Tag Archives: Schools

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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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09.05.2014 Integration support in Ennepetal loaded with prejudices

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Scherer (2014) reports on the advice on integration of the association “future-oriented support” of Duisburg in Enneptal. It had been invited by the local working group in order to get advices on integration of immigrated Rroma. Unfortunately, in this case also, the prevailing habit is to talk about Rroma, but not with them: “A major issue will be schooling. “The test will reveal which children have already been vaccinated, which have ever been to school and what type of school is fitting”, says [mayor] Wilhelm Wiggenhagen. For the enrolment of about 50 school-age children, there are also first thoughts and considerations. Integration classes – which do not exist in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis so far – could be a solution […] A concern is: the Roma are historically not very sedentary people. “In the worst case, we therefore take a lot of money and personnel for children, who after a few months live in a different country”, says the mayor of Ennepetal.” Wiggenhagen assessment mixes two different phenomena. One is the stereotypical view that most Rroma are travellers, which is wrong. The other is the migration to Germany because of societal and economic reasons. This migration has nothing to do with a travelling lifestyle. The article also conveys a picture of Rroma who are difficult to integrate, when the association “future-oriented support” speaks about the necessities of clear rules for the immigrants: “What the Roma need, are clear rules and consequences, if these are not adhered to.” Here, once more characteristics that are the result of poverty and lack of education, are mixed with cultural features (compare Scherer 2014/II).

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07.05.2014 Marseille: The importance of education for a successful integration

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La Provence (2014) reports on the work of teacher Jane Bouvier in Marseille. The teacher is committed to help Rroma children from the slums of the city to enrol in school. The hurdles are numerous, but it is important not to give up quickly, Bouvier states. Bouvier had to seek new accommodations after families were evicted from their homes. She must convince parents of the importance of education for their children and perform the administrative necessities. The children live in conditions that are not exactly conducive to a concentrated learning. Nevertheless, Bouvier is trying to promote them as good as possible. Another problem is teasing on the part of the students: “Resident in a caravan but visiting his cousins in the slums of Plombières, Santiago, 9 years old, testifies in his own words: “At school, there are some who are very nice, and some who are very angry. They tell us: You are Romanians and you rummage in the garbage cans. If I tell it to the teacher, Mohamed and Mourad grab me. Sometimes the girls say them they should cease to annoy us. They say: “He is like us, he is a man and if his family rummages in garbage cans, that is not your problem.””

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02.05.2014 Germany wants to declare Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina safe countries of origin

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Several German newspapers reported on the pending draft bill of the federal government to declare Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to be safe countries of origin. The new legislation would allow to process asylum applications from these Balkan states within a week, what according to critics would clearly happen at the expense of individual cases. Many journalists believe that the vast majority of the applicants coming from the Balkans – in 2013 there were more than 20,000 – are Rroma. How they obtained this information is not discussed any further. In its statistics, according to the law, Germany only records the national but not the ethnic affiliation. Since 2009, for citizens of Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina there is no visa requirement: “The right to asylum in Germany is awarded only to few of them – last year there was a total of three. 120’070 immigrants from the Balkans have tried to sue for the right of asylum in court. 39 Serbs, 26 Macedonians, and 17 Bosnians were then allowed to stay. In nine cases out of ten, the asylum applications of this clientele are “obliviously unfounded”, the authorities argue. Therefore, the federal government wants to declare these three Balkan countries as “safe countries of origin”” (Käfer 2014). With the new legislation, the federal government would lo longer have to justify why it rejects an application for asylum from the three countries. It assumes no profound persecution and exclusion of Rroma in Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. A very different notion is communicated by human rights organizations and left-wing politicians: Rroma in the three countries are still heavily discriminated against, both by the authorities and regarding the access to the labour market, schools, and health care. This view is also supported by several reports, such as the last activity report of the European Commission about the national Rroma strategies (Europäische Kommission 2013). The UN refugee agency criticizes the German Federal Government for focusing too much on the topic of political persecution, and thus neglecting discrimination against minorities and human rights violations. Tom Koenigs, former UN special representative in Kosovo, also emphasizes that the classification of nations as safe countries of origin comes at the expense of individuals who are de facto victims of persecution (Armbrüster 2014). Refugee fates are fates of individuals and have to be treated as such, he states, thus securing the protection of those who are actually in need of help. The Rroma Contact Point shares this viewpoint (compare Gajevic 2014, Geuther 2014, Rüssmann 2014, Schuler 2014, Südwest Presse 2014, TAZ 2014).

