Roma - The Undesirables John Horvath

Europe is finally forced to confront problems it has until now shunned away from

A charter plane, with 70 Roma (commonly referred to as gypsies) on board, was making its way to Bulgaria from France when it was hijacked by its passengers. The passengers first contacted relatives in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second largest city, to meet them at the airport and to bring with them two parachutes each. When the plane landed they then threatened the pilot to fly back to France otherwise they would take him to the gypsy ghetto in the city, and who knows what fate would await him there. Once over French airspace, the Roma then parachuted out of the plane and spread out throughout France.

This story was published by the Bulgarian Dnes I Utre (Today and Tomorrow) tabloid at the end of August. While for most this story is obviously a sensationalist tale (only Dnes I Utre carried the story) for many in Western Europe it's a sick joke. The thought of hordes of Roma dropping from the skies is akin to a horror story, and represents a nightmare scenario for many.

The current enigma of Roma making their way from east to west by road and rail is already bad enough for some. In order to stem the tide, over the past several weeks a wave of forced migration has been underway in Europe – in the opposite direction. Groups of Roma have been expelled eastward from France, and although those who have been deported have been bribed 300 Euros to return home "voluntarily", it's apparent to most that many will ultimately go back, if not to France then to another western European country. Indeed, many of those who have already returned home have acknowledged their intention to do so.

Reaction toward this sad state of affairs is not uniform throughout Europe, with indifference turning into concern as you move from east to west. For instance, in Bulgaria the deported Roma have been hailed as celebrities whereas in many countries of Central Europe there is mild amusement mixed with a certain amount of trepidation. Unsurprisingly, in Western Europe it has become a major political issue, with outrage both in favour of and against the deportations.

Indeed, Western Europe has become so traumatized by the situation that some who are against the depurations have compared the French action as something akin to the Nazi deportations of Jews during the Second World War. Others were quick to counter this assertion, noting that while the present deportation of the Roma is deplorable, it's nowhere near to what had occurred some sixty-five years ago. After all, no one is being killed and the Roma are being flown back to Eastern Europe in relative comfort as opposed to being herded like cattle in rail transports.

While all this may be true, the comparison to the Holocaust is nevertheless apt.1 This is because the underlying motivation is the same in both cases: that is, a group of people are considered undesirable and need to be removed. Whether this removal takes the form of expelling people from a territory or physically liquidating them is another matter altogether; after all, Hitler first briefly considered the possibility of resettling the Jews from Europe to Madagascar, known as the Madagascar Plan. Indeed, some extremists in Central and Eastern Europe have adopted a similar view toward the Roma, saying that they should be "sent back to India".

Ironically, not everyone is so concerned about the "Roma problem" in Western Europe. In Hungary, for example, some feel that what is happening in France is nothing more than a case of divine poetic justice, and that the French are now getting a taste of their own bitter medicine. This is in reference to the case of the Zámoly Roma, in where a group of Roma from Zámoly ten years ago fled to France following a brutal lynching in order to avoid being convicted and were subsequently granted refugee status. Others go even further suggesting in jest that Hungary should pay their Roma 300 Euros to go to France. In this way two birds could be killed with one stone: first, it would solve the country's Roma problem and, second, it would exact revenge on France for the Treaty of Trianon.

Roma migration and integration is an extremely complex subject

While some in Central and Eastern Europe may find a little amusement to what is going on with the Roma in Western Europe given the fact that they have been struggling for years to deal with the situation with no help or sympathy from the west, many nonetheless worry about a looming backlash in terms of travel bans and other restrictions. Canada had already once imposed visa requirements for Hungarians travelling to the Great White North and there were worries last year that Ottawa would do so again when there was a sudden upsurge in Roma asylum seekers from Hungary. Meanwhile, visa-exemption for Czech nationals was revoked in 2008 after a mushrooming in the number of asylum claims made by its Roma citizens, who claimed they were the victims of persecution at home.

The worry over travel bans and restrictions for citizens from Central and Eastern Europe isn't limited to places like Canada or the US, but to Western Europe as well. Despite the Shengen Accords and the notion of no borders within Europe, some countries haven't taken lightly to the influx of eastern migrants. The Austrian police frequently harass motorists from Central and Eastern Europe and in some towns and villages even refuse entry. Indeed, recent polls reveal that many Austrians lament the fact that a border between Hungary and Austria no longer exists and that they would be in favour if one was reinstated.

The political implications to all of this are quite obvious. Not only have there been heated exchanges in Brussels and within various parliaments throughout Europe, but the European Commission has been forced to seriously deal with the issue. As Hungary will assume the rotating presidency of the EU next year, it has already made clear that it will make the matter one if its main priorities. According to the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktór Orbán, the EU has to work out its own Roma-strategy to which Hungary will focus its efforts on.

