The Roma are the unsung victims of European racism

A number of events taking place recently point to a massive backlash building up against immigrants in Europe. Some of this is predictable — in times of economic trouble, rich white countries look for scapegoats and immigrants usually fit the bill, especially if they are non-white, as we have seen in the US over illegal immigration from Mexico.

There is also the little-expressed European fear of being swamped by culturally alien, demographically fearsome, and demonstratively religious Muslim populations that have been rapidly increasing on their continent. There is a fear of Eurabia where white Europeans — with their comfortable welfare states, decadent lifestyles and their disdain for their church - worry about being overwhelmed by what they imagine as Muslim hordes imposing their muscular cultural mores.

This has led to the controversy over the French ban on the veil or hijab, the Swiss ban on minarets, and perhaps more subtly the recent success of Geert Wilders’ determinedly anti-Muslim party in the laid-back Netherlands, and, surprisingly, the entry of a far-right party into the Swedish parliament this weekend, with the possibility that they will offer key support to a minority government in a hung parliament.

The far-right in Europe has gained a new legitimacy, far removed from the earlier antics of the likes of Enoch Powell in Britain and Jean-Marie Le Pen in France, both of whom were considered gadflies with no particular chance of influencing the government.

Today’s right-wing, anti-immigrant parties are serious contenders for power. The tide is apparently turning, and Europe, which has a nasty history of intolerance, is reverting to that norm, of racism, religious animosity and strife.

The obvious target of all this anger is the increasing numbers of Muslims, especially in ghettos like the inflammable banlieues of France. On the other hand, the Europeans are also quite conscious that Muslims are not to be messed with: the lessons of 9/11, the British subway bombings, and the uproar over the Danish cartoons have convinced Europeans that it is best to treat Muslims with kid gloves.

Therefore, they have chosen the usual suspects to victimise: the Gypsies or Roma. There is no fear of retaliation because the Roma are powerless. The other favourite victims in Europe, the Jews have now acquired their own state and will not tolerate abuse.

So the Roma are left to take the brunt of Europe’s hatred. They have been the chosen victims of racism and large-scale oppression for centuries. The Roma are not originally from Egypt — it is a mistaken impression that is where the term ‘gypsy’ came from — but from India. It is clear that they are the remnants of formerly Hindu Indian migrant groups, some of which were enslaved and sold by Muslims invaders such as Mahmud of Gazni. There are similarities — both genetic and cultural — with some itinerant tribal populations in India.

Thus the Roma have been doubly unfortunate: enslaved and/or uprooted first, then dispersed as marginal, despised populations throughout much of Europe (the typical adjective used for them is ‘thieving’; also remember the gypsy girl Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame: she did not have too many rights).

Later, they were among the groups targeted for genocide by the Nazis, and large numbers perished in death camps and gas chambers.

There have been continuous pogroms against Roma for centuries. There was Roma slavery in Romania until 1855. Ten thousand Roma were rounded up in Spain in 1749. In the 18th century, the Austro-Hungarian Empire banned Roma marriages and forcibly took away Roma children. Fascists in Italy in 1926 ordered the expulsion of all Roma. 19,300 Roma were killed in Auschwitz, and 90% of the Roma were killed in areas such as Lithunia that Nazis took over.

The contemporary situation for Roma is not too good. There was a recent act by the French State, which decreed that it was deporting many Roma to Romania (despite the similarity, the words are not related; it just so happens that these particular people were indeed immigrants from Romania). This has brought out a lot of condemnations and charges of discrimination everywhere.

There is a feeling of déjà vu in all this. We, in India, have heard about how poorly Harijans are treated. Loudmouthed vested interests equate casteism with racism, and condemn the Hindu society. Much of this is instigated by conversion-focused churches. But when Christians in Europe who belong to these very same churches are brutalising Roma, where are the voices of righteous indignation? This just goes to show the extent of hypocrisy among Europeans and churchmen. They, as it is said, “see the mote in their brother’s eye, but not the beam in their own”. Amnesty International, anyone?