Ehrich (2014) furthermore points out that the declaration of Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia- Herzegovina to safe country of origin gives the states wrong signals regarding their minority policy, since they are also candidates for the membership in the European Union: “Apart from the consequences for individual Roma who actually need asylum, the declaration of the countries as “safe countries of origin” harbours a threat to Europe. Serbia and Macedonia are already official candidates for EU-membership. Bosnia-Herzegovina is a potential candidate. Declaring these states “safe countries of origin” could destroy incentives to improve the situation of Roma in these countries.”

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02.05.2014 Eviction policy continues in France

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Several French newspapers report about the ongoing evictions of illegal settlements. In Bègles, a suburb of Bordeaux, a community of about sixty Rroma were evicted from a former industrial area. The eviction was carried out at the request of the landowner, the real estate company Aquitanis, which will build houses on the abandoned land. The displaced Rroma were offered temporary accommodation, but most of them rejected it. The eviction endangers the school enrolment of about a dozen children, whose further school career is called into question. A representative of the organization ‘Right to Accommodation’ (Droit au Logement) justifiably criticized that the evictions will only solve local problems, but nothing would change for the concerned people in the long term. In Grasse, a house occupied by immigrant Rroma was cleared by the police, and several inhabitants had to be carried away by the police (France Bleu 2014/I, Lebaratoux 2014, Nice-Matin 2014, Sud Ouest 2014/I).  

De Francesco (2014) reports on the eviction of three Rroma-settlements in Cran-Gevrier and in Annecy, in the Rhône-Alpes region, close to the Swiss border. The authorities carried out the evacuation in response to a court order from March. About 150 people had to leave their homes. The action was once again criticized by the organization ‘Right to Accommodation’, because it subverts and complicates the integration efforts of the Rroma. The local politician Anne Coste de Champeron justified the eviction with the untenable conditions in the camps. Politicians repeatedly use this reasoning to justify the many evictions. The fact that it is not the welfare of those affected, but the maintenance of order policy  that has priority, is most often concealed. For a long-term, successful integration of Rroma, tolerance and support of illegal settlements is desirable (compare France Bleu 2014/II).

Le Creurer (2014) reports on displaced Rroma after an eviction in Nice. The affected Rroma have no intentions to return to Romania, as is the wish of the French authorities. Rather, they want a future in France. Without integration in the labour market and appropriate training, this will be only difficult to achieve. The efficiency of the mentioned integration programs has been hitherto fairly little critically discussed in the media. The approach seems to be more promising than to simply evict the Rroma from one place to the next. Noël Mamère , the mayor of Begles, also wishes a long-term and collective solution for the integration of Rroma. However, for this purpose a collective policy of all the suburbs of Bordeaux is required (compare Sud Ouest 2014/II).

Several French newspapers moreover report on the eviction of two Rroma settlements in Saint-Denis. The European Rroma Rights Centre had filed complaint against the eviction at the European Court of Human Rights: “The ERRC referred to two articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (3 and 8), to appraise that the present eviction is a “degrading and inhuman treatment” and that it “undermines the right to a private and family life”” (Sterlé 2014). The court called the French authorities for information about the conditions of the evacuation, the future accommodation of the displaced persons and the dimensions of the expulsions. The prefecture of Saint-Denis replied that they applied the usual social diagnoses and offered the affected alternative housing. For Manon Filloneau, from the European Rroma Rights Centre, the intervention of the court is a success, despite the lack of consequences. It shows the interest of the court for the situation of the Rroma in France (see Breson 2014, Le Point, 2014, Sterlé 2014).

