety. Most of them were then deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and gassed there. In Lety itself, around 330 Rroma died, most of them children. They perished of typhoid fever, hunger, or because of the catastrophic conditions in the camp. Under the communist government, an industrial pig farm was built on the site of the former concentration camp. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, members of the Rroma community and human rights activists have called for the demolition of the pig farm and the establishment of a memorial (compare 20 minutes 2014, L’essentiel 2014, The Times of Israël 2014).

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13.06.2014 Rroma in the Czech Republic: between self-determination and discrimination

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Schultheis (2014) reports on the Czech-German project “Roma-generation 2.0”. The aim of the project is to motivate the young generation of Rroma to break out of the victim role and to determine and shape their own future as far as possible. This in spite of the fact that the discrimination against Rroma is still strong, and there is marginalization especially in schools and in the labour market. Around one third of Rroma children are assigned to special schools for mentally disabled, which is clearly racially motivated and fighting such assignments is beyond the power of the Rroma alone. However, an active self-determination is an important first step to overcoming exclusion and towards the abolition and prohibition of segregation. Martina Horváthová, of the organizing committee of the project, explains: “The aim of this project is to talk to young Roma and non-Roma about what it means to be an active citizen. We want to give young people opportunities to demonstrate how they can get involved. We Roma have the right to use all opportunities of EU-membership – just like everyone else. Roma must stop to stigmatize themselves to a discriminated minority.” Magdalene Karvanov, from the Open Society Foundations, is committed to get Rroma parents actively engaged on the educational opportunities of their children: “We want that Roma parents become major players themselves and fight for better educational opportunities for their children. Through our campaign, we have managed to give them greater self-confidence. When we asked the parents before the campaign, what career they wished for their children, they said I do not know, they will probably live on welfare. And now they say: my child should become a doctor or lawyer. They have higher expectations and get more active themselves.”

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13.06.2014 Die Welt defames Rroma through connotation with criminal clans

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Die Welt (2014) reports on a trial against 45 members of a Polish Rroma clan, who is said to have been robbing seniors for money and jewellery by applying the so-called “grandson trick”: “Since November 2012, the Hamburg prosecutor’s office and the department of organized crime (OC) in the state criminal investigations department conducted investigations against the Polish perpetrators, based on suspicion of gang based commercial fraud. After an extensive criminal investigation, OC investigators closed on the family gang, which is regarded as the inventor of the so-called grandson trick. […] For the past 15 years, the police is aware of the deceptive practices of the Polish Roma clan. That the trick is very successful, is shown by numerous YouTube videos, where the family members brag about their wealth.” The reference to the ethnicity is completely unnecessary. Through the correlation of the facts described with a criminal, Polish Rroma clan, Die Welt suggests a clear connection between the offenses described and the ethnicity. This connotation is completely unnecessary. It reinforces racist ideas and resentment against the minority. In addition, the newspaper nourishes stereotypes of organized, criminal clans among the Rroma. However, this idea is wrong. The majority of Rroma are living respectable and inconspicuous lives. Rroma are not organized hierarchically, as repeatedly suggested by the newspapers. This idea is the result of the projection of the feudal, medieval order onto the Rroma. The Sächsische Zeitung and the Luxembourgian Tageblatt argue in the same problematic way (compare Flückiger 2014 I/II).

