Italian political leaders are not generally held in high esteem outside (or indeed inside) their home country. Their handling of the country’s first big race-relations crisis has shown why. Among the adjectives that spring to mind are opportunistic, histrionic, irresponsible and, perhaps at best, insensitive.

The trouble began on October 30th, when Giovanna Reggiani, a 47-year-old Italian naval officer’s wife, was returning home along a deserted lane in northern Rome. She was brutally attacked. Early reports suggested that she had been tortured, raped, robbed and ferociously beaten—though, in fact, she was neither tortured nor raped. But it may be that her assailant set about her savagely after she tried to defend herself from sexual assault.

This was a horrifying crime, from which Ms Reggiani died two days later. The man accused of her killing is Nicolae Mailat, a Romanian Roma (gypsy) who lived in one of a string of shacks in a nearby wood. He denies murdering Ms Reggiani, but admits snatching her bag. Fellow shack-dwellers say that he is mentally disturbed.

None of this carried any weight in the outcry that followed. Mr Mailat is one of hundreds of thousands of Romanians, many of them gypsies, who have flocked to Italy in recent years and now make up its biggest ethnic minority. They have unquestionably brought problems, particularly to Rome, where a disproportionate number live in dreadful conditions under bridges, in copses or in disused buildings. They have made some parts of the city feel distinctly unsafe.

But the reason so many have come is that Italian politicians have encouraged them. The former centre-right government of Silvio Berlusconi waived visa restrictions on Romania five years before it joined the European Union in January. The current centre-left government of Romano Prodi chose not to restrict the entry of workers from Romania after it had become a full member. Romanians were initially popular. They speak a Romance language. Most integrate easily.

Despite Italy’s open-arms policy, no steps were taken to provide even temporary shelter for the new arrivals. Part of the blame must fall on Rome’s centre-left mayor, Walter Veltroni. Yet it was he who was chiefly responsible for pushing the government into a panic after Ms Reggiani’s murder.

Mr Veltroni is more than just mayor of Italy’s biggest city. Last month, he was elected head of the new Democratic Party, which combines the two biggest parties on the centre-left. As such, he instantly became heir-apparent to Mr Prodi, and the centre-left’s candidate for the next general election. He thereby makes himself a continuous source of discomfort to Mr Prodi, as he seeks to keep himself in the news. He also offers an appealing alternative to an unpopular and fragile government which smaller coalition parties are repeatedly threatening to bring down.

After Mr Veltroni declared that “neither the police nor the local authorities can cope with the emergency”, the cabinet produced a decree that gave prefects, local representatives of the interior ministry, the power to expel citizens of other EU countries if they had the backing of a judge. A 2004 EU directive legitimised such expulsions in cases where there was a threat to public health or security.

In Brussels, the justice commissioner, Franco Frattini, and his officials seem to have accepted the Italian move (see article). But it is at best debatable whether the expulsions reflect faithfully a directive that, according to the EU’s own summary, was intended for a “ serious and present threat which affects the fundamental interests of the state”.

The most shocking aspect of the decree is that it is aimed so openly at Romanians. The preamble claims that “the proportion of crime committed by foreigners has increased, and those who commit most crime are the Romanians.” This is true only in absolute terms, because Romanians are the most numerous immigrants. As an analysis in La Stampa has shown, the proportion of Romanians reported to, or arrested by, the police in 2006 was lower than in most other foreign groups.

Within 24 hours of the cabinet meeting, 20 people were expelled. A band of thugs beat up and stabbed three Romanians in a Rome suburb. The first of several immigrant encampments were flattened with bulldozers. Since then, the Roma have been the target of vitriolic abuse. Gianfranco Fini, the supposedly reformed leader of the former neo-fascists, accused them of prostituting their womenfolk, approving the kidnapping of children and believing that theft was morally justified.

Continued at: The Economist

Wikipedia defines Roma as “among the best known ethnic groups that appear in literature and folklore, and are often referred to as Gypsies, [both terms] that are sometimes considered pejorative”. This systemic disproval of an ethnic group is based on decades of stigmas, stereotypes, and misinformation.

