A somewhat interesting article at the L.A. Times.
ON NEW YEAR’S day, the European Union swelled by another 28 million people. The inclusion of Romania and Bulgaria in the European fold is cause for celebration in the streets of Bucharest and the courtyards of Sofia. For two of Europe’s poorer countries, inclusion in the EU brings innumerable benefits, not the least roads, recognition, grants, travel access and a sundering of the Soviet past.
Yet for many Europeans — in Paris, in Dublin, in Brussels and perhaps even in Bucharest and Sofia — it spells the inclusion of 3 million potential problems: yet more Gypsies.
In a week that also heralds 2007 as “The European Year of Equal Opportunities for All,” the word “Gypsy” still holds negative freight, even among those to whom it applies: the Roma. With ethnic and cultural roots stretching back to ancient India, the Roma are a diaspora community to rival the Irish and the Jews. Nonterritorial, they number anywhere from 12 million to 14 million worldwide, of whom roughly 10 million are found in Europe.
Yet European newspaper editors are stumped by how they should address the largest minority on the continent. Town mayors all over Eastern Europe often avoid the term altogether and talk instead of “whitening out” their inner cities.
If a society recognizes itself, and ultimately critiques itself, on how it treats its most downtrodden, then surely the acid test for the EU is its ongoing treatment of the Roma. They can be found living in the housing projects of Paris, the toxic dumps in Kosovo, the ruined outskirts of villages in eastern Slovakia, the warren of backstreets in old Polish towns and the gray flatlands of Dublin. Each place has its own — sometimes tiny — community. But when taken together, these groups form a giant cultural mosaic, one that leans overwhelmingly toward poverty.
Colum McCann wrote this article in a very ‘alarming’ tone, but I have to say – being Dutch thus European – I think that he is slightly overestimating the problem. Or at least… for me. Personally, I never even saw gypsies. Not that I know at least.
Anyway, it would be interesting to read more on this subject. I will try to do some research on it in the coming days. A follow-up post is in the making….
H/t Holly
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