Whites Only

Institutionalized Segregation In Europe 
(Roma In Europe series)

"So long as there is one single person anywhere in the world who is denied his or her freedom, then none of us are free.  As long as there is exploitation which is taking place on our doorstep, in our own backyards, then we must all share the responsibility to get justice and freedom for the people concerned."

~John F. Kennedy 

After the Civil War in the United States the south responded to the freedoms granted to African Americans by introducing "Jim Crow" laws. These laws were meant to keep the African American community in perpetual subservience to the white population that had once ruled the American South. Though the freed slaves could no longer be put in chains and shipped off to be sold as human cargo, they could no sooner gain access to the free world America had created for itself. For American society this came to known as "separate but equal". It was assumed that the African Americans should be grateful for what they had been given by Lincoln and simply accept that they were somehow inferior to the whites that had once owned them.

As the generation of freed slaves grew old and their children grew up in a segregated America the divide between their limited freedoms and white America's total freedom became increasingly apparent. Jim Crow laws increased as African Americans became more apt to finding ways to overcome the barriers that had been set before them. Perseverance by the minority pushed the majority's discomfort to the point of breaking. With every step African Americans took toward equality the hate that fueled groups like the Ku Klux Klan grew. Over the course of the next few generations it would become even more obvious to American society that separate is never equal. Segregation would have to end if American society was to continue to mature in its understanding of true liberty.

In America freedom comes like a raging fire. It is a violent and bitter course of action that puts our notions of what a free society is through a refining fire. Yet for all the hatred that comes boiling to the surface we somehow have managed to united in the end. By pushing the extreme elements of our society to the fringe we find at our core what it means to have our liberties as a country. For all the scars and wounds we have suffered along the way, America has brought forth an example of what elements of a culture cannot be tolerated in a society if it is to truly be free.

Segregation is one of those elements.



Europe has claimed to lead the world in tolerance and understanding. It boasts about its multicultural heritage and how it has managed to absorb others along the way. Immigrants that once flocked to America now set their eyes upon Europe as it's multiple economies spring new growth. Africans, Arabs, Eastern Europeans, and Asians all trickle into the EU with every passing year. Yet for all the new religions and cultures that Europe accommodates with reasonable success there remains one minority that Europe has a long history of failure with. The Romani people.

Eastern Europe has centuries of negative history when it comes to even tolerating the Roma let alone accepting and integrating the Romani culture. Under Stalin the Roma were forced into slave labor and used by the Soviets in a subhuman manner. The Poles seemed over zealous in handing over Roma over to Hitler's SS during World War Two. And the Balkan states have all had a long history of forcibly keeping Roma people segregated from the rest of society.

While Western Europe showed it's complete disregard of the Roma people in just the last few years as France, Germany, and Italy all led the way in deporting Roma people and forcing evictions of entire Roma communities. This was almost a mirror image of how Hitler had dealt with the Roma when his forces occupied Europe just over 70 years ago. And yet the EU could only manage to offer up rather moderate condemnation for France when it refused to stop deportations. It is notable that the EU however did not condemn Italy or Germany for their actions or even England for its use of forced evictions. This lack of outrage shows a disturbing level of tolerance for state sponsored intolerance of one of Europe's largest minorities.

Obviously one would imagine that Europe would have grown in it's capacity to tolerate and integrate Romani culture into it's vast array of cultures already assimilated. You would imagine that at the very least the Roma would only suffer segregation in as much a way as the Chinese immigrants do by formation of areas nicknamed "China Town". This manageable degree of segregation would be considered somewhat normal since people tend to surround themselves with people of a similar cultural background. It can be seen in areas where Kosher markets and delis are almost adjacent to synagogues. And for the most part this form of segregation is accepted by even the most liberal societies. But for the Roma this form of segregation would be a giant step up from their current level of oppression within European society.

In most of Eastern Europe Roma are supposedly legally allowed to live in areas where their "white" neighbors congregate. However in most cases if Roma would move into a white neighborhood the local branch of Europe's KKK would show up that same night. Just as African Americans were told to stay on their side of the tracks, Roma in Eastern Europe are forced into ghettos reminiscent of those established by the SS. Then when the local white population decides that they no longer want Romani families in one ghetto they have the Romas' homes destroyed and force evictions. Roma who loose their homes are then forced to even worse ghettos. Despite laws that appear to make "white only" neighborhoods illegal, Jim Crow like laws nullify any sense of equality.