The Princeton Dictionary defines Roma as “a member of a people with dark skin and hair who speak Romany and who traditionally live by seasonal work and fortunetelling”. This definition is racist, factually incorrect, out of date, and out of touch. The Oxford English Dictionary doesn’t have a definition for Roma at all. There needs to be a strong and sustained effort to change the hearts of minds of Europeans for the Romani people to achieve any long term significant improvement in their plight.

An important step in the Roma acquiring the rights and respect they deserve will be to change the meaning of Roma from a word of disrespect to one of admiration for a people with a long and noble heritage and rich cultural traditions. If we can change the definition of Roma to a positive one, maybe we can start to change their political, economical, and social position.

- You have to ask for each grocery bag you want, pay for the bags (10 Forints - about 50 cents Can/each), and then bag the groceries yourself, a couple times I’ve forgotten to ask for the bags, and ended having to stuff everything in my pockets!

I’ve been told the grocery bag fee is an environmental measure, a good idea we should do in Canada!

- It’s obvious to me the difference in immigration between Hungary and Canada. Its 95% or so Caucasian here, compared to 50% Caucasian in Canada (at best, in my opinion). Not a bad thing, either way, but I do notice the difference.

- The weather changes day by day, one day it will snow, the next its blue skies and sunny (but still cold). From what I’m told, the weather here in Budapest has been better on average then Vancouver.

- Fast Food is big business here, there are fast food places on most corners, and there are many mega-restaurants, the size of a gymnasium, scattered throughout the city.

- McDonalds seems to control the retail coffee business here for the most part, they are called McCafe’s, a separate coffee bar, most of the time inside a McDonalds restaurant and off to the side, but sometimes on their own.

- I get my hot water for my showers from a hot water tank elevated beside my shower, it needs 10-15 minutes to warm up. I get my hot water for dish washing from a mini version hanging in front of the sink.

To be continued…

Before coming to Hungary, it wasn’t clear to me whether I would be able to make a positive contribution to Human Rights from an eastern European country, rather than Africa, where the rest of colleagues were sent. Now that I am here, however, I am confident that I am making a contribution to an important situation that requires more attention. The Roma situation doesn’t get much attention in North America, if any, but it should.

I am going to use your favorite source of information and mine, Wikipedia, to help me explain the issue;

The Romani people are an ethnic group living in many communities all over the world. The Roma are among the best known ethnic groups that appear in literature and folklore, and are often referred to as Gypsies. The Roma are still thought of as wandering nomads in the popular imagination, despite the fact that today the vast majority live in permanent housing. This widely dispersed ethnic group lives across the world not only near their historic heartland in Southern and Eastern Europe. Worldwide there is an estimated population of at least 15 million Roma. The official number of Romani people is disputed in many countries. Because many Roma often refuse to register their ethnic identity in official censuses for fear of discrimination, unofficial estimates are undertaken in efforts to reveal their true numbers.

The Roma — who have often been stereotyped as thieves, tramps, con men and fortune tellers — have been subject to various forms of discrimination throughout history. Due in part to their past semi-nomadic lifestyle and differences in language and culture, there has been a great deal of mutual distrust between the Roma and the more settled indigenous inhabitants of the areas to which the Roma migrated.

Antizigan discrimination has continued in the 2000s, particularly in the Balkans, in areas such as Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia. Roma are often confined to low-class ghettos, are subject to discrimination in jobs and schools, and are often subject to police brutality. In Bulgaria, professor Ognian Saparev has written articles stating that ‘Gypsies’ should be confined to ghettoes because they do not assimilate, are culturally inclined towards theft, have no desire to work, and use their minority status to ‘blackmail’ the majority. This was a reaction to the murder of his colleague professor Stanimir Kaloyanov who was beaten to death by a Roma group while he was celebrating his son’s prom in Sofia in May 2005.

