Tag Archives: Roma

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07.06.2014 Valls must appear before court because of racist statements

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Several French newspapers report on the decision of the court hearing against the new head of government and former interior minister Manuel Valls. Valls had publicly announced last year that Rroma did not want to integrate, had an extremely different lifestyle than the French, and had the tendency to return to Romania and Bulgaria. The organization “La Voix des Roms” then filed suit against Valls because demagoguery. Now, the incumbent head of government will have to appear before the criminal court on May 28th, 2015. Valls’ lawyer announced that he questions the competence of the tribunal. Only the court of justice of the Republic, a special institution for ministers, is empowered to judge the actions of incumbent ministers, he stated. In October 2013, Valls already appeared before court due to a lawsuit by MRAP (Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples). Valls was then acquitted (compare Europe 1 2014, Lacombe 2014, Le Parisien 2014, Schweitzer 2014).

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05.06.2014 “Anti-Roma Racism Is On The Rise”

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Wall (2014) reports on the correlation of a new advance of rightwing-nationalist right ideas in Europe and the instrumentalisation of Rroma as scapegoats for general social ills. Rather than drawing attention to the complex reasons for economic stagnation and social inequality, right-wing nationalists and politicians abuse the minority as an easy-to-understand explanation for these nuisances: “Anti-semitism is once again on the rise. […] Racism often functions as a device used by populist politicians to gather votes. In tough economic times, like the 1930s depression and the current ongoing austerity, racism can be electoral gold for the unscrupulous. If troubles can be blamed on an identifiable group, the racism can be nurtured and made to grow into deep-seated and enduring hatred.“ As a particularly questionable trend, Wall shows that the threshold to discredit the Rroma is continuingly decreasing. He sees a clear link between the political and media defamation of a minority, the establishment of an institutionalized hatred against them, and their physical destruction. Therefore, a responsible journalism is so important: “When politicians and tabloids raise fears about the Roma, we should remind them of where such fears led in the past. Fear leads to prejudice, prejudice leads to hate, hate leads to violence. It is never ever justified. Saloon-bar banter needs to be countered with some stark presentation of the facts about where such banter led in the last century.”

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05.06.2014 “As a Rom in Serbia, life is Hell”

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Schaefer (2014) reports on the fate of the Serbian Rroma family Novakovic. The mother of the family, the 21-year-old Albena Novakovic, lived with her parents in Germany until she was deported as a ten-year-old, back to Serbia. They faced massive discrimination upon arrival and economic hopelessness: “On that day in Serbia, for this young woman, began a life that she would prefer to forget quickly. “I am Roma. And that is the reason why a normal life in Serbia is not possible for me”, she says with a clear expression. “I’m insulted beaten and discriminated against in Serbia. But the worst thing is that I have no future there as a Rroma. No one wants to give me a job. As a Roma, life there is Hell.” That’s why Albena and her husband oppose the plans of the German government to classify Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as safe countries of origin. The discrimination of the minority is anything but a relic of the past. Currently, the family lives in Germany again, in Heinberg. But the fear remains that the immigration authorities knock at the door and ask the family to come along. To return to a home that is not one for the family. Regarding the assessment of asylum cases, there is still the problem that personal experiences of migrants have no value 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 outweights the individual experience.

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05.06.2014 ECRI: Rroma in Romania still too much discriminated against

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RTS (2014) addresses the newest report by the European Commission against Racism (ECRI). This comes to the finding that the Rroma in Romania are still too much discriminated against. The commission’s experts deplore the persistent derogatory remarks by Romanian politicians, who maintain and sustain the negative public opinion towards Rroma. The segregation of Rroma children in schools is still a current issue. The report summarizes: “The law on the status of national minorities has not yet been adopted. Moreover, the 5% threshold set for the eligibility of candidates in local elections can hinder the ability of national/ethnic minorities to elect their representatives under the same conditions as the majority. Public insults and defamation on racial discrimination grounds are not prohibited under the law. […] Stigmatising statements against Roma are common in the political discourse, encounter little criticism and are echoed by the press, the audiovisual media and on the Internet. No effective mechanism is in place to sanction politicians and political parties which promote racism and discrimination. Significant hurdles hinder the implementation of strategies for Roma integration, such as the poor allocation of funds from the national budget and the ineffective coordination between the ministries. Furthermore, the impact of these strategies has never been evaluated. School segregation and discrimination towards Roma pupil remain a serious reason for concern” (ECRI 2014). The report criticizes in particular that the Rroma are accused of willingly not wanting to integrate. One also establishes a clear link between delinquency and the culture of the Rroma, what is clearly racist (compare Zonebourse 2014).

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30.05.2014 German court decision: Serbia not a safe country of origin for Roma

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The administrative court of Stuttgart, in what is perhaps a landmark ruling, recognized the refugee status of two Rroma from Serbia. Thus, it challenged the views of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, which at the end of last year came to the conclusion that no persecution of Rroma could be established in Serbia and deportation was therefore justified: “As reasoning, the judges said that the Roma were experiencing extreme disadvantages in their home country and were forced to live on the margins of society, as a spokeswoman for the court said on Monday. The main reason for the judgment was the restriction of the free movement of Roma in the southeast European country. For Roma, under certain circumstances, it is punishable under Serbian law to apply for asylum in another country. This equals a persecution, the court judged.” The verdict has the character of a precedent insofar, because the Rroma are not persecuted in Serbia, according to a federal decree that will be adopted shortly. Thus, the discussion about the discrimination against Rroma in former Yugoslavia and their status as refugees is once more opened. The decision also highlights that the assessment of discrimination against a minority is far from evident and easy. While some assessment are based on the legal foundations of a country, other evaluations are based on everyday practices, such as discrimination in the labour market and the education system, that are far more difficult to prove than law-related disadvantages (see Focus online 2014/I, SWR 2014).

The federal government wants to take a completely different direction. According to the daily newspaper Neues Deutschland (2014) the government wants declare Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as safe countries of origin. German interior minister Thomas de Maizière stated that Cabinet would discuss the bill on April the 30th. De Maizière had previously proposed, to also take Albania and Montenegro onto the list of safe countries of origin, but this proposal failed because of the criticism of the SPD: “SPD and the Union had approved in the coalition agreement, to take the three states of Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina onto the list. Asylum applications from people from these Balkan countries can then be processed faster – and are usually rejected. […] De Maizière said that Serbia had candidate status as a member state of the European Union. Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina went for it. “From these states one must expect that they deal well with their own citizens”, de Maizière said.” This contrasts with a perspective that emphasizes the individual destinies of those affected. For the German Institute for Human Rights, the concept of safe countries of origin is problematic in itself, because it greatly complicates the presentation and verification of individual persecutions (compare Focus online 2014/II).

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30.05.2014 “Central Council of Sinti and Roma sues Pro NRW”

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Publikative.org (2014) reports on a lawsuit filed by the Central Council of German Sinti and Rroma against the right-wing nationalist party Pro Nordrhein-Westfalen (Pro NRW). On the occasion of the European Council elections, the party produced a commercial that openly and with one-sided, emotional means, presents propaganda against the Rroma. The complaint reads, among others: “In the movie, pictures of streets and residential areas that are littered, of aggressive people and of a man in the street with a large knife, this with superimposed slogans like “quickly identify asylum fraudsters” and “seethe with anger, let it out”, are complemented with a rap song, in which the repeated refrain “like a gypsy” (as a gipsy ) is highlighted” (Pulikative.org 2014). The Central Council decidedly denies that the campaign video can be classified under the category of freedom of the press or freedom of expression. Rather, the video explicitly agitates against the Rroma, by portraying the minority sweepingly as benefit scroungers and criminals. This is contrary to the principles of German law and therefore must be decidedly condemned. This assessment is fully to be agreed with. To campaign at the expense of a minority that has been marginalized for centuries, can only be described as a shameless and foolish (compare PRO NRW SPOT Europawahl 2014, Ruhrbarone 2014).

