Jewish group urges Bulgarian president to withdraw prize to alleged anti-gypsy

SOFIA (AFP-EJP)---The Simon Wiesenthal Centre called Tuesday on Bulgaria's president to withdraw a journalism prize awarded to a columnist it says compared gypsies to animals.

A statement from the Jewish human rights organisation's director for international relations, Shimon Samuels, protested the country's choice of recipient for its 2008 Chernorizetz Hrabar journalistic award.

"The laureate, Kalin Rumenov, is reported to have written racist articles on a regular basis, attacking the Roma Gypsy community in the national newspaper Novinar," Samuels said, urging President Georgy Parvanov to withdraw the prize.

The newspaper was not immediately available to comment but Samuels quoted excerpts of articles where Rumenov compared the gypsies to "cattle" and said they were "multiplying like sheep."

"This language is so redolent of the 1930s and 1940s when both Jews and Gypsies were marked for Nazi extermination," Samuels said.

The award was received by Kalin Rumenov at an official ceremony in Sofia in May in the presence of leading politicians, members of Parliament and journalists.

Several Bulgarian professional groups set up a petition for the prize to be publicly withdrawn, calling on the President and the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, who were present at the ceremony, to make a public declaration that they do not share the values represented by the racist author.

An estimated 700,000 gypsies or Roma live in Bulgaria, forming nine percent of the country's population. The community is poverty-ridden and isolated in ghettos, largely illiterate and often discriminated.

Italy: Gov't rejects claims of police violence in Gypsy camps

Rome, 29 July (AKI) - Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has denied claims made by a top human rights watchdog that police forces carried out violent raids against Roma-Gypsy camps.

"I reject with indignance, the accusations by (Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights) Thomas Hammarberg. They assert that violent acts were perpetrated against Roma encampments without effective protection by the police forces, and that they carried out violent raids against the settlements." said Maroni on Tuesday, addressing the Lower House.

"These are outright lies, the police have never committed any act of violence of this nature. Commissioner Hammarberg, tell us what these acts are."

A note by Maroni's office, also rejected the claims by Hammarberg.

"It concerns us, the assertion that police authorities carried out violent raids against nomad (Roma-Gypsy) settlements," read the note from the Italian government.

"The Italian government has already answered the memorandum sent by The Council of Europe following the visit to Rome by the Commissioner for human rights, Thomas Hammarberg, providing all the data that show how the worries about the lack of human rights are completely groundless."

The note is in response to an earlier report by The Council of Europe, published in full in the organisation's website, stating:

"The Commissioner is following closely and is deeply concerned at anti-Roma and anti-Sinti manifestations in Italy which have been occasionally extremely violent resulting into setting on fire Roma camps, reportedly without effective protection by the Police which has also carried out violent Roma camp raids," said the report.

Help Impeach him...

Like or hate Kucinich - he makes a good case for impeaching the President:

URGENT: need your help - Impeachment Petition Deadline Midnight Wednesday

Dear Friends,

Because of your vigilance and support for democracy, last Friday was a day of singular importance in Washington. The House Judiciary Committee met to discuss the Bush Administration's abuse of executive power and for the first time the case for Impeachment was discussed in front of a Congressional committee, in depth, at length and with authority.

Twenty members of the Judiciary Committee attended the six-hour hearing, during which twelve witnesses, including myself and four members of Congress testified. In this hearing I called for the Impeachment of the President for misrepresenting a case for war.

This week I will present members of Congress with Impeachment petitions submitted by those of you who have signed the on-line impeachment form.

I need your help. In the next few days we must redouble our efforts to get more signatures on the online petition at kucinich. us. I'm asking each of you to please contact at least ten of your friends to go to http://kucinich.us/now and sign the Impeachment petition that will be delivered by me. Wednesday night is the deadline.

Please send out an email to all your friends and family, post this link, http://kucinich.us/ to your blogs and make this effort count as this is the only petition that I will deliver.

Sign the petition. Thank you so very much.

Signature - Dennis J Kucinich

Dennis

Paid for by the Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee

PO Box 110475 Cleveland OH 44111 216-252-9000

Gypsy film gets European airing

Students from Monkton School have been showing off their film-making talents on a recent trip to the European Parliament in Brussels.

Hosted by Plaid MEP Jill Evans, the visit was made possible by the Priory Project, which provides education and support for secondary school-aged gypsy children.

"It is refreshing to see young people from Wales taking the lead with a groundbreaking project like this.”

Jill Evans MEPAn informative DVD in which the young people share their views and experiences, was made with support from the Welsh Assembly Government and Save the Children, which also helped fund the visit to Brussels.

The party was led by project leader Bev Stephens and headteacher William Rees. Children heard from Belgian MEP, Els de Groen; Caroline Mooney of the Welsh Assembly and Livia Jaroka, the first Romany gypsy MEP to be elected.

Presentations were made by Caroline Mooney, of the Assembly’s social inclusion department, and Ant Edwards, of Save The Children. Priory Project pupil, Kirby Jones, also spoke to the MEPs about the work being done in Pembrokeshire.

Jill Evans MEP said: “I learned a lot from meeting these young people. They were impressive advocates for the gypsy traveller community and presented first hand evidence of their experiences and the challenges they face.

“The European Union now has a Roma Inclusion Strategy, but there is still a lot of discrimination.

“These young people were very interested in the work of the European Parliament. It is refreshing to see young people from Wales taking the lead with a groundbreaking project like this.”

She added: "I have asked for a copy of the DVD and will show it to my colleagues. This project has my wholehearted support.”

Gypsy Queen Mable dies, 99

A gypsy queen has died in Wigan only a few months before her 100th birthday.
Great-grandmother Mable Knight died at Wigan Infirmary after becoming ill when she broke a hip.

The 99-year-old was a hugely respected member of the gipsy community and thousands of mourners from as far away as Italy, America, Ireland, Germany and Switzerland have been coming to Wigan to pay their respects.

Her granddaughter Margaret Peroni, of Collette Close, Scholes, said her grandmother was part of a disappearing way of life and, as a younger woman, had gone "duckering" – earning money by predicting the future.

Margaret, whose dad is a gypsy king, said: "We're all heartbroken. If I live to be as wise and as good-hearted as she was, I'll die happy. She was a true queen and an absolutely beautiful woman and a great grandparent.

"She always said she was waiting for her telegram from the Queen on her 100th birthday and she almost made it.
"She'd been given the last rites three times before she died, but she pulled through.

"She was born in a horse drawn wagon and had lived through some tough times. Some of the stories she used to tell us would make your hair stand on end."

Her funeral was held at St Edward's Church on Scott Lane yesterday.

Life at the Gypsy Jazz Camp (Part One)

When jazz.com’s Bill Barnes told me was running off to Gypsy jazz camp, I had visions of rugged but glamorous days spent in caravans and romantic evenings by the campfire listening to inspired string music. The camera pans back to show bow-top trailers and a dark woods in the background.

Okay, I admit it. I grew up near Hollywood, and it probably shaped my impressions of the life of the Romani people. As I later learned, Bill's Gypsy jazz gathering took place at Smith College, and there wasn't a single bow-top trailer anywhere in sight. But if it didn’t look like a scene from a movie, the music lived up to the highest expectations.

More interesting, this event is another sign of the remarkable resurgence of interest in the music of Django Reinhardt and his modern-day heirs. Make no mistake about it, Django is hot right now, and seems to be getting hotter all the time. Barnes tells us more about this fascinating subject below, and fills us in on the real happenings at a modern Gypsy jazz camp, in the first installment of his article below. T.G.

(MORE)

URGENT: Release Dina Babbitt's original Gypsy portraits to her now

Dina Gottliebova Babbitt (aka Dinah), is the artist who was forced to paint and draw the horrible experiments of the Auschwitz doctor known as the Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele also commanded her to paint the watercolor portraits of several Gypsies, who were other Auschwitz inmates, in order to capture what he called gypsy skin coloration better than he could do it with his camera and the film of that time. Once the portraits were complete, to Dina's horror, Mengele sent the Gypsies to their death.

According to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum's website, seven of the gypsy portraits were discovered after World War II outside the Auschwitz Death Camp, from which they were removed without legal permission, in the early 1970's and sold to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum by people who apparently did not know that the artist, Dina Babbitt, was still alive and living in California. (If this information has been removed from the Museum's website, I still have the save webpage. Contact me to see it on Museum letterhead.) The Museum asked Dina to come to Auschwitz in 1973 to identify her work. However, after she did, the Museum would not allow her to take her paintings home with her. The Museum's refusal to release the paintings to Dina began her re-incarceration as a spiritual hostage of the Auschwitz Death Camp.

Much disinformation has been spread about Dina's purpose in seeking to reclaim her original artwork. The truth is that she has no desire whatever to hide the Gypsy portraits from history. As a matter of fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Once she is in possession of her Gypsy portraits, she wishes to display them in Holocaust museums in the United States, in which she lives free, and around the world. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum displays only copies for security reasons.

The question has been asked "Why did Dina not take the paintings with her when she left?" The reason is that she was on a death march.

A letter was even sent to Dina once saying that if anyone had a right to the paintings it was Josef Mengele. That suggestion is nauseating. I am looking for the original letter and will post it on her website when I find it.

Dina is legally credited by the Museum as being the rightful owner of her artwork and must sign paperwork for the Museum each time it wants to reproduce her work. She has always accommodated the Museum and has never taken any monetary compensation, to which she is entitled, for the reproduction of her work. She has always asked the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum to give any monies earned through the reproductions of her watercolor portraits to go to causes supporting the Gypsy or Roma people. However, to date, the Museum claims that, because it purchased the paintings from other people, the Museum does not have to return Dina's original Gypsy portraits to her. International law has now established that possessing stolen artwork does not entitle the possessor to keep it. The Museum only displays copies of Dina's paintings for security reasons and could easily represent the tragedy of the Gypsies as it does now, with copies of Dina's portraits.

Not one, but two United States Acts of Congress have been written in support of Dina. One was authored by Congresswoman Shelley Berkley. The other was co-authored by Senators Barbara Boxer and Jesse Helms. Both became part of the Congressional Record in 2003. They passed unanimously.

Dina feels that neither, she nor her Gypsy subjects, will ever have their spiritual freedom from the Auschwitz Death Camp until the portraits are returned to her so she may display them in Holocaust museums in the United States and other free countries around the world.

