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68% of Italians want Gypsies expelled

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"Sixty-eight per cent of Italians, fuelled by often inflammatory attacks by the new rightwing government, want to see all of the country's 150,000 Gypsies, many of them Italian citizens, expelled, according to an opinion poll.

The survey, published as mobs in Naples burned down Gypsy camps this week, revealed that the majority also wanted all Gypsy camps in Italy to be demolished .

About 70,000 Gypsies in Italy hold Italian passports, including about 30,000 descended from 15th-century Gypsy settlers in the country. The remainder have arrived since, many fleeing the Balkans during the 1990s.

Another 10,000 Gypsies came from Romania after it joined the European Union in January 2007, according to an Italian human rights organisation, EveryOne, part of the approximately half million Romanians believed to be in Italy.

Romanians were among the 268 immigrants rounded up in a nationwide police crackdown on prostitution and drug dealing this week, after new prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's likening of foreign criminals to "an army of evil".

But Romanian officials have sought to distinguish between the Romanians and Romanian Gypsies entering Italy.

Flavio Tosi, the mayor of Verona and a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, said his city had the biggest Romanian community in Italy, 7,000 strong, "working as builders, artisans and domestics. And they themselves say the Roma are a problem", he said.

In a second poll, 81% of Italian respondents said they found all Gypsies, Romanian or not, "barely likeable or not likeable at all", a greater number than the 64% who said they felt the same way about non-Gypsy Romanians.

Young Neapolitans who threw Molotov cocktails into a Naples Gypsy camp this week, after a girl was accused of trying to abduct a baby, bragged that they were undertaking "ethnic cleansing". A UN spokeswoman compared the scenes to the forced migration of Gypsies from the Balkans. "We never thought we'd see such images in Italy", said Laura Boldrini.

"This hostility is a result of the generally inflammatory language of the current government, as well as the previous one", said EveryOne director Matteo Pegoraro. "Italian football stars at Milan teams assumed to have Gypsy heritage, such as Andrea Pirlo, are now also the subject of threatening chants".

Commenting on the attacks in Naples, Umberto Bossi, the head of the Northern League party said: "People are going to do what the political class cannot".

The defence minister, Ignazio La Russa, said yesterday he would consider deploying soldiers to Italian streets to help fight crime, while a group of Bosnian Gypsies in Rome said they were mounting night guard patrols of their camp to defend against vigilante attacks.

Europe's leading human rights watchdog urged the government to prevent attacks on Roma communities. Christian Strohal, head of Vienna-based OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, said: "The current stigmatisation of Roma and immigrant groups in Italy is dangerous as it ... increases the potential for violence"."
keeshii768

33 responses // 68% of Italians want Gypsies expelled

  • This is a huge problem. Gypsies in Europe have been and victims of ethnic prosecution all around Europe.
    currenton
  • Unfortunately the US isn't the only country that is trying to make immigration illegal, for the most part. There are other countries in Europe trying to prevent dark skinned people from immigrating to their country, especially those from Africa. Some have even gone as far as to imply that Africans are inferior because they have not progressed as a civilization in Africa. Sad but true. That is why it is so important for us to stop fussing over the petty argument that is racism and look at the big picture and realize we are all human beings on earth, and there is plenty for us all, and not just for some.
    recommended by  Marilynn_Murray
    Mafioso
  • I agree with George Carlin more and more each day...
    jade_azul16
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoRZDMFVPtA
    My heart bleeds for these gypsies - I have a fair amount of Russian gypsy blood myself (3/8) so I identify with all gypsies. Russia is the country in which gypsies have suffered the least - it was not uncommon and perfectly acceptable for aristocrats to marry beautiful gypsy women, as is the case in both my father's and my mother's families - hence my gypsy blood. Gypsies have an uncanny talent for music and dancing, and are a wonderful people who have been victimized and demonized for centuries, for no good reason at all.

    Here is a video of my favourite Russian Tzigane singer, Leonsia Erdenko, singing one of my favourite Tzigane songs - Solnyshko. The Erdenko Trio has shown that Russian gypsies are perfectly capable of living in the 21st century and adapt our Tzigane music to the times.

    Here is a little YouTube tip - if you add &fmt=18 to the url of a YouTube video, you'll get the high-quality (often mp4) video with stereo sound. For example, in the case of this video, this is how the url looks like for high-quality video and music:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoRZDMFVPtA&fmt=18
    Vierotchka
  • As space, and both econominc and natural resources become more scarce, expect this to become more frequent and more violent.
    freejsmoke420
  • ""This hostility is a result of the generally inflammatory language of the current government, as well as the previous one," "

    Bull! This is the predictable result of the intolerable
    behavior of most gypsies. There is a point when even the most liberal person feels enough is enough.

    I'm not a right winger but those primitive creatures should be expelled to some island. Gypsies never change. Most of them are dirty, lazy and immoral.

    They are hated everywhere not because of their race but their disgusting behavior.

    The situation is worst in Romania and Hungary and no wonder those countries can't get a break. Hundreds of thousands of gypsies live like parasites.
    No it's not a too strong word. They demand welfare money and they produce dirt and crime in exchange.

    I can fully understand the Italians.
    stardate
  • That is total and absolute excreta bovines, stardate. You don't know what you're talking about. Yours is hateful, prejudiced, racist speech. I bet you've never taken the trouble to get to know gypsies at all. :(
    Vierotchka
  • http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/romgypsies.htm
    Image...
    "Like the Jews, the Rom Gypsies were chosen for total annihilation just because of their race. Even though Jews are defined by religion, Hitler saw the Jewish people as a race that he believed needed to be completely annihilated. The Rom Gypsies also were a nomadic people that were persecuted throughout history. Both groups were denied certain privileges in many European countries. The Nazis believed that both the Jews and Gypsies were racially inferior and degenerate and therefore worthless. Like the Jews, the Gypsies were also moved into special areas set up by the Nazis. Half a million Gypsies, almost the entire Eastern European Gypsy population, was wiped out during the Holocaust. "
    lwhi
  • stardate, you disgust me. I hate bigots with a passion, and you are the very essence of such an intolerable creed. I am sure some gypsies fit the description of your hate-slurred speech, but so do members of every other type of people and culture. Blanket statements of a certain culture and way of life, such as yours, are examples of the very problems in our society which we need to fix.
    Egnatius212
  • Hey Stardate, Gypsies are human beings with equal human rights to everyone else.
    Purdey
  • thanks for posting this...

    we need to be aware of this kind of persecution everywhere it exists. and we need to take actions to change it.

    is there a place or organization that can be contacted to help these people out?
    Graham
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvRNqMZbwxs
    Are you aware, stardate, that you posted your venom just two posts after I stated that I am half gypsy? Those are my people you wrote about, you insulted and smeared, and in so doing, you insulted and smeared me personally. If I am just half the measure of what my people are, my posts and contributions here put the lie to your disgusting statements.
    Vierotchka
  • Have we not learned anything in the past 50 years? Oh dear, History is indeed Cyclical.
    beefcurry
  • Tolerance, tolerance, tolerance...
    Hawkmang
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_pfmrj0rxc
    Vierotchka
  • thanks for the youtube clips Vierotchka
    keeshii768
  • Will the need to feel superior to someone else never end? When are we going to become truly civalized?
    Marilynn_Murray
  • Damn, isn't it bad enough the Nazis tried to kill them all. Now the Italians hate them? This is really rough.
    VitaminB2
  • WOW! This is sad and troubling. Racism and Prejudice still lives on.
    tanyetta
  • We need to open our eys quickly Xenophobia and racism are spreading like wildfire, countries like Russia, France, Italy and even South Africa have seen recent upsurges in violence against people seen as foreigners. Even here in America we want to erect a wall to keep Mexicans out. Personally I believe the world belongs to all people and we should be able to travel wherever we want without restriction. I would support eliminating all borders of any kind.
    observer2121
  • thanks for the links vierotchka.

    no person is better than any other person.

    the prejudices we have within were often planted as seeds inside us generations before we were born.

    these seeds of misunderstanding and prejudice are the hardest to transform.

    the only way to transform seeds of anger or of hate is to shine the light of understanding on them, on the people who harbor them. when you understand a person, when you truly deeply understand what they have been through and seen and experienced, you cannot help but to love them.

