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The chapter explores the rise of radical-right populism and authoritarianism and the implications for Roma. It critiques and seeks to refashion the strategies and frames used by anti-racists and Romani rights champions ranged against antigypsyism in a way that will enhance the potential for intersectional solidarity, dialogue and alignment with the concept of a New Social Europe (for a discussion of this concept, see Chapter One). This chapter argues for legal protections and human rights to be defended and upheld. However, the narrative directed by rights ‘champions’ at combating antigypsyism should also be focused on Romani potential, emphasizing the capacities of Roma in a social, political and economic sense, and leading to forms of empowerment; this is a central theme of this book. It is also argued that the process of tackling antigypsyism, which is a specific form of racism towards the Roma centred on tropes such as criminality and cultural dysfunctionality, warrants transformative change (for a definition, see Chapter One) given the deep structural, cultural and institutional locus of racism, including antigypsyism, and the inflammation of such in the economic crises and convulsions so redolent of late capitalism. The writer and philosopher George Santayana 2006: 32) famously said: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ The wonderful thing about history is that it is sometimes a guide to the future rather than just a record of the past. In his path-breaking book The Great Transformation, Karl Polanyi 1944: 236) reflected on the rise of European fascism in the 1930s and noted: ‘[T]he moment would come when both the economic and the political systems were threatened by complete paralysis.
Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND.
Drawing on Roma community voices and expert research, this book provides a powerful tool to challenge conventional discourses and analyses on Romani identity, poverty and exclusion.
Through the transformative vehicle of a ‘Social Europe’, this edited collection presents new concepts and strategies for framing social justice for Romani communities across Europe. The vast majority of Roma experience high levels of exclusion from the labour market and from social networks in society. This book maps out how the implementation of a new ‘Social Europe’ can offer innovative solutions to these intransigent dilemmas.
This insightful and accessible text is vital reading for the policymaker, practitioner, academic and activist.
The article explores what impact the concept of a Social Europe might have on Europe's Roma and how economic intervention and redistribution might alleviate Roma poverty and diminish Anti-Gypsyism. The article also makes the case for new deliberative forms of democracy being developed in tandem with social justice orientated policy through a renewed EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. A version of this paper was presented in a keynote speech to the Council of Europe's fourth Dialogue with Roma and Traveller Civil Society in Strasbourg in September 2017.
This book seeks to challenge conventional discourses and analyses on deeply entrenched Romani exclusion in Europe today, which often focus narrowly on poverty and cultural identity. In this sense, our book provides new conceptual tools for framing social justice for Romani communities across Europe through the transformative vehicle of a New Social Europe. As the vast majority of Roma experience high levels of exclusion from the labour market and from social networks in society, the book maps out how the implementation of a ‘Social Europe’ can offer innovative solutions to these intransigent dilemmas. Finally, our work aims to serve as a policy instrument for planning and implementing new socio-economic policies on Roma in the European Union (EU). Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities form the largest minority ethnic group within the EU. According to the European Commission, there are an estimated 10–12 million Roma; ‘Roma and Travellers’ is used as an umbrella term in the definition of the Council of Europe. It encompasses Roma, Sinti, Kale, Romanichals, Boyash/Rudari, Balkan Egyptians, Eastern groups (Dom, Lom and Abdal) and groups such as Travellers, Yenish and the populations designated under the administrative term ‘Gens du voyage’, as well as people who identify themselves as Gypsies (FRA, 2018: 5). The issue of identity is complex and often contentious, with some claiming the notion of ‘Romani’ identity presents a political agenda that is trying to fuse diverse and disparate groups into one identity to help mobilize those labelled ‘Roma’ in a political goal-oriented campaign that runs the danger of veering into ethnic nationalism and reflects the aspirations of a small elite.