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30.05.2014 Celebration of Saint Sara in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

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Dunlop (2014) reports the annual procession in honour of Saint Sara in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, taking place on the 24th and 25th of May. According to legend, Sara was the servant of the three holy Marys who came to France as a result of the persecution of the Christians and founded a Christian community there. Another explanation is that Sarah-la-Kali, as Saint Sara is also called, is a Christian modification of the Hindu Goddess Kali. This hypothesis is supported by the Indian origin of Rroma. During the procession, a statue of the saint is carried from the church to the sea. The ceremony attracts thousands of tourists and goes against the usual negative image of the Rroma. For the incumbent mayor of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Roland Chassain of the UMP, this is not a contradiction. Nicolas Sarkozy is said to appreciate riding and the music of the Rroma very much. Immigration policy is another matter, he states. With this, Dunlop points to a contradiction that is insufficiently discussed. When it comes to economic incentives, such as the famous St. Sara festival, the prejudices are happily laid aside for once. However, this tolerance disappears quickly when it comes to the removal of informal settlements, when the Rroma are again the hated minority: “Gitanes, Tigani, Roma, Gypsies – call them what you will, this is one day a year when, in the remote marshlands of the Camargue, they shed their minority status and become the majority. The sleepy seaside town, a stronghold of the National Front but ruled by the centre-right UMP, is transformed, the locals are outnumbered. “I am not anti-Gypsy”, protests Mayor Roland, “but their young are not disciplined, it has changed. It was different 40 years ago.”” However, Roland neglects in his explanation important historical and political upheavals. Not the young generation, the continued marginalization of the minority and economic crises lead to an escalation of the conflict between the minority and right-wing nationalist groups.

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25.05.2014 Integration of Rroma in France remains difficult

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Mouillard (2014) reports on a Rroma integration village in the Indre that was initiated by the former mayor in cooperation with the local aid organization Romsi (Rencontre Ouverture Métissage Solidarité à Indre). The flagship project, which shows mostly positive results, is now probably drawing to an end. The reason: at the last local elections, a populist candidate replaced the incumbent mayor. During the election campaign, he promised to take action against immigrant Rroma. At the same time, the integration project showed how they created positive experiences for all parties involved, by offering French courses, the enrolment of the children in school and other help. The employees of Romsi are particularly disappointed, since they are aware that integration is a long process that would be set back by the closure of the project: “For the activist of Romsi, the track record of the solidarity village still remains “positive”. “The children are enrolled in school, the rate of delinquency in the community has not risen. But people continue to talk [about it]. That is exasperating…” Jean-Luc Le Drenn [the former mayor] tries to remain optimistic: “To close this village would be really a failure. In any case, maybe the prefect will intervene to oppose to it? The experience works and the costs of the community are low.” A rather rare mix in France, where the about 18,000 Roma are often forced to wander from one camp to the next” (Mouillard 2014). A distinctive feature of the integration project is the finding that those who were actively involved with the Rroma, clearly show less reservations about the minority than those who only speak about the Rroma or are bothered about the sight of informal settlements. Director Sophie Averty, who made a documentary about the integration village in Indre, shares this insight. Of the original fifty families, only five could finally stay in the integration project, but in return were actively assisted in looking for a job, the enrolment of the children in school, and in learning French: “The hateful and violent suggestions, you heard them primarily during the arrival of the fifty Roma, above all when the parents of the children protested and spoke of the risks of transmission of scrabies and fleas … as if the little Frenchman had no fleas! […] Some people were very hesitant, often through ignorance. Those who complain are those who have never set foot into the village” (Mouillard 2014/II). The problem of integration projects that are specifically designed for Rroma is that they cause resentments about the special treatment of a specific group. It is therefore important to generally help people in difficult situations and not to talk always of a “Rroma problem” or the “Rroma question”. Such a focus fuels resentments among groups who are also in economically difficult situations, as one can see by means of the dubious success of the Front National, who repeatedly abuses the Rroma as scapegoats for general societal grievances in France. Consequently, Marine Le Pen calls for an isolation of France after the model of Switzerland. A very questionable development (compare Dumazert 2014, Le Monde 2014).

EurActiv (2014) draws a first balance in respect to the projected mass immigration of Rroma from Bulgaria and Romania. So far, no increase of Rroma in Île-de-France region could be observed, says Laure Lechatellier, Vice-President of the regional council. Due to fears of a mass migration to Western Europe, seven years of transitional provisions in 2007 were imposed on Romania and Bulgaria after their EU-accession. The free movement of workers since January 2014 now guarantees all Romanians and Bulgarians, including the Rroma, free access to the labour markets of the EU-member states. Because of structural problems, the Rroma have benefited only minimally from this opening: “The free circulation of workers has put an end to this system and opens another right: the one to enrol oneself at the employment office. But the population of Roma from Romania and Bulgaria on the Île-de-France has not yet benefited from this possibility, due to structural discrimination. In France, the anti-Roma sentiment has reached unprecedented levels. According to a study by the U.S. think tank Pew Research Center, 66% of French respondents declare a negative opinion towards the Roma.” EurActiv thus points to the important fact that for a successful integration of the Rroma, not only a legal but also a social and societal equality is necessary. Such a one is still far from a reality, due to the negative attitudes towards the minority.

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25.05.2014 The rise of Jobbik and the Rroma

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Baer (2014 I/II) reports on the rise of right-wing nationalist party Jobbik in Hungary and their relation to the Rroma. The party has been able to claim a new record of votes at the last elections. More than 20% of the electorate votes in Hungary now go to this party, which bases its policy on nationalism, isolationism and xenophobia. Jobbik now reigns in ten communities where it enforces a restrictive policy towards the Rroma. For example in Gyöngyöspata, in north-eastern Hungary, where the new Jobbik mayor is monitoring the Rroma with cameras and has compelled them to compulsory community work in return for social welfare. Jobbik has recently gained a new image: it is said to act less aggressively than at the beginning and to have stopped working with obviously racist slogans, in order to have a greater appeal. The party recently changed its slogan on the Rroma from an open rejection of Rroma to “Roma who do not want to integrate” (Legrand 2014). However, this has to be interpreted rather as clever propaganda, than as a departure from the actual party program, as stated by the human rights activist Sandor Czöke. The head of the Rroma community of Gyöngyöspata, Janos Farkas, is harassed more often and defamed since the takeover by Jobbik: “If, for example, you go into the forest to collect branches for heating and you get caught, you get fined and maybe even come into prison. Their principle is that all Rroma are criminal, that all Gypsies are bad. In 2012, they set fire to my house. Our only tort is to be Roma” (Baer 2014/II). Baer’s concerns towards the increase of rightwing-nationalist ideas in Hungary are completely to agree with. However it is surprising that not a single word is said about the discrimination against Rroma in France. Also there, nationalist politics are done at the expense of the Rroma.

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25.05.2014 “A People Uncounted” gives Rroma and Holocaust survivors a voice

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Various American newspapers report about the new movie by Aaron Yeger, which focuses on the marginalization of the Rroma in Europe. In an interview with NPR (2014), Yeger explores the question of why no exact figures on murdered Rroma exist as well what the marginalization and destruction of the minority meant for the former communities. As for the number of victims, the lack of written documentation by Rroma themselves as well as the absence of official documents is probably the main reason. The film focuses on the aspects of exclusion and persecution that are recapitulated by eyewitnesses. Language and traditions are only briefly touched upon. The New York Times comments: “While travelling to Budapest, Vienna, Montreal, Ukraine, Romania and Germany, the film, the first feature by Aaron Yeger, presents a range of lucid commentators, some of whom touch upon distant Roma history. But the primary focus here is on the disenfranchisement and ruthless persecution the Roma have long suffered in Europe: in Romania in the mid-1400s, by the Habsburgs in 1500, by Henry VIII and again by the Habsburgs in 1721. […] The darkest hour was the Holocaust, in which hundreds of thousands of Roma perished in concentration camps. Much of this movie is composed of survivors who give harrowing accounts of their experiences, and their warnings about rising ethnic hatred in Europe should not be ignored” (Webster 2014). Miller (2014) also points out that the image of the Rroma in the United States is shaped by stupendous reality TV shows such as Gypsy Sisters and My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding. These convey a stereotypical, one-sided picture of the Rroma. “A People Uncounted” tries to live up to the complexity of the fate of the Rroma (compare Broadway World 2014, Documentary Trailers 2011, Scheck 2014).   

