Roma and the politics of double discourse in contemporary Europe

ABSTRACT

The article analyses the politics of ‘double discourse’ in relation to Roma that has evolved in contemporary neoliberal Europe. On the one hand, the double discourse promotes the integration, rights and equal opportunities of Roma, on the other, it denies recognition of, and ways to address, enduring structural violence and rising social insecurity. The article argues that the politics of ‘double discourse’, as a neoliberal approach towards Roma, is structured by two contradictory discourses that speak to different audiences, using duplicitous approaches to create anti-Roma consensus and maintain the critical difference and subordinated position of the racialised Romani populations in Europe. By studying the representation of Roma in the cases of so-called 'child theft' in Greece and Ireland, and in the recent ‘refugee crisis’, the paper identifies and discusses three dimensions of contemporary neoliberal double discourse: racialised de-Europeanisation, neoliberal undeservingness and (dis)articulation of citizenship.

KEYWORDS:

• Romaphobia
• race
• media
• racialisation
• neoliberalism
• Roma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Working together for Roma inclusion. The EU Framework explained, European Union, 2011 http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/files/working_together_for_roma_inclusion_en.pdf.

2. The German term ‘antiziganism’ recently appeared in English texts see (see for instance Van Baar 2014).

3. For academic contributions, see Selling et al. (2015) and Van Baar (2014). Concerning policy response, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on 15 April 2015 on the occasion of International Roma Day – anti-gypsyism in Europe and EU recognition of the memorial day of the Roma genocide during World War II (2015/2615(RSP)).

4. See, for instance, these two recently published articles (Yuval-Davis et al. 2017; Varjú and Plaut 2017).

5. As of 21 October 2013, the CNN listed on its website http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/21/world/europe/greece-mystery-girl.

6. As of 25 October 2013, The Guardian listed on its website http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/25/greece-child-trafficking-maria-bulgaria-roma-dna.

7. As of 4 June 2014, The Daily Mail listed its website http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2647029/Court-rules-blonde-girl-taken-Roma-family-Greece-year-raised-childrens-charity.html#ixzz4747VDBwv.

8. As of 23 October 2013, The Telegraph listed on its website http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/10400876/Irish-court-orders-blonde-haired-girl-taken-from-Roma-family-to-be-returned.html.

9. As of 20 October 2013, the CNN listed on its website http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/20/world/europe/greece-mystery-girl.

10. As of 28 October 2014, The Spiegel listed on its website http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/stereotypes-fed-fears-that-roma-had-kidnapped-blond-blue-eyed-girl-a-930355.html.

11. As of 21 November 2013 the GlobalPost listed on its website: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/131118/14-unbelievably-racist-things-politicians-said-about-roma.

12. As of 4 November 2013 Special for USA Today listed on its website http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/11/02/gypsies-greece-maria-roma/3189467/.

13. See in Hungarian http://inforadio.hu/belfold/2015/05/22/trocsanyi_a_balkanrol_erkezo_menekultaradat_a_prioritasunk-728248/ See an English summary and the main reactions http://hungarianfreepress.com/2015/05/22/hungarian-justice-minister-says-no-to-immigrants-because-gypsies-already-pose-huge-burden.

14. The term of ‘economic refugees’ is introduced by Orbán Viktor, who simply merged ‘refugees’ and ‘economic migrants’ into one unambiguous term. ‘Refugee’ is legal term by the 1951 Genova convention. It refers to a person fleeing persecution and seeking protection and asylum in a different country. ‘Economic migrant’ is a person who migrates from one country to another to seek better living conditions or job opportunities than in the migrant’s own country.

15. Please note that official English translation of the first four sentences do not fully correspond to the demeaning Hungarian original so we replaced it with our own translation.

16. http://www.kormany.hu/en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/viktor-orban-s-speech-at-a-meeting-of-the-heads-of-hungary-s-diplomatic-missions-abroad.

17. See for example the following articles on various media’s sites in Hungary and Slovakia: http://parameter.sk/ciganyok-migransok http://nol.hu/belfold/orban-elvitatta-a-ciganyok-hazafisagat-1562025 http://gepnarancs.hu/2015/09/merkel-es-orban-ciganyok-es-menekultek-integraciok-es http://index.hu/belfold/2015/05/22/a_ciganyok_miatt_nem_kerunk_a_menekultekbol.

18. ‘Migrants are Central Europe’s new Roma: The region’s nationalists reuse old attacks on new targets’. By Benjamin Cunningham, http://www.politico.eu/article/migrants-are-central-europes-new-roma-refugees-viktor-orban-robert-fico/.

19. https://euobserver.com/justice/130740.

20. The plenary morning session is on the European Commission website: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=I110613.

21. https://euobserver.com/justice/130740.

22. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-hungary-roma-idUSKCN0RV43E20151001.

23. 19 October 2013. The New York Times Sunday Review See http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/sunday-review/are-the-roma-primitive-or-just-poor.html?_r=0.