March 15, 2012
An Immigrant Tells His Story: The Daily Racism of Life in an East German Town Alberto lived through the Portuguese colonial era in Mozambique and emigrated to communist East Germany when he was 18. In the early 1980s, he worked as a butcher in East Berlin and spent his free time boxing. His love of the sport led him to move to the northeastern town of Schwedt, near the border with Poland, and he boxed more than 100 times for the town. He was so good that he made the national first division. “I was in the newspaper every week,” he recalls. After his boxing career ended, Alberto took a course in social work and volunteered, helping out people in the community. Then the Berlin Wall fell and in the economic upheaval that followed, more than one-third of Schwedt’s population moved away. Unemployment rose to 15 percent. As the years passed, a generation grew that knew little about life in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and they didn’t know Ibraimo Alberto. “In the 1990s, the mood against foreigners worsened,” he says today. But he stayed in Schwedt and ended up spending 21 years there, until it became too much and he fled, for the first time in his life. Alberto, the only black person in Schwedt, who was appointed as the town’s immigrant representative, fled the racism of his fellow citizens. “Running away,” he says today, “was the best decision of my life.” (via SPIEGEL ONLINE)

An Immigrant Tells His Story: The Daily Racism of Life in an East German Town

Alberto lived through the Portuguese colonial era in Mozambique and emigrated to communist East Germany when he was 18. In the early 1980s, he worked as a butcher in East Berlin and spent his free time boxing. His love of the sport led him to move to the northeastern town of Schwedt, near the border with Poland, and he boxed more than 100 times for the town. He was so good that he made the national first division. “I was in the newspaper every week,” he recalls.

After his boxing career ended, Alberto took a course in social work and volunteered, helping out people in the community. Then the Berlin Wall fell and in the economic upheaval that followed, more than one-third of Schwedt’s population moved away. Unemployment rose to 15 percent. As the years passed, a generation grew that knew little about life in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and they didn’t know Ibraimo Alberto. “In the 1990s, the mood against foreigners worsened,” he says today.

But he stayed in Schwedt and ended up spending 21 years there, until it became too much and he fled, for the first time in his life. Alberto, the only black person in Schwedt, who was appointed as the town’s immigrant representative, fled the racism of his fellow citizens. “Running away,” he says today, “was the best decision of my life.” (via SPIEGEL ONLINE)

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Filed under: Germany Brandenburg East Germany Schwedt Migration Immigration Immigrants Berlin Wall German Democratic Republic Prejudice Racism Bigotry Neo-Nazis Ibraimo Alberto 
March 12, 2012
“Negro Day” in The Netherlands. But is it funny? Black Dutch comedian Howard Komproe thought it was a good idea to have a Negro Day on March 9th. In Dutch the number 9 is pronounced as ‘negen’, so it rhymes with the Dutch word Neger, or in English Negro. So he thought if you have a Warm Sweater day, a Redhead Day, or a woman’s day, why not have a Negro day. So Happy Negro day! But is it funny? On his website negerdag.nl he writes. “Our motto is, ‘Love your Negro’, on this day everyone may act as negro. Or at least the way most people think negroes behave. So for lunch, or breakfast go to KFC, get yourself a gold tooth, don’t work hard, visit your mistress before you go home and don’t be ashamed for your ….. “Twitter your negro adventures, the best Negro tweets will win a unique Negro day T-shirt.” He offers T-shirts with slogans as ‘My father is a negro’, ‘My mother love negroes’, ‘I wish I was a negro’ and a cliché Negro slogan. He received a lot of negative responses and in a poll 59% of the readers of a large newspaper said they were not amused. (via AFRO-EUROPE)

“Negro Day” in The Netherlands. But is it funny?

Black Dutch comedian Howard Komproe thought it was a good idea to have a Negro Day on March 9th. In Dutch the number 9 is pronounced as ‘negen’, so it rhymes with the Dutch word Neger, or in English Negro.

So he thought if you have a Warm Sweater day, a Redhead Day, or a woman’s day, why not have a Negro day. So Happy Negro day! But is it funny?

On his website negerdag.nl he writes. “Our motto is, ‘Love your Negro’, on this day everyone may act as negro. Or at least the way most people think negroes behave. So for lunch, or breakfast go to KFC, get yourself a gold tooth, don’t work hard, visit your mistress before you go home and don’t be ashamed for your …..

“Twitter your negro adventures, the best Negro tweets will win a unique Negro day T-shirt.” He offers T-shirts with slogans as ‘My father is a negro’, ‘My mother love negroes’, ‘I wish I was a negro’ and a cliché Negro slogan.

He received a lot of negative responses and in a poll 59% of the readers of a large newspaper said they were not amused. (via AFRO-EUROPE)

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Filed under: Netherlands Holland Howard Komproe Racism Racist Stereotypes Stereotypes Prejudice Negro Day Negen Neger Negerdag 
January 28, 2012

Hungary’s Roma clash with far-right paramilitary group - video

In 2011, members of a uniformed and armed rightwing paramilitary group moved into Gyöngyöspata, a small Hungarian village, ostensibly as a ‘neighbourhood watch patrol’. The village’s 450 Roma claim the real motive was to terrorise and drive out their community. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union filmed the rise of the far-right Jobbik party, the group’s political wing (via guardian.co.uk)

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Filed under: Far-Right Extremism Far-Right Extremists Gyöngyöspata Hungarian Civil Liberties Union Hungary Jobbik Paramilitary Roma Romani Romany Video Discrimination Prejudice Social Cohesion Society 
December 31, 2011
France: Muslim war graves attacked

Thirty war graves of Muslim soldiers who fought in World War I have been attacked and defaced in the southern city of Carcassonne.

Racist insults and swastikas were painted on the graves, which are identified by the Islamic symbols of the star and crescent.

Slogans including “France for the French” and “Arabs out” were painted on some of the gravestones, reported daily newspaper Le Figaro.

The graves of Muslim soldiers in the same graveyard were attacked earlier this year in September. (via The Local)

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(Notes: 9)
  
Filed under: France Carcassonne Grave Descecration World War One WWI War Graves Islamophobia Islam Muslim Bigotry Prejudice 
December 19, 2011
New 'mythbuster' website to fight racism in Sweden

The Swedish government has launched a new website to combat the proliferation of inaccurate and racist myths about minorities and immigrants in Sweden.

“Extremism has found a new forum which is also very effective when it comes to spreading myths and prejudice,” integration minister Erik Ullenhag of the Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) writes in an opinion piece published Monday in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.

Ullenhag cites a report issued earlier in the year by the Forum for Living History (Forum för levande historia) which found there had been a dramatic increase in the number of racist websites in Sweden in recent years.

While racism is hardly a new phenomenon, writes Ullenhag, racist myths and stereotypes have found a new foothold on the web, and must be addressed there.

“Prejudice will be met with the facts that exist,” he writes.

The new site, regeringen.se/tolerans, attempts to debunk a number of “common internet myths about immigrants and minorities”. (via The Local)

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(Notes: 10)
  
Filed under: Sweden People Society Racism Prejudice Immigrants Minorities 
December 19, 2011
Bulgarians Hate, Fear Fellow Citizens - Study

Bulgarian citizens bear heavy resentment towards those weaker than themselves, the rich and the politicians, as well as different ethnicities, shows a study revealed Sunday.

According to the opinion survey by the AFIS agency, 54% would drive away drug addicts from the country if they could, 45% would ban HIV-positive people, 43% would banish the mentally ill.

38% would banish homosexuals from Bulgaria, and 20% would have no Roma, Africans, Asians and other minorities.

Only 14% of respondents said they would drive away politicians, and just 11% said they would drive away rich people.

On the other hand, some 20% of respondents have said that they know people who they see as “above the law”.

According to the AFIS study, some 64% of Bulgarians think that crime and prostitution are linked to ethnicity.

41% fear that inter-ethnic tensions might flare into violence, while 26% consider that inter-ethnic relations in Bulgaria are good. (via Novinite.com)

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(Notes: 9)
  
Filed under: Bulgaria Prejudice Bigotry Intolerance Stereotypes Opinion Poll Opinion Survey Society Social Cohesion Racism 
December 15, 2011
Czech Republic: pub owners must apologise for baseball bat with racist text

The owners of a pub in Hojsova Straz, west Bohemia, have to apologise to a Romany man for having placed a baseball bat with the text Against Gypsies in the pub, the Prague High Court ruled yesterday.