Yet what is facing Europe is much bigger than simply devising a "strategy" to deal with what many consider to be a "problem" in relation to economic, social, political and human contexts. Roma migration and integration is an extremely complex subject, with significant differences in culture, economic conditions, and language from that of mainstream society. In addition to this, failure to deal with Roma integration into mainstream society in the past has already led to battle lines being drawn in some cases.

This can be clearly seen in a marked upsurge in violence. In Hungary the case against four individuals charged with killing nine Roma last year started earlier this month (Another One Bites the Dust). Meanwhile, in Slovakia a man went on a killing spree recently in where five Roma were killed.

Yet this upsurge in violence isn't only against the Roma but also involves the Roma against mainstream society as well. Thus, lynching in the Hungarian villages of Zámoly and Olaszliske (Hungary and the Ethnic Code of Silence) as well as the killing of a handball player in the town of Veszprem have all led people in this part of Europe to become more sensitised to the situation.

Radicalization and creation of extremist groups and parties

This, in turn, has prompted some to feel that politicians are unable or unwilling to deal with the situation. Subsequently, this has led certain segments of the population to become radicalised, leading to the creation of extremist and paramilitary groups. The Hungarian Guard and Czech Guard are a case in point (Democracy in Hungary: coming apart at the extremes).

Not only this, some radical political parties have been able to make substantial inroads on the political scene as a result. The JOBBIK party in Hungary not only scored a major success during the last EU elections but has also become the third largest political party in parliament. It has made the notion of "gypsy crime" a central point of its political agenda and has put forward several outlandish proposals to this extent.

Among them is a proposal to set up "criminal zones" outside cities where public-order offenders would be moved to and kept under police surveillance. Csanad Szegedi, a MEP for the JOBBIK, elaborated that these public order zones aim to "seal off criminal elements" while forcing them to "integrate". He added that residents could return to the city upon approval of a council set up by the authorities, if they educate their children regularly and participate in public works programmes.

The head of the JOBBIK, Gábor Vona, outlined a similar proposal for sending Roma children to boarding schools where "segregation would be a more productive educational tool." As far as Vona is concerned, Hungary's biggest domestic problem was the co-existence of Roma and Hungarians and that this was an issue no political force was ready to face in earnest. "We need new solutions if we are to avoid civil war," Vona said, adding that a parliamentary committee should be set up to oversee the problems of Roma integration and that Hungary should take up this issue during its presidency of the European Union next year.

While all political forces within the country have duly condemned the JOOBIK proposal of moving Roma criminals into ghettos outside cities, the government nevertheless appears to be more interested in addressing the issue in a superficial way as opposed to tackling the issue head on. Thus, the Orbán government favours "strict laws and a strong police force" as a means for dealing with the situation.

Along these lines, the Hungarian media appears to have adopted a similar position in favour of the long arm of the law. While the heated debates within Europe have been noted along with the friction between France and other countries over the deportations, it has been stressed that Sarkozy's policy is, in the end, popular. Conversely, what is missing from this media discourse is a comprehensive analysis of the root causes of Roma poverty and the fact that the Roma and their culture had fallen victim to the vicissitudes of globalisation and American pop culture (An Invisible Minority).

Simplified views toward complex problems in the end often leads to opaque solutions

This can be seen not only in the deportations going on in France but also in the building of walls in the Slovak towns of Michalovce and Ostrovany to separate the Roma from the mainstream population.

Yet it's not simply up to the EU to come up with a Roma strategy or for mainstream society to look at the root of the problem for solutions. The Roma themselves also have a responsibility to take matters into their own hands. Unfortunately, group solidarity among the Roma is so strong that even when the Roma community should end up finding fault from within its own ranks it fails to do so. Corruption among Roma leaders in Central and Eastern Europe is prevalent, and those who do work hard for the cause of the community are often unseen and unheard. Sadly, it's the corrupt leaders which often end up symbolising the Roma community as a whole, thereby reinforcing prejudices and stereotypes among the mainstream population that all Roma are one and alike.

The idea that the EU should come up with a Roma strategy coupled with the view of many national leaders, such as Hungary's Viktór Orbán and France's Nicholas Sarkozy, that what is need is strict laws and a strong police force, is nothing more than a Europeanised version of Kipling's White Man's Burden, in where the Roma should be looked upon as "half devil and half child." In the same way Martin Luther King ignited the civil rights movement in the US over half a century ago, so too what is needed at this point is a charismatic Roma leader who is able to confront European mainstream society. In the meantime, Nicholas Sarkozy in France should be careful not to push his policies too far. After all, Sarkozy himself is not French but of Hungarian descent, and he just might end up kicking himself out of the country. (John Horvath)