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

13.06.2014 History of Rroma pogroms in Bulgaria

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Lausberg (2014) reports on the tragic, historical continuity of Rroma pogroms in Bulgaria. The acts of violence against Rroma have especially increased since the decline of the communist system, but actually reach back for centuries: “Racism against Roma has a centuries-old tradition, which was once stronger and sometimes weaker, depending on historical events. Especially after the end of the communist regime in Bulgaria, the Roma in Bulgaria see themselves threatened by violent, racist acts. Resentment because of their skin colour, language and culture as well as discriminatory treatment by authorities, police and judiciary is part of everyday life for the Roma in Bulgaria.” He continues to go into the details of individual pogroms and incidents and tries to give possible explanations for the racist violence. One aspect is economic crises and the resulting impoverishment of broad sections of the population. Combined with a low level of education, more and more people are willing to accept racist slogans in such a situation. Furthermore, there is completely one-sided information about criminal Rroma which is supposed to underpin their alleged anti-social behaviour. Another problem is that racist acts of violence are often not identified as such, but are trivialized as “normal” criminal acts. Lausberg also discusses the various reasons for a migration to Western Europe, which are often excluded in the polemical debate about mass immigration: “The reasons for the emigration of Bulgarian Roma especially to western states of the EU, including the federal republic, are on one hand the hope for better economic prospects in the target countries. On the other hand, it is the manifest racism of the (white) majority of the population, which is also responsible for the emigration. […] In Sofia, and other cities, at the end of socialism mostly teenagers or young adults who hunted Roma formed militant racist groups. On 29.10.1992, a group of students from the Lovech-sports school attacked three Roma in a disco. Three days later, one Rom due to cerebral haemorrhage caused by the blows. On 31.10.1993, the Roma Club in Varna was attacked and the furniture destroyed. In winter 1992/93, begging Roma street children were systematically beaten by students of an elite university.”

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13.06.2014 Tribute to the victims of the Marzahn labour camp

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On June 15th, the state association Berlin-Brandenburg of German Sinti and Rroma commemorated the victims of the Marzahn labour camp. In the 1930s, Rroma living in Berlin were brought to Marzahn labour camp after the rise of the Nazis, in order to “clean” the city for the Olympic Games of 1936: “Thousands of Gypsies were here – between the cemetery and the former sewage farms – interned and forced to work in labour camps before they were transported to concentration camps. […] In the “Gypsy camp Marzahn”, from the summer 1936 onward, at least 1,200 people from infants to elderly were held under inhuman conditions. By the spring of 1943, almost all inmates had been deported to Auschwitz. From there, almost no one came back” (Tessman 2014). The chairman of the state association, Petra Rosenberg, will remind with a speech on June the 15th that the persecution and marginalization of the Rroma continued after the end of World War II and the German government recognized these injustices only after long efforts by political activists (Tessman 2014).

Hungary News Americas News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

13.06.2014 Lawsuit: administrative country assessment versus personal experience

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Humphreys (2014) reports on a trial in Canada on the occasion of an asylum application of a Hungarian Romany family. At the centre of interest lies the case of the Rrom Mario Gyula Varga. While the mother and the half-brother of the man were able to present to the court convincingly that they were victims of domestic violence by the father of Varga, a violent pimp, and were persecuted by neo-Nazi groups, the application of Mario Varga himself was rejected as implausible. From the perspective of the judge, the applicant could not demonstrate convincingly that he was indeed a victim of violence in Hungary. Instead, he had argued with the general persecution of the Rroma in Hungary. This general discrimination against Rroma the judge ruled improbable: ““It seems to me that [Mr. Varga’s lawyer’s] submission is that the only reasonable assessment of country conditions in Hungary is that each and every one of its 200,000 to 500,000 citizens of Roma background has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, and that on the balance of probabilities, each and every one’s life is at personal risk, or that each and every one is at risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. If it be so, then Hungary is a failed state. Yet it is not”, Justice Harrington wrote in his ruling last week.” The case shows that evidence for individual asylum applications is extremely difficult to prove. Official governmental countries analyses are juxtaposed with subjective experiences, which usually are express only orally, but cannot be verified. Then, the credibility of the argument is an important criterion. The verdict is therefore also associated with the assessment of the conditions in a country and related value judgments. The estimation of compliance with the rights of minorities in Hungary is far from evident, as can be read in the critical, Hungarian press. Violations of minority rights and rights against discrimination repeatedly occur. Therefore, the verdict of judge Harrington that Hungary is a failed state, if the arguments of the applicant are true, is not that far-fetched.