Our mother and we, her family, have been trying to get these paintings returned to her since 1973. Dina, who is now 85, has just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of abdominal cancer and will have surgery on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. The surgery takes six hours and is very risky under the best of circumstances.

We pray to the Museum to return Dina's artwork to her now. We further implore the Museum to not prolong this struggle for years to come after Dina passes from this earth. In addition, we welcome the understanding and support of the Roma people, Dina's friends, in securing the spiritual release of the Roma victims of Auschwitz.

We implore anyone who reads this to support the efforts to get her paintings back now by signing in to her Facebook page and sending an e-mail of support for Dina to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum through the link on that page. In addition, please forward a link to http://www.dinababbitt.com or Dina's Facebook page to every good person that you know.

Thank you for your kindness, empathy, and support.

Michele Kane and Karin Babbitt
Dina's daughters
michele@dinababbitt.com

Community network sites honoured

BBC News

A social networking site for young gypsy travellers has won an award for the social use of technology.

The SavvyChavvy site was one of eight projects honoured in the UK's Catalyst Awards that recognise technology used to serve communities.

The site helps younger travellers stay in touch and post blogs and videos about their experiences.

Also honoured in the awards were a virtual nightclub for disabled people and a scheme to help people share cars.

Social action

The Catalyst Awards were set up to champion those using social media, such as the web, to keep communities together and tackle social challenges such as gang culture and poverty.

For its work helping young gypsy travellers communicate SavvyChavvy won the Community award. Chavvy is an old Romany word for "youth".

The site, which is closed to those who are not travellers, is credited with helping to gypsys change the way their community is seen.

Wheelies - a virtual nightclub hosted in Second Life - got the Revolutionary award. The David and Goliath award went to Liftshare - an online system that helps people with spare car seats find passengers.

Helen Anderson won an award for her work to bring broadband to South Witham in Lincolnshire. Ms Anderson was driven to get the project going after her community was ignored by large net suppliers.

The winners of the awards were presented with their trophies by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

He said the projects had huge potential to influence lives and communities.

"The worst of Britain can always be challenged by the best of Britain," he said.

The Community Awards for Social Technology (Catalyst) were sponsored by the Council on Social Action, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta) and the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform.

Helping to judge entries were the Make Your Mark campaign group; Unltd, which backs social entrepreneurs and Polecat which helps organisations measure their social impact.

Rome census reveals the hopes and fears of gypsies

by Emmanuelle Andreani

Italy's policy towards immigrants -- notably ethnic Romanians, many of them Roma -- has come under intense scrutiny since Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said last month that security forces would fingerprint gypsies.

About 50 people, mostly gypsies, or Roma, live in one camp outside Rome without water or electricity, among rats and in shocking hygiene conditions.

"Have you come to hunt us or help us?" asked Rogi when Red Cross volunteers arrived at his camp to conduct a census as part of the Berlusconi government's controversial crackdown on immigrants.

Like other inhabitants of the camp, Rogi, a member of the Roma minority from Romania, greeted the volunteers with suspicion.

The 10 volunteers made their way between the tents, shacks, bits of furniture and mattresses in the camp hidden among the tall grass and reeds between a road and railway track in southwest Rome.

While gypsies have been fingerprinted in Milan and Naples, authorities in Rome are opposed to the policy.

"Will you answer some questions?" a Red Cross worker asked Ramona Nae and her brother Remus, two Romanians aged in their thirties.

"No. Why have you come here? What we need is a better life and we aren't going to get that by filling in questionnaires," said Remus, throwing a suspicious glance at the Italian and foreign press covering the operation.

"Hang on," said another woman. "They are here to provide us with medical help, milk for the children, not turn us in to the police. Maybe we'll get a house through them."

Like her, most residents agree to answer the questions of the volunteers, who are not accompanied by police officers as they had expected.

"We ask them their name, age, nationality, if they have been vaccinated, if they have been sick, and if their children are going to school. They are not obliged to answer," said one young volunteer.

"Mostly they have worms, gastro-intestinal illnesses and bronchitis," said another worker, who was nursing a small boy with a fever. "Very few of the children have been vaccinated or enrolled in school."

A short distance away, other members of the Red Cross were taking the gypsies one by one into a truck. After being photographed, they are given a health card.

"With this document they can go to health centres. For our part, we build up a wealth of data that only the Red Cross can access. As for the authorities, we can provide them with anonymous information so that they are able to assess the camps, hygiene and health conditions," explained one of the workers.

Italian Red Cross President Massimo Barra said the census was "a way of getting to know the inhabitants of the camps better."

"It isn't a police operation," said Fernando Capuano, president of the Rome branch of the Red Cross. "In its decree ordering a census in the travellers' camps, the government left it up to the local authorities to decide whether to use a non-governmental organisation, and whether or not to take fingerprints.

"Unlike in Naples where it's the police doing the census and taking fingerprints, the Rome authorities called on the Red Cross because of its experience on the ground," he said.

Personal security was a top campaign issue in April's vote in the wake of several high-profile crimes implicating Romanian immigrants.

According to the Sant'Egidio lay Catholic charity, between 130,000 and 150,000 Roma live in Italy.

Many have Italian citizenship, while those of Romanian nationality have freedom of movement within the rest of the European Union.

The Red Cross estimates the census in Rome, which has 70 camps, will take until September.

Nomadic Beauty

A new exhibition shows a life-long fascination with gypsies.

By Yelena Shuster
Published: July 25, 2008

Behind a stark background of a dilapidated shack and bare trees stands a dark-skinned gypsy in a white wedding dress. Her gaze is defiant as one hand holds up the lace dress and the other hand rests boldly on her hips.

This contrast between the lovely and the wretched has immortalized photographer Lyalya Kuznetsova since 1979, when she first began capturing intimate moments in black and white all over Eurasia.

Since then, her documentary style has won her exhibitions and medals all over Europe and the United States. The current "Gypsies" exhibition at the Pobeda Gallery has collected 47 of her photographs over a 19-year period in order to introduce these classics to younger generations.

"Non-conformist Soviet photographers like Lyalya fell in a temporary pothole because of what was going on in the country at the time," said curator Irina Meglinskaya. "They are all legends, of course, but they don't exist in the mainstream. It was very important for me to connect this generation with the past one."

Known for their exotic dress and nomadic habits, gypsies have always been considered second-class citizens in Russian culture. Stereotypes include their practice of black magic and their penchant for pick-pocketing and stealing children.

Kuznetsova depicts their life on the outskirts of society with an intimacy rarely achieved by the presence of a camera. Her decision to capture the gypsy way of life was a personal one.

The year was 1977 and Kuznetsova's husband passed away. She quit her job as an aviation engineer and picked up a camera. Without any technical training, the Kazakhstan native dug into her childhood and began capturing the bright necklaces and skirt rustles of the gypsies around Oral, with whom she grew up.

"When things are awful, we reach for the roots that previously gave us strength. Photography became my way of expressing my sorrow," she said.

Though her mother warned her that gypsies kidnap children who misbehave, Kuznetsova was entranced by the gypsies who came to buy milk from her aunt's cow in a nearby village. Kuznetsova remembers watching the gypsies and their bright bonfires from atop the roof of her aunt's house.

"In my childhood, gypsies were always surrounded by this mystery. It was some kind of fairytale," Kuznetsova said. "With them was connected the smell of sagebrush, the smell of the steppe and the sound of bitter gypsy songs."

Kuznetsova began her photography career with a five-year-old daughter in her arms, and a major motif of the exhibit is a mother's love for her child. Whether depicting an elderly gypsy from Oral sitting on a pile of bedding behind a carriage with two girls by her side or a Turkmen grandmother snuggling with a child concealed in her veil, Kuznetsova portrays the resilience of these women without bordering on kitsch.

Kuznetsova considers all of her photography self-portraits. Though she is already a grandmother, her spirit is in that gypsy girl with the wedding dress, her gaze defiant amidst the damage that surrounds her.

For her next project, Kuznetsova plans to return to her beloved subject and photograph gypsies in the 21st century in Moscow's surrounding regions. Though she has been photographing gypsies for almost two decades, Kuznetsova has no idea what to expect.

"I cannot predict what happens when I click the camera," Kuznetsova said. "When I photograph, I don't think about the spectator. In fact, I don't think at all. I search for the photos where I feel a snag in my heart."

"Gypsies" (Tsygane) runs to Aug. 31 at Pobeda Gallery in Winzavod Center of Contemporary Arts, located at 1 4th Syromyatnichesky Pereulok, Bldg. 6. Metro Kurskaya. Tel. 917-4646.

From gypsy moths to the Roma

...Which is just fine, a biological method of eradicating gypsy moths. But why does it have to be gypsy moths? Why not some other regular moths. Gypsies are taking a beating this year. The people who go by the term Gypsies, who prefer the appellative Roma (yes, prepare for a non-sequitur)...

(MORE)

Lolo Diklo : Roma Against Racism

Bookmark this blog - they (like myself) are trying to raise awareness about the Roma history, culture and worldwide racism.

http://www.lolodiklo.blogspot.com/

Thanks!
Allie :)

Insufficient Housing for the Gypsy Population in Sofia

The problem with the supply of housing for the gypsy population in Sofia is a hard one to solve because Sofia Municipality has no more than 50 apartments available while the applicants for housing are over thirty thousand.

The Secretary of Sofia Municipality Rossen Zheliazkov said at the Municipal Council after being asked what measure will be taken regarding the illegally inhabiting gypsies from the Batolova vodenitza district.

Zheliazkov stressed that the municipality must take the responsibility to provide terrains for gypsy housing while the State must have a national policy towards the minority.

Meanwhile the City Council decided to spend over 2 million on covering the damages in the vicinity around the exploded military storage facility in Chelopechene.

Italy scales back Gypsy fingerprinting campaign

ROME (AP) — Italian officials carrying out a survey of the country's Gypsy population will only fingerprint those who don't have a valid ID, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday, apparently dropping plans to fingerprint all Gypsies after critics called it discriminatory.

The ministry said the new guidelines were sent to local authorities in Rome, Milan and Naples, where tens of thousands of Gypsies live in hundreds of shabby encampments built on the cities' outskirts.

Officials in the cities had already begun taking information from the inhabitants with varying methods after the government ordered the census as part of a crack down on street crime, which Italians blame mostly on foreigners.