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30.04.2014 Discriminatory views about Rroma in Romanian politics

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Bird/Candea (2014) inform about institutionalized racism in Romanian politics. Discriminatory attitudes towards members of the Rroma minority are common in all political parties of the country, they state. As a starting point they take a racist joke of the social democrat Dan Tudorache, who is said to have written during a winter storm earlier this year, that it was so cold that he had seen a “gypsy” with his hands in his own pockets. Rroma activist Ciprian Necula condemned Tudorache’s statement in the media, but was in turn confronted with a lot of negative comments. Rroma politician Damian Draghici announced on the occasion of the incident that Romanian politicians showed no skills or awareness about discriminatory statements: “When you are five years old and you put your hand on the oven, you know it burns,” he says, making a comparison, “but if you have never put your hand on the oven until you’re 30 years old – you will get burned at 30. […] What is necessary, he argues, is to educate such people about what discrimination means.” Bird/Candea see the situation more realistically than Draghici. They state that it is immaterial whether behind discriminatory remarks one finds naivety or bad intentions. What is crucial is the marginalization and degradation of the minority in the political and social everyday life, as the National Council Against Racism confirms. The pejorative attitudes towards Rroma are taught to the ethnic Romanians from an early childhood and repeated regularly, the authors state: “Prejudice is recycled from generation to generation and ingrained in Romanian children at an early age. In Romanian playgrounds it is common to hear elders tell their children they should behave or “the gypsies will come and kidnap you” and, if they have paint or mud on their face or hands, that the infant is “dirty like a gypsy.”” The segregation of the Rroma in the schools, in the labour market and in the residential districts of Romania continues to be present, Bird/Candea confirm. It is time to finally end this. This includes the better education of the general population, which allows to reduce prejudices which are based on ignorance.

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18.04.2014 Pully – Canton Vaud: racist police control of Rroma

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Favre (2014) reports an unauthorized police control of four Rroma families on a private estate in Pully, in the canton of Vaud. The owner of an apartment building had provided parts of his house to four immigrant Rroma families, upon a request of the organization Opre Rrom. Because neighbours complained about begging, the police conducted identity checks with the families. But since they conducted the control on the private property of Mr. Norbert Guillod, the owner of the house without having a permit for the action, the police made themselves liable to prosecution: “Norbert Guillod had responded to a request of the organization Opre Rrom. “Otherwise, these people would be on the street. That would have been a real shame: the children are enrolled in school and work well”, explains Norbert Guillod, who will host them until the end of the school year. […] “They have intervened because of several complaints of the neighbourhood, who were disturbed by the fact that these Roma were begging. At least it is forbidden to this extent”, replies Dan-Henri Weber, their commander. He also presents a different version of the facts, claiming that the people were controlled on the street, because they corresponded to the descriptions by the angered neighbours. They are said to have subsequently prompted the police themselves to follow them to their apartment, to look for their identity cards. This report is disputed by the parties concerned, which state that the police had knocked on their door.” The Lausanne lawyer, Jean-Michel Dolivo, points out that the police could list any offense following their control. The action was thus clearly discriminatory.

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16.04.2014 Rroma: “Education as the key to success”

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Müller (2014) takes a critical look at the relevance of education in Romanian Rroma families. The importance of education is give to little attention in many Rroma families, the young Rromni Andreea from Buzau, in South-eastern Romania states. Poverty obliges Rroma children to help their families from a young age within the household and at work: “My community thinks that you cannot take up any prestige profession such as teacher or doctor as Roma anyway. They cannot imagine that you can reach a good position with education. They have come to terms with being the outsiders in society. – Only one third of Roma children in Romania graduate, according to estimates by NGOs. The vast majority remains without a chance, because the children are living in poor neighbourhoods, where they have to help at home, instead of going to school.” The problem lies not only in the lack of awareness about the importance of education, but also in the strong discrimination against Rroma in the labour market as wells as in the education system. Thus, many Rroma get assigned to unskilled labour despite having graduated, because they are marked as “unreliable and slow” due to racial prejudice. Therefore, education alone cannot stop the exclusion of and discrimination against the Rroma, but it is an important first step towards greater self-determination and recognition.

