It is simply impossible for these fellows to digest any inkling of Diversity. "Integration" and assimilation are the constant (and paradoxical) war cries. In their ulta pulta world if You won't integrate, then I'll persecute you. These Roma have been living in the heart of the Empire for centuries and yet are still non-integratable.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Laura Clarke
<b>EDITORIAL: In defence of the Roma</b>
<i>A wave of anti-Roma sentiment is sweeping across Italy</i>
<i>Viktoria Mohasci, an ethnic Roma member of the European parliament, came to Rome in May to inspect Roma camps </i>
Â
One of my fondest childhood memories is of arriving at my maternal grandmotherâs home just outside Chester in northwest England and seeing her collection of horse-drawn Romany caravans, or vardos, lined up in the paddock. I remember them as being incredibly beautiful but somehow elusive objects that aroused a mixture of curiosity and awe, just like the Roma man who used to pass by regularly to light their intricate cast-iron stoves.
This memory and the feelings it inspires have haunted me in recent weeks as a wave of violent anti-immigrant and anti-Roma sentiment has swept across Italy, legitimised by the first actions of the new right-wing government of Silvio Berlusconi.
Encampments have been attacked and torched and Roma forced to flee their homes as the executive has set about tackling the âemergencyâ allegedly represented by a community of just 160,000 people out of a total population of 58 million â of whom nearly half have Italian citizenship and the majority are minors â with broad public support and the complicity of the mainstream media. In late May, the Roma became the focus of a package of tough new âsecurityâ measures introduced by the government to address illegal immigration and crime (see box).
Of course this kind of treatment is nothing new. The Roma, at between nine and 12 million people representing Europeâs largest ethnic minority, have been the group society has loved to hate ever since they arrived from northern India some 1,000 years ago. During the course of their long and painful history they have been rounded up and put into ghettos, discriminated against by law, disenfranchised and generally rejected by the dominant population of whatever country they have tried to make their home. This persecution reached its apex during world war two when an estimated 500,000 Roma were exterminated in Nazi concentration camps. Many of the Roma currently in Italy migrated to this country many years ago to escape oppression under totalitarian regimes or later conflict in the Balkans and eastern Europe.
<b>
Much of the hostility encountered by Roma today is motivated by their seemingly anti-social ways. âThey donât want to integrate into mainstream societyâ and âHave you ever seen a Roma do an honest dayâs work?â are two commonly heard gripes, even among better-informed and more open-minded members of society.</b>
But the accusations are largely misguided, as illustrated by the experience of Roma in many countries who live in âordinaryâ houses and lead âordinaryâ lives as doctors, teachers, writers, accountants, politicians (two, Viktoria Mohacsi and Livia Jaroka, both from Hungary, are members of the European parliament), etc, in opposition to the stereotype of a nomadic âcriminalâ population that refuses to interact with the host community. Nor do the criticisms acknowledge the inherent value of a culture that is simply different from our own, with its own language (Romany, related to the North Indo-Aryan languages), flag (a red chakra wheel on a blue and green background), anthem (âDjelem, djelemâ, âIâve travelled, Iâve travelledâ), beliefs, music, dance and customs.
The fact is that in Italy, as in many other parts of Europe, ethnic Roma are prevented from integrating by laws and prejudice that relegate them literally and metaphorically to the fringes of society. They are made to live in squalid camps with only the most basic facilities on the edge of our towns and cities, far from shops and services, not to mention the possibility of meaningful exchange with others. They are denied access to formal employment and brick-and-mortar housing. Be honest, would you give a job or rent your house to a Roma?
This is not to deny that the community lives by rules that can sometimes present a challenge for dialogue. However if integration or, at the very least, civil co-existence are to be possible, these first need to be understood and accepted. It is absolutely right that the police should identify and punish criminal members within the limits of the law, with the same (but not greater) commitment that is shown towards fighting crime in other groups, including the Italian host community. But to stigmatize an entire community on the basis of a few isolated but over-reported incidents is to undermine all chance of future cohabitation.
This would be a real shame, as the majority of ethnic Roma in Italy have long abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and are here to stay.
Immigration clamp-down
On 21 May the government approved new measures clamping down on illegal immigrants and tightening the rules for foreigners from EU countries, targeting ethnic Roma in particular.
Measures having immediate effect:
-Tougher sentences for illegal immigrants convicted of a crime.
-Expulsion of immigrants sentenced to two years or more.
-Up to three years in prison and the confiscation of the property for those caught renting accommodation to illegal immigrants.
-Extension of maximum stay in detention centres (âcentro di permanenza temporaneaâ or CPT) from two to 18 months.
-Special mayoral powers over law and order.
Proposals awaiting approval from parliament:
-Making illegal immigration a criminal offence.
-Clamping down on marriages that are contracted for immigration purposes.