(MORE)

Italy: Gypsy camp set on fire in Rome

Rome, 23 July (AKI) - Firefighters and police in the Italian capital Rome began investigating an attack on a Rome Gypsy camp in the city early on Wednesday.

The camp was set on fire by unknown assailants late on Tuesday. It is believe that the fire was started by young Italians.

The camp, called the Via Candoni camp, is considered a 'legal' camp and is located in the southwestern part of Rome.

Witnesses said a group of young Italians aboard three cars threw incendiary devices, and the fire quickly spread throughout the camp, reported Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

"We will bring to light what happened. If there is someone responsible for this, they will be severely punished," said Rome's mayor Gianni Alemanno, who visited the camp after the attack.

This attack on a Roma Gypsy camp comes a day after Italian authorities carried out the so-called 'census' in the camp to identify who lives there.

Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said last week that he would go ahead with the controversial 'census', which involves fingerprinting Roma Gypsies in Italy.

The procedure is already underway in Naples, Milan and Rome, despite criticism from international rights groups and the European Union.

In May, an Italian mob twice carried out arson attacks against a Gypsy camp outside the southern Italian city of Naples - incidents that drew criticism from rights groups, members of the Catholic church in Italy and the opposition.

The census of Italy's Gypsy population is part of the new Italian conservative government's promise to crackdown on illegal immigration.

Special Roma Gypsy commissioners have been appointed in several of the country's major cities.

Of the approximately 150,000 Roma-Gypsies in the country, 70,000 are Italian citizens, and many others come from European Union countries such as Romania, while others came from the countries that make up the former Yugoslavia.

Italian doctors refuse to treat a Romanian Gypsy suffering of cancer

de A.C. HotNews.ro
Miercuri, 23 iulie 2008, 13:47 English Regional Europe

A new shocking case in Italy: Italian doctors in Pesaro, East Italy refused on Tuesday morning to treat a Romanian Gypsy suffering of cancer. The main motivation was that she did not have a stable address, an association defending the rights of immigrants announced, quoted by Romanian news television Realitatea TV.

EveryOne association officials declared that Mia Copalea, of Gypsy origin, requested a medical examination and a treatment for her severe headaches. Apparently, her pain was caused by her breast cancer.

The woman's daughter declared that doctors refused to offer the woman medical attention because they do not reside in Pesaro. She added that doctors refused to give them a prescription for some pain killers.

EveryOne association urged the Italian Health minister Maurizio Sacconi to take urgent action so that the woman be treated in the hospital, like any other human being.

Congress Takes Horse Cruelty Head On!

For seven years now, you have helped us fight hard to protect America’s horses from the cruel and preventable practice of horse slaughter. Sadly, the few individuals profiting from this industry have spent vast sums of money to mislead some in the horse industry and US Congress. They have turned a serious animal cruelty issue into a political game. Despite all of this, support continues to grow for a ban because no false stories or fabricated tales of “unwanted horses” can derail the simple truth – horse slaughter is cruel.

As of today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN) have taken up the reins of this cause and committed themselves to ending horse slaughter by sponsoring H.R. 6598, the Conyers-Burton "Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act". This bill directly addresses the cruelty of horse slaughter – a consequence of the industry that even opponents of ending horse slaughter admit exists. This legislation is not new, as the original bill introduced in 2002 to end horse slaughter included enforcement language from Title 18 of the US Criminal Code for those found guilty of breaking the law. Chairman Conyers has simply removed the unnecessary language from the earlier versions to specifically target those causing the cruelty to horses.

Every five minutes, an American horse is brutally slaughtered for human consumption in plants in Mexico and Canada. Ironically, industry lobbyists admit to Congress that the foreign horse slaughter plants are cruel, yet the companies the lobbyists represent also own and operate these very plants across the border! Despite unsubstantiated claims of “unwanted” and “abandoned” horses, these foreign-owned plants and their killer-buyers continue to buy horses from all over America at an alarming rate to meet the demand for the animals’ flesh in fancy European restaurants.

Horse slaughter is a brutal process from beginning to end. Killer-buyers have no regard for the horses’ welfare; they just need to find as many of the animals as possible in order to fill a quota. Because the horses’ final destination is slaughter, no concern is paid to their treatment when they are collected, during transport, or in the slaughterhouse. A former equine investigator for the Pennsylvania state police summed this industry up perfectly when she said, “… horses were deprived of food and water because they were going to slaughter anyway. My conclusion is that the slaughter option encourages neglect…Money is the only objective of selling horses to slaughter. Those of us in the trenches have seen enough.”

Constituents concerned about the welfare of America’s horses must use this opportunity to speak up to their Members of Congress. The slaughterhouses, their lobbyists and the few pro-horse slaughter groups will be on Capitol Hill screaming loudly because they know support for ending horse slaughter is already strong. They know that if this issue is given a fair hearing and a fair vote, horse slaughter will end immediately.

Even though this fight has gone on for years, we must never forget that until Congress acts and passes a federal ban, horses are being hauled across the United States before being sent to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered under even worse conditions. The slaughterhouses and their supporters hope to wear down horse advocates by stalling the political process. We must send a message that we will not stop until ALL horses are protected from slaughter.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Please call, write or email your Representative today, urging him or her to support H.R. 6598, the Conyers-Burton "Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act". Chairman Conyers and Congressman Burton intend to do everything in their power to move this measure through Congress as soon as possible. Be sure to mention the facts above and those found here.

Many Members of Congress have already supported a similar measure, so this is not a new proposal; click here to see if your legislator cosponsored the original bill. If your Representative is on the Judiciary Committee, please urge him or her to attend any upcoming hearing and speak out on this important legislation as well.

To find your Representative and learn his or her stance on horse slaughter, please visit www.compassionindex.org. You can contact your legislators directly through the Compassion Index as well.

Write to:

The Honorable (name of US Representative)
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Please note: HR 6598, the Conyers-Burton "Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act" is NOT the same as H.R. 503/S. 311, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (AHSPA), but it will do the same thing – end horse slaughter. Many members already support the AHSPA, so garnering support should be straightforward.

Rescues/Organizations: The list of organizations and rescues supporting a ban on horse slaughter is tremendous, and we want to make sure your voice is heard on Capitol Hill, too. If you represent a rescue or organization, please take a minute to draft a letter of support for H.R. 6598, the Conyers-Burton "Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act" for us to share with the bill's sponsors and other Members of Congress. Give personal experiences, include photos and share your work with us. Opponents of horse slaughter are not working every day with horses -- you are. Please email your letters and some pictures to chris@awionline.org or fax them without a cover to (888) 260-2271. We will ensure that Congress hears your support!

No matter how you contact your legislator, please be sure to provide him or her with your name and mailing address, and as a constituent, request a response on this issue. Please also share our “Dear Humanitarian” eAlert with family, friends and co-workers, and encourage them to contact their legislators, too. As always, thank you very much for your help.

Sincerely,

Cathy Liss
President
www.awionline.org
www.compassionindex.org

Italian media appalled by Neapolitan tragedy

(CNN) -- The Archbishop of Naples barely disguised his disgust: "Indifference is not an emotion for human beings." Cardinal Crecenzio Seppe wrote in his parish Web site blog Sunday that "to turn the other way or to mind your own business can sometimes be more devastating than the events that occur."

On a windy Saturday afternoon a group of Roma girls were selling trinkets on a beach outside of Naples. Sometime during lunch time, the girls set down their wares and ventured into a rough sea. Two of the Roma, cousins Violetta and Cristina, aged 12 and 13, according to Cardinal Sepe, struggled to stay afloat amid a strong rip tide.

Emergency services responded 10 minutes after a distress call was made from the beach and, according to local press accounts, two lifeguards attended the girls upon hearing their screams. But they were too late. Cristina and Violetta drowned.

Their bodies were pulled from the sea, covered with towels, feet exposed. Witnesses say they lay on the beach for hours -- and so did many of the sunbathers who allegedly watched the drowning and, according to some press accounts, did little but stare and carry on with their Saturday afternoon.

"Two Gypsy [Roma] girls drown in the midst of the indifference of bathers," shouted the headline of La Repubblica. "Children drown, their bodies amidst the bathers," read Corriere della Sera's first page. "Few left the beach or abandoned their sunbathing."

The coffins of the girls, carried on the shoulders of police, exited the beach "between bathers stretched out in the sun," it reported. It also pointed out that the drowning of an Italian man off the coast of northern Italy in 1997, prompted a similar reaction.

Pictures of bathers chatting on cellphones and taking in the rays just meters from the lifeless bodies were posted on dailies across Italy on Sunday. The photographer told CNN the atmosphere among the sunbathers was indeed indifferent -- but "what were they supposed to do?" he asked.

The girls were from one of the many Roma camps in Naples, part of a population of nearly 150,000 across Italy mainly in and around Naples, Rome and Milan. The group have long been considered a nuisance by many in Italy and frequently blamed for criminal activity.

In a recent government survey, nearly a quarter of Italians said they believed the Roma were thieves. More than 90 percent said the believed they exploit their children.

Under a new, controversial anti-crime measure, every Roma, including their children will be registered in a census and either photographed or fingerprinted -- a move condemned by the European parliament, the U.N., the Catholic Church and civil liberties groups as racial profiling.

The Berlusconi government says the initiative will help keep track of the group and better protect the rights of its children who under Italian law are entitled to free health care and education if they are documented.

Authorities who attended to the Roma girls at the beach last weekend said they did not have any identification and were not on any local records. Police left the girls' bodies on the beach until they had located their families.

Rome begins Gypsy census without fingerprints

By ARIEL DAVID – 2 days ago

ROME (AP) — City officials and Italian Red Cross workers began a census of Rome's Gypsy population but said Friday that they will not participate in a national push to fingerprint all Gypsies unless they encounter someone suspected of a crime.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government has drawn a stream of criticism from the European Union and human rights groups since announcing last month it wanted to fingerprint the tens of thousands of Gypsies, children and adults alike, who live in hundreds of encampments built mainly around Rome, Naples and Milan.

A government ordinance required a census of the camps but left authorities in each city leeway on how to identify the inhabitants. Rome Prefect Carlo Mosca, the government's top security official for the city, has been skeptical of mass fingerprinting.

Officials with the Italian Red Cross began the census at a camp on the outskirts of the city Thursday, taking down details on the health, education and family status of a few dozen inhabitants. Police didn't take part in the process, but stood by to provide security.