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12.03.2014 Roma and the European migration policies

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Döhner (2014) reports on the European migration regulations, on the basis of a tragic individual case. Irijana Rustemi is born in the Kosovo in 1978. At the age of three the Rromni immigrates with her parents to Croatia. In 1993, they come to Germany. Because of massive family conflicts with the family of her ex-husband, who feels provoked by the new partner of Rustemi, she and her family flee to Denmark for 22 months. This exit becomes a calamity for the family: “If refugees enter Germany over a “safe third country”, they can not apply for asylum here, but only in the country over which they have entered.” Now the large family is facing deportation into the Kosovo, although all children of Rustemi are born in Germany and go to school there. Rustemi had previously received a residency permit on humanitarian grounds, but it was cancelled due to the departure to Denmark. In Denmark their asylum application was rejected.

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12.03.2014 Segregation of Rroma in European schools

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Fontanella-Khan (2014) reports on the continued segregation of Romany children at European schools. She starts with a cursory overview of the almost exclusively repressive policies of European governments towards Rroma. She is decidedly against the often used argument that Rroma don’t show any will to integrate on their side: “Often, segregation is blamed on the Roma themselves, whom many accuse of not wanting to integrate due to a “nomadic culture.” However, an insidious form of segregation, happening within the educational system, belies this simplistic view.” As reported last week by CBC News, segregation of Rroma children is particularly strong in Slovakia: 65-80 % of children enrolled in special schools for slow learners are Rroma. The methods of analysis as well as the selection for such tests are extremely controversial. If the children are allocated to a special school, they will never have the opportunity to attend a University. Another problem, according to Fontanella-Khan, is the deficient implementation of court decisions against segregation. A verdict that was asserted by the European Court of Human Rights in 1999, changed little about the segregation of Rroma children in the Czech Republic. To end the exclusion of the Rroma from the educational institutions requires more than court decisions: “This raises the point that deep, structural changes to society cannot happen through the judiciary alone. What is required is the involvement of Roma civil society. The problem is, it barely exists.” Fontanella-Khan sees the reasons for the weak formation of the Rroma civil society in the changes that happened in reaction to the EU-accession of Eastern European countries. Many international donors and activist groups withdrew their funds after EU accession and discontinued their activities, since it was assumed that the EU would support the emerging Rroma NGOs. However, this said to have never happened. As long as the Rroma don’t start to form their own civil rights movement, law professor Jack Greenberg states, there will be no significant change.

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11.04.2014 Robert Kushen: the integration of Rroma remains a challenge

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On the occasion of the international Rroma Day, the chairman of the European Rroma Rights Centre, Robert Kushen, reflects on the situation of the Rroma in Europe and the continuing challenges for this minority (Kushen 2014). He arrives at a sober view: the decade of Rroma inclusion, which was adopted in Sofia in 2005, and encompassed the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain, unfortunately cannot fulfil the expectations that it raised. Rroma are still affected by widespread poverty, discrimination, unemployment and insufficient access to public institutions such as schools and hospitals: “Despite this political recognition of an unconscionable social crisis, Roma remain among the poorest, unhealthiest, least educated and most marginalised European citizens. The data are devastating: Across Central and Southeast Europe, 90 percent of Roma live in poverty. Fewer than one third of adults have paid employment. Only 15 percent of young Roma have completed secondary or vocational school. Nearly 45 percent of Roma live in housing that lacks basic amenities. Life expectancy in Roma communities is 10-15 years less than in non-Roma communities, with many Roma lacking access to insurance and health care.” Kushen refers in his judgement to information from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP 2013). Reasoning with such figures is not without dangers, since the representation of the Rroma as uneducated, poor, and unhealthy is often interpreted by the polemical, public discourse as a cultural peculiarity of the minority, although these characteristics are inevitably a poverty phenomenon. Although is not to deny that numerous Rroma are poor and uneducated, the relevant question is whether such an argument can contribute to the  integration of the Rroma. In addition, surveys often only take into account the visible Rroma, because the integrated ones are hard to identify as Roma and difficult to contact. Not only images of misery are needed, which generate compassion, but also images of success that allow a positive identification.