In places like Slovakia Romani people find that Jim Crow doesn't just apply to where they are allowed to live but also dictates where they are able to work. According to The New York Times, "Only 20 percent of Roma men of working age in Slovakia have jobs — compared with 65 percent in the general population — and they die 15 years earlier than the national average." This level of employment disparity affects how the Roma will provide for their families and manage to put food on the table. When they are only able to manage a 20 percent employment rate the Roma are forced to rely upon governmental assistance and thus become subject to public ridicule. Adding to the stigmatization that Roma already face due to the socially accepted level of bigotry that exist within European culture.

Then comes the problem of widespread discrimination against Romani children when it comes to education within European school systems. From Greece, Hungary, the Czech Republic, down to Slovakia and Romania; the institutionalized level of segregation practiced on a purely ethnic basis is astounding. It directly mirrors the segregation that took place in America's South. Many schools within Greece are literally "white only". In Slovakia Roma children are not allowed to eat within the school cafeteria but are instead forced outside to eat bagged lunches while their Slavic (white) counterparts are fed hot lunches. While in the Czech Republic it is a common practice for schools to place Roma children in classes designed for the mentally handicapped simply because the children were born Romani and not Czech.

It is in the schools that Europe implants the seeds of discrimination into the hearts and minds of the next generation. Roma children who grow up with parents that are unable to find jobs due to discrimination are immediately reminded by the state that they too are just as unwanted as their parents. Where the government should be encouraging it's future to learn how to better their future the state instead shows Roma children that there are limits to their future. By allowing segregation in the schools, Europe digs the trenches in which to bury the aspirations of the next generation.

If change is to come to Europe it may not need to come in the way America had to bear it. But it must come one way or another. Europe can no longer grow in its freedoms as long as a portion of the population is denied the right to grow with it. Europe must decide whether it is to amputate the Roma from European society (as the Nazi's attempted to do) or whether it will fully accept the Romani as part of Europe's rich heritage. After all, nobody wants to simply be tolerated.

Segregation must be ended. It cannot be tolerated. It is a distinct barrier to progress.

In Hungary the resistance to change has already become violent. Jobbik has rallied in the same way that the KKK sprang forth to challenge the Civil Rights Movement in America. Violence, intimidation, and re-enforcing of Europe's Jim Crow laws have all been the hallmarks of radicalized organizations like Jobbik in Eastern Europe.

In Western Europe groups like the EDL (English Defense League) make up the backbone for the radical right-wing of Europe's pro Jim Crow crowd. These organizations back political parties that practice policies such as keeping the Roma on the road (or constantly driving Roma out). These groups mainly use intimidation but are not above using force (example here).

These groups present the same possibility for violent change as Europe realizes that segregation has no place in the 21st century. They are the KKK of Europe. These groups inhibit growth and stand in the way of progress. And yet they are only a portion of the reason that change is slow in coming to European society as a whole.

Politicians in Europe who exploit entrenched prejudices to further their political carriers help to keep Romani families on the fringe of European society. Through their own bigotry and callousness they help to block Roma integration. Others demand that Romani people assimilate to traditional European ways of life (assuming on their part that Roma don't want to in the first place) while refusing to demand the same of new immigrants. All of these politicians are allowed to practice such discrimination however in part to the established bigotry toward Roma in Europe in the first place.

A member of European society does not need to support the EDL or Jobbik to help prevent equality for their Romani neighbors. They simply have to accept the discrimination that Roma suffer in Europe on a daily basis. By refusing to speak up for their fellow Europeans (the Roma) these citizens allow their apathy to further the suffering of the Romani.

Yet this apathy is not limited to white Europeans alone. All Europeans; regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, or cultural heritage should feel a deep sense of disdain for any level of discrimination found within their society. The willful tolerance of these prejudices should spark a fire within you that cannot be contained. Witnessing this repression of a fellow human being should pull at your heart and soul in a way that provokes action... demands condemnation... and makes you scream.

Change will come to Europe. It must.

It is only due to a lack of support for it that Europe still suffers from the limitations that held back America's embrace of civil liberties. And yet this barrier to true freedom and liberty can be overcome. This obstacle that has one fatal flaw. It is that it must be accepted by society if it is to remain in place. Europe as a whole must find the segregation and oppression of the Roma intolerable for it to finally end.

"It has to start somewhere, 

It has to start sometime.

What better place than here, 

What better time than now."

~ Rage Against The Machine

Source Documents
(note: not all sources listed)

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/world/europe/in-slovakia-integration-of-roma-mirrors-early-struggles-in-us.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Huffington Post UK
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/artur-conka/roma-families-in-europe_b_3253404.html

The Slovak Spectator
http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/50157/2/discrimination_still_a_problem.html

Southeast European Times
http://setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2013/06/07/feature-02

French Roma Face New Porajmos

Socialism Helping Reconstruct Romani Holocaust

Over the last decade the European Union has been going through a stage of reconstruction. With new member states coming and some flirting with the idea of leaving the trade block has been under incredible stress. For the Roma of Europe this stress has helped increase the hate crimes targeted at them and their children. Yet surprisingly in the land of tolerance and multiculturalism, European authorities have been slow (if responding at all) in helping stem the tide of hate.

Over the years the socialist movement within Europe has often targeted the Roma since most members of society do not emphasize with the Romani. The most notable case would be the Porajmos under the Nazis. However in recent years the socialist have been just as capable of reconstructing the great devouring.

In 2012 France alone was able to deport at least 11,803 Romani. Rounding down, around 80 percent of these were forcibly removed according to the European Association of the Defense of Human Rights (AEDH). Most of these had their possessions burnt or destroyed by local authorities as their homes were bulldozed. President Francois Hollande was the man who pulled the trigger on each and everyone of these deportations... the socialist leader of France. 


"This is incredibly worrying and very disappointing given that Francois Hollande made a pre-election pledge to change the way the Roma were being dealt with in France," Victoria Vasey from European Roma Rights Center. "But it just looks like business as usual."

During August of 2012 the UN warned France that its deportations of Roma were in direct violation of the international human rights convention. However since the fall of 2012 the French leadership has ramped up their attempts to deport Romani. They continue to claim that these Roma are illegal immigrants from places either outside the EU or from member states right at the border of the trade block. Most are being sent to Romania and Bulgaria (members of the EU) since the citizens of these two countries are not legally allowed to travel within the EU without proper papers and passports. And since Romania and Bulgaria openly discriminate against the Roma, it is unlikely that the Roma will be given access to passports by local authorities.

To further complicate things the leadership under Hollande has joined with the Netherlands in an attempt to further regulate the terms of membership that Romania and Bulgaria currently enjoy. The long term goal appears to be the permanent ban on customs-free travel for Roma from Eastern Europe. This would allow the socialist in Western Europe to continue shipping off their own Roma to foreign countries from which they could not readily return.

For Roma in Eastern Europe the flood of deportees has only further exacerbated tensions between their community and their neighbors. In places like the Czech Republic these new arrivals have also helped fuel more and more hate crimes against all Romani within the country. These have included rapes, murders, and the burning and looting of Roma homes. Many of the crimes have been linked to the ever growing right wing movement in Eastern Europe.

But discrimination against the Roma does not stop in Europe when it comes to deportations. In recent months the Canadian government has begun its own attempts to deport Roma who arrived in North America due to violent oppression back in Europe. The first step in starting the Canadian deportations has already begun as Canada has openly told Hungarian and Czech Roma to stop applying for asylum. This move was meant to make it clear that Canada will no longer accept Roma who are fleeing violence and possible pogroms within Eastern Europe.

All of this makes it ever more difficult to understand just how France, Germany, and the UK expect Roma to live in countries like Romania and Bulgaria after being deported? The Roma of Eastern Europe have made it very clear that they need somewhere to turn to get away from Nazi style attacks on their homes and community. The wave of immigrants that France claims has occurred should be seen as a call for help rather than another reason to accept the idea of passing the "Roma problem" onto the next country in line.

This situation also leaves us asking why long term members of the European Union in Western Europe are not being pressured to stop deportations? Looking at the numbers of Roma immigrating from Eastern Europe compared to the numbers being sent back it should be obvious that France is deporting Roma who have lived in France for generations. The numbers simply point to the fact that the socialist government of France is deporting French Roma alongside immigrant Romani in an attempt to ethnically cleanse France of its native Romani population.

So where is the outrage amongst the supposedly bighearted Europeans? Or is the issue of human rights only a topic of discussion in Europe as long as it applies to Syrians or Congolese refugees?