Bosnia News Eastern Europe News Western Europe North Macedonia Serbia

13.06.2014 The immigration debate and the discussion about safe countries of origin

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Hofmann (2014) focuses on the German migration policy based on the currently discussed draft bill to declare Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia to be safe countries of origin. The key point of the debate lies in the estimates of how strong the discrimination of minorities in the states in question really is. While proponents of the draft law point to neighbouring countries who also declared Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia as being safe countries of origin, refugee organizations and left-wing politicians refer to Rroma slums and repeated reports of explicit discrimination. The federal government takes the position that the situation of the Rroma in the Balkans is difficult but does not fulfil the claim of an actual persecution: “Although the economic, societal and social situation of the Roma in all three countries is “difficult” – however, “ a persecution of Roma does not take place.” Eastern Europe expert Dusan Reljic is quoted stating that in his opinion, there is no direct discrimination by the state, but an indirect exclusion through the weak economies that favour the discrimination of minorities such as the Rroma: “In societies where there is less and less to distribute, it is hardly possible for the less educated to make a living”, said Reljic. For Rom who was rejected as an asylum applicant, the return to a Southeast European country means “a catastrophe that is associated with greatest personal sacrifices.” Finding a job is possible only with great difficulty.” The European Union should therefore attach conditions to the inclusion into the association of states as the strict observance and enforcement of minority rights. As the debate shows, there are no detailed reports on the effective level of discrimination, only general estimates. This is inaccurate for a detailed assessment, if ultimately human fates depend on these political decisions.

Demir (2014) criticizes in his article about the immigration debate, that the term “poverty immigration” is used in the political discussion as a synonym to the immigration of Rroma. The immigration from the Balkans is clearly not limited to Rroma, but also includes a variety of other ethnic groups. Therefore, the term “Rroma problem” is inappropriate and ethnicizes a phenomenon that includes and encompasses much more than a single ethnic group. The complexity behind the migration movements, the structural conditions, the different ethnic groups, the various educational levels of individual migrants, the economic situations, the political values of the different actors, all these factors are lost in reductionist modes of argumentation. Simplicity is elegant, but from the viewpoint of a scientific will to truth, simplicity is very dangerous.

Bosnia Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe North Macedonia Serbia

11.06.2014 Controversy over “safe countries of origin”

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On the occasion of the current political debate in the German federal council on declaring of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia as safe countries of origin, Baeck (2014) reports on a demonstration in Bremen. All the federal states have to agree to the request. The protesters called the Bremer members of parliament to reject the application. This application is said to affect especially weak, vulnerable migrants, and to undermine the fundamental right to asylum: “The project is motivated by “racism” and “antiziganism”, said a speaker at the rally yesterday. In fact, people should be deterred to come to Germany by law. This is justified by rising numbers of asylum seekers and a low acceptance rate for people from these countries: In the first four months in 2014, a fifth of all first asylum applications came from people from Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina – 6,682 of 32,949 applications. If the three states (along with Ghana and Senegal) are declared as “safe”, the asylum procedure is shortened. To prove individual prosecution would become more difficult, asylum applications would be considered to be “evidently unfounded.”” Critics see it as particularly problematic that the new draft law recognises the social exclusion of the Rroma, but at the same time rejects their persecution. By this, the government is said to downplay the real situation on site. The reason for the increase in asylum applications from Southeast Europe is said to “be due to the social and societal problems of the Roma, but not because of a persecution of this group.”

The Green Party politician Claudia Roth criticized that it is extremely problematic to conclude on the basis of the definition of safe countries of origin that there is no real political persecution and exclusion. German interior minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU) sees this differently and refers to the support of the draft law through the German population. To which part of the population he refers to and how big this one is, remains unclear (Deutschlandfunk 2014). Wagner (2014) meanwhile reports on the case of a Macedonian Rroma-family, which was deported back to their country of origin in the middle of the night. The family became homeless and the father was charged for the „denigration of the Macedonian state“.

