France begins Roma deportations: 'They are trying to get rid of us all'

[SoCalDem]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/19/france-begins-roma-deportations


Lizzy Davies in Marseille guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 August 2010 22.51 BST


Outside No 431, rue de Lyon, the Mediterranean sun beat down on the pavement and an old man lay in wait for the police. Inside, behind the long grass and a dilapidated green gate, the women were preparing themselves for the worst. "We are getting things ready," one explained, pointing at a half-packed suitcase. In among the ramshackle sheds and squealing toddlers, they took turns at holding a six-week-old baby in their arms.

Today, as the French government pushed forward with its mission to rid the country of foreign Roma it deems to be living there illegally, Marseille's most marginalised community was in the grip of both fear and resignation: fear because the authorities have in recent weeks ratcheted up the pressure, and resignation because, after years of repeated expulsions and unrelenting social isolation, many of them have seen it all before.

"That's France for you," said one middle-aged woman, sitting dejectedly in pink flip-flops at the rue de Lyon squat. She, like all other Roma to whom the Guardian spoke, was unwilling to be identified. Intense media interest since the start of Nicolas Sarkozy's crackdown on crime and illegal immigration last month has made them uneasy in front of the cameras.

snip

[Xipe Totec]

1. They are, as we say in the Spanish, pendejos!

Not the Roma, the French.

This is the stupidest thing since the GOP protest against Cordoba House.

[John Q. Citizen]

4. The French are pubic hairs? Rounding up the usual suspects.

[Xipe Totec]

5. Bwaid them and thwow them on the flow!

woughly!

[quinnox]

2. If they are there illegally then France is just following the law

I don't see a problem with this, if you sneak into France illegally you should expect to get deported if you get caught.

[emilyg]

3. Good for them.

[Xipe Totec]

7. What if they were born in France?

Certainly, they were not born in Roma, and they were born somewhere. Probably somewhere in the EU.

[quinnox]

8. hmm

Well, I don't know how it works there, but if its like this country, being born in France would mean you are a citizen automatically and therefore could not be deported as an illegal immigrant.

[Xipe Totec]

9. And if they were born in a E.U.country?

Meaning they have the right to travel anywhere in the E.U.?

And where do you deport them to, if they are not allowed in France?

[quinnox]

10. I have no idea

I'm not familiar with the laws there so I don't know where they deport them or what their status is in France if they are born in a EU country.

[Xipe Totec]

11. There's the rub, isn't it?

Maybe we should create a Roma homeland, like we did for the Jews.

The question is, who should we displace this time?

[Ignis]

13. Oh my!

That's a bold suggestion...and one that I'm not sure the Roma themselves would really want. :shrug:

But it raises the larger issue of how we've managed to overlook many ethnic/cultural groups in the various borders that were arbitrarily drawn up by European powers during the colonial era (through the 1950s, in some cases). Now that "balkanization" has become a bad word, how do we ensure the rights and liberties of these groups are protected across borders?

In any event, I vote we give them a small piece of Germany. :hide:

[alfredo]

14. South Carolinians

[Xithras]

23. Well, technically, a Roma homeland exists.

DNA testing, and a closer look at historical records, has largely revealed where the Roma came from.

About a thousand years ago, the ancestors of the Romani appear to have been in India, where they were members of the northern Indian military castes. In fact, current test suggest that they're descended from the Jats, who still live in their homeland in Northern India and Pakistan. When the first sultan invaded and conquered much of their territory, they fled their homeland, going first to Persia and the Byzantine empire, and within a couple hundred years into Europe proper.

I doubt many would be interested in going there though. Over the past thousand years, their language and culture has morphed so much that they'd be complete outsiders.

[Tx4obama]

25. The reason why...

The Romas are NOT Italians from Rome, they are ROMANIANS

Excerpt:

France is allowed to repatriate Gypsies from Romania — who as citizens of an EU member state are allowed to circulate freely within the 27-member bloc — if they are unable to prove they can support themselves while in France, Le Cleve said.

He suggested, as human rights activists have done in the past, that the voluntary departures help inflate the total number of annual expulsions, a figure the government releases to the media with much fanfare.

Foreign-born Gypsies are often seen begging on the streets of France's cities, often with small children or puppies, and many French people consider them a nuisance, or worse.

Sarkozy has linked Roma to crime, calling their camps sources of trafficking, exploitation of children and prostitution. On July 28, he pledged that illegal Gypsy camps would be "systematically evacuated." Some 50 camps have been emptied since then, including at least two on Thursday, local officials said.

