Hysterical and unfounded fears of Gypsies stealing babies spread through Ireland this week, which led to the police taking children away from two separate Roma families. The police turned out to be the only child snatchers in these cases, which were the culmination of years of growing anti-Roma sentiment that at every point politicians – and sometimes the press – have perpetuated rather than prevented.
The Roma community have long been Europe’s whipping boys and girls. They are the last minority group that it is safe for ostensibly respectable politicians to openly attack. Despite the dark legacy of the Porajmos, the Nazi extermination of as many as 1.5million Romani during World War II, in Europe it has never become taboo to repeat centuries-old slurs about their culture.
This particular round of Gypsy hate started last week in Greece, where a child – Maria – with blonde hair and blue eyes was found living with Gypsies who were not her real parents. Immediately, the centuries-old myth of Gypsy kidnappings was reborn. The parents of missing blonde children lined up to say they had found new hope from the case because Gypsies could have taken their child. The idea is as discredited as the blood libel against Jews – that they used Christian children in rituals – but people still like to trot the lie out every so often.
Today, it was confirmed that the child in Greece actually is Roma, that her parents are from Bulgaria and that her mother gave her away because she was too poor to mind her. But this is unlikely to stall the momentum of a continent-spanning anti-Roma news narrative. The story came just after French president Francois Hollande revealed his nasty side by deporting the parents and siblings of a Roma girl who'd been seized from a school bus. After protests, the girl was offered a chance to return to France without her parents, who were back home in Serbia, being violently attacked. Domestically, the Mail had us all very concerned about six – yes, six – homeless Roma who had been flown from the UK back to Romania, only to have the gall to return to live in a public park. Full story...
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The Roma community have long been Europe’s whipping boys and girls. They are the last minority group that it is safe for ostensibly respectable politicians to openly attack. Despite the dark legacy of the Porajmos, the Nazi extermination of as many as 1.5million Romani during World War II, in Europe it has never become taboo to repeat centuries-old slurs about their culture.
This particular round of Gypsy hate started last week in Greece, where a child – Maria – with blonde hair and blue eyes was found living with Gypsies who were not her real parents. Immediately, the centuries-old myth of Gypsy kidnappings was reborn. The parents of missing blonde children lined up to say they had found new hope from the case because Gypsies could have taken their child. The idea is as discredited as the blood libel against Jews – that they used Christian children in rituals – but people still like to trot the lie out every so often.
Today, it was confirmed that the child in Greece actually is Roma, that her parents are from Bulgaria and that her mother gave her away because she was too poor to mind her. But this is unlikely to stall the momentum of a continent-spanning anti-Roma news narrative. The story came just after French president Francois Hollande revealed his nasty side by deporting the parents and siblings of a Roma girl who'd been seized from a school bus. After protests, the girl was offered a chance to return to France without her parents, who were back home in Serbia, being violently attacked. Domestically, the Mail had us all very concerned about six – yes, six – homeless Roma who had been flown from the UK back to Romania, only to have the gall to return to live in a public park. Full story...
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