Status Updates From Arme Roma, böse Zigeuner: W...

Die Beschreibung eines Journalisten über die Lage der Roma in Südost-Europa.
In kurzen Kapiteln werden einzelne Tatsachen und Vorurteile aufgeführt und an Fallbeispielen die politischen und sozialen Hintergründe erläutert.
Es werden keine Lösungen angeboten. Das muss auch nicht sein.

One thing I nearly forgot:
While he does rightfilly point out that e.g. Mr.Luther King had the chances he had due to fight of poverty, what he forgets is that America's imperialism and wars fed its economy over the decades, that Obama is half-black and the son of an immigrant (who often perform better) aka he is not actually part of the African-American ethnicity and would not have to deal with a slave past.

He says his literature research was not extensive, he refuses to name internet sources or quote pages because "info is freely available and he doesn't want to be misquoted". Aka he didn't do his job and only further srves misinformation with what he does.
And his solutions are basically (no plans given):
don't discriminate
fight poverty
THANKS ASSHOLE WE WOULD HAVE NEVER FIGURED THAT OUT WITHOUT YOUR GENIUS!!!!

I agree it was not a good decision for Sinti to usually not teach anyone else their language however I can understand why this paranoia existed. However the author, again, doesn't seem to be able to sympathize with them. Also he acts as if only eastern and central european countries have a system of one majority with several minorities. And his comments regarding education are the same he had at the start.

I meant "majority" of course, my anger is interferring with my ability to write and read.

This asshole now states that the amjority sees the minority as normal people whose greatgrandparents may have spoken differently and now want to make themselves important so that they can get money.
Yeah... sure.... that is of course what all people of a majority do.
This author......

This arrogant dipshit. After his constant belittling of pretty much everybody who tried to tackle the problems of Roma (by saying that pointing to discrimination dowsn't work and that the big companies don't really want to see more) and also constantly reporting about the criminality of so many Roma, especially rich ones, and how many don't fight for themselves, he now comes back to blaming "the majority".

Considered how much he goes on and on about how Roma don't like to vote for Roma, how most people in Romania, the Balkans and Hungary vote for the one in power to escape trouble, how so many high-ranking Roma are criminals, and especially considered how little he speaks about those who are not (almost as if they don't exist) makes you question: Why bother?
Btw. "Sinti and Roma" is more fitting than just "Roma."

PS. I know that in postcommunist states they often use/d "nationality" in the way of ethnicity. But the problem is that the author writes for Germans, respectively people from other countries, so he should define his terms first god dammit!!!
He barely does...
When I started this I really thought this was a good book, but now it pisses me off constantly!!!

Since the author once again used "nationality" in regards to romanians, hungarians and roma, I decided to look up the various definitions (since in Germany its usually used for citizenship) and apparently the author uses it in the term of ethnicity or people... small problem: HE HAD SPEND SEVERAL CHAPTERS WRITING ABOUT IT HOW IT IS SO DIFFICULT TO DEFINE ROMA AS A PEOPLE ON AN ETHNICITY BASIS!!!

So he does acknowledge that most Roma were not nomads; maybe I would have given him the benefit of the doubt if he hadn't called them nomads before. Not to mention that I wonder whether the guy actually despises Roma and Roma organizations. His constant complaining about their powerlessness seems to suggest this. Because, you know, he only mentions "the elite" shortly and even there with a hint of distaste.

This dipshit is giving me a headache. If with "Roma" he means all of Europe than he should say so and not constantly talk about Eastern Europe and then use "Roma" only in that context, you see I doubt that Sinti would hgave ever acknowledged those "gypsy kings" of the East.
Also he once agin talks about all "gypsies" of Central and Western Europe as Nomads, and at least in Germany most weren't at the time.

This author... what I got for the last few pages or so was basically more a rant against help organization and hidden beneath it against Roma itself. I start to think that he wants it so that there is no authority past the family among them. But then how on earth are they supposed to improve their lot?

cont.
Actually I do wonder whether he himself thinks being a Sinti or Roma means that even after centuries you are still a foreigner.
And if all this weren't enough, throughout the entire book he acted as if the skin tone of Roma (well some, he is just contradictory) seperates them from Europeans and now he says that many Romanians are just as dark or even darker than Roma there.
**ROOOOