Tag Archives: Schools

France News Western Europe

30.07.2014 France: rigorous expulsion policy is mainly at the expense of Rroma children

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Numerous French newspapers report on the negative impact of the regulatory expulsion policy on immigrant Rroma. The victims are mainly Rroma children whose school education is often poor. Official statistics are not available. In addition to the frequent changes of location, which make it difficult to attend school, bureaucratic obstacles and reservations of mayors hinder the integration of Rroma children. The European Rroma Rights Centre (ERRC) points out this education crisis in a study recently made ​​public: 118 adult Rroma from six informal settlements in Seine-Saint-Denis, Lille, and Marseille were interviewed on the enrolment of their children. 75% of them left their country of origin between 2007 and 2010 to come to France. They are on average expelled twice a year due to forced evictions. The result of the survey is disillusioning: just half of the children go to school. However, the regulation of school attendance in France is clear: all children between the year of six and sixteen must attend school, regardless of whether the parents have valid papers or a fixed domicile. In reality, the officials often require proof of a fixed residential address, although an identity card would be sufficient for enrolment. In 60% of the cases, the lack of a home address is the reason for an absence from schooling, the study by the Rroma Rights Centre states. In the other cases, mayors usually refer to the argument that the classes are full, although they are obliged to create new classes when necessary. In addition, there are negative attitudes of some parents whose children are already enrolled in school and who do not want to have their offspring in a class with many Rroma children. The rejection is therefore clearly xenophobically motivated. If one wants to evict the Rroma settlements, the enrolment of children would counteract this. The judges usually consider the number of children enrolled in their decision about an evacuation of informal settlements. The study also indicates that there are strong local differences: in the Communist-ruled Bobigny, 90% of Rroma children are enrolled in school (compare Chabrout 2014, European Roma Rights Centre in 2014, Le Nouvel Observateur 2014, Piquemal 2014, Vincent 2014, Voyageurs Createures 2014). The media focus on informal settlements suggests that there are only Rroma in France who recently immigrated, belong to the lower class and are poorly educated. However, hundreds of thousands of Rroma have been living for generations integrated and unobtrusively in French society. These invisible Rroma are completely ignored by the media.

France News Western Europe

23.07.2014 France: more evictions and protests

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RTL (2014) and Le Figaro (2014) report on further evictions of informal Rroma settlements in Saint-Etienne. The authorities of Saint-Etienne evicted two camps with a total of 115 people, including 67 children. The sites of the settlements belonged to the city of Saint-Etienne and to a Turkish club. The displaced persons were informed that they should contact the SAMU. This means that the inter-ministerial circular from August the 26th, 2012, which requires a social diagnosis before the evictions, was not applied. However, the residents of the settlements had  already been asked to leave the premises on November 7th, 2013, through a court order. Pregnant women and families with infants were offered temporary accommodation.

In Nanterre, the eviction from an informal settlement is imminent. The special case of the camp of Nanterre is that already in the 1980s, among nearly identical circumstances, a settlement was evicted. After it became known that the current settlement is to be cleared, four of the residents turned to the European Court of Human Rights. This one criticized the French policy and called the persons in charge to suspend the eviction and to inform the persons concerned on the proposed solutions in a timely fashion. The settlement residents in turn organised a press conference to inform the public about their concerns and to present their stories. In the case of an eviction, they demand appropriate alternative accommodations. In addition, 23 children of the settlement are enrolled in school. One wants to make sure that the children can continue to attend school, which would not be guaranteed in the event of an evacuation. Both the French communist party and the anti-racism organization MRAP fight against an eviction (Urbach 2014). Once again it should be stressed that the evictions complicate a long-term integration of migrants and don’t promote it. Through the evictions, the problems are simply moved from one place to the next, but not solved. In addition, the media focus on informal settlements, the impression is conveyed that there are only Rroma who belong to the lower class and are poorly educated. However, according to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma are living integrated and unobtrusively in French society (Rroma Foundation 2014). They are totally ignored by the public perception.

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18.07.2014 Informal Rroma settlement in Lyon was evicted

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Several French newspapers report on the eviction of an informal Rroma settlement in Lyon. The settlement, which was below and in the vicinity of a railway bridge, was home to about 250 people, including many children and infants, as well as pregnant women. Families with small children and expecting women were offered temporary accommodation. The settlement had been recently created. Most of the residents were living on the site only since a few months, the authorities stated. The anti-racist movement MRAP announced in a communiqué: “The few nights of hotel that the prefecture has proposed to six families cannot replace a correct diagnosis and support to the totality of people present, as the circular [of August 26th, 2012] states, which was signed by Mr. Valls himself when he was interior minister […]. [MRAP] “condemned” that this “forced evictions violate European and international law” and “recalled that France was sentenced several times for the violation of fundamental rights of the Rroma population” (Libération 2014). The ongoing evictions of informal Rroma camps have been criticised for quite some time now. During the summer months, the evictions of Rroma settlements always increase massively. In winter, many communities grant a humanitarian moratorium. Since most of the displaced join other informal settlements, the problem is just shifted from one place to another. Only few long-term solutions have been implemented so far. These include, for instance, the tolerance of the settlements, which enables establishing an existence, enrolling children in school, and the continuous search of a job. Another option is integration programs, which actively foster the social integration of immigrants. However, these are controversial since they specifically refer to Rroma and thereby ascribe the minority a special status. On the 100,000 to 500,000 integrated and invisible Rroma living in France, one almost never hears anything in the French media (compare RTL 2014, Rue89Lyon 2014).

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16.07.2014 Stereotypes: illiteracy among Rroma

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Michel (2014) informs about the work of the Hamburg counselling centre Karola. Karola has set itself the task to help needy women and girls from immigrant families. This has resulted in a focus on Romnja, who need support when being in contact with the authorities or when learning how to read and write. Michel puts the focus on the language courses, which is an interesting, but also very prejudiced aspect. Again and again we read in articles that Rroma can not read and write, and that this illiteracy is part of their culture. However, it is rather a phenomenon of exclusion, poverty and lack of education that affects only part of the Rroma. Many can read and write. Michel refers to the study of the organization Romnokher: “There are no official figures on how many Roma are illiterate in Germany. A representative study of the organization Romnokher of 2011, on the educational situation of Sinti and Roma, comes to the conclusion that 18 percent of the 26-to-50-year-olds have never been to school. 44 percent of them visited a school, but did not graduate. For the younger generation, the level of education is higher: Nine percent of the to 25-year-olds did not attend school. Still, obstacles remain – and the worse the education of the parents, the more difficult it is for their children in the school.” The study interviewed 275 Rroma from West Germany about their educational situation, belonging to three different generations. Whether this sampling is sufficient for a reliable assessment of the education of Rroma in Germany – the Rroma Foundation currently assumes 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma in Germany – is not without doubt, because the sample is very small (see Strauss 2011). Karola’s integration assistance, described by Michel, is very positive. However, one has to be cautious when identifying individual histories as representative for all Rroma, and therefore to treat them as cultural traits. If a Rromni reports that she did not go to school because her parents were afraid that she might have a relationship with a boy, this must be seen as individual experience and not as a cultural characteristic. The same goes for Romnja, for whom it was free to decide whether they wanted to go to school or did not go because of distrust towards public institutions. Many Rroma can read and write. As Michel herself states, there is no reliable data on the educational situation of the Rroma in Germany.

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04.07.2014 Minority Rights Group International: Rroma in Europe still heavily discriminated against

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The latest report by Minority Rights Group International (2014) criticizes the continuing, strong discrimination against members of the Rroma community. For Hungary, the report passes criticism on the lack of protection against racially motivated violence. The perpetrators of a series of murders that brutally killed six Rroma between 2008 and 2009 were only identified and arrested after massive criticism of the initial investigation. The case revealed institutional racism in the Hungarian police. The protection of the Rroma population from parading right-wing groups is also insufficient, criticizes the documentation, for example concerning the parade of right-wing extremists in Gyöngyöspata, in 2011. The Hungarian law enforcement is pervaded by a strong double standard, the report states: Rroma are repeatedly sentenced to harsh prison sentences for acts of violence against ethnic Hungarians, so-called “anti-Hungarian crime”. However, these judgments are disproportionate when compared to the racist actions against Rroma, which are only insufficiently being investigated by the police: “The resistance of the police to considering bias motivation and effectively investigating crimes reported by Roma victims was illustrated by the inadequate official response to the ethnically motivated ‘patrols’ of extremist paramilitary organizations in the village of Gyöngyöspata in 2011, where the local Roma community were subjected to weeks of abuse and intimidation by armed vigilante gangs (Minority Rights Group International 2014: 173). The report regrets the continuing status quo that the Rroma are not or not sufficiently heard in the public discourse. Therefore, it is necessary that the minority gets help by the state or other organizations in combating this discrimination. However, if the state itself reproduces these racisms or tolerates them, little will change in this situation (compare politics.hu 2014).

Concerning Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia, the report criticizes the prevalence of a sexist image towards Rromnja. These are presented as hyper-sexualized and promiscuous in the public debate, giving a racist explanation for the high number of children among certain Rroma. The fact that ahigh numbers of children is a result of poverty and of a lack of education, and therefore also occur among ethnic Romanians, Bulgarians and Slovaks, is completely disregarded. Therefore, a demographic issue that affects society as a whole is portrayed as an ethnic problem and thus underlined with racist reasoning. Particularly problematic are sterilisations that are still performed on Rroma without the consent =. They testify that eugenic thinking continues until today and is even actively pursued (Minority Rights Group International 2014: 29-30).

Regarding Greece, the report criticizes the continued segregation of Rroma children in public schools, which continues despite repeated admonitions by various courts. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in May 2013, that the implementation of a separate Rroma class at the primary school of Sofades constitutes a discrimination of the right to education. This was the third court ruling that condemned segregation of Rroma children in Greece. In addition, the report criticises the right-wing party Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn), who repeatedly agitated against Rroma and was involved in numerous violent actions against minorities. The neo-Nazi movement reasons along highly racist arguments. Member of parliament Dimitris Koukoutsis accused the Rroma of  genetic criminality (Minority Rights Group International 2014: 169-170).

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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.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

02.07.2014 Évry: demonstration against imminent eviction

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Lemonnier (2014) reports a rally in Évry, in the south of Paris. On June 28th, Rroma and activists gathered at the place of the human rights in Évry, to demonstrate against the imminent evictions of the local Rroma settlements. The demonstrators marched with posters and banners through the streets of the city to the county seat of Essonne and demanded the compliance to basic human rights that are in conflict with the planned evictions. They also rallied against the unworthy treatment of Rroma in France. In Évry, two informal Rroma settlements exist, with about 150 inhabitants each. The closure of the camps is scheduled for the next two weeks. They were founded in response to the evacuation of a camp in Ris-Orangis. Considering the children enrolled in school, one waited until the end of the school year, the general counsellor of the district states: “From the very beginning, we have said that the camps cannot be created in the long term, says the general counsellor of the concerned canton, Claude Vazquez. However, we waited until the end of the school year to authorise the evacuation of this camp, considering that 27 Rroma children are enrolled in the institutions of our community and to enable them to finish the year.” From the perspective of those affected, this apparent benevolence towards the Rroma is a farce. They demand better treatment of Rroma in Évry. First of all, this has to begin with the reduction of the number of forced evictions. Manuel Valls, who is repeatedly criticised for his restrictive, uncompromising policy towards the immigrant Rroma, was mayor of Évry from 2001 to 2012. The demonstration against the planned evictions has therefore a more political character. Of the 100,000 to 500,000 integrated Rroma living in France, one never hears something in the French media. Thereby, one denies them existence and reproduces a one-sided picture of the ethnic group that is being exploited by many politicians for political purposes.

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25.06.2014 Gerhart-Hauptmann-school in Kreuzberg being evicted: 40 Rroma were resettled

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The former school building of the Gerhart-Hauptmann-school in Kreuzberg, which housed 200 refugees, homeless and Rroma since 2012, is being evicted. In a first phase, the inhabitants are offered an alternative accommodation: “After long debates and political quarrels, on Tuesday, the evacuation of the school in Berlin-Kreuzberg, occupied by refugees, has begun. The district authority and the police are trying to make the residents move voluntarily to other accommodations, said a district spokesman. Accommodations are available in Charlottenburg and Spandau, for each of the 211 refugees, according to district spokespersons. However, the refugees from the occupied school shall only obtain new lodgings from the state if they follow the call for evacuation on Tuesday voluntarily” (Treichel/Mösken/Zivanovic 2014). The evacuation takes place on a decision of the district office of Kreuzberg. Many people, especially regarding the future stay of the refugees, criticize the action. Local activists tried to prevent the police from shutting off the building. According to journalists, around 40 Rroma have accepted the offer of the department and were brought to the site of a new accommodation. In contrast to France, until, there had been no forced eviction in Germany, since most immigrant Rroma are housed in rented affordable housing, which, however, also led to disputes. What is astonishing about the coverage of the eviction is that “refugees, homeless and Rroma” are mentioned. Focus (2014), rbb (2014) and the Berliner Morgenpost (2014) even speak of “Roma families, homeless, and drug dealers.” It is therefore assumed without further comment that Rroma inevitably find themselves in a similar situation as refugees, homeless or drug dealers. Why the ethnic affiliations of the other residents are not named, is not explained. This happens only with the Rroma (compare Die Welt 2014, Lang-Lendorff 2014, Treichel 2014). 

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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 Eastern Europe News Western Europe

20.06.2014 Biggest Rroma camp in Marseille was evicted

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Various French newspapers report on the eviction of the largest Rroma camp in Marseilles. The illegal settlement was founded in response to the eviction of a camp in Capelette, in October 2013, and was home to around 400 people, including one hundred children. Most of them are now homeless, as the inter-ministerial circular which requires an early social diagnosis as well as the organisation of alternative accommodation, was very badly applied. Only eighteen families were accommodated in a different location. Once again, children, many of whom went to school, are particularly affected. Their further education is in doubt because of the eviction, and the long-term integration of the families is additionally complicated. Some of the residents have been moving from one camp to the next since ten years. During summer, the number of closures of Rroma settlements massively increases in France. In winter, many communities have a moratorium in evictions on humanitarian grounds. Most of the residents will move to other informal settlements, resulting merely in a shift of the problem from one place to the next. Papin (2014) comments: “Hundreds of people, consisting of members of organisations, members of the Front de Gauche and citizens, were present this morning. All request that long-term solutions have to be found. Otherwise, the problem is merely displaced. In a few days, one will discover that families have created another camp at a different location. Without a permanent solution to accommodation, the story of the evacuation of the Rroma camps will remain an eternal problem.” The next clearance of another camp is already announced. The fact that Rroma are repeatedly accused of voluntarily wanting to live in the camps is absurd and shows the lack of any understanding of social inequality (compare Civallero 2014, Fiorito 2014, Gruel 2014, L’express 2014, Libération 2014, Miguet 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 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.”

Germany News Western Europe

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).

France News Western Europe

05.06.2014 Further evictions in the Île-de-France

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Several papers report on further evictions of informal Rroma settlements in the Île-de-France. Thus, in Villebon (Essonne) a camp that was built on a former industrial site, was evicted. The settlement was home to between 200 and 250 people. Samu social tired to provide as many alternative accommodation options to those affected as possible. On the day of the evacuation, the majority of the inhabitants had already left. When, at half past six, the security forces arrived, only about fifteen people were on site. A Rroma charity organisation criticizes in particular that the future education of the children is put in question by the eviction. Sometimes, the children are accommodated up to 70 kilometres from their school. A young Rroma is even enrolled at the local university: “About fifteen children were enrolled in a special class, five children in the high school of Palaiseau and a adolescent was enrolled at the Faculty of Law”, said M. Peschanski. “This effort of the enrolment that was coming to fruition, was destroyed this morning”, he added” (France 3 2014). Previously, the residents of the settlement were trying to obtain a postponement of the eviction on part of the authority until the end of the school year. Around 900 people had signed a petition that was presented to the local prefect. Inconclusive. The evacuation was carried out as planned and more are imminent. Barré (2014/I) points out that since the last municipal elections, in which the Front National has increased its share of votes, the mayors are under constant pressure to act. The Rroma are made to scapegoats for social ills, by connecting them with fears. The reservations are also directed to the responsible politicians. Mayors who previously supported the Rroma were not re-elected or now behave hide their views on the issue. However, small integration projects have shown that the inclusion of some selected families with the active support of the communities delivers very positive results. However, these create envy of observers who disapprove special treatment for a selected group. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that all needy people have a right to support, regardless of their ethnicity. One should also cease to speak of a Rroma problem. However, at present, communication silence prevails. No discussions take place, but the eviction policy is continued uncritically (compare Barré 2014/II, Delin 2014, Francetv info 2014, Labreigne 2014, Le Figaro 2014, Monier 2014).

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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 Persistent evictions in the Île-de-France

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Several French newspapers report on forced evictions of informal Rroma settlements in Île-de-France. Around ten settlements in Corbeil, situated on the Francilienne road ring, were evicted by the police forces and then destroyed by excavators: “Ten informal settlements, with about 300 people and situated in the middle of a junction of the Francilienne [traffic ring] and along this infrastructure, located in the municipality Corbeil-Essonnes and sited near the hospital Sud-Francilien, were evacuated on this day by the use of a court order and a municipal decree”, confirms the prefecture of Essonne. According to the organizations in support of the Roma, who were present at the sites, “numerous families preferred to leave at night, since they had been harassed by the police. Only a few dozen people remained” (Le Parisien 2014/I). According to the authorities, a “social diagnosis” was made and the needy were offered alternative accommodation options. However, this does not change the ongoing problem of regularly scheduled evictions that impede a successful integration of immigrant Rroma. In particular, children enrolled in school are disturbed by the evictions in their school careers. Laurent Lurton, from the Catholic aid of Essonne criticized in particular that numerous mothers with infants were affected by the forced evictions (compare Didio 2014, Essonne Info 2014, Libération 2014, Le Monde 2014, Le Parisien 2014/II, Le Républicain, Ménage 2014).

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28.05.2014 School enrolment of Rroma children in France

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Moritz (2014) reports on the school integration program “Classes” in Lyon, which is fostering school attendance of Rroma children since 2006. The focus are children of families who have no fixed residence because they are living in illegal settlements. Through the strong promotion of French language skills, they are supposed to be successfully integrated into the French school system. To this end, they visit intensive courses of up to eighteen hours of French a week, with other foreign-language children: “The French school system is arranged to include foreign-language children. There are special French courses and also welcoming classes at secondary schools for children who have never been to school. Up to 18 hours of French per week, plus one hour of each of math, music, art and sports together with French students. The further integration into the lessons should then be individualized, depending on the language level of the students. Most of the students are children of immigrants from former French colonies – Algeria, Cambodia or Mali – only about a third are Roma, says Andrea Rölke. The citizen of Hamburg is a French teacher at the Collège Gabriel Rossetti where she supervises the lessons for non-native speakers.” However, a major problem remains the uncertain residence and living status of families from informal settlements. The continuous struggle to provide enough food and money degrades the importance of education. The ongoing evictions of settlements make it difficult or impossible to continuously attend a school at same place. Moritz emphasizes at the beginning of the article that the majority of the approximately 400,000 Rroma in France are integrated. The slum dwellers are therefore a minority of the minority. This is an important reference. However, it doesn’t really change anything about the problem of the continuing expulsion policy towards immigrant Rroma. Most of the immigration children will not attend a college, according to the findings of the school project. This is exactly what would be needed to break the vicious circle of exclusion and to enable successful integration.

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28.05.2014 Adoption of Rroma children in England: child removal justified?

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Several British newspapers report on an adoption case, which raised quite a few tensions among those involved. The focus of reporting centres on the adoption of two young Rroma boys – two and four years old – by a homosexual couple. The media now hash over the opposition of the parents against the adoption of their sons by a same-sex couple. However, the resistance of the biological parents seems to have mainly to do with the fact that their children were taken away from them by the children welfare organisation. The child removal was justified by poor parenting: the older siblings of the boys are said to have missed school regularly and the children were too often left alone and beaten. This crucial point, the reasons for the child removal, is not discussed critically by the newspapers. In return, the opposition of the parents towards the adoption of their children by a homosexual couple is debated in detail and the impression is given that Rroma in general have something against homosexuals and their influence on children. However, they seem not so much concerned with the homosexuality of the adoptive parents chosen than with the removal of the children removal. The parents criticized in the court: “The Catholic couple, who are of Roma origin, argued their two young children would grow up alienated from their family and community. Taking the case to the High Court, they accused the local authority of social engineering by attempting to turn the children white and middle class. […] “If as expected our children will try to find us and their siblings and roots, then they will discover huge differences between our culture and the way they’ve been brought up,” they said in statements to the court.”” The context of the child removal should be discussed as critically in this adoption case as the homophobia attributed to the parents and their dislike of the English middle class. Since the parents are Catholics, the relationship of Catholicism and homosexuality must also be critically debated on and not only be seen in the context of Rroma origin. The statement of the parents that Rroma worldwide don’t recognise homosexuality is their specific viewpoint and does not represent the opinion of all Rroma in any way. Many enlightened Rroma have no reservations towards homosexuals. This raises the impression that the central problem – the child removal and its legitimacy – is not adequately addressed in the articles. The natural parents want to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (compare BBC 2014, Berg 2014, Doughty 2014, Porter 2014, Simpson 2014).

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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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