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11.06.2014 Pope Francis calls for more respectful interaction with Rroma

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Newspapers in various languages report on the invitation of Pope Francis to greet Rroma with more respect. The Pope spoke with Rroma at a congress for pastoral care in the Vatican: “Francis criticized the discrimination against Roma and Sinti in the labour market, which often culminates in exploitation and modern slavery. Also in the educational and health care system, Sinti and Roma are disadvantaged. The Pope called for greater efforts word wide to better integrate Rroma into their countries. Members of these minorities are too often excluded from the political, economic and cultural life, he said. They would often be exploited and be forced to beg. Sinti and Roma are regarded regularly with hostility, he concluded” (Domradio 2014). Francis further criticized the lack of respect for the Rroma in Italy, which he himself had experienced. But he also urged the Rroma themselves for more efforts towards a successful integration: “The reality is complex, but surely they themselves are also called upon to contribute to the common good. And that is possible if they take responsibility, if the duties are just as respected as the rights of every individual person” (kipa 2014). Francis appeal is a valuable contribution to the development of society towards the full integration of the Rroma. However, his statement that Rroma are often forced to beg, has to be treated with caution. The idea of organized begging gangs persists, although sociological studies indicate that many beggars to so because of poverty and are not part of criminal networks. In addition, many beggars are identified as Rroma through the observer’s viewpoint, although their ethnicity is not evident. The reference to the agency of the Rroma is important, but it should not be forgotten that discrimination is often so strong that the radius of action is extremely limited (compare Davies 2014, L’Orient-Le Jour/AFP 2014, Radio Vatikan 2014, Wooden 2014).

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11.06.2014 Appleby Horse Market: positive stereotypes for once prevalent

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Several British newspapers report on the annual horse market in Appleby. Around 10,000 Rroma from all over Europe come together in Appleby to groom their horses, present and trade them. It is striking that for once, neither stealing nor begging Rroma are mentioned, but rather, positive aspects such as the attractiveness of the horses and the ritual of washing them are highlighted. However, it is also striking that travellers, Irish Travellers and Rroma are once more amalgamated, although Irish Travellers and other travelling communities are not the same as Rroma. Only a fraction of the Rroma is indeed travelling. In addition, the stereotype of Rroma as fortune-tellers is conveyed. Arkell (2014) states: “Gypsies from around Europe descended on the Eden Valley for the annual event, where traditionally travellers parade their horses before potential buyers, racing them at high speed along the ‘mad mile’ before cooling them down with a dip in the River Eden. The fair, which runs until next Wednesday, is the largest and one of the oldest of its kind anywhere in Europe, attracting 10,000 gipsies and 30,000 visitors each year. […] Gipsies come from around the world to meet friends, conduct business, and trade horses, while visitors come to admire the animals and visit the market stalls, palm readers, and fortune tellers” (compare Faratin 2014, The Northern Echo 2014, Williams 2014).  

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07.06.2014 Maria: custody adjudicated to Greek charity

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The custody to the blonde, Bulgarian Rroma girl Maria, who caused headlines around the world last year, has been awarded to the Greek charity Smile of the Child. Maria had been taken from a Greek Rroma couple by the authorities, because she did not appear to be the biological child of the dark-skinned couple. The story fuelled racist ideas about Rroma as child traffickers that were deliberately fomented worldwide. As it turned out afterwards, her biological parents, a Bulgarian Rroma couple, gave Maria to the Greek Rroma, due to extreme poverty. The incident also triggered a debate on racial assessment criteria among the authorities, because Maria had been identified and removed from the family solely because of her appearance. It is biologically possible that dark-skinned parents give birth to fair-skinned children. The foster parents were deprived of custody by the Greek court. Soon they will be charged with child trafficking. According to the welfare organisation, the biological parents have not submitted an application for the return of their daughter. Representatives of the Bulgarian consulate had requested that Mary should be transferred to a Bulgarian care facility, which was rejected by Greece. The Greek charity, which now is adjudicated the right of custody to the girl, also circulated racist stereotypes: “In comments that went around the world, the head of Smile of the Child told the media that he believed Maria was “either sold at maternity, or later abducted, for other … begging, they use these children for begging, or later for prostitution, or, even worse, for selling for other purposes” (Neos Kosmos 2014). Despite the rectification of the case by the biological mother of Maria, who stated to have left her daughter out of sheer poverty in Greece, strong reservations towards Rroma as traffickers remain. This can be read in the comments section of the article from The Daily Mail, which is teeming with racist views (compare Die Welt/AFP 2014, Hall 2014, Savaricas 2014, Wareing 2014).

