The real story of Britain's Roma: excluded, ignored and neglected
The headquarters of Britain’s biggest Roma charity is a large building beside
a major thoroughfare in east London, yet its official address is a PO box. The
fear of reprisal against Britain’s Roma community, even in the capital’s most
multicultural borough, remains real.
Hours after
David Blunkett, the former home secretary, suggested last week that the
arrival of Roma immigrants could
trigger riots,
an email was opened inside the headquarters of the Roma Support Group (RSG). It
told the recipients to "fuck off", before adding that "every country in
Europe hates [you] and we are no different".
The rhetoric of hostility towards the Roma throughout Europe is escalating,
say race relations experts, lending credibility to the notion that it is the
continent’s most persecuted ethnic minority.
Blunkett’s call for Roma migrants to "change behaviour" was welcomed by Nigel
Farage, leader of the UK Independence party, and prompted the deputy prime
minister, Nick Clegg, to criticise the immigrants for behaving in a "sometimes
intimidating, sometimes offensive" way. He added that they should act in a more
British fashion. David Cameron judged the rhetoric so inflammatory that
he ordered "sensible and calm language" around immigration.
Yet the untold story about the Roma in Britain is one of a community whose
needs have met official indifference. Despite requests from the European
commission, the government has refused to draw up a comprehensive national
strategy for facilitating Roma integration. The UK’s cursory submission to the
commission is in fact based on a February 2012 report titled
Creating the Conditions for Integration. The document aims to promote a
tolerant society where everyone can "live and work successfully alongside each
other". Not a single mention is made of the Roma.
