[...]Italy’s Roma: just how bad? | afoe | A Fistful of Euros | European Opinion[...]…

[...]Italy’s Roma: just how bad? | afoe | A Fistful of Euros | European Opinion[...]…

[...]Current News and Events – RomanyJib[...]…

When you mentioned the Mexicans in the US, I was hoping for something less . . . completely ignorant. Before pointing your finger at poor people, and especially “illegal” immigrants, you should take some time to look at the economic system and actually discover where all the money is going. Currently in America there is a greater disparity of wealth between the poor and the rich than there was in feudal England. Why is that, do you think? If the poor people are so poor, they obviously don’t HAVE the money you’re so upset about. They haven’t stolen it (because then they wouldn’t be poor). The US has a trillion dollars to go to war, we have CEOs making 13 million dollar penchants AFTER bankrupting, and our pharmaceutical companies are selling medicine to other countries for less than they charge their own people. Our financial resources are not being sucked away by the “hoards” of poor folk sneaking over the border. It’s floating to the top. The funny part is that the middle class actually believes it when politicians (all of whom reside at the top with all the money) point the finger at illegal immigrants. Furthermore, if you examine capitalism itself you’ll find that the system DEPENDS on cheap labor. If the government (or anyone) actually wanted to do something about this supposed problem they would stop hiring immigrant labor. However, AMERICAN companies are making too much money off of immigrant workers because they don’t have to pay them what they would be forced to pay a “legal” citizen.

However, in a way, this IS very similar to the situation in the US with Mexican immigrants. Americans like Joe buy into scape-goating nonsense and conveniently distract themselves from the fact that politicians are creating theatrics to distract the public from the real cause of the problem. It strikes me as somewhat amazing that, after hundreds of years of prejudice . . . and hundreds of years of different types of prejudices turning out to be dead wrong, people still resort to ethnicity as an explanation for the world’s problems. When the Irish first came to the US, they were severely mistreated due to prejudice. They were unable to attain jobs due to their background. Therefore, they often resorted to theft, prostitution, and begging IN ORDER TO SURVIVE. I don’t think there’s a single person on this board who can say they would sooner starve to death than steal food, money, etc., much less beg.

IF there really is a serious problem with theft and begging in the Roma population, it is due to their economic circumstances. In that case, they–like every impoverished population throughout history–have been forced to secure a means of survival outside of legal limitations. So, then, the real issue is why are they forced to circumvent legal means of survival?

Additionally, where exactly is the Italian government supposed to send them? I keeping hearing about this destination called “where they belong,” but they belong everywhere. They’re nomads. They don’t have a home country, and I highly doubt Britain is going to swoop in and create a Roma version of Israel to fix the problem (which, I might add, created a possibly more serious problem for the Israelies and Palestinians).

If human beings can build a rocket and land on the moon, I’m sure figuring out some sort of integration plan for a “challenging” community is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Clodia,

You should listen to the way you sound: “not to mention the children, pulling my clothes with their dirty little hands.”
You are talking about CHILDREN here. They are dirty for a reason. Please try to think about that. They are focused on you–some boring individual who hates them–rather than playing for a reason. Please try to think about that too. Why are they dirty? Why aren’t they playing? Why aren’t they in school? If there’s a reason they can’t get into regular school, why aren’t they at home LEARNING how to read, write, play instruments, or whatever else? These children are impoverished with no means of bettering their lives, and you’re angry because they touched your clothes with dirty hands? Seriously?

Doug M.