Kushen continues with information about the marginalization of the Rroma in Italy, France, Sweden and Hungary, and then gets on to the latest report from the European Union on the situation of the Rroma. The report published on April the second this year, can not present success stories either: “In early April, the European Commission convened a “Roma Summit” and issued a report assessing how member states are doing in addressing the interconnected problems of poverty and discrimination which the Roma are facing. The report noted “the persistence of segregation” in education, a large and in some cases widening employment gap between Roma and non-Roma, big differences between Roma and non-Roma in health insurance coverage, and an “absence of progress” in addressing the need for housing. Finally, the report noted that discrimination remains “widespread” (compare European Commission 2014).

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04.04.2014 Integration of the Rroma in the Czech Republic

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The Prague Daily Monitor (2014) reports on the candidacy of two Czech Rroma parties for the European Parliament. The Equal Opportunities Party (SRP) and the Romani Democratic Party (RDS) will advocate for the rights of the Rroma at the forthcoming European Parliament elections of 23th and 24th of May: “With the participation of two Romani parties in the EP elections, the Czech Republic is likely to set a record in the EU as no Romani party from Slovakia and Hungary or any other countries with a numerous Romani minority has done so. […] The manifestoes of the SRP and RDS are similar. The parties advocate the law on social housing, work for people from ghettoes, the limitation of seizures and they want Romani children to be sent to normal schools, not to the “special schools” for retarded children […].” Rroma activist Radek Horvath criticizes that the insistence on ethnically based parties as counterproductive. The Rroma should seek admission in the major parties.

Kachlíkova (2014) reports on the demand of the Rroma opposition party “Top 09” to introduce Rromanes in Czech schools as a teaching language. Anna Putnová, of the opposition party, sees the lack of Czech language skills among Rroma children as an important reason why the children do worse in the schools: “We send the children to school so that they develop. However, through the language we are creating a hurdle. I would therefore like to start a debate about whether to allow students to use Romani as an auxiliary language in the first, second, and third grade to develop a positive relationship to the school.” Some parts of the lessons should be held in Rromanes, the politician demands. Critics counter that the introduction of Romani in public schools would promote the segregation of the Rroma, because it would require ethnically divided classes. Rroma representatives as Stanislav Daniel rather want a better promotion of Czech language skills among Rroma children.

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04.04.2014 Correct, half-right and wrong information about the history and culture of the Rroma

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On the occasion of the 8th of April, the international Rroma day, Zimmermann (2014) discusses the history and culture of the Rroma. She spreads truths, but also some half- truths and misinformation about Rroma. She begins with the migration history from India, which she unfortunately only sees authenticated by the DNA-analysis. The linguistic analysis of the Rromanes, which gives an undeniable proof of the Indian roots of the Rroma, as Rromanes is related to Sanskrit, remains unmentioned. However, she rightly acknowledges that the repeatedly falsely attributed travelling lifestyle is related to the expulsion of the Rroma: “The Romani people were discriminated against for their dark skin and once enslaved by Europeans. They have been portrayed as cunning, mysterious outsiders who tell fortunes and steal before moving on to the next town. […] Also, as a matter of survival, the Romani were continuously on the move. They developed a reputation for a nomadic lifestyle and a highly insular culture. Because of their outsider status and migratory nature, few attended school and literacy was not widespread. Much of what is known about the culture comes through stories told by singers and oral histories.” Unfortunately, Zimmermann emphasizes far too little the big quantity of misinformation and pejorative stereotypes that were maintained through these oral histories. Particularly problematic is her reference to the spiritual energy “dji”, which she cites as a reason for the alleged lack of willingness to integrate: “Romani also believe that spiritual energy, also known as dji, can be depleted by spending too much time with those outside of their community, which is another explanation for why they are reluctant to assimilate.” To allege the Rroma a deliberately chosen anti-social behaviour is very dangerous. It trivializes a centuries-old history of exclusion and persecution that is the actual reason for the continued segregation of the Rroma. At the end of the article, Zimmermann rightly acknowledges that the Rroma are almost exclusively sedentary today, but often keep their identity a secret, due to continuing discrimination.