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21.05.2014 Memory of Rroma revolt in Auschwitz-Birkenau

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On May 16th 1944, the prisoners of camp sector II B of Auschwitz-Birkenau actively rebelled. Rroma detained there were supposed to be led into the gas chambers by SS: “Armed with stones and tools, they barricaded themselves in the barracks. They managed to escape extermination for the time being. […] The uprising in the camp sector II B of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the “Gypsy camp”, was a highlight of the resistance that Sinti and Roma actively held in many ways against the persecution and extermination by the Nazis. But their resistance was broken: after the selection of all prisoners capable of working, the “Gypsy camp” was dismantled in early August. The remaining 2900 people died in the gas chambers.” In Auschwitz-Birkenau, around 23,000 Rroma were detained, half of them younger than 14 years old. Almost all of them were murdered. On the occasion of the commemoration, Deutschlandradio Kultur spoke with Silvio Peritore, from the Central Council of German Sinti and Rroma. Peritore complains about the lacking reappraisal of the genocide in the post-war period, the detentions were legitimized as “crime prevention” in continuity with the Nazis policies, and the continuing tolerance of racist slogans under the guise of freedom of expression, which reveals ambivalence towards ones own history. The Administrative Court of Kassel decided in September 2013 that the posters of the NPD with the slogan “Money for grandma instead for Sinti and Roma” had to be tolerated under the paragraph on the freedom of expression. The statement of facts didn’t qualify as demagoguery: “How can it be that after a recognition of the genocide – with exhibitions, with monuments, educational events – again today, people continue to be defamed with a similar language. Last year before the federal election campaign, now for the European elections again, these NPD election posters are tolerated under the guise of party protection and freedom of expression. The state or the judiciary does not evaluate this form of misanthropy as demagoguery and regularly slams complaints from citizens, from people affected, and from Sinti and Roma, who don’t want to put with that. On one side one has the historic confrontation in the form of monuments – which are important, which are essential – but on the other side, one has this contradiction that allows populist parties, right-wing extremists, to do their propaganda against minorities, especially against Sinti and Roma.  They use them as scapegoats for perceived or real nuisances, which is very frightening.” On one side, Peritore speaks about a legal loophole, the tolerance of discrimination by the rule of law under the freedom of speech and press, on the other hand, the problem of the social tolerance of these hostilities. It is therefore every single citizen responsibility to work and pursue a just society (compare Barbezat 2014, Deutschlandradio Kultur 2014, Die Presse 2014, Stoll 2014, Von Billerbeck 2014).

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21.05.2014 Once more: north migration is an economic and not a Rroma phenomenon

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Peters (2014) reports on Rroma in Sofia and Berlin. She portrays the famous image of marginalized Rroma below the poverty level, for which the conditions in Germany represent a major development step, even if it is only by receiving a minimum wage. Thereby, she characterizes a fairly accurate picture of the economic causes of migration, but mixes these too imprudently with ascribed characteristics of the Rroma. Although she also mentions the large proportion of well-qualified immigrants and the discrimination against Rroma in Germany itself, she only covers these issues very marginally. The reductionist, defamatory statements of the Bulgarian deputy prime minister, Zinaida Zlatanova, are cited as evidence for the strong marginalization of the Rroma in Bulgaria, what is identified by Peters as the main reason for the northern migration of the minority: “Bulgaria is home to many different ethnic groups. We have problems only with Roma”, says Zlatanova. “And these problems exist in every country that is home to Roma. This is not a Bulgarian problem. In France, Hungary – the same.” The exclusion of Roma children in ghettos and their own schools? “We should not tear the Rroma from their natural environment. Better they go to segregated schools than never.” Whether Germany benefits from identifying the phenomenon “poverty migration” as a “Rroma problem”, is very questionable. Also in Germany the Rroma are exposed top exclusion. The exclusion of the Rroma must not be concealed that is out of question. However, the marking of migrants as Rroma migrants creates more problems than it solves. The Rroma want to integrate and not undergo special treatment, which excludes them additionally. This only creates new resentments, as can be read in Peters’ own assessment: “We must take care of the Roma, who come to us”, says Giffey [councillor for education in Neukölln]. The dilemma is this: If you do that – then more and more come.”

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21.05.2014 Daily Mail portrays Rroma as unscrupulous traffickers

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With his one-sided reporting, Enoch (2014) confirms a pejorative image of Rroma as unscrupulous traffickers. Without wanting to trivialise real human trafficking, which must be fought by all means, mixing different topics and the ideological instrumentalization of the event raises questions. On one hand, Enoch reports about a Polish Rroma family, who is said to have lured several Polish families to England, where they were forced into slave labour. The situations described are awful, and range from repeated use of force to sexual assault and modern slavery. On the other hand, it is sufficient for Enoch to describe the perpetrators as Rroma. Other motives for the crime are not mentioned. Nor how the Poles were lured to England. Instead, the ethnicity of the perpetrators is cited as a self-explanatory motive for the crime. Thus Enoch suggests a clear link between the ethnicity of the perpetrators and the offences committed by them, what is openly racist. Mentioning of an ethnic group in connection with criminal offences is extremely problematic, because it promotes a highly one-sided picture of the portrayed group. This does not conform with the lifestyle of a vast majority of the minority. That Enoch’s article is also biased by ideological and political values can be seen from the terminology used and the reasoning of the journalist. He states: “A family of Roma gypsies tricked three fellow Poles into moving to London, where one was forced into slavery and subjected to beatings – and all had their National Insurance numbers used to rip off the benefits system, a court heard.” The accusation that all Rroma from Eastern Europe want to apply for social benefits in England in order to enrich themselves, can often be read in the newspaper (compare Reid 2014, Reilly 2014, Jay 2014). Through these articles it becomes evident that the newspaper is not interested in a factual, scientific treatment of the events, but willingly mixes these with stereotypes and ideological opinions.

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21.05.2014 The political schizophrenia of the acid attack perpetrator

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=The forty-year-old man, who had doused the mattresses of homeless Rroma in Paris with an unknown liquid was acquitted. The court came to the conclusion that there was no clear evidence that it was actually acid. Rather, one assumes that it had been a mixture of soft soap and Javel, as the special hospital for poisoning confirmed. Therefore, the charge of deliberate use of force was not met. The victims had recorded that their mattress was showing traces of corrosion and therefore assumed it to be acid. This version was endorsed by the charity organisation, which supported the Rroma: “A few weeks before this process Laurent P. told his story to Libération: he was only 10 years old when in 1983, he participated in his first demonstration together with his parents, a pair of the militant syndicate: the Beurs’ March, from which later SOS racism emerged. Laurent P. graduated in 1994 in political science, three years he joined the PS (Parti Socialiste) and spent the next ten years in public service, including some time as special representative of the treasury department. Before the judges, Laurent P. displayed a form of political schizophrenia that surrounds his gesture and said that he understood to “have set a very strong symbol, which I did not ascribe any importance and what I’m sorry for. Wanting to hurt these people would be in total contradiction to my education” (Le Monde 2014, Tassel 2014).

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16.05.2014 Pew-polling institute: Rroma are the most despised minority

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On the occasion of the upcoming European parliamentary elections, the Pew polling institute examined the opinions of the French, Germans, Greeks, Italians, Poles, Spanish, and English about the European Union, as well as on general social topics. The opinion research institute came, among others, to the finding that Rroma are the most despised minority in Europe, with prejudices in Italy, France and Greece being the greatest: “The most negative views in Europe aren’t directed toward Muslims or Jews. Rather, it’s Roma. [The] chart is really quite remarkable, showing that Spain is the only nation where more people hold positive views of Roma than negative. In Italy, just 10 percent have positive views about Roma, while 85 percent have negative views. Unfortunately, it’s not entirely surprising. Roma, often dismissively referred to as “gypsies” in Europe, have suffered discrimination in Europe for centuries, and some estimates suggest that 70 percent of their European population was killed during the Holocaust.” The study can also be interpreted as meaning that in countries with strong ideological debates about the minority, more people rejecting. Moreover, in the countries with the highest rejection – Italy and France – the media only report about Rroma living in Slums, which promotes a biased view.

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16.05.2014 Romeo Franz criticizes the German and European Rroma policy

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EurActiv (2014) gives a voice to the German European Parliament candidate Romeo Franz. Franz is a German Sinto who has campaigned for the social recognition of the minority for many years. In 2011, he joined the Green Party. Franz criticizes in the interview both the German and the European Rroma policy. Too little is done and many things only half-heartedly, he criticizes. Many journalists have no sense of the discrimination that takes place due to naming ethnicity: “I have been discriminated my whole life as a Sinto. But as a 14-year-old, I was already demonstrating for our rights. It is my duty, as a German Sinto, to get involved and fight racism. […] There are deep-seated clichés and prejudices, which are being passed along within German families. […] such racist prejudice can even be stirred up in the media and politics. In daily local reporting, for example. If someone is a criminal, their ethnic affiliation is not mentioned in the news report – except regarding Sinti and Roma. In that regard, there is no sensitivity at all among journalists.” He sees is as particularly concerning that also Germany consciously promotes the segregation of the Rroma: in his constituency Ludwigsburg, a Rroma container village is under construction that wilfully marginalizes the Rroma. These double standards are also found in the German migration policy: While Angela Merkel just announced plans to better integrate the Rroma in Germany, at the same time the cabinet declared Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia to safe countries of origin. This allows the deportation of immigrant Rroma: “The German government wants to make it easier to deport people from the countries mentioned. At the same time, the Roma situation in Serbia is even worse than here – no access to running water, education or healthcare. They are constantly suffering from racist encroachment. Their life is in danger. In Brussels far to little for the social acceptance and integration of minorities is done, Franz criticizes. He wants to change this by pursuing a policy of human rights.

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14.05.2014 Racist statements of Eric Zemmour have consequences

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Several French newspapers report the verbal attacks of journalist Eric Zemmour against criminal gangs of Rroma, Chechens, Maghrebians and Africans. He accuses the members of these groups to plunder, to steal, and to rape in France. Zemmour further argued that multi-ethnic societies have a higher potential for violence than ethnically homogeneous communities such as Japan, which he sees as better protected against mass immigration due to natural borders. The council of associations of the French Black (Le Cran) condemned Zemmour’s remarks as racist mania, calling for his immediate dismissal: “Le Cran is totally baffled by the violence of this xenophobic madness”, stated the association, which added “if you listen to Éric Zemmour, you get the impression that the current France is immersed in a kind of medieval nightmare, destroyed by alien hordes that are inevitably thieves and criminals.” “I urge RTL to consider the severity of Zemmour’s statements”, who “indirectly calls for a policy of ethnic cleaning”, the president of Le Cran, Louis-Georges Tin, announced.” Le Cran has also filed a complaint against Zemmour at the audiovisual council of France (compare Nabet 2014, Le Nouvel Observateur 2014, Le Point 2014). Metro News (2014) points out that Zemmour has repeatedly attracted attention due to radical views. In a television program, he asked for face controls by the police and urged the abolition of abortions in favour of political and economic empowerment of France. In another program, he favoured discrimination as an ability to choose and therefore as a liberal tool.

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09.05.2014 Lawsuits against NPD because of harassment and demagoguery

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Gensing (2014) reports on a complaint by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma against the right-wing nationalist National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). The occasion is the announcement of a panel discussion of the party, to which it wanted to invite Heinz Buschkowsky, Thilo Sarrazin and Romani Rose to discuss the immigration of “criminal East Europeans”. Rose never agreed to his participation in such discussions and forbids himself any contact with the right-wing party, which is why the Central Council has filed a lawsuit: “The Central Council filed complaint because for harassment to the public prosecutor against the Berlin state chief [of the NPD], Sebastian Schmidtke, who signed the letter. With the public promotion of the alleged discussion, the NPD untruthfully conveyed the impression that there is actually a contact between the Party and the Central Council, the complaint reads. This suggests the assumption that Rose was actually ready to discuss with the NPD on their racist slogans, which is absolutely not the case.” Gensing interprets the action of the party as an attempt to catch media attention, so far without success.

