Yudit Kiss - What pushes eastern Europe's Roma to the West?
One of the highlights of Hungary's EU presidency was the launching of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. But a closer look at the situation of the Hungarian Roma provides an alarming picture, writes Yudit Kiss. And more than sufficient reason to head westwards.
The expulsion of a Roma schoolgirl from France, a hunt for allegedly kidnapped blond girls in Roma camps, a ban on begging in Austria; a series of recent events have shed light again on the groups of eastern European Roma who have arrived in the West since their countries became EU members. They don't arrive in shaky boats or on the backs of lorries, they don't have to face the dangers of illegal immigration, but they are pushed by misery and discrimination, like the illegal immigrants who died on the shores of Lampedusa in October.
Most hope that even the precarious existence they can eke out at the margins of some western society would be better than their situation at home. Some expect that once abroad, the colour of their skin and their social background won't be an obstacle to their studies and integration. Criminal elements both inside and outside of their groups exploit the extreme fragility of these economic refugees and succeed in organizing a small fraction of them for criminal purposes. This is how they arrive on the front pages of the western newspapers, fomenting further the stereotypes concerning Roma criminality. In order to understand why they leave their homelands, one has to look at their situation there.
Hungary is often praised for the treatment of its Roma minority; in fact Roma policy is just about the only domain of the current government's activity to have received near unanimous praise from EU institutions. One of the highlights of the country's EU presidency was the launching of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. Nevertheless, a closer look at the situation of the Hungarian Roma gives an alarming picture.
Approximately 650-750,000 Roma live in Hungary, amounting to between five and seven per cent of the population. According to the government's own documents, 70 per cent live in poverty and their life expectancy is ten years lower than that of their non-Roma co-citizens. There are 100 extremely poor "Roma ghetto" villages in the country and a further 200 villages in such a precarious situation as to be likely well on the way to adding to this number.[1]Since 1989, a whole generation of Roma has grown up in precarious conditions without proper infrastructure and social services, in households with parents without regular jobs. Child poverty in Hungary is higher than the EU average and it afflicts Roma children in particular. According to NGOs, two-thirds of Roma children attend segregated classes, which hinders their social integration.[2]
Many economists, social scientists and political activists work on Roma-related issues (including several critics of the former Communist system). There are excellent artistic projects that draw attention to the question, but their impact in informing and raising awareness among the majority society is rather limited. The bulk of Hungarians do not feel concerned by the problems of the Roma and tries to ignore them, often with a mixture of guilt and unease. At the same time, an alarmingly large section of the population has absorbed the increasingly aggressive racist discourse, according to which the Roma are to blame for their situation, which can only be changed with harsh disciplinary measures that separate them from the rest of society or, eventually, lead to their expulsion from the country.
Anti-Roma sentiments have always been present in Hungary, but they became more violent, more generalized and more openly expressed in recent years, particularly since the advance of the Hungarian extreme right party Jobbik, which has a markedly anti-Roma political agenda. Research shows a dramatic increase in the prejudiced presentation of the Roma and the assimilation of extreme right discourse into mainstream media during the last decade.[3] When one talks with Roma friends, the conversation inevitably turns to stories of everyday racism that is the lot of most Hungarian Roma, even the educated elite: humiliations and eventual clashes on the streets, in shops, in the schools and government offices, as well as in encounters with the police. Even the very few who succeed in reaching prestigious social positions, from soccer referee to MP, have to deal with racism and discrimination, not only on the streets, but at their workplaces as well, including the Hungarian parliament.
Everyday racism can easily become official policy, as the experience of some Jobbik-led municipalities shows. This includes the village of Gyöngyöspata, the scene of a violent demonstration of force by the extreme Right in 2011.[4] In Fidesz-led Ózd in northern Hungary, during the worst days of a heat wave last summer, local authorities decided to shut down the public wells in order to "avoid spoiling water" supplies. The step hurt the poor and the Roma above all, many of whom don't have access to running water. The same town refused to host an Ethnic Minority and Roma Cultural Center, the building of which would have been facilitated mostly by EU funds. Three other cities had already refused the proposal; in each case, the Fidesz majority gave in to Jobbik pressure.[5]
Today's situation is the result of a decades-long process. During the Communist period, once forced industrialization had absorbed the masses of former peasants, it began to draw in large numbers of Roma. From the late 1960s, the majority of Hungary's Roma were employed, mostly as unskilled labour and predominantly in heavy industry, textiles and construction. It was a forced and partial integration of a still predominantly traditional community, but it came with a large array of measures that significantly improved living conditions, offering better housing, healthcare, social welfare provisions and schooling for Roma. Masses of Roma became integrated members of the working society and a small elite of writers, artists, musicians and political activists emerged who were recognized by the majority society as well.
However, the Roma lost out during the course of systemic change that began in 1989, when 85 per cent of all Roma males were economically active. By 1993, this figure had dropped to 39 per cent and today it is around 20 per cent (only 10 per cent of Roma women are economically active).. read more:
http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2014-01-07-kiss-en.html
See also:
Hitler's annihilation of the Romanis (the Gypsies of Europe)
"We are Europe's misery" - plight of the Romany people in France
The expulsion of a Roma schoolgirl from France, a hunt for allegedly kidnapped blond girls in Roma camps, a ban on begging in Austria; a series of recent events have shed light again on the groups of eastern European Roma who have arrived in the West since their countries became EU members. They don't arrive in shaky boats or on the backs of lorries, they don't have to face the dangers of illegal immigration, but they are pushed by misery and discrimination, like the illegal immigrants who died on the shores of Lampedusa in October.
Most hope that even the precarious existence they can eke out at the margins of some western society would be better than their situation at home. Some expect that once abroad, the colour of their skin and their social background won't be an obstacle to their studies and integration. Criminal elements both inside and outside of their groups exploit the extreme fragility of these economic refugees and succeed in organizing a small fraction of them for criminal purposes. This is how they arrive on the front pages of the western newspapers, fomenting further the stereotypes concerning Roma criminality. In order to understand why they leave their homelands, one has to look at their situation there.
Hungary is often praised for the treatment of its Roma minority; in fact Roma policy is just about the only domain of the current government's activity to have received near unanimous praise from EU institutions. One of the highlights of the country's EU presidency was the launching of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. Nevertheless, a closer look at the situation of the Hungarian Roma gives an alarming picture.
Approximately 650-750,000 Roma live in Hungary, amounting to between five and seven per cent of the population. According to the government's own documents, 70 per cent live in poverty and their life expectancy is ten years lower than that of their non-Roma co-citizens. There are 100 extremely poor "Roma ghetto" villages in the country and a further 200 villages in such a precarious situation as to be likely well on the way to adding to this number.[1]Since 1989, a whole generation of Roma has grown up in precarious conditions without proper infrastructure and social services, in households with parents without regular jobs. Child poverty in Hungary is higher than the EU average and it afflicts Roma children in particular. According to NGOs, two-thirds of Roma children attend segregated classes, which hinders their social integration.[2]
Many economists, social scientists and political activists work on Roma-related issues (including several critics of the former Communist system). There are excellent artistic projects that draw attention to the question, but their impact in informing and raising awareness among the majority society is rather limited. The bulk of Hungarians do not feel concerned by the problems of the Roma and tries to ignore them, often with a mixture of guilt and unease. At the same time, an alarmingly large section of the population has absorbed the increasingly aggressive racist discourse, according to which the Roma are to blame for their situation, which can only be changed with harsh disciplinary measures that separate them from the rest of society or, eventually, lead to their expulsion from the country.
Anti-Roma sentiments have always been present in Hungary, but they became more violent, more generalized and more openly expressed in recent years, particularly since the advance of the Hungarian extreme right party Jobbik, which has a markedly anti-Roma political agenda. Research shows a dramatic increase in the prejudiced presentation of the Roma and the assimilation of extreme right discourse into mainstream media during the last decade.[3] When one talks with Roma friends, the conversation inevitably turns to stories of everyday racism that is the lot of most Hungarian Roma, even the educated elite: humiliations and eventual clashes on the streets, in shops, in the schools and government offices, as well as in encounters with the police. Even the very few who succeed in reaching prestigious social positions, from soccer referee to MP, have to deal with racism and discrimination, not only on the streets, but at their workplaces as well, including the Hungarian parliament.
Everyday racism can easily become official policy, as the experience of some Jobbik-led municipalities shows. This includes the village of Gyöngyöspata, the scene of a violent demonstration of force by the extreme Right in 2011.[4] In Fidesz-led Ózd in northern Hungary, during the worst days of a heat wave last summer, local authorities decided to shut down the public wells in order to "avoid spoiling water" supplies. The step hurt the poor and the Roma above all, many of whom don't have access to running water. The same town refused to host an Ethnic Minority and Roma Cultural Center, the building of which would have been facilitated mostly by EU funds. Three other cities had already refused the proposal; in each case, the Fidesz majority gave in to Jobbik pressure.[5]
Today's situation is the result of a decades-long process. During the Communist period, once forced industrialization had absorbed the masses of former peasants, it began to draw in large numbers of Roma. From the late 1960s, the majority of Hungary's Roma were employed, mostly as unskilled labour and predominantly in heavy industry, textiles and construction. It was a forced and partial integration of a still predominantly traditional community, but it came with a large array of measures that significantly improved living conditions, offering better housing, healthcare, social welfare provisions and schooling for Roma. Masses of Roma became integrated members of the working society and a small elite of writers, artists, musicians and political activists emerged who were recognized by the majority society as well.
However, the Roma lost out during the course of systemic change that began in 1989, when 85 per cent of all Roma males were economically active. By 1993, this figure had dropped to 39 per cent and today it is around 20 per cent (only 10 per cent of Roma women are economically active).. read more:
http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2014-01-07-kiss-en.html
See also:
Hitler's annihilation of the Romanis (the Gypsies of Europe)
"We are Europe's misery" - plight of the Romany people in France
Nov 13, 2013