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02.04.2014 The Rroma and the French mayoral elections

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Rigaux (2014) discusses the relationship between French mayoral elections and the Rroma. The latter played a prominent role in the campaign, often in the figure of a scapegoat for social ills or in the form of slums. The frightening thing about the terminologies “Rroma question” and “Rroma problem” is their inevitable reference to the “Jewish question” under National Socialism. However, in the case of France, the important question is how to integrate immigrant Rroma as successfully as possible. To accuse them of a cultural unwillingness to integrate is counterproductive. But precisely this happened again and again in the course of the election campaign. Another point of contention are the so called “integration villages”, which are meant to facilitate the integration of the Rroma immigrants into French society. The proponents see the integration villages as a positive method to prevent the emergence of slums, to promote the enrolment of children in schools, to prevent begging and other unwanted activities and to foster the willingness to integrate among the immigrants. Critics fault the high cost of the institutions and see it as unfair advantage for one ethnic group at the expense of other taxpayers. In this discussion about the integration measures for immigrant Rroma, once more only the visible Rroma are in the focus. The ones who are living an integrated life in France, making up between 100,000 and 500,000 persons, are never addressed or considered in these discussions.

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02.04.2014 “Cause commune” shows the possibility of successful integration

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The documentary “Cause commune” by Sophie Averty shows the positive example of successful integration by five immigrant Rroma families. In the municipality of Indre, in the Loire-Atlantique, citizens, politicians, and immigrants together committed for a successful integration of immigrant families. The downside of this policy was the selection of the immigrant Rroma families, with five chosen. The rest were referred to other communities. Averty sums up: “The necessary condition is a commitment on the part of citizens and politics as well as the desire of families to integrate. The first approach of the mayor was to refuse the eviction in order to avoid the application of a pass the buck policy. And that changed everything for the families. […] The mayor, who based his views on the knowledge of the community police and the citizens collective, selected five families. Today, all the men work, the women do housework and the children are enrolled in school. But there are no supports payments! Each family pays a rent, water, electricity, the canteen of the children and there are no delays” (Barbier 2014).

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29.03.2014 Rroma writer Hejkrlíková: giving Rroma a voice

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Fischer (2014) reports on Jana Hejkrlíková, a Rromni writer from the Czech Republic. She experienced life before and after the Prague Spring. She describes the political event as a turning point in her life and that of many other Rroma: “When I was little, my life was very different than elsewhere in the Czech Republic”, translates Veronika Patočková, co-initiator of the book tour, the conversation into German. Jana Hejkrlíková lived together with her mother, siblings, uncles, aunts and cousins in a house. “You could not disguise or retreat yourself. They were all around you.” The law of the Roma provides for that. The family as a refuge, as a home. However, the situation changed with the so-called normalization after the Prague Spring. Large Roma families were torn apart, resettled into small families. “Since, I have lived in two worlds”, says Hejkrlíková. [ … ] “In school, we had to pretend as if we were Czechs”, she says. Their language was prohibited. Most Roma children were sent to special schools, which often still happens today.” For Hejkrlíková, it is important to point out to the public that there are Rroma writers too. She aims to deconstruct prejudices with her books and to demonstrate similarities between Rroma and Gadje (compare Weser Kurier 2014).

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29.03.2014 Discrimination against Rroma in Sweden