Schmidt (2014) reports a further complaint against the NPD by a German Sintiza. In Würzburg, on numerous locations one could find posters with the slogan “Money for grandma instead of for the Sinti and Roma”. The Sintiza Perla S. filed a complaint on demagoguery. In Würzburg, the posters were then removed, but not because of a verdict of the courts. Several administrative courts on the contrary approved the posters, on the grounds that they do not openly incite discrimination against Sinti and Rroma. Perla S. contradicts this decidedly. The racism against the minority is still widespread: “Perla S. […] knows what discrimination is. “Already in school I was treated with hostility”, she says, “Hitler forgot to gas you, the children said to me.” This hurt the Sintiza. Especially because in her environment “some older people” live “who lived through the Holocaust.””

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07.05.2014 The reportage Roma – Europe’s poor children conveys one-sided notion of the Rroma

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The reportage, awarded with the citizens media award of Saxony-Anhalt, reports about Rroma in Transylvania. It paints a sympathetic, but unfortunately also very normative view of the Rroma in Romania. The commentator states at the beginning of the reportage that the helpers of the association “Children’s Aid for Transylvania” would come to know the life and culture of the Rroma in a Rroma settlement. The fact that they confuse culture and a lifestyle resulting out of exclusion, is not discussed critically. Like many other reports in Germany, the coverage reproduces the idea of Rroma as victims in their countries of origin, but remains silent about well-integrated, invisible Rroma, who do not conform to the stereotypes. In addition, the discrimination against the minority in Germany is left out, where they are often portrayed as perpetrators. Instead, it is repeatedly referred to the fertility of the aid project, without giving the Rroma themselves a real voice. Therewith the aid project is staged as a success, but the person concerned appear as uncivilized that were in need of civilizing through the project: “When I think of the starting time, with the turbulence and unrest, and no values and norms within this group of the children of the centre, and now this development […] earlier communication was brute force, there were beatings”, the project manager Sebastian Leiter states biased. In contrast, the film also provides intelligent viewpoints as the views of the social workers Thomas Richardt, which emphasizes the importance of contact between the Rroma and Gadje and stresses that a society is only as good as it treats its weakest members. – The report shows once again that good intentions alone are not sufficient to convey a differentiated picture of the Rroma (compare Kinderhilfe für Siebenbürgen e.V 2014, Berliner Zeitung 2014, Focus 2014).

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07.05.2014 “Toward a Roma Cosmopolitanism“

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Feffer (2014) writes about his encounters with the Romanian Rroma-activist and sociologist Nicolae Gheorghe, who died last August. Gheorghe was decidedly fostering a cosmopolitan view of the Rroma and their affiliation to the different states and turned against all nationalisms: “His widest ambition for the Roma, who had no land of their own, was that they should be a ‘transnational’ people, a grand pan-European federation of men and women, who, while proper citizens of their own countries, also represented a society broader, freer and more enterprising than that of nation states […].” But Gheorghe realized that the real challenge was not the work in the European institutions, but the implementation of integration policies at the local level. In the villages and cities the consciousness of cosmopolitanism, which had existed under the Ottoman rule and Communism, had been lost. At the same time, many Rroma did not manage to evolve into entrepreneurs, as Gheorghe had hoped. The people they helped in training didn’t go back to engage in community work, as planned, but rather accepted positions in the administration. They didn’t understand enough about the mechanisms of the free market and focused too much on the production of goods. The group companies Gheorghe had supported with the help of funding, did not function as desired. They should rather have supported individual business ideas, he remembers. In addition, a further portion of the support funds disappeared due to nepotism. But there had also been successful projects. In these cases, however, private property existed previously, property on which one could build for an enterprise: “Most of the Roma working in our project had no such patrimony. They’d been selling their labour. And they didn’t know what to do with money. They had no entrepreneurial skills. They imagined – and I imagined too – that if we gave them money entrepreneurial skills would just appear. And that was not the case. They wasted the money. We ended up generating personality problems: It was much more than they could mentally cope with.” Gheorghe therewith directly addresses the problems that arose during the transition from one economic system to another, which required completely different values and skills. However, in his account, Gheorghe negates that there were Rroma who worked successfully in the new system and accumulated wealth. There the stereotypes of Rroma kings and palaces come from, as they keep popping up in newspapers.

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