Mosca said at a news conference Friday said that Gypsies will not be fingerprinted unless there is suspicion they may have committed a crime, in which case police will carry out the process after approval by a magistrate.

"When there is suspicion of a crime ... fingerprints can be taken as for any Italian," he said on Friday.

(MORE)

Congress Asks: Fat Cats or Polar Bears?

Wealthy speculators are driving up gas prices and fueling calls for harmful new drilling off our coasts and in pristine places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

It’s a classic match-up: Wall Street fat cats versus American families and the natural treasures we leave to our children. And in the next two weeks, Congress will vote to see who wins.

Help protect our polar bears from profit-hungry speculators and Big Oil. Urge Congress to pass legislation to address high gas prices by restoring accountability and transparency in the oil markets.

Speculation in the oil markets is a major factor in high gas prices.

Here’s how it works: Weak oversight and accountability in the oil market allows wealthy investors from around the world to drive up the price we pay for gas by purchasing oil that they have no intention of using.

According to Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management, who testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in June, “with greater regulation [of speculation], oil prices could drop to $65 or $70 a barrel within about 30 days.”[1]

Ask your Senators and Representative to pass legislation to address high gas prices and protect our polar bears and other wildlife from the oil speculators and Big Oil’s disastrous drilling plans.

Officials within the Bush Administration’s own Energy Information Agency estimate that oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wouldn’t hit the market for several years and would only reduce gas by a few pennies. Similarly, the agency has said that offshore drilling would not significantly impact domestic production or prices before 2030.

But this drilling would come at a terrible cost to our wildlife and the environment. Arctic drilling activities would disturb the most important onshore denning habitat for America’s threatened polar bears -- potentially causing polar bear mothers to abandon their cubs.

Offshore drilling has its own problems: Each platform produces toxic discharges that can poison and kill marine wildlife and dumps tons of air pollutants into our atmosphere.

Please take a stand against irresponsible policies that hurt our families and put our wildlife at risk. Send your message now!

More drilling may benefit wealthy investors, Big Oil companies and their allies in Congress, but it won’t lower prices at the pump or end America’s oil addiction.

Respectfully,
Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

Greater Yellowstone in danger - act now!

A rugged land of sparkling lakes, 10,000-foot peaks and world-class wildlife habitat, Montana's stunning Lionhead Recommended Wilderness, just west of Yellowstone National Park, is a dazzling area of tranquility. The area is so rugged that the Forest Service proposed that it be off limits to all mechanized travel, including mountain bikes.

But the proposal to protect the rugged Lionhead area is in danger.

That's why Lionhead needs your help before July 18. Tell the Forest Service to do the right thing.

Mountain bike activists have mounted a campaign to convince the Forest Service to give in and give cyclists total access to wilderness quality lands.

Alternative trails – including many primitive roads outside recommended wilderness areas – are available for bike rides but no alternative will replace the Lionhead Wilderness.

Please urge Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson not to give in to proponents of mechanized trails.

Tell her to stand by her proposal to fully protect traditional hiking and pack trails and the Lionhead Recommended Wilderness.

Sincerely,
Kathy Kilmer
The Wilderness Society

Stop Plan to Kill America's Wild Horses

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior that administers America's public lands, including the animals who call this land home.

As part of its wild horse management program, the BLM has spent the past several years rounding up wild horses and keeping them in private, long-term holding facilities—which is expensive. Now, the agency wants to euthanize thousands of healthy horses, claiming it is too costly to feed and care for them.

The ASPCA encourages the BLM to explore other solutions, including but not limited to reopening additional land for the horses and increasing certain contraception programs that have already proven safe and effective.

What You Can Do

Please visit the ASPCA Advocacy Center to email a letter to your legislators in the U.S. Congress urging them to oppose the BLM’s plan to kill thousands of healthy wild horses.Thank you for taking action for America's animals.

UN independent experts criticize Italy's fingerprinting of Gypsies

ROME: Three U.N. experts accused Italy on Tuesday of discriminating against Gypsies by going ahead with a controversial plan to fingerprint them, saying that Italian politicians are creating a climate of anti-Gypsy sentiment.

The criticism by the independent U.N. experts in Geneva came as the EU chief, Jose Manuel Barroso, addressed the issue during talks in Rome with Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Barroso said he was confident that Italy would comply with EU principles and treaties; Berlusconi defended the measure.

Italy has drawn widespread criticism this month as it began fingerprinting Gypsies, including children, as part of a crackdown on street crime.

The European Parliament called the measure a clear act of racial discrimination and urged Italian authorities to stop it, while many human rights groups criticized it as racist.

(MORE)

Balkan folk, Romanian Gypsy, klezmer and more!

Contributed by: Laura McGaughey on 7/14/2008

On Friday, July 25 at 8 p.m., Swallow Hill is thrilled to present three amazing and diverse world fusion bands as they share one stage for an evening of unique music traversing the globe: Luminiscent Orchestrii, Los Lantzmun and Fishtank Ensemble.

The sounds of Luminescent Orchestrii range from Romanian Gypsy melodies, punk-inspired frenzy, salty tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip hop beats, and Appalachian fiddle, all eaten and spit out by two violins, resophonic guitar, bullhorn harmonica, and bass. The members of the Orchestrii come from different scenes in New York City yet come together through their love of Balkan and Gypsy music. Sxip Shirey is an international circus composer, Sarah Alden is an old-time fiddle player, Rima Fand is an experimental theater composer and Benjy Fox-Rosen is a free-jazz bassist.

The band formed in 2002 as a quintet, and since that time, they have toured the East Coast of the U.S., England, Scotland, and Germany, as well as traveled to Romania, Macedonia, Turkey, and Serbia for inspiration. They've performed at international festivals from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (UK), to The Blue Note (Germany) and The Lake Eden Arts Festival (USA). The Skinny Magazine (UK) writes: "The music makes your skin tingle and your eyes water, and never before have metallers, hippies and divas enjoyed the same gig so equally."

Los Lantzmun describes their music as Jewish World Fusion, with songs derived from Eastern European, Sephardi, and Middle Eastern sources, performed in a contemporary style with a driving percussive backbeat. They sing in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), performing a fusion of material reflecting Jewish culture and history, from joyous klezmer tunes to haunting Spanish ballads and rhythmic Israeli and Yemenite melodies. The name, Los Lantzmun, is derived from a Yiddish word meaning "someone from your town," or "kinsman." The members of Los Lantzmun all hail from Colorado.

Fishtank Ensemble's cross-polinated Gypsy music offers a unique blend of Gypsy, Balkan, flamenco, klezmer and original tunes. With surprising arrangements and an assortment of tools and flavors: violin, accordion, gypsy jazz guitar, shamisen, bass, saw, voice and more, they evoke the spirit of a past age with the sounds of tomorrow. The LA Weekly says of them, "...we have a young band that is one of the most thrilling live acts on the planet."

A series of chance occurrences caused the members of what would become Fishtank Ensemble to meet in an Oakland, Calif. performance space called "The Fishtank" in the spring of 2005. The band formed around their star fiddler, Fabrice Martinez. Originally from France, he has spent the last seven years traveling around Europe in a mule-drawn caravan learning and playing folk music with the ensemble Croque Mule. Much of that time was spent living in Romania, often in Romani (Gypsy) villages.

Three weeks into their formation, they recorded their debut album, Super Raoul ("raoul" is a gypsy slang term for "cool"). The album was recorded live at "The Fishtank" and at The Cayuga Vault in Santa Cruz, and it showcases the band's diverse range of styles and influences. After a successful first tour that took them up and down the West Coast of the U.S. from Freight and Salvage in Berkeley to The Fiddlehaus in Seattle, the two band members who lived in Europe agreed to relocate to the States to focus on establishing the band as a unique force in the folk and world music scenes.

For tickets visit www.swallowhillmusic.org or call (303) 777-1003 x2. Discounts are available for Swallow Hill members. Buy in advance and save! Swallow Hill Music Association is located at 71 East Yale Avenue (just off Broadway) in Denver.

In need of Romani-English interpreters

With permission I am posting an email I received last night:

Hello Allie,

I saw your contact information on your website and thought that it might be a good idea to contact you. I am a recruiter for Lionbridge Federal and we are currently recruiting Romani-English interpreters in the United States. Lionbridge provides freelance interpretation for two federal contracts with the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.

There are a number of Romani speakers (55 cases) in the system waiting for their fair day in court. One respondent in the system has been waiting for his day in court since November 2006. Unfortunately, I am unable to help them until we are able to offer Romani interpreters.

In other cases, there are detainees who have been waiting for their trial since March and August of 2007. There exist numerous other instances and we are working extremely hard to provide detainees their right to a fair trial. We hope to be able to help EVERY person receive a fair trial when there day in court is upon them.

The are two preliminary requirements for becoming a Romani-English interpreter. The person must be a U.S. citizen or resident and lived in the US for 3 of the past 5 years. The interpreter must take a 30 minute over the phone language assessment and pass a basic background check.

We have waived the judicial interpreting experience for Romani speakers since its such a rare language. The hourly rates per case is $25 (depending on experience). Freelance interpreters work on a part-time need basis. If anyone is interested they should e-mail me at karina.martinez [at] lionbridge.com

Thanks in advance,
Karina Martinez
Recruiter
www.lionbridge.com

Fingerprint all Italians, minister says: press

11 July 2008, 13:22 CET

(ROME) - Italy's defence minister suggested all Italians be fingerprinted so the government would not be accused of racism for fingerprinting gypsies, in comments published Friday, rejecting EU lawmakers' cries of discrimination.

The minister, Ignazio La Russa, suggested "taking the fingerprints of everyone, for at a time like this everyone needs to be identified," in comments quoted by the daily Il Messaggero.
"Let's do it to remove any suspicion of racism... In this framework it will be possible to take the fingerprints of Roma children," said La Russa, who is also chairman of the right-wing National Alliance party.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni announced on June 26 that he planned to send police into all "nomad camps" around the country to collect the fingerprints of everyone there, adults and children.

(MORE)

Government accused of wasting money to fund school gypsy magazine

10 July 2008

The distribution of a magazine to schools to mark Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month (GRTHM) has come under fire.

Labour has been condemned for spending £70,000 of taxpayers' money on the publication, which claimed that a number of stars hailed from gypsy backgrounds.

Elvis Presley, Charlie Chaplin and Rita Hayworth were among those cited as having gypsy heritage.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools and Learners, Andrew Adonis MP, has been criticised for backing the initiative.

Critics have accused the magazine of perpetuating myths, while a campaigner against political correctness, Conservative MP Philip Davies, told the Express: 'This is a grotesque abuse of taxpayers' money. When families are struggling to pay their bills, for the government to fund this magazine which speaks garbage is just another kick in the teeth.'

In defence, the government stated that the funding for the magazine had been given to the travelling community to utilise.

Numbering over 12 million, Gypsies, Roma and Travellers make up the largest ethnic minority community in the European Union, with around 300,000 in the UK, according to the official website of the GRTHM.

Gypsies claim racial bigotry

By Joe Ware

GYPSIES who are fighting to keep their community at Minety have been treated with hypocrisy by council bosses, an inquiry heard this week.

The second public inquiry into the unauthorised building work at the site in Sambourne Road, heard by planning inspector Karen Ridge, got under way at North Wiltshire District Council on Tuesday.

Gypsy families were among those attending the inquiry, with Minety residents who have fought the development.

Representing the gypsies, Alan Masters said his clients want the same treatment as Minety residents. He said: "The Minety travellers have been victims of hypocrisy.

"The village of Minety is deemed as an area suitable for development by the council but the nearby appeal site is not.

"The gypsies have settled in the area and their children attend local schools. The council's approach is a failure to follow the Race Relations Act."

Earlier Mrs Ridges called for respect and outlined the main point of the investigation. She said: "This is a planning inquiry not a public meeting. I'm aware the subject is emotive but please do not interrupt or shout out. Please be respectful. This inquiry is here to determine the effect of the development on the local area given the nature of its affects on neighbouring parties."

Saira Kabir Sheikh, representing North Wiltshire District Council, said: "The appeal scheme does not represent a sustainable form of development. The development is significant in size and is unduly intrusive in the countryside.

"The scheme causes significant harm and has a detrimental impact on the character and amenities of the countryside. The scheme is also harmful to adjoining residential property."

Most of the opening morning was taken up with the cross examination of planning expert Simon Chambers, the council's sole witness.

He said: "As stated I believe there has been no physical change in the circumstances since the previous appeal was assessed and there has been substantial progress towards the assessment of gypsy and traveller accommodation needs and potential delivery of sufficient land to accommodate that need.

"There are a number of factors contributing to the unsustainability of the appeal site compared to the village.

"One of the reasons is village residents have better access to transport links whereas the appeal site is isolated making access to public transport much more difficult."

10:56am Thursday 10th July 2008

Hundreds protest Roma fingerprint plan

Fingerprinting would 'prevent phenomena such as begging': member of PM's party

Agence France-Presse
Published: Monday, July 07, 2008

ROME - Hundreds took to the streets of Rome on Monday in protest at a controversial Italian government scheme which has seen the fingerprinting of Roma, often referred to as gypsies.

The demonstration was organized by the ARCI cultural association, which encouraged participants to give their own fingerprints in a petition of protest called the "imprint of racism."

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni on June 26 announced that the fingerprinting of Roma would be carried out by police and in cooperation with the Red Cross.

A member of the right-wing Northern League party in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition, Maroni said that children would be fingerprinted "to prevent phenomena such as begging."

The lay Catholic Community of SantEgidio said last week that troubling ethnic and religious details had also been gathered from inhabitants aged 14 and upwards at a camp near Naples.

When organizing the protest, ARCI denounced the gypsy ID measure as "an act of discrimination and of persecution" and called on sympathizers to express their "indignation."

EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot on Monday demanded an explanation from Italy about the proposed measure.

"It's important for me that there is an extremely precise and clear investigation," he said. "My job is to ensure that fundamental rights are respected in Europe."

Barrot said Maroni promised to send him a report before the end of July explaining the government's actions and what it plans to do next.

He also said the minister had assured him that the head of the UNICEF children's agency had accepted Rome's plans.

The large number of Roma in Italy became an election issue in Berlusconi's ultimately successful campaign to return to the Italian prime ministership earlier this year.

© Agence France-Presse 2008

EU lawmakers scold Italy for Gypsy fingerprinting

The Associated Press
Monday, July 7, 2008; 6:13 PM

STRASBOURG, France -- European Union lawmakers on Monday condemned Italian plans to fingerprint tens of thousands of Gypsy adults and children, calling it a discriminatory action that smacked of Nazi Germany.

Legislators called for an EU-wide policy that would help integrate Gypsies into mainstream society.

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, said last week that fingerprinting was needed to fight crime and identify illegal immigrants for expulsion. Italian officials have been blaming Gypsies for rising crime.

Members of the European Parliament said the plan smacked of Nazi methods.

(MORE)

Fire from Heaven

God in moving among the Roma Gypsy people of Serbia. The city of Leskovac has virtually become a centre for revival.

by Slobodan Krstevski

Many houses and buildings were burned during the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia and people perished from the fiery bombs. But in Southern Serbia, in the central area of the Balkans, particularly in a city called Leskovac, a different fire has been burning within the hearts and souls of the Gypsy people. Like NATO’s fire, so this one came “from above,” but from much higher. This fire is from the throne of God and has been lighting the hearts of the despised community of Roma Gypsy people.


In Leskovac there are about 80,000 people of whom 10,000 are Gypsies. In the last ten years we don't know of any place in the Gypsy community that has not been influenced in some way by the Gypsy church. Many from the homes of Leskovac have attended the church at one time or another.

How it began

Originally some of these Gypsies attended a Serbian church in Leskovac pastored by Mio Stankovich. They responded to the love and hospitality of the people in the church.

Selim Alijevich, a young Gypsy boy who had became a Christian, was soon assisting pastor Mio as a volunteer custodian for the church. As he grew spiritually, he led some of the services and began to preach under Mio’s guidance.

Selim became the spiritual leader for the Gypsy people and the Gypsy believers were now able to have their own services. They experienced the miracles as people were healed. During subsequent years the church increased to 30, and then to 60.

In 1988 Selim honoured his service in the army and then continued on to England for theological training. Meanwhile Mio took direct oversight of the Gypsy church that had grown to 120 believers, including a newly formed music group.

In 1992 Selim was blessed with a wonderful helpmate and wife Gordana. They now have two children: Christian (1994) and Christina (1997). Upon his return to Serbia the same year, Selim preached, led worship and formed a new youth group. He also planned and implemented large open-air meetings, and meetings at the City Hall at special times like Christmas and Easter.

The open-air meetings in 1993 were usually held in a rented tent in an area that the Gypsy people were known to frequent. The people heard the preaching, singing and testimonies, and saw miracles of healing. One older man with a heart condition received prayer and was totally healed. The doctors in Belgrade exclaimed that it looked like God had done by-pass surgery.

Evangelistic teams and visitation programs were organized to visit people within the surrounding areas. Often 20 or more volunteer church members presented the Gospel using instrumental music, drama and songs, many of which were about healing.

Many of the Gypsies who have come to the Lord in this area of Serbia are from Muslim families and backgrounds. A local Muslim boy, Trail (Trajce) Bakich was healed. His dad Serif became a Christian and Trail started to share about his healing through music his father had composed.

By September 1998 the church had grown to about 300 people. A year later it numbered 500 with two services on Sundays. In January 2000 three services were held each Sunday with 700 in attendance. By July 2000, 800 were attending, and since April 2001 as many as 1,000 worship in a tent.

A new church

A few years ago the Gypsies wanted to have their own church property. They erected a collection box at the exit doors of the building. A sign on the box indicated in Yugoslavian and English that everyone should pray for, and give financially toward a new church building.

The results were astounding! Even though the Gypsy people are among the poorest of this country, they raised more than 5,000 DEM – almost $4,000 Canadian. This amount was added to a very generous donation by a group of Swiss people and Canadian Christians. Pastors Selim and Mio finalized negotiations on the purchase of a property.

It has been an interesting journey for Selim from the time he was a 15-year-old church caretaker, to becoming the caretaker and shepherd of this Gypsy church. I asked him, “What would you like to have God do in your life?”

“The miracles of God!” he answered. “To fulfill the purpose of God, so the city of Leskovac...will convert to a full knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That many in the [surrounding] cities, and the city itself, will be able to see what God is doing in the Gypsy church.”

I asked Selim what difficulties they have encountered so far. “The poverty of the church members. The many impoverished people that have no income whatsoever,” he responded. “It is hard to see them struggle and not be able to feed their children and families.”

Children at the garbage dump attempting to find something to eat or wear

I asked how we in Canada might help, or how we should pray. Selim said, “[For us] to have more strength and wisdom from the Lord.”

God answers prayer

The Gypsies are despised in many European communities including the Balkans and Serbia. As a result of being ostracized, they are quite shy as a community of people.

Interestingly, however, during the NATO bombings in 1999 Selim’s Gypsy church was invited to spearhead a demonstration of worship against these attacks. The Gypsy people prayed and fasted asking the Lord to spare the city. Even though Leskovac was supposed to be bombed, the city center itself was not bombed. God clearly had His hand of protection around these people. I believe God wanted His work of revival to continue among the Gypsies.

The church has also initiated many other works and outreaches. Twelve surrounding cities now hold meeting with up to 30 in attendance.

It has been a privilege for me to travel to Leskovac and minister there since 1993. Occasionally Craig Pitts, Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) Eurasia coordinator, has accompanied me resulting in great blessing for the people of Leskovac. I contribute through preaching, conducting marriage seminars, interpreting and occasionally helping with humanitarian aid for both the hungry Christians and the needy refugees that live in the area.

Selim is a man of God, and the people who submit to his leadership are very attentive to him. During the last three years that our outreach – Shining Light Ministries – has assisted with humanitarian aid, we were amazed at how well organized Selim’s church was. I have not met another group of Balkan people who were so well organized at distributing aid.

According to Mio, spiritually there is more “fire from heaven” to come. He says, “The Lord through His prophecies has promised wonderful things for the Gypsy church. One of the things is a new prayer house – a house for healing and miracles. God promised that in the next five years even the [most] godless person would fall on his or her knees and admit that God is alive. My vision is that we will open many new churches and mission stations, so that the Gypsy church will be a mother to them.”

Slobodan Krstevski is the founder of Shining Light Ministries based in Burlington, Ontario.

Originally published on the website, Shining Light Ministries.

Used with permission. Copyright © 2008 Christianity.ca.

Italian-EU Leaders Discuss Gypsy Issue

A top Italian minister says that misunderstandings with the European Union over a census of gypsy camps have been cleared up.

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said that he will send the EU a report by the end of the month on government plans for what he termed the ''gypsy emergency.'' Previous plans to take the fingerprints of all gypsies during the census have come under criticism for discriminating against an ethnic minority, the news agency ANSA reported Monday.

European Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot's spokesman, Michele Cercone, said the meeting at a gathering of EU justice and interior ministers had been ''very constructive.''

''It opened dialog on the concrete application of measures carried out by the Italian government, which is what the European Commission is most concerned about,'' he said.

Maroni has previously pledged to dismantle all illegal camps as well as authorized camps that do not have adequate health facilities. Italian government plans also call for the expulsion of any immigrant found to be in Italy without legal paperwork. (c) UPI

Health Emergency persists in UN Gypsy Camps

WHEN MILLIONS OF TOYS manufactured in China were recently recalled because of fears of lead poisoning, Time magazine, CNN and most international news media made it headline news. Doctors around the world were quoted about how lead painted toys could cause brain and organ damage, especially in children under the age of six years whose immune systems had yet to develop. But no news media mentioned at that time one word about the worst case of lead poisoning in medical history: the present-day UN camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in north Kosovo.

Perhaps for most journalists, the UN death camps are not a new story although the deaths keep rising. In April 2005, I wrote about them in the International Herald Tribune. Shortly thereafter, ZDF (German TV) did a short feature program about the camps, as did Aljazeera. Bild Zeitung, Germany’s largest newspaper, not only told the story but took eight children (after their mother and baby brother had died of lead poisoning) to Germany for medical treatment where body scans showed the children had damaged organs and irreversible brain damage.

This is how it happened.

On June 16, 1999, four days after NATO troops arrived, roving bands of extremist Albanians, led by black-uniformed Kosovo Liberation Army officers, attacked almost every Gypsy community in Kosovo. The Gypsies were told to flee or they would be killed. Out of a pre-war population of about 130,000, more than 100,000 Gypsies during the next three months fled Kosovo.

After they left, more than 14,000 Gypsy homes were looted and then destroyed.

NATO troops refused to intervene, saying this was a problem for the local police. But there were no local police at that time. The Serbs had been the local police and they had been forced by NATO to withdraw to Serbia.



I personally witnessed part of this diaspora because in July 1999 the UN asked me to volunteer to go to Kosovo and advise them on their Gypsy problems. For three months I was the only non-Gypsy living 24 hours/day in the UN’s largest camp, by Obilich. During the day I often drove to where Gypsies were being threatened. I especially visited the largest Gypsy community in Kosovo, in south Mitrovica. There a community of more than 8,000 Gypsies (Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians) living in more than 1,000 homes were being forced out while NATO troops stood by and watched.


Most of these Mitrovica Gypsies fled abroad. About 1,000 sought refuge in a Serbian schoolhouse closed for the summer. For the next few months I arranged water and food through several aid agencies for these Gypsies who were camped out in the schoolhouse.

In November 1999, UNHCR took charge of these schoolhouse Gypsies and moved them to four hurriedly built camps on toxic wasteland, the only places the UN said were available. I protested, calling to the attention to UN officials - and especially to the head of UNHCR in Pristina - that these toxic wastelands could be detrimental to the health of these IDPs. UNHCR assured me that they had signed contracts with the local municipalities assuring that the IDPs would be in the camps for only 45 days. At the end of 45 days, they would either have their homes rebuilt and moved back or would be taken as refugees to another country. Unfortunately, after almost nine years and many deaths, due to lead poisoning, the IDPs are still living on toxic wasteland.


During the summer of 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) did a medical survey of Mitrovica because so many UN police and French soldiers were found to have high levels of lead in their blood. In November 2000, WHO presented a health report to UNMIK stating that most people living in the city of Mitrovica were suffering from lead poisoning. The report stated that the worst effected were the Gypsies living in the UN camps and recommended that the camps be evacuated and the areas fenced off so that the general public could not accidentally wander in. Bernard Kouchner, the present Foreign Minister of France, was head of UNMIK at that time. He told the WHO authors of the health report that he was a medical doctor and understood the danger of lead poisoning. He promised to take appropriate measures. But the only thing he did was to close the smelter at nearby Trepca mines. He did not evacuate and close the Gypsy camps where lead levels were three to four times higher than in the general population.


Instead of closing the Gypsy camps, the UN built a 1.5 kilometer jogging track between two of the camps and the toxic slag heaps. The UN then put up signs in four languages calling this jogging track the Alley of Health. The UN also built on land next to 100 million tons of toxic waste a soccer field and a basketball court for the Gypsy children. They were not told that exercise, opening the lungs, would make them more vulnerable to lead poisoning.

Despite repeated appeals to help the Gypsies, especially those living in the three camps in the area of north Mitrovica, the UN did just the opposite. All food aid was suspended in 2002 saying it was time for the Gypsies to find their own supplies. In the Zitkovac camp the running water was cut off for up to six months at a time because the camp administrator - the UN implementing partner, Churches Working Together - felt the Gypsies were using too much water. In the end, the Zitkovac Gypsies had to walk four kilometers twice a day to get their drinking water. In all three camps most of the Gypsies had to go through the local garbage cans to find their food.


In the summer of 2004, WHO made a special investigation of lead poisoning in the three camps after Jenita Mehmeti, a four year old girl, died of lead poisoning. She was not the first. Up to that point 28 people (mainly children and young adults) had died in the three camps but Jenita was the first one to be treated for lead poisoning before she died. New blood samples taken by WHO showed that many children, the most vulnerable to lead poisoning, had lead levels higher than the WHO machine could register.

Medical treatment for lead poisoning requires immediate evacuation from the source of poisoning and hospitalization if lead levels are above 40 mg/dl. Irreversible brain damage usually begins at 10 mg/dl, especially in children under the age of six whose immune systems have yet to develop. Many of the lead levels of the Gypsy children in these three camps were over 65 mg/dl, the highest level the WHO machine could read. WHO staff suspected that some children (because of their symptoms) had lead levels in the 80s and 90s. As it turned out, one seven year old boy had a lead level of 120 mg/dl, the highest in medical history.


In November 2004, WHO presented their health report on the Gypsy camps to UNMIK, recommending immediate evacuation. Although there were precedents for the UN evacuating thousands of Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo when they faced life threatening events, these Gypsies were not evacuated. The only measure that the UN took was to begin bi-monthly meetings with UN agencies and other NGOs to study the problem. Although many NGOs, including the International Committee for the Red Cross, petitioned the UN to immediately evacuate these “death camps”, no action was taken by the UN until 2006.


In January 2006 the UN in Kosovo closed one of the Gypsy camps and moved 35 families to a new location, about 50 meters from their old camp. The new camp was called Osterode. It was formerly a French army NATO base in north Mitrovica but had been abandoned after many soldiers were found to have lead poisoning. In fact, all French soldiers serving there were told by French military doctors not to father a child for nine months after leaving the camp because of the high lead levels in their blood.

Nevertheless, the UN, in their wisdom, spent more than 500,000 euros (donated by the German government) to refurbish this camp. Feeling that most of the lead poisoning came from the ground, the UN cemented over much of the area and then obtained a certificate from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), a US funded agency, that the camp was “lead safe.” Although all these camps were built on the tailing stands of the Trepca lead mines, most of the lead pollution comes through the air from the 100 million tons of toxic slag heaps in front of the camps.

In September 2006, at his first press conference as head of the UN in Kosovo, Herr Joachim Ruecker proudly announced that the UN was doing something to help these Gypsies dying of lead poisoning. In addition to moving them from their camps to Osterode, which he declared was not lead safe but “lead safer”, the UN would begin to treat lead poisoning with a better diet. For the first time in four years food aid would now be given to the Gypsies so that they would no longer have to go through the local garbage cans. The US office in Pristina donated $1,000,000 for this “better diet.”


It is well known to medical doctors that a proper diet can lower lead levels by about 20%, but only if the affected person is first removed from the source of poisoning. In the case of the infected Gypsies, reducing their lead levels by 20% would still leave them with dangerously high levels. For the first time in four years, the UN also provided a daily medical staff to look after the health of the Gypsies. Unfortunately, lead poisoning can only be treated once the patient is removed from the source of lead poisoning.

By spring 2006 two of the Gypsy camps (Zitkovac and Kablare) had been closed and more than 100 of the families are now living in Osterode. After three months, blood samples were taken and, according to UNMIK, the health of the Gypsies was

improving, thanks to their new diet and lead levels were falling. However, WHO and UNMIK refused to share copies of these blood test results with the public or even with the Gypsy families themselves.

In 2006 the UN announced that the only solution for the Gypsies living on or near the toxic wastelands was to rebuild their homes in their old neighborhood and move them back. Thus the UN enlisted several international donors to rebuild some of the Gypsy homes and several apartment blocks with the promise to move the lead-infected Gypsies back to their old neighborhood. Unfortunately, as soon as these homes and apartments were finished in the summer and fall of 2006, the UN did not give all the apartments to the Gypsies living on toxic wasteland but mainly to Kosovo Gypsy refugees the UN wanted to bring back from Serbia and Montenegro to show that their return policy of refugees was working.



In April 2007 all food and medical aid at Osterode was stopped because the UN said it was running out of money. Once again the Gypsies were forced to find their only food by going through the local garbage cans. But worst of all was yet to come.

Because many children at Osterode and in the adjoining camp of Cesmin Lug were showing common signs of lead poisoning (lead on their teeth, daily vomiting and memory loss), the camp leaders insisted on new blood tests in April 2008. Random blood tests of 105 children showed staggering results. For many of the children living in the UN “lead safer” camp of Osterode, their lead levels had doubled since moving into the former French base.

Because the UN, UNHCR and UNHCHR refuse to help these citizens of Kosovo, I have appealed directly to the Minister of Health for the newly declared country of Kosovo. Dr. Alush Gashi is not only a medical doctor but a personal friend of mine for several years. He once lived and worked in San Francisco. I not only appealed to him by email but visited him in his office, begging him to help his minority

citizens. He understands the problem. He understands the situation. As a medical doctor he knows that these Gypsies need to be evacuated immediately. He says his government wants to help but to date they have offered no concrete plans.

Since 2005 we have tried to force the UN to help these Gypsies. An American lawyer, Dianne Post, has tried to sue the UN on behalf of several hundred Gypsies living in the camps. Her lawsuit against the UN at the court of Human Rights in Strasbourg was turned down because the court declared that only a country, not an organisation, could be sued. Although the UN was the sole administrator of Kosovo, the court decided that it could not be sued. But now that Kosovo is finally an independent country it can be sued for criminal negligence, discrimination and manslaughter.

The UN does have a policy of compensation for such problems. But UN lawyers, for three years, have refused to cooperate in seeking compensation for the Gypsies or resolving their health problems. The UN does not deny responsibility but refuses to comply with its own rules and standards.


In 2005 the Society for Threatened Peoples, the largest NGO in Germany after the Red Cross, brought to Kosovo the leading German expert on toxic poisoning, Dr. Klaus Runow. Although the UN tried to bar him from the camps, he was able to take about 60 hair samples from the Gypsy children. He sent the hair samples to a well-known laboratory in Chicago. The results showed that not only did many of the children have the highest lead levels in medical history but that all had toxic poisoning from 36 other heavy metals as well. In trying to defend themselves, UN personal have often claimed that the Gypsies got their lead poisoning from smelting car batteries. However, Dr. Runow pointed out that none of these other toxic metals are found in car batteries.

Dr. Rohko Kim, a Harvard trained medical doctor employed by WHO in Bonn, Germany, has been advising the UN on the lead poisoning in their camps in Kosovo. Although he is under orders not to give interviews or information about the Gypsy camps, I got him to speak to me. I asked him if the lead poisoning was due to the Gypsies smelting car batteries. He said no. He said most of the lead poisoning came from the toxic dust of the slag heap and from the fact that the camps were built on the tailing stands of the mines. He said that every child conceived in the camps would have irreversible brain damage. He said that we had already lost an entire generation of Gypsy children to lead poisoning. In a speech delivered in 2005 to WHO, UNMIK and the Kosovo Ministry of Health, Dr. Kim said: “The present situation in the Roma community who are now living in the camps is extremely, extremely serious. I have personally researched lead poisoning since 1991, but I have never seen in the literature a population with such a high level of lead in their blood. I believe that the lead poisoning in north Mitrovica is unique, which has never been known before in history. This is one of the biggest In 1999, the US office in Pristina airlifted 7,000 Albanians to Fort Dix, NJ, to protect them from Serbs. In March 2004, the UN police and KFOR evacuated 4,000 Serbs to KFOR bases to save them from Albanians. There are precedents in Kosovo for saving lives, but not 500 Gypsy lives.

Paul Polansky is an American author and head of mission for Society for Threatened Peoples. He has lived in Kosovo since July 1999. In 2005 he published a book about the camps called UN-Leaded Blood. It can be ordered by emailing: pjpusa50401@yahoo.com
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Rukija Mustafa died in April 2005 along with her new born baby son. Rukija was survived by her husband and eight children, all of whom were taken to Germany for medical treatment by Bild Zeitung, Germany’s largest circulation newspaper.

Nikolina Mehmeti, the two-year-old sister of Jenita (front page) who died of lead poisoning. Shortly after Jenita died, Nikolina showed the same symptoms. The UN in Mitrovica refused to authorise treatment for Nikolina in Belgrade, although she was falling in and out of coma. A local Romani NGO took Nikolina to Belgrade and saved her life. Later, an American donor bought the family a piece of land in Priluzje where they had a house built. Doctors in Belgrade said if Nikolina returned to the source of poisoning, she would die just like her sister.

catastrophes connected with lead in the world and in history.”

To date, 77 Gypsies have died in the UN camps. Even more miscarriages have occurred. The UN has never investigated one death in the camps or ever conducted an autopsy. However, from the symptoms described by relatives and neighbors, doctors consulted believe that lead poisoning contributed to most of the deaths and miscarriages.

A few weeks ago a Gypsy baby died in Osterode. It was one month old and had been born with a large head, swollen belly and miniature legs. It woke at six in the morning, vomiting, and died twenty minutes later in hospital.

Lead poisoning means a hideous and painful death for children. Four year old Jenita Mehmeti was attending the camp kindergarten when her teacher noticed she was losing her memory and finding it hard to walk. Jenita was sent back to her barracks, where for the next three months she vomited several times a day, before becoming paralyzed and dying. When her two year old sister came down with the same symptoms, the UN doctor for Mitrovica refused to treat her, saying she was in a UN camp one kilometer out of his jurisdiction. An NGO took her to Belgrade and saved her life.

'No blacks, no dogs,no Gypsies'

The Independent

By Rachel Shields
Sunday, 6 July 2008

Gypsies and Travellers in the UK are uniting to form a nationwide coalition to fight what they describe as rapidly escalating levels of racism and discrimination. The leaders of the nation's largest Gypsy and Traveller organisations will hold an unprecedented gathering later this month with the aim of bringing together the country's 300,000 Roma, Irish, Welsh and English Gypsies and Travellers in a national federation.

Two of the UK's largest Gypsy and Traveller associations – the Gypsy Council and the Southern England Romany Gypsy and Irish Traveller Network – are involved in the initiative.

Studies in recent years have shown that Gypsies and Travellers experience more racism than any other group in the UK, including asylum-seekers. The most recent Mori poll on the issue revealed that a third of UK residents admitted to being prejudiced against Gypsies and Travellers, while a European Commission report published last week demonstrated that millions of people of Roma origin are still subject to persistent discrimination.

"Travelling people are travelling people, no matter what their ethnicity – we are all marginalised and tarred with the same brush," said Richard Sheridan, president of the Gypsy Council.

"I don't think that the situation in the UK has changed much since the 1960s – those 'No blacks, no dogs, no Gypsies signs' are not very far away.

"Joining together will make us go further – if we have more people on board it will make it easier for us to stand up for our rights" said Mr Sheridan.

John Johnson, chair of the Southern England Romany Gypsy and Irish Traveller Network, added: "We want to be seen as a cohesive community."

According to the British Medical Association, the community has the lowest life expectancy and highest rate of child mortality in the UK. Nomadic Gypsies fare particularly badly when it comes to health care, as the absence of a permanent address makes registering with a GP far more difficult. Ofsted has also reported low levels of educational achievement and high rates of illiteracy among Traveller children, due to a disrupted education and bullying.

The British National Party has said in previous local election campaigns that it will evict Travellers, while the campaigning organisation Minority Rights Group International reports that there have been racist attacks on campsites in the UK, many of which are not reported to the police.

"In my experience, racism against Travellers has definitely got worse over the past 40 years. In some bits of Europe, this is due to the fall of Communism and rise of nationalism, but in the UK, it's probably linked with anti-immigration feelings," said Grattan Puxon, founder of the Gypsy Council and the author of a number of books on the Traveller community, most recently the 2007 novel Freeborn Traveller.

"There is a lot happening within the Gypsy community at the moment.

"Unification will allow for more effective lobbying" he said.

Italy assailed over plan to fingerprint Gypsies

IHT

By Elisabetta Povoledo
Published: July 3, 2008

ROME: The Italian government's plans to fingerprint Gypsies living in camps, including children, drew fresh criticism Thursday when a Catholic human rights organization warned that identifying people according to ethnicity would set a dangerous precedent.

"We are very worried about discrimination according to race or religion," said Marco Impagliazzo, president of the organization, the Community of Sant'Egidio, which is based in Rome. "It evokes painful memories, like the Vichy regime."

As part of a broader crackdown on crime, the conservative government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to take a census of all Roma and Sinti people, as they prefer to be known, who are living in some 700 camps in Italy. The census, which has a mid-October deadline, also identifies individuals' religion and ethnic group.

Evoking a "Roma emergency" in large cities like Milan, Rome and Naples, the government has also said it plans to shut down unauthorized camps by May 2009 and repatriate people who are in Italy illegally.

On Wednesday, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told Parliament that the idea behind the census was to "put an end to illegal camps and guarantee security to Italian citizens, but above all to the minors who live in these camps." In many cases, he said, people are living in "sub-human conditions, where children are forced to live with rats."

"There is no national emergency," a spokesman for the organization, Mario Marazziti, said. "What is an emergency is that in the 21st century the life expectancy of a gypsy living in Italy is under 60 years of age."

Rather than take a census, he said, the government would do better to "come up with something to improve their lives."

The government has defended its stance, saying that it has been acting within the boundaries of existing Italian law and EU directives.

The European Commission, the EU executive body, issued a report this week on the discrimination and social exclusion of the Roma. It said that their life expectancy was 10 to 15 years lower than that of other Europeans.

On Monday, the European Parliament is scheduled to discuss the Italian census proposal.

Italy and gypsies: thumbs down

From THE TIMES

Italy must abandon plans to fingerprint all gypsies in the country

Anyone in Europe with a sense of history should feel a shudder of apprehension at the news that the Italian Government is to begin fingerprinting all Roma in the country, including children under 14.

It is only two generations ago that such a coldly administrative measure was the prelude to mass deportations, imprisonment, torture and death. Gypsies were among the first victims of the Nazis, and Italy's apparent amnesia of its own dark wartime history is obtuse.

Those proposing this step, which could begin as early as tomorrow, vigorously deny any racist intent. They point to the help of the Italian Red Cross in this new census of the Roma population, which they say is intended to give those identified access to social and health services while ensuring that children are sent to school. Too many Gypsy children, they argue, are being sent out to beg or steal by parents who have arrived illegally in the country. Only by identifying children under 14 - by fingerprints or preferably by photographs - can such an abuse be halted and the wave of juvenile crime be reduced.

Few people would argue that the recent arrival of large numbers of Roma, mostly from Romania and the Balkans, has not caused huge social and economic problems. Most of the arrivals, who have few skills or qualifications, live in 700 temporary camps, set up to cope with the influx but with poor sanitation and facilities.

The high levels of street crime associated with the Gypsies have angered many Italians, and the mood has been exploited by the anti-immigrant Northern League party to campaign for a harsh crackdown on all immigration. Extremists, skinheads and thugs have seized the opportunity to give free rein to their prejudices, and the disgraceful firebombing of one camp near Naples was followed by the eviction by the right-wing Mayor of Rome of a Gypsy camp near the capital.

There are an estimated 152,000 Roma in Italy, and their presence has inflamed an already ugly debate about immigration. Italy's previously lax border controls and long coastline have made it a magnet for thousands of illegal migrants from Africa and the Balkans. Within a few years, a previously relaxed attitude to foreigners has been replaced by a sharp new xenophobia, especially in the larger cities. The mood has been reflected in electoral support for parties promising a much tougher attitude to all immigration, even to the extent of trying to make legal migrants feel unwelcome. Italy will be one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the French EU presidency proposals to tighten up immigration controls across the Continent and close loopholes that have enabled too many migrants to slip through loose controls in the Schengen states.

None of this, however, excuses blanket sanctions that target groups of people by race and ethnicity, especially when the sanctions are underpinned by popular prejudice. Ten years ago two cities in the Czech Republic planned to build a wall around two apartment buildings housing Gypsies, accusing them of antisocial behaviour. There was a swift outcry - as there was against Britain's proposals to set up a visa regime in response to a sudden influx of Gypsies. Both measures were dropped. Italy's fingerprinting plans should also be abandoned. People must never be branded as groups. That way danger lies.

Italy gypsies find echoes of Nazism in fingerprinting move

From THE TIMES
Richard Owen in Verona

“This is like the Shoah, the Holocaust,” says Vanda Colombo as her 11 children splash around in an inflated paddling pool in the searing heat of a Gypsy camp on the outskirts of Verona. “The Nazis exterminated Gypsies as well as Jews, and this kind of discrimination is how it started. If they come here and try to fingerprint our children we will stop them.”

With the help of the Italian Red Cross (CRI), the centre-right Government of Silvio Berlusconi is about to start fingerprinting Roma people - including children - as part of its promised crackdown on crime.

The process could start tomorrow, although the deadline may slip after accusations of xenophobia from Unicef, the European Commission, the Catholic Church and the Italian Left.

The idea, according to Roberto Maroni, the Interior Minister and a leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, is to take a census of Italy's Roma population “so we can tell who is entitled to be here and who is not”. Those with the right to stay could then live “in decent conditions” rather than “with rats”, Mr Maroni said. The rest would be deported.

Gypsies identified in the census will receive a card giving them access to Italy's social and health services, but Roma parents who keep their children out of school and send them to beg on the streets will lose custody.

“Perhaps the Left dreams of an Italy populated by lots of Oliver Twists exploited by the Fagin of the day,” Osvaldo Napoli, a centre-right deputy, said. “But we are not in the Victorian England of Dickens, and children cannot wander abandoned through the streets of our cities.”

The criticism has been fierce. Famiglia Cristiana, Italy's most widely read Catholic magazine, condemned the scheme this week as racist and indecent. Maria Rita Verardo, head of the Association of Juvenile Court Magistrates, called it “an odious form of racial discrimination”.

Carlo Mosca, Rome's chief of police, said that he was against fingerprinting Roma children under 14, who “might be photographed instead”. Adults would only be fingerprinted if they were unable to produce a passport or residence permit, he added.

The Right blames much of Italy's street crime on the Roma, in particular on children sent out by adults to rob and steal. The fingerprinting drive, expected to last until October, will begin in Rome - where there are an estimated 9,000 Gypsies - but then widen to other cities.

There are an estimated 152,000 Roma in Italy in 700 camps - which Mr Maroni hopes to dismantle. Forty per cent have Italian citizenship but the rest are immigrants, many from Romania and the Balkans. In Verona this week eight Roma men and women of Croatian origin were arrested for allegedly using children in hundreds of robberies throughout northern Italy. Marco Odoriosio, who led the Verona police operation, said that one of the arrested women had a record of 123 detentions for theft in different towns, using 93 different aliases. The culprits were caught when their mobile phone calls to the children giving them instructions on what to steal, and where, were intercepted (a practice Mr Berlusconi, paradoxically, is trying to restrict.)

Verona, the orderly and prosperous city of Romeo and Juliet, is currently full of tourists enjoying the summer open-air opera season at the Arena, its celebrated Roman amphitheatre, and a month-long Shakespeare festival.

Out beyond the old city walls, on the baking asphalt of one of the vast car parks adjoining the football stadium, you will find a makeshift Gypsy camp, washing hanging from camper vans and shacks.

“Our children do not steal,” Mrs Colombo insists. “The older ones go out to do honest work. We are Italian Gypsies, not foreigners. We are scapegoats.”

Her husband, Marziano, sees nothing wrong with the idea of a census but bridles at the fingerprinting plan. He blames “Gypsies who have come here from the Balkans and Romania. They have given us all a bad name.” He says he used to make a living from running a sweet stall at travelling fairs, “but because of constant harassment we cannot even do that any more”.

Flavio Tosi, the Mayor of Verona and a Northern League member, agrees that “there are Gypsies who want to live a normal life, but those who live in Gypsy camps become habitual criminals and they force their children to become criminals too. Then when the children grow up they, in turn, force their children to enter a life of crime. It is a vicious circle which must be broken.”

This week it emerged that the Court of Cassation, Italy's highest appeal court, had overturned the conviction of Mr Tosi and five others for “racial discrimination” for declaring in 2001 that “the Gypsies must be ordered out because wherever they arrive there are robberies”. Mr Tosi had shown prejudice but was not guilty of stirring up racial hatred, the judges ruled.

Mr Tosi's move against Gypsy crime in Verona after he won office a year ago was a harbinger of the national swing to the Right in April, when elections brought Mr Berlusconi back to power with far-right allies on a law- and-order platform. Mr Berlusconi is accused by the Opposition of exploiting fear, and of rushing through security laws designed to save himself from corruption charges rather than deal with the causes of street crime.

“The only way to solve the Roma problem is to find them jobs, housing and education,” says Tito Brunelli, a former Verona councillor in charge of social policy and immigration, who set up a Roma camp on a disused airfield - later closed down by Mr Tosi. Mr Brunelli, a Catholic activist, says that he was dismissed for being “too tolerant” toward the Roma and trying to bring them into contact with Italians.

He suspected that Gypsies were being identified only “so that they can be expelled. Some Gypsies rob - but so do some Italians”.

Massimo Barra, the head of the Italian Red Cross, insisted that the aim was to integrate Roma people into Italian society. If children were fingerprinted, it would be done “as a game”, he said. Mr Barra said the Red Cross “always respects human rights. We are building bridges, not walls.”

Mr Maroni has said he is unfazed by the row, which had been drummed up by hypocrites. “There is no breach of European rules, or of the charter for childhood rights, no violation of any regulation” he told parliament.

Franco Frattini, the Foreign Minister, said: “We are not talking about raids against Roma, only an attempt to identify those living in our country. These things are done by many other countries in Europe without causing any scandal.” For Mrs Colombo, the census has echoes of Europe's darkest days. “When we see a uniform, we feel terror,” she said. “It's in our blood. We feel threatened.”

TRAVELLING PEOPLE

— The Roma left northwest India in the first millennium AD, spreading to most of Europe by the 16th century

— Some scholars believe that the word Gypsy, deriving from Egyptian, was adopted by the Roma people to conceal their origin and avoid persecution

— Estimates of the number of Roma killed in the Holocaust range from 220,000 to 500,000

— In 1957 the Romany language and Romany music were banned from public performance in Bulgaria

— The practice of encouraging or enforcing the sterilisation of Roma women was officially ended with the fall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1990

— An estimated 100,000 Roma refugees fled from Kosovo in 1999

— In Naples camps were evacuated in May after attackers set homes on fire and residents protested against the alleged kidnapping of a baby by a Roma woman

Row erupts over park gypsy camp

A row has broken out over a decision by Powys council to locate a temporary gypsy camp in the Brecon Beacons National Park.

The park authority has accused the council of a "flagrant disregard of planning policy" and may consider legal action over the site near Brecon.

A permanent camp is planned nearby, but the council wants to locate 12 caravans at a small holding until that is ready. It said it would apply to the park for retrospective planning permission.

The site under dispute is in an area known as Cefn Cantref.

At the moment the family of gypsies live in a lorry and coach park in Brecon, having recently moved from a lay-by in nearby Libanus.

Powys council said it had agreed in principle to create a permanent site for the family at Llanfilo, near Brecon, and a report about the project was expected to go before councillors in September.

In the meantime, the council said the lorry and coach park was not a suitable and it had decided to move the family to Cefn Cantref temporarily.

(MORE)

Italy: Court inflames Roma discrimination row

John Hooper in Rome
The Guardian, Tuesday July 1, 2008

Italy's highest appeal court has ruled that it is acceptable to discriminate against Roma on the grounds that they are thieves.

The judgment, made public yesterday, comes amid a nationwide clampdown on the Roma community by Silvio Berlusconi's government. Last week his interior minister, Roberto Maroni, announced plans to fingerprint all of Italy's Roma, including children.

The ruling by the court of cassation, which appears to provide judicial backing for the government's policies, was handed down in March, but reported only yesterday. The judges overthrew the conviction of six defendants who signed a leaflet demanding the expulsion of Verona's Gypsies in 2001.

Among those convicted of racially discriminatory propaganda was Flavio Tosi, an official of the anti-immigrant Northern League, who has since become Verona's mayor. He was quoted by a witness at his trial as having said afterwards: "The Gypsies must be ordered out because, wherever they arrive, there are robberies."

The court of cassation decided this did not show Tosi was a racist, but that he had "a deep aversion [to Roma] that was not determined by the Gypsy nature of the people discriminated against, but by the fact that all the Gypsies were thieves". His dislike of them was "not therefore based on a notion of superiority or racial hatred, but on racial prejudice". The judges scrapped the two-month jail sentences and ordered that the case be reheard.

Their ruling was published hours before police in Verona arrested eight Roma of Croatian origin accused of having induced minors to carry out burglaries in northern Italy. The arrests were co-ordinated by the prosecutor who charged Tosi and the others seven years ago.

Franco Frattini, the foreign minister, who until earlier this year was the European commissioner for justice and human rights, applauded the fingerprinting initiative, saying: "These things are done in many other European countries." He and other government supporters said the main beneficiaries would be Roma children at risk of being forced to break the law.

But an opposition MP, Gian Claudio Bressa, said the government was enacting measures "that increasingly resemble those of an authoritarian regime". On Sunday Maroni's top aide was reported to have imposed a vow of silence on three special commissioners appointed to deal with what the Italian media calls "the Roma emergency".