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Several newspapers report on the publication of a white paper by the Swedish government which discusses the discrimination against Rroma in Sweden. The Swedish minister of interior, Erik Ullenhag, announced in a public statement that the discrimination against Rroma in Sweden was especially large at the beginning of the 20th century, but still remains today. He said that he was shocked about how much this contempt towards this minority was anchored in history. This is reflected in the fact that even today many still keep their identity secret to the outside world. The publication also deals with discrimination at the workplace, denial of suffrage, schooling, child benefits and pensions, as well as racial biology registrations and forced sterilization. Om the occasion of the publication of the white paper, the chairman of the Rroma council of Gothenburg experienced herself during her stay in Stockholm that reservations towards Rroma are still massive. Employees of the Sheraton Hotels denied her access to the dining room, when she tried to enter the room in a traditional Rroma dress in the morning: “She was staying at the four-star Sheraton Hotel, a stone’s throw away from parliament and the government quarter, but when the 45-year-old went down for breakfast she was offered a modern-day example of the discrimination that the white-paper on Tuesday admitted had been endemic in Sweden. Nyman, who wears a traditional wide black skirt and frilly blouse and who recently fielded questions about beggars in an online chat, said she was almost knocked over by a staff member who rushed to bar the Roma expert and speaker from entering the breakfast room.” Nyman is particularly shocked by the fact that the hotel manager did not excuse the behaviour of the staff, but even justified it. A few days later only, the manager apologized in an open letter for the discriminatory treatment of the Rromni (Government Offices of Sweden 2014, The Local 2014/I, The Local 2014/II, The Local 2014/III, The Local 2014/IV, NZZ 2014).

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21.03.2014 Fire in Rroma camp in Fontaine

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France 3 (2014) reports on a fire in a Rroma camp in Fontaine, in the region of Grenoble. Most of the dwellings of the thirty residents were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable:  “The fire broke out in the Rroma camp behind the BUT store at around 15 o’clock, near the Gérard Philippe high school. The residents of the camp and the students who were present at the site were quickly evacuated. Firefighters believe explosions of gas bottles in the barracks caused the fire. Several of them in fact exploded but the firefighters were able to cope with the flames.” Two men were slightly injured. The residents of the camp were housed in tents by the city council of Fontaine (see Le Dauphiné 2014). – The safety deficiencies in illegal settlements are the subject of repeated political disputes. While certain politicians interpret these as a justification for rigorous evictions, others see them as evidence for the need to better supply the camps with water, electricity and sanitation, rendering improvised installations unnecessary, installations which indeed show security flaws.

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19.03.2014 Integration of Rroma in Montreal

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Solyom (2014) focuses on the integration of Rroma in Montreal, based on the enrolment of Rroma children. Many immigrant Rroma families from Eastern Europe have great reservations about public schools because they made bad experiences with public services in Europe. This applies in particular to school psychologists, who are often responsible for the wrongful admission to special school in Eastern Europe. For example, some parents didn’t give their phone number to the local school, fearing that their children could become victims of discrimination and bullying there: “In Europe, school is seen as an arm of the government, and when you’re Roma, you always assume you’ll be treated badly,” Savic [a Romni mediator] says, adding that if there’s a conflict between a Roma student and a non-Roma student, the Roma student is blamed. “Even my family doesn’t always say they’re Roma. Here, being Roma is exotic. There, people stop talking to you.” It is also thanks to Savic that Rroma children were not, as initially planned, incorporated into a separate class, but allocated into existing classes. However, the motivation to attend school is weakened by forthcoming repatriations. Two-thirds of the Rroma immigrants are deported back to Eastern Europe.

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14.03.2014 The Rroma build part of French Society

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Vincent (2014) reports on an agreement that the French government has concluded with the national society for social housing (Adoma). In contrast to Sarkozy’s government, Vincent argues, the socialist government slowly but surely realizes that the Rroma debate is not an issue of migration but a problem of housing. However, there is a problem with the plan to move Rroma from the camps into social housing: in the Ile-de-France, where according to an assessment two-thirds of the immigrant Rroma stay, too few apartments are available. The temporary allocation into hotels in the agglomeration often hinders the schooling of the children and the autonomy of families. The so-called “insertion villages” are not a long-term solution and are also very costly. On behalf of the government and the society for social housing, the sub-prefect Jérôme Normand now conducts a survey on the situation in the slums and the insertion villages. With the collected information on the population of the settlements, the allocation to social housing is expected to be better coordinated. However, a fundamental problem remains the financing of the social housing: “The great weakness of all these initiatives is their funding. The funds from which Adoma has profited, will have to be rapidly increased on the basis of urgency loans. The budget that was allocated to the integration policy, that in particular finances the French courses, fell by 3% in 2014 [ … ].”

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