The Romany man rightly considered the presence of the bat in the pub discriminatory and an attack on his ethnic group, the court said.

However, the court did not adjudge the financial compensation of 150,000 crowns to him that he had demanded.

The Romany man filed a lawsuit for the protection of the person, but lower instance courts rejected it, arguing that this was not any discrimination, a racist attack or harassment over ethnic group and the colour of skin. (via Prague Monitor)

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Filed under: Czech Republic Prague Hojsova Straz Prague High Court High Court Discrimination Baseball Bat Racism Racist Roma Romani Romany Gypsy Prejudice Bigotry 
December 12, 2011
Germany: allotment gardeners told to prune racial quotas A group of allotment owners in northern Germany have been told to turn over a new leaf after they set a limit on how many people with foreign roots should be allowed to join their garden community. The mayor of Norderstedt, near Hamburg, demanded the group drop their “migrant quota” which sets a 12.6 percent limit on what share of the allotment spaces known as Schrebergärten be granted to people of foreign heritage. The Krengelkrugweg allotment owners voted on a number of proposals at their annual meeting at the end of October – including various suggestions on setting a limit for immigrants, according to the Die Welt newspaper. Of the 70 people who voted, 59 voted in favour of setting some sort of limit. Of these, five said they favoured a quota of 27 percent – the share of people with foreign backgrounds in Hamburg. A further 13 voted for a quota of 19.2 percent – the share of minorities in Germany, while 41 carried their motion to set the limit at 12.6 percent – the share of immigrants in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. This means that of the 73 allotments on the project, just nine should be rented to people with foreign roots. (via The Local)

Germany: allotment gardeners told to prune racial quotas

A group of allotment owners in northern Germany have been told to turn over a new leaf after they set a limit on how many people with foreign roots should be allowed to join their garden community.

The mayor of Norderstedt, near Hamburg, demanded the group drop their “migrant quota” which sets a 12.6 percent limit on what share of the allotment spaces known as Schrebergärten be granted to people of foreign heritage.

The Krengelkrugweg allotment owners voted on a number of proposals at their annual meeting at the end of October – including various suggestions on setting a limit for immigrants, according to the Die Welt newspaper.

Of the 70 people who voted, 59 voted in favour of setting some sort of limit. Of these, five said they favoured a quota of 27 percent – the share of people with foreign backgrounds in Hamburg.

A further 13 voted for a quota of 19.2 percent – the share of minorities in Germany, while 41 carried their motion to set the limit at 12.6 percent – the share of immigrants in the state of Schleswig-Holstein.

This means that of the 73 allotments on the project, just nine should be rented to people with foreign roots. (via The Local)

6:33am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxD8wwCJ
(Notes: 14)
  
Filed under: Germany Schleswig-Holstein Norderstedt Krengelkrugweg Gardening Allotment Allotments Quota Quotas Racism Bigotry Prejudice Krengelkrugweg Allotments Schrebergärten Hamburg 
December 10, 2011
French Roma policy violates European Social Charter

In a decision of 28 June COHRE v. France, no. 63/2010 [PDF], which was only recently made public, the European Committee of Social Rights has found the French zero tolerance policy towards East European Roma living in illegal camps to be in violation of the European Social Charter. The case, which was lodged by the NGO Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions COHRE , concerns the eviction and expulsion measures announced by French president Sarkozy in the summer of 2010. Hundreds of illegal camps were dismantled and thousands of Roma were expelled to Romania and Bulgaria. Most expulsions took place on a “voluntary” basis, in exchange for the payment of 300 euro per adult and 100 euro per child.

The Committee first considered the complaint under Art. E the principle of non-discrimination in conjunction with Art. 31, § 2 of the European Social Charter. The latter provision concerns the right to housing and particularly requires states to “take measures designed to prevent and reduce homelessness with a view to its gradual elimination.” According to the Committee’s case-law the illegal occupation of a site or dwelling may justify the eviction of illegal occupants. The Committee however requires that the criteria of illegal occupation must not be unduly wide; that the eviction takes place in accordance with the applicable rules of procedure; that these rules are sufficiently protective of the rights of the persons concerned; and that the eviction is carried out in conditions that respect the dignity of the persons concerned. The authorities must moreover take steps to rehouse or financially assist these persons.

The Committee considered that France had failed to demonstrate that the forced evictions were carried out in conditions that respected their dignity, or that the Roma were offered alternative accommodation. Furthermore these evictions took place against a background of ethnic discrimination, Roma stigmatisation and constraint, in the form of the threat of immediate expulsion from France. The Committee attached considerable weight to the fact that a particular ethnic group was explicitly singled out. Therefore the Committee ruled that the evictions constituted a clear and direct discrimination, in violation of Art. E in conjunction with Art. 31, § 2 of the Charter. (via Strasbourg Observers)

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(Notes: 4)
  
Filed under: European Court of Human Rights ECHR Migration Minority Rights Discrimination Prejudice Bigotry Roma Romany Romani Gypsy Roma Rights France European Committee of Social Rights COHRE Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions Eviction Forced Evictions Explusion Forced Expulsions European Social Charter Law Housing Rights Ethnic Discrimination Ethnic Minority Ethnic Minorities 
December 9, 2011
Sweden: woman loses flat ‘because she was Roma’ A woman from Sweden claims to have lost her rental property after the contract was already signed and keys had been exchanged, following pressure from the other tenants to not let a member of the Roma people live in the building. “The other tenants would move out if I moved in,” said Tuija Svart to Sveriges Television (SVT). Svart and her teenage daughter had returned to Sweden after staying for a year in Finland, and had been looking for a flat near her other daughter. She went to look at an advertised apartment and decided that she liked the flat. According to SVT, she then signed a contract, got the keys and changed her address over the internet. But while in the moving van, the landlord rang her and said that she couldn’t move in after all. “He said that I had a different background,” Svart told SVT. Svart told SVT that it was the first time she felt discriminated against in Sweden for being a member of the Roma people. Her daughter Samira was also upset about what happened. “Mainly I felt angry. And sad as well. It felt a bit like if my dreams were crushed,” she told SVT. Fearing what would happen otherwise, Svart returned the keys to the landlord. But she also reported the incident to the police and to the Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen, DO). Then the landlord changed his tune and said that the reason he didn’t want to accept her as a tenant was that she didn’t have a valid passport, that her car was registered in Finland and that she had no previous address in Sweden, according to SVT. Despite the legal experts at the local authority finding in Tuija Svart’s favour, their hands are tied as Svart sent back the keys without coercion. However, police are still investigating if Svart has been the victim of discrimination. (via The Local)

Sweden: woman loses flat ‘because she was Roma’

A woman from Sweden claims to have lost her rental property after the contract was already signed and keys had been exchanged, following pressure from the other tenants to not let a member of the Roma people live in the building.

“The other tenants would move out if I moved in,” said Tuija Svart to Sveriges Television (SVT).

Svart and her teenage daughter had returned to Sweden after staying for a year in Finland, and had been looking for a flat near her other daughter.

She went to look at an advertised apartment and decided that she liked the flat.

According to SVT, she then signed a contract, got the keys and changed her address over the internet. But while in the moving van, the landlord rang her and said that she couldn’t move in after all.

“He said that I had a different background,” Svart told SVT.

Svart told SVT that it was the first time she felt discriminated against in Sweden for being a member of the Roma people.

Her daughter Samira was also upset about what happened.

“Mainly I felt angry. And sad as well. It felt a bit like if my dreams were crushed,” she told SVT.

Fearing what would happen otherwise, Svart returned the keys to the landlord. But she also reported the incident to the police and to the Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen, DO).

Then the landlord changed his tune and said that the reason he didn’t want to accept her as a tenant was that she didn’t have a valid passport, that her car was registered in Finland and that she had no previous address in Sweden, according to SVT.

Despite the legal experts at the local authority finding in Tuija Svart’s favour, their hands are tied as Svart sent back the keys without coercion.

However, police are still investigating if Svart has been the victim of discrimination. (via The Local)

8:43pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxD1G9Zx
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Bigotry Discrimination Diskrimineringsombudsmannen Equality Ombudsman Gypsy Housing Housing Discrimination Prejudice Rented Housing Roma Romani Romany Sweden Antiziganism Roma Rights 
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