Fighting Back

(Picture above is of a Romani girl who fled to Canada, the scars on her chest were put there during a racial attack she suffered in the Czech Republic)
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Tensions Rising in Czech Republic
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The old phrase "out of sight, out of mind" seems to be proving itself wrong once again in the Czech Republic. As the government encourages the forcible moving of Roma families from all over the country to the Sluknov foothills area. This move is just the start of a new wave of ghettoizing the Roma minority in the Czech Republic. A system of social exclusion that is now spawning the need for state intervention through violent reactions to a system the government created.
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But before I get at the reason for the violence let me first explain the attacks a little further.
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Tensions appear to have begun growing as the waves of new Roma families began to appear in the Sluknov area. Racial tensions then continued to grow as the "majority population" began to organize anti-Roma events in protest of the continued arrival of Roma (who didn't want to be in the Slukov area anyhow). And yet nothing was really going too awfully wrong till about a week ago.
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That is when the racial tensions flared up (literally) when Molotovs began to fly. Attacks on Roma families began to be reported as the far-right continued to organize. Families that had been removed from areas of the Czech Republic where they had been victimized were now being attacked in Northern Bohemia.
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However it wasn't till a couple days ago that the Roma began to fight back. That was when a racial attack surpassed all others in its shear brutality. A delivery van driver was reported to have rapidly accelerated as he drove over a five year old Roma boy. The majority population however seems to have united behind the delivery driver as they continue to blame the dead boy for the racial attack that ended his life.
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This is what led to the attacks on the "majority" by the minority population. Roma have finally stomached enough violence to be ready to unleash some of their own. And thus you end up with attacks like the one a day ago when twenty Roma attacked four "majority population" men.
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The attack was brutal in nature and ended up with one of the victims in the hospital with broken bones. The Romani had attacked the four men outside and then broken in their door to attack the four men in their home. They had even used clubs of some sort in the attack on the "majority".
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So how does this sort of issue arise so quickly?
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Well first of all it has been an issue that has been bubbling to the surface for some time now. It began way back in 1989 when the economy in the Czech Republic sort of crashed. Roma who had worked just like everyone else in the economy were the first to be given the pink slips. As a result they were forced out of the productive society and into the world of welfare.
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For two generations now the Roma have been doing anything they can to get back on their feet. This would have been easier had the Czech government not taken the actions it did earlier this year. Now we are witnessing how that second generation, a generation that no longer remembers what it is to work for a living, reacts to being forced into a ghetto lifestyle.
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Earlier this year the Czech government took actions it claims are to reduce the debt of government by cutting its expenditures. It is choosing to do this by cutting the Romani people out of the welfare state it created three decades ago. It is not however choosing to find ways to put these people back to work. It is not attempting to find ways to grow its taxable population by decreasing its welfare population through honest labor.
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Like the rioters in London these Romani are people who know a life that the state has provided for them. Every attempt to break free from this sort of indentured servitude proves unsuccessful for most Roma. Even a college education proves useless when the "majority population" seems unshakable in their resolve to exclude the Roma. They are after all the first to loose their jobs and the last to be hired back into the work force.
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Thus we have a situation that seems tailor made for the Czech government. A situation where only the strong arm of the law can solve the issue at hand. And that always makes people like me a little worried.
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In both the past and present the Czech government has shown an over willingness to ghettoize the Roma. The Czech government seems to have a love affair with forcing the Roma out of secular society. And this recent out break of racial violence (violence that the Czech government should had seen coming with the current rise of far-right rhetoric) forces a situation which only the law can handle.
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We will have to wait to see what happens but in my humble opinion this problem has no happy ending. Violence begets violence. And the result of this violent outbreak can only serve to fuel the flames of the fascist movement in Eastern Europe.
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Source Documents (Note that not all sources used are listed)
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Prague Monitor
http://praguemonitor.com/2011/08/22/romani-group-reportedly-attacks-four-men-north-bohemia
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Romea.cz
http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2725
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http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2714
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http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2711
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http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2727
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http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2706
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CBC News Canada
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2009/06/25/roma-czech-asylum062509.html