In the Czech Republic the majority of the Czech people do not want to have Roma as neighbors (almost 90%, more than any other group) seeing them as thieves and social parasites. In spite of long waiting time for a child adoption, Romani children from orphanages are almost never adopted by Czech couples. After the fall of communist party from power in 1989 the jobs traditionally employing Roma either disappeared or were taken over by workers from Ukraine and the stereotypes about Roma further reduced their employability.[citation needed]

As of 2006, many Roma who had previously lived in Kosovo lived in displaced refugee communities in Montenegro and Serbia. Those who remain often fear attacks from ethnic Albanians who see them as “Serb Collaborators”. In February, 2007, three Romani women in Slovakia received compensation after suing a hospital for sterilizing them while they were underage and without their consent. While the sterilizations occurred in 1999 and 2002, and the women had been repeatedly appealing to prosecutors since then, they were up until this time ignored.

The European Center for Antiziganism Research officially filed a complaint against Sacha Cohen — who plays Borat in the mockumentary film [of the same name] — for inciting violence and violating Germany’s anti-discrimination laws. One part of the satirical film, which supposedly portrays Borat’s impoverished native village, actually shows a Romani village in Romania. In character, Borat has referred to himself as a former “gypsy catcher,” and he has made a reference to “running over Gypsies with a Hummer”.

After actually meeting Romani people, I’ve come to realize that the Borat joke that the ECAR referred to wouldn’t have been accepted if he had made reference to running over a women, a gay person, or a black person. The stereotype and prosecution of Romani people needs to stop, this is 21st century, not the 15th century, and this behavior should not be accepted any more. These are real people with real problems that shouldn’t be ignored.

Hungary is at a pivotal point in its long and colorful history. The country is cleaning up after an economically and physically damaging period. The evidence of this damage is clear everywhere I go and in all the local news I read. The country - like any other - wants to be a world leader, but for Hungary to do that it must rebuild itself. The buildings all over Budapest are a good metaphor for the country as a whole; most of the city is showing its age, many are dirty, with graffiti and most are falling apart, if an earthquake were to strike Budapest, 90% of the city would crumble. There are signs of change however, buildings are being renovated - others are being torn down with new ones immediately being built in their place. The capitalist economy is thriving here, the biggest mall in the country opened a couple days ago, with so many people trying to get in - some customers got trapped in the rotating doors in the melee. Its clear Hungary wants to catch up to its western counter parts, but it might be trying to do too much too fast. The countries economy is being stretched to its limit, the government is struggling to keep up the pace of its policies and services to its citizens. The growing pains will pass in time, and eventually Hungary will join the western world, politically and economically.

When I first arrived in Budapest, I had immediate culture shock, home sickness, whatever you want to call it. As time goes on, however, I’m starting to feel more comfortable and be more at peace. I still don’t have an apartment. I have left the Hotel, and I’m staying in the flat of some co-workers and fellow interns. Only 139 days to go.

Check out my first pictures from Budapest, many more to come I’m sure:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21641&l=53dde&id=502567867

I’ve made it to Budapest. Today was my first day at my new job at the European Roma Rights Centre. Coming here I wasn’t sure what I would be doing but, from they’ve told me I’m ready and able to help with them with what they would like me to do. I went for my first trip to today to look at a flat to live in longer term. Although I don’t think I will be taking the flat I did meet a nice couple also looking at the place who have offered me their old flat. I have another flat I’m looking at tomorrow morning, we shall see how it goes.

Although my visit to London was comparatively quick, only a few hours, I still consider it a success and a really amazing visit. I was able to visit almost everything I wanted to see, Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, the list goes on. I was walking non-stop for several hours which was incredibly tiring especially after such a long flight with no sleep. But I got through it and took more then 100 photos and I’m happy I did it. Check out my photos:

Part 1 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21079&l=0a096&id=502567867
Part 2 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21082&l=704cb&id=502567867

I am a couple hours outside Montreal at Chalet Baumonte. There are more then 30 young people here from all across Canada. Most are going to Africa, I am the only one in this group that is going to Europe, but I know that there are other NetCorps interns in Europe that were sent after earlier training sessions. I will be here until Sunday then I immediately jump on plane for Budapest with a short stop over in London on the way there.

Check out the photos from my week there:

Part 1 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20592&l=37737&id=502567867
Part 2 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20857&l=9f6d6&id=502567867