In the southeastern town of Saint-Martin d'Heres, near Grenoble, about 150 riot police removed about 100 Roma adults and 45 children Thursday. That evacuation went smoothly, and no incidents were reported, local officials said. Another 25 Roma were taken from their camp near Lille early Thursday, officials said.

Sarkozy's crackdown on Gypsies came on the heels of much-publicized unrest by French Roma, who attacked a police station in the center of the country after the death of Gypsy youth there. The measures are also part of a raft of new hard-line security measures by Sarkozy, who won election in 2007 on a tough-on-crime platform.

The policy is attracting increasing concern, both at home and abroad, from those who fear it discriminates against one of the European Union's most vulnerable and impoverished communities.

Romanian President Traian Basescu said, "We understand the problems created by the Roma camps outside the French cities" .......

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100819/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_gypsy_crackdown_6

[Tx4obama]

27. They have a homeland - it's called ROMANIA. n/t

[Confusious]

15. France has no birthright citizenship.

They are 'Roma gypsies'. They're from Romania. Romania doesn't get full EU rights until 2012.

They're being deported, not thrown in concentration camps.

I don't find it nice, but I also don't think we should be dictating to other countries.

[demosincebirth]

16. You are exactly right.

[Tx4obama]

18. The Romanian gypsies are the biggest group of thieves & drug dealers at the Italian airports.

Looks like France has had enough of their shenanigans too!
When I lived for a bit in Italy a few years ago Italy was having a major problem with immigrants from Romania.
Many are hired as nannies, maids, etc. and aren't paid hardly anything over their room and board. They are treated like slaves by many. It might be a good thing to send them all back to their own county, especially the ones that have been taken advantage of.

[Bluebear]

20. 'It might be a good thing to send them all back to their own county,' - good god

'a major problem with immigrants from Romania.'

Yes, denigrate a whole country. Well done.

[Tx4obama]

21. Have you been to Italy and have you seen all the Romanian gypies at the airports, train station, bus

terminals, etc. ?
Have you been harassed multiple times by the 'gypsies'?
Have you pick-pocketed and robbed?
It really IS a major problem.
Go on over and see for yourself, then give us a report on what you see.

[Bluebear]

22. Yes, I have been to Italy, many times. How do you know they are "Romanian"?

Have you seen their passports?

I don't think you know the difference between "Roma" and "Romanian".

[Tx4obama]

24. The article is about the ROMANIANS.

Il articolo non e' della Roma la citta.
Forse e' tu che non sapere? Eh?
Quanto anni tu sei abiti in Italia?
E dove? Nel nord o sud?

[Bluebear]

26. and BULGARIANS, fancy that. E ovunque, dal confine svizzero a Sicilia. Ciao, bella.

[Tx4obama]

28. Huh?

The Swiss border is NO WHERE near Sicily.
Buona notte ;)

[Bluebear]

29. Well I meant to say everywhere from the Swiss border TO Sicily.

My Italian must be rusty :)

[Tx4obama]

30. Anchio...

forse e' il mio italiano.
io non uso la lingua di italiano per un lungo tempo.
I'm pretty rusty too ;)

But in any case the 'problem' of the Romanians does need to be addressed.

[Xithras]

19. No country in Europe has birthright citizenship.

There are only about two dozen jus soli nations in the world, and most of them are in the Americas or Pacific (IIRC, only about 15% of the worlds population lives in countries with birthright citizenship). Not one is in Europe.

Most nations require that one or both parents be citizens of the country, or at least that the parents be in the country legally.

[uppityperson]

6. Sarko is an asshole

[pampango]

12. BBC: stigmatising a generally law-abiding section of society to win support among right-wing voters.

"Some 93 Roma left for Romania and 700 more will follow in the coming weeks after being evicted from their camps. The French government says it is a "decent and humane" policy of removing people from deplorable conditions.

But human rights groups have criticised the move, and Romania has warned France against "xenophobic reactions". "I am worried about the risks of populism and xenophobic reactions in a context of economic crisis," Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi told Radio France Internationale.

The operation has been condemned by human rights groups, who say it is deliberately stigmatising a generally law-abiding section of society to win support among right-wing voters.

Last week, members of the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination criticised the tone of political discourse in France on race issues, saying racism and xenophobia were undergoing a "significant resurgence" there."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11020429

[Tx4obama]

31. The GYPSIES are NOT generally known as a law-abiding section of society. n/t

[provis99]

17. Hungarians like Sarkozy are noted for their bigotry against gypsies.

He's keeping up his ancestral traditions of hating Roma.