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07.06.2014 University of Leipzig: majority of Germans rejects Sinti and Roma

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Steinmetz (2014) reports on the study “The stabilised centre – right-wing attitudes in Germany 2014” from the University of Leipzig. The report comes to the conclusion that right-wing extremism generally decreases in Germany, however, the rejection of individual ethnic groups has increased. The authors connect the positive trend towards a decreasing number of extreme right-wing positions to – among others – the stable economic growth in Germany. However, the country is an island in this respect, as in other European countries right-wing nationalist views are strongly increasing. As a right-wing extremism, authors of the study identify advocates of dictatorship, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, social Darwinism, trivialization of Nazism and chauvinism. Steinmetz summarizes the findings as follows: “Almost half of all German citizens want to ban Sinti and Roma from the inner cities, the study found. 56 percent of the respondents state that this group tends to crime. And almost as many would have a problem if Sinti and Roma would stay in their neighbourhood. The representative survey is based on numbers that the opinion research institute Usuma collected in the spring of 2014. Nearly 2,500 people were interviewed in person.” The authors of the study further detect an east-west division, with East-Germany having five percent higher approval for extreme right-wing positions than in West Germany. In addition, they show a clear correlation between a lack of education and the susceptibility to extreme right-wing positions. Therefore “6.8 percent of people with a high school degree, but 20.8 percent without A levels [are] xenophobic” (Universität Leipzig 2014/I). Nevertheless, extreme right-wing positions are present among the followers of all parties. The susceptibility to xenophobic opinions lies among voters of the CDU, SPD and the Left at around 17 percent. The authors identify the latent willingness of up to 31 percent of the population to agree to far-right positions as worrying: “The amount of the undecided suggests that these people could again completely agree with extreme views in the case of a deterioration of the economic situation, said the sociologist Elmar Brähler” (Locke 2014). That can be interpreted in terms of a passive tolerance and therefore approval of these extreme positions. This tendency is disturbing insofar as the seizure of power by right-wing extremists has only been possible in the past, because a significant part of the population passively tolerated it. The phenomenon that resentments align against certain groups is called “secondary authoritarianism” by the authors. This kind of racism can – among others – be explained with the subordination of society to economic values​​, and with aggressions toward deviants and weak persons: “Not migrants in general are rejected, many Germans think now: they contribute something to us. But those that trigger the imagination, that are fundamentally different or have a good life without work, attract anger towards themselves.” Scientists call this phenomenon the secondary authoritarianism. The position of the economy in Germany plays an important role. “[The Economy] has become something like an unquestionable authority”” (Universität Leipzig 2014, compare Ambrosi 2014, Berliner Zeitung 2014, Business-Panorama 2014, Clauss 2014, Conrad 2014, Decker/Kiess/Brähler 2014, Die Welt 2014, Der Westen 2014, Netz-gegen-Nazis 2014, Neues Deutschland 2014, Osnabrücker Zeitung 2014, Van den Berg 2014).

The vice president of the Central Council of German Sinti and Rroma, Silvio Peritore, suggests in an interview on the occasion of the new study that the Rroma, or more precisely a deliberately constructed image of immigrant Rroma, was used in campaigning. Many populist politicians stated that the Rroma come in masses from Southeast Europe to Germany, in order to live at the expense of the welfare state. Populism completely negates that there were and are a lot of non-Rroma that migrate to Germany and Western Europe, as well as that many well-qualified migrants come. Another problem is the equation of all Rroma, both the integrated living as well as the new immigrants, to a picture that doesn’t do justice to reality: “You must distinguish. We have 70,000 German Sinti and Roma who are completely integrated, have jobs, the children go to school. These people cannot be compared with immigrants who come to Germany to find work. Twelve million European Gypsies are just not a homogeneous mass. What all have in common is the concept of the so-called Gypsy, with which they are labelled. […] Many are afraid to be known as so-called Gypsies because they could then face problems at work or in finding accommodation. I myself have concealed my origin for a long time.” Peritore is optimistic that one can change the public image of the Rroma to the positive among those who have not totally deadlocked their opinion. It is significant in this regard that the susceptibility to xenophobic opinions is significantly higher where there are fewer foreigners (Leurs 2014).

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