Romano Chavo - Photo by Rana Halprin
Italy has become the latest country to announce that it will deport thousands of Roma in what is seen as a Europe wide reaction to immigration in light of the recent recession.
According to a report by the Washington Post, authorities have moved to dismantle Triboniano, Milan’s largest authorized Gypsy camp. Simultaneously, officials have started bulldozing smaller impromptu camps and issuing eviction notices to Roma families living in long established camps.
Milan’s vice –mayor reportedly told the Washington post that:”These are dark-skinned people, not Europeans like you and me,” and added that “Our final goal is to have zero Gypsy camps in Milan.”
The immigration debate has intensified following the recession, with voters blaming immigrants such as the Roma, for taking away jobs and driving up crime rates. Across Europe, governments are implementing immigration rules to target groups like the Roma. The Washington Post noted how: “Even in some of the most progressive nations in the region, such as Sweden, voters are showing new support for ultra-right politicians whose platforms center on a tougher line on immigration.”
In Britain, the new coalition government has put a cap on non –EU migration in an effort to drive down the unemployment rate,with a permanent cap set to take effect from next year. Meanwhile in France, a proposed law could strip citizenship from foreigners naturalized for less than 10 years if they commit violent crimes against the police or a government official. The report noted how last year Italy stopped issuing work permits to non-EU immigrants and set up a policy aimed at preventing refugees from entering the country via the sea from North Africa.
Oliviero Forti, from Caritas, a Catholic charity in Rome said that:”It would be difficult now for immigration policy to get any more restrictive in Italy, unless we started to build walls”.
The approach of the Milanese authorities contrasts sharply with their counterparts in Rome,where the local government there is relocating Gypsies to camps with tighter security but with better sanitary conditions. According to the report,Gypsy immigrants from Eastern Europe will be given four years to find jobs and educate their children, in which case, they would be eligible for public housing, otherwise they will face deportation.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Rome’s special representative on Gypsy issues said that “Italy is still a tolerant country. ”
Popularity: 1% [?]
VATICAN CITY — French President Nicholas Sarkozy has arrived for an audience with Pope Benedict XVI that is seen as a fence-mending visit following France’s controversial expulsion of Gypsies.
Sarkozy’s government has linked Gypsies, or Roma, to crime and dismantled hundreds of their shantytowns. It also expelled more than 1,000 Roma in recent months, sending them home to Romania and Bulgaria.
Benedict appeared to weigh in on the crackdown with a subtle message about tolerance. Speaking in French to pilgrims gathered at his summer residence Aug. 22, Benedict urged people to accept “legitimate human diversity” and asked parents to “educate your children about universal brotherhood.”
The crackdown has been criticized by many Roman Catholics.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Gypsy Persecution: From 12th Century Balkans to Conservative Britain
Posted in Romany Rights by Dusan Ristic
The history of the Roma (or Gypsies) is the history of persecution. From the earliest records they have been considered foreigners and outcasts in the lands in which they have travelled. Hundreds of years of propaganda against them have led to vast misconceptions about their culture and heritage . It has been said that despite there being thousands of books on them, only a handful contain any truth. Often considered the underclass in society, the Roma population have often lacked the same rights and access to essential services and so have lived shorter and less substantial lives, even in modern Britain.
The Roma, a nomadic folk, are originally come from Northern India. Their true beginning is lost in myths and legends. Some say that they are descended from an ancient warrior caste, others that they were a gift of musicians sent to the king of Persia. Whatever their beginnings it is clear that they left India sometime after the 5th century and headed towards Europe.
Coming to Europe in the 12th century the Roma began to face their first documented persecution in the Balkans. Their flamboyant ways and traditions, and their refusal to succumb to forced integration led to all the Roma in the region being enslaved. They were used as house slaves, field workers and slaves to the Church. At this time they were considered below the law and therefore were treated in any way their masters wanted. Abuse, rape and murder were common, and there were severe punishments for slaves that ran away or tried to rebel. It was also common for selective breeding to take place in order to produce stronger slave stock.
In the 14th century came the beginnings of the Ottoman Empire. As it began its march into the West so the Gypsies faced more persecution. The White peoples of Europe considered them to be Muslim spies because of their strange colour, culture and language. They became an easy target on which the Europeans could enact vengeance. Stereotypes of them being thieves and devil-worshippers became prevalent and were used in sanctioning their persecution. So much so that many fairy-tales from that time contain ‘evil-gypsies’
As the Roma spread, so too did their persecution. In 17th Century Bohemia: King Leopold I, Emperor of The Holy Roman Empire, ordered the killing of all Roma males and the mutilating of all the woman in the form of cutting off their ears. At the same time in France it became illegal to be a Gypsy, punishable by forced labour. In most other European countries, including Britain, it became common practice to deport them to America, something to which a lot of American Gypsies trace their roots. Throughout this time it is thought that nearly half of all gypsies were enslaved at some point.
During the rise of Nazism the Roma people were once again to face persecution in the form of the Holocaust. After the Balkan Roma slaves were freed in 1860 a new wave of Gypsies spread across Europe and America looking for work and their numbers had begun to grow again. This was at odds with Nazi idealism and so the systematic extermination of them began. Over 500,000 Roma were killed during the Holocaust; in gas chambers, scientific experiments and other forms of cruelty.
Even today the Roma face misunderstanding and mistrust that often comes forth as racism. Over 6 million Gypsies live in Europe, most in former Soviet countries or in small groups around the Mediterranean. They nearly always find themselves at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. Poverty is rife among them, unemployment rates are exceptionally high and life expectancy is exceptionally low. In Hungary and the Czech-Republic, racism against Gypsies is common, with ‘White Only’ restaurants and schools, and although the situation is improving there is still a lot to be done.
Though to a lesser extent, the same problem exists here in Britain. Gypsies (or Travellers) have a well below average life expectancy, have worse access to schools and medicine and are significantly more likely to develop mental illness. As well as these factors they still face a racism that stems from a continued misunderstanding of their culture. Many small towns are opposed to Gypsy camps being allowed to set up near them and often use the same reasoning that has been the basis for their persecution throughout history. It doesn’t help when the Conservative party (now in government) do everything they can to stop the creation of new Traveller camps, and when its members have been accused of racism towards the Gypsy Community.
It is amazing that, despite nearly a millennium of persecution, slavery and extermination, this vibrant and colourful people have held onto their identity. Many of their customs are hundreds of years old and the legends that surround them are both fantastic and wonderful. Modern Gypsies hold on to these traditions, but the tradition of their exclusion and mistrust should be consigned to the annals of history. We can only do this by not letting their proposed areas of land be cut, as has happened recently when Boris Johnson cut the proposed sites from over 800 to just 238. The new Conservative government also plans to take away the ‘Regional Spatial Strategies’ that, among other things, force local councils into setting aside areas of land for Traveller communities. In a modern society, where equality is so championed, surely the time is long overdue for embracing these people rather than pushing them further into to the fringes of society.
———–
I wrote this piece after studying the Gypsies for a recent blog-post on the government rescinding the ‘regional spatial strategies’ (found here)I was horrified at the information I found and, unable to fit it all into a single post decided to submit it here. Thanks for reading.
Popularity: 1% [?]