    if stardate would have known a gypsy family, or a gypsy child, he would no longer have these feelings. perhaps his anger and resentment toward the gypsies was placed in his thoughts by a past generation, a father or mother, grandfather or grandmother.

    if any one of us were to have experienced what stardate has experienced, there is a very good chance we would have the same anger and same resentment he now has.

    i wish him to have understanding. because we all know that when we feel anger toward some one, the anger consumes us and is not healthy for us. i want all of us to be healthy, all of us to live in understanding and awareness.

    we must not speak with frustration or anger toward stardate, but we must reach out to him, and help him to understand the gypsies. when he finds this understanding and this empathy, the anger in his mind will dissipate, and he will be more light and happy. and as a result, we can all feel some happiness, some understanding, some universal love.
    Graham
  • The beautiful life for some is not so beautiful for others... when the selfish individuals do evil unto the others so they can keep everything for themselves...

    How sad...that the oppressed still can't get a break...
    PlatoTacius
  • If Gyspy = criminal, then where is the legal justice system to prosecute their alleged crimes? If you don't like criminals, then crack down on CRIME instead of performing some generalization-based ethnic cleansing.
    renbyrd
  • Ironically, in the early days of Rome, of Romulus and Remus, the leaders with vision welcomed all immigrants into the city with open arms integrating them into the sytem and the society but also requiring them to abide by all of the laws. This they believed would build a much more cohesive and stronger state...contributing to the advancement of their civilization... Plutarch's 'Lives'

    I agree, if a problem of lawlessness exists, or any problem, then why do thugs have to address it with violence...isn't this world of ours civilized enough yet to be able to handle any situation, but without violence..?
    PlatoTacius
  • Well, first of all Stardate isn't even worth addressing. It's best we let him continue to read comments posted by intelligent open minded people and maybe that will encourage him to become open minded and try to seek true knowledge (because right now he's obviously clinging to racists & bigots for info on things).

    Second, unfortunately it would take something drastic or a complete turnaround in the current situation we live in (intolerance, insecurities, racism, sexism, etc) for there to be any change in how these people (and others) live and are treated.

    Look there is a class of citizen (or illegal immigrant) here in the area I live in that is persecuted and talked badly about on a daily basis. For the most part, they (illegal immigrants that are brown skinned) are lumped into the category of filthy, disgusting rats that spread germs and disease and ravage our welfare system. I have to remind the people who live here "legally", that if there was a balance of wealth and resources throughout the world, then these people would be willing to stay in their countries and native neighborhoods rather than risking their lives to come to the US and "ravage" our resources.

    I also explain to them (people who live here in the US legally) that the way they (illegal immigrants) act and behave has to do with the mentality one has towards them, call someone a rat long enough (over hundreds of years) and they will start to act like one. Take away resources that you are giving to everyone but them and they'll resort to "stealing" those resources. And most of the time they live the way they do (rather filthy and unkempt) because they are not used to having things such as hand soap, or laundry detergent, or a nice house, nice clothes, etc. So those things don't become important to them until they adopt a different lifestyle (and some do adopt a different lifestyle, which is why they aren't all filthy and disgusting). Some continue to live that way because that is the condition they were raised in and don't adapt well to their new surroundings.

    I defend all types of people on a daily basis, but I do acknowledge that some of the things said about these people are true and are things that should be addressed (such as bad hygiene and unhealthy habits) for the betterment of the people being talked about and the community.

    I defend illegal immigrants all the time, but would I live in a neighborhood full of illegal immigrants, probably not, because I have had enough experience in the past to know that alot of them aren't the cleanest or most sanitary and I am a neat freak and can't stand messes. Does this mean I think they should be treated as subhuman, no way. Like I said they (illegal immigrants, gypsies, etc) would need a drastically different situation and attitude towards them to make those simple changes. Right now they only care about surviving, so smelling great and having manicured nails isn't necessarily at the top of lists for most illegal immigrants coming across to the US or gypsies living as vagabonds in Europe.
    Mafioso
  • Vierotchka,

    Unfortunately I know exactly what I'm talking about. My mother worked in a small town Hungarian court for years and saw these people every day. Yes they have a legal system to prosecute their crimes.
    They almost beat my brother simply because he refused to help them find match. It was not an isolated incident. There is a reason why even liberal Hungarians hate those people. It's not racism. It's perfectly justified disgust.