Not Allowed To Stay

Banned From Leaving?
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Macedonia appears to be the one and only European country that wants to keep its Roma population. So much so that they have banned their Roma citizens from leaving the country. But not everything is as it seems.
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Marseille, France has recently decided that it would like to force dozens of Roma families out of its city limits and further if allowed. These Roma were recently evicted from homes in the city and are now living on the streets due to Frances failed political leadership. The law in France states that any city over a set population limit is required to make arrangements for its "Gypsy" population or have set camp sites. Marseille is the second largest city in France... it has no camp sites or temporary housing for Roma families. It now has shown that it will also not tolerate them living on the streets... where the Mayor of Marseille had put them.
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So why is Macedonia so willing to keep its Roma population?
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Five families in Serbia were recently evicted from their homes without even a days notice. The Serbian government has been asked several times to stop this practice (partially because the EU doesn't want the evicted families moving West) and yet it continues to attack settled Roma communities. The number of uprooted Roma families is on the rise in Serbia despite the pleas of countless human rights organizations.
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So once again I asked myself why Macedonia of all places is so desperate to keep its Roma?
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It is simple really. Macedonia is a poor and ofter crime riddled nation. Its populace is constantly looking for ways out... and fleeing the country is just the ticket for many. But with the economies of Europe constantly dive bombing these days (Spain and Ireland recently proving that point) the West can't support the Balkan states any longer. And they most certainly aren't willing at all to accept the "excess population" (as Roma are repeatedly referred to) of a poor state like Macedonia.
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Thus Macedonia, holding out hope of becoming a EU welfare state, has placed a travel ban upon all Roma citizens. No excuse will be accepted and no second chances will be given. Macedonia must keep its nose clean if it wants to be accepted into the socialist collaboration that is the EU.
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Meanwhile the EU is taking every opportunity to "export" its population of Roma back out East to areas like the Balkans. Romanian Roma have been hardest hit by France's legalized racism. However those from the Balkans are being "exported" just as well. And those being sent to Macedonia are having their passports confiscated so as to prevent return to the West. Turning Macedonia into one giant ghetto.
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And that brings us to the final point of this post.
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In other areas of the Balkans the idea of Roma Ghettos is in full bloom. Many of the Balkan states have already forced their Romani citizens into select areas segregated from the rest of society. In despicable living conditions, often over crowded and far from common utilities their neighbors enjoy daily, the Balkans Roma population is forced into poverty worse than the rest of society.
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In a growing number of areas the local "civilized" society has gone as far as to erect fences, walls, and concrete barriers to keep the Roma separate or out of view. The result of these actions is the ghetto style that the Nazis used just a couple generations ago. And yet the locals feel it is better to resort to these sorts of openly racist actions than to tolerate their differences with their Roma neighbors.
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But I guess having your neighbors just not wanting to look at you is a tiny bit better than having them throw Molotov cocktails into you home? Possibly? Or is it that "separate but equal" never really works out? And is it that these ghettos are just the first step toward concentration camps?
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Source Documents (Note that not all documents used are shown)
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Public Service Europe
http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/715/macedonia-has-no-legal-basis-for-roma-travel-bans
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RFI English
http://www.eglish.rfi.fr/france/20110810-marseille-evict-90-roma
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IBtimes
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/197269/20110812/roma-gypsie-serbia-eviction.htm
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Romea.cz
http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2713
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Romanian Ghettos

The Call for Roma "Segregation"
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It is hard to imagine any modern state using ghettos as a method of control or in the name of "safety" these days. After the lessons learned in Warsaw it seems unthinkable that any politician in any European country would think this was a good idea. But it is happening once again. And the idea is spreading slowly but surely.
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In February of 2010 The Times on London reported that a Slovak town had begun building a 2.2 meter tall wall that was meant to segregate the two-thirds of the town's population. That wall still is in use today. And the Roma are still being segregated in Bulgaria as this article is being written.
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Just as they were in 2010 the walls are still being constructed. The ghettos are still being assembled. And the Roma are now being forced out of "civilized society".
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Their neighbors claim the isolation is for their own protection. A slogan used before. A message proclaimed by similar socialist societies of the past.
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Today the Romanians join the ranks of the Eastern Europeans willing to use ghettos to isolate the Romani population. In Baia Mare, a city in northwestern Romania, the locals are ready to build a concrete wall that will encircle the Roma area of town. This is an area the Roma were "deported" to and are now being held captive in. And once again the isolated area soon to be walled off is being said to be "for the Romas' protection".
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In past articles I have asked without remorse what would happen if places like Auschwitz were allowed to come back online. Today it seems that the old death camps are not far from the current issues facing the Roma population. Like under the old socialist of the past, the Roma of Romania now face a society that is willing to surrender its own humanity for a vain promise of "safety". And the promise of "safety" once again is not being promised to the Roma themselves.
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The governor of the city claims the deportations of the Roma outside the city limits was a necessary step to rid the city of its' "poverty hotbeds". In a way he was correct. However now the countryside just beyond the city has an issue with forced poverty. It also has an issue with sanitation since the Romani ghetto was built right next to the city's water treatment facility.
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In post World War One Germany the Roma faced similar "concentration" sites. The Nazi regime felt it was somehow fitting to place Roma ghettos near waste sites. This increased the probability of disease or death due to exposure. The Romanian governor has chosen a similar site for similar reasons.
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So the question is this... how much more will the European Union tolerate? How much more human rights violations will they stomach happening right on their door step? And are we seeing the buildup to another genocide on European soil?
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Some Source Documents Not Listed.
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The Sofia Echo
http://sofiaecho.com/2010/02/18/860356_slovak-town-raises-concrete-wall-around-roma-ghetto-report
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SETimes.com
"Roma Community Segregation Still Plaguing Romania"
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