The government also declared a state of emergency in Roma encampments in Rome, Naples and Milan, which allows the competent prefects to be granted special powers.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Laura Clarke
<b>EDITORIAL: In defence of the Roma</b>
<i>A wave of anti-Roma sentiment is sweeping across Italy</i>
<i>Viktoria Mohasci, an ethnic Roma member of the European parliament, came to Rome in May to inspect Roma camps </i>
Â
One of my fondest childhood memories is of arriving at my maternal grandmotherâs home just outside Chester in northwest England and seeing her collection of horse-drawn Romany caravans, or vardos, lined up in the paddock. I remember them as being incredibly beautiful but somehow elusive objects that aroused a mixture of curiosity and awe, just like the Roma man who used to pass by regularly to light their intricate cast-iron stoves.
This memory and the feelings it inspires have haunted me in recent weeks as a wave of violent anti-immigrant and anti-Roma sentiment has swept across Italy, legitimised by the first actions of the new right-wing government of Silvio Berlusconi.
Encampments have been attacked and torched and Roma forced to flee their homes as the executive has set about tackling the âemergencyâ allegedly represented by a community of just 160,000 people out of a total population of 58 million â of whom nearly half have Italian citizenship and the majority are minors â with broad public support and the complicity of the mainstream media. In late May, the Roma became the focus of a package of tough new âsecurityâ measures introduced by the government to address illegal immigration and crime (see box).
Of course this kind of treatment is nothing new. The Roma, at between nine and 12 million people representing Europeâs largest ethnic minority, have been the group society has loved to hate ever since they arrived from northern India some 1,000 years ago. During the course of their long and painful history they have been rounded up and put into ghettos, discriminated against by law, disenfranchised and generally rejected by the dominant population of whatever country they have tried to make their home. This persecution reached its apex during world war two when an estimated 500,000 Roma were exterminated in Nazi concentration camps. Many of the Roma currently in Italy migrated to this country many years ago to escape oppression under totalitarian regimes or later conflict in the Balkans and eastern Europe.
<b>
Much of the hostility encountered by Roma today is motivated by their seemingly anti-social ways. âThey donât want to integrate into mainstream societyâ and âHave you ever seen a Roma do an honest dayâs work?â are two commonly heard gripes, even among better-informed and more open-minded members of society.</b>
But the accusations are largely misguided, as illustrated by the experience of Roma in many countries who live in âordinaryâ houses and lead âordinaryâ lives as doctors, teachers, writers, accountants, politicians (two, Viktoria Mohacsi and Livia Jaroka, both from Hungary, are members of the European parliament), etc, in opposition to the stereotype of a nomadic âcriminalâ population that refuses to interact with the host community. Nor do the criticisms acknowledge the inherent value of a culture that is simply different from our own, with its own language (Romany, related to the North Indo-Aryan languages), flag (a red chakra wheel on a blue and green background), anthem (âDjelem, djelemâ, âIâve travelled, Iâve travelledâ), beliefs, music, dance and customs.
The fact is that in Italy, as in many other parts of Europe, ethnic Roma are prevented from integrating by laws and prejudice that relegate them literally and metaphorically to the fringes of society. They are made to live in squalid camps with only the most basic facilities on the edge of our towns and cities, far from shops and services, not to mention the possibility of meaningful exchange with others. They are denied access to formal employment and brick-and-mortar housing. Be honest, would you give a job or rent your house to a Roma?
This is not to deny that the community lives by rules that can sometimes present a challenge for dialogue. However if integration or, at the very least, civil co-existence are to be possible, these first need to be understood and accepted. It is absolutely right that the police should identify and punish criminal members within the limits of the law, with the same (but not greater) commitment that is shown towards fighting crime in other groups, including the Italian host community. But to stigmatize an entire community on the basis of a few isolated but over-reported incidents is to undermine all chance of future cohabitation.
This would be a real shame, as the majority of ethnic Roma in Italy have long abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and are here to stay.
Immigration clamp-down
On 21 May the government approved new measures clamping down on illegal immigrants and tightening the rules for foreigners from EU countries, targeting ethnic Roma in particular.
Measures having immediate effect:
-Tougher sentences for illegal immigrants convicted of a crime.
-Expulsion of immigrants sentenced to two years or more.
-Up to three years in prison and the confiscation of the property for those caught renting accommodation to illegal immigrants.
-Extension of maximum stay in detention centres (âcentro di permanenza temporaneaâ or CPT) from two to 18 months.
-Special mayoral powers over law and order.
Proposals awaiting approval from parliament:
-Making illegal immigration a criminal offence.
-Clamping down on marriages that are contracted for immigration purposes.
The government also declared a state of emergency in Roma encampments in Rome, Naples and Milan, which allows the competent prefects to be granted special powers.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->