    95% of Hungarian and Romanian gypsies are uncivilized and agressive.

    "Are you aware, stardate, that you posted your venom just two posts after I stated that I am half gypsy?"

    Yes I am aware. And? What's your point?
    Even in Eastern Europe about 5% of them are decent working people. The problem is not with 100-Member Gypsy Orchestra you know? The problem is with people like these:

    http://m.blog.hu/he/hell/image/pics3/cigany.jpg

    You should understand that Eastern European gypsies, those living in Hungary and Romania and Moldova have a subculture that is different from the gypsy subculture in Spain, for example.


    It's not that they are poor. Many Hungarians are very poor. But they still don't live in filth and they don't produce 15 kids just to whine for welfare money and then raise those kids to be criminals.

    "I am sure some gypsies fit the description of your hate-slurred speech, "

    In Hungary and Romania not some. Most. Like it or not. There is absolutely nothing to love about their
    lifestyle.

    Purdey,

    "Hey Stardate, Gypsies are human beings with equal human rights to everyone else."

    Of course. And humans can be extermely disgusting dishonest and agressive as most Eastern European gypsies are. That's it.
    stardate
  • Oh and Freejsmoke420- it isn't that there isn't enough space or resources (I realize they may become more scarce in the future at the rate we're going). It is the fact there is a disproportional distribution of that space and those resources.

    How many times do we (those who live decently) throw away half of our food because we aren't that hungry, lose some loose change in our big couches never to be found again, or add on a room to our homes or go and live in the biggest most comfortable house our lifestyles can afford? All the time. Now imagine those who are megawealthy and the things they can make waste of.

    These are all things (space,food,resources) we take advantage of because we think we can afford to. There are some countries where that loose change could buy poor people food for a meal, or that half a hamburger would mean someone can be fed. There are places where half a home would suffice the needs of a family who lives in shambles.

    Fact is people and countries that have more money and resources always expend thoughtlessly what they have, when just a percentage of those luxuries would meet the needs of so many others in third world countries. There is no balance in this world, and eventually unbalance leads to total chaos.
    Mafioso
  • well , the US could just wall off Ohio and make it a gypsy nation - Israel won't be taking them in , i guess.
    malathion
  • Stardate, here, educate yourself, and cast off your ugly prejudices and ignorance:

    http://www.geocities.com/~Patrin/pariah-contents.htm

    And stop spreading such ugly lies about me and my people.

    I don't expect you to apologize to me, although you should - it takes a real man with integrity to do so.
    Vierotchka
  • Vierotchka,

    "And stop spreading such ugly lies about me and my people. "

    Strawman. I didn't talk about you and I certainly didn't lie. I know exactly what I saw , thank you very much. That "ecucation" was more than a civilized person can digest.
    stardate
  • Not a strawman. When you insult my people, you insult me, and you certainly did lie.

    As for that link I provided for your edification, civilized people can more than digest it, they can learn from it and get an understanding about Gypsies. Your remark only underscores how deeply uncivilized you are.

    You may have seen a few exceptions, your broadbrushing is unworthy of a human being. You have never lived or traveled with Gypsies, whereas I have, amply.

    Please stop flooding my message inbox with your insults.
    Vierotchka
  • stardate, by just replacing the words Gypsy and Gypsies with other words, and substituting two countries for one, this underscores your profound racism:

    * * * * *

    This is the predictable result of the intolerable
    behavior of most negroes. There is a point when even the most liberal person feels enough is enough.

    I'm not a right winger but those primitive creatures should be expelled to some island. Negroes never change. Most of them are dirty, lazy and immoral.

    They are hated everywhere not because of their race but their disgusting behavior.

    The situation is worst in the USA and no wonder this country can't get a break. Hundreds of thousands of negroes live like parasites.

    No it's not a too strong word. They demand welfare money and they produce dirt and crime in exchange.

    * * * * *

    Don't you know that if you had written the above about Africans and African Americans in a comment following that of someone explaining that they are part African American, that person would feel profoundly insulted? Do you really think that you would not have shown yourself to be a highly prejudiced racist?

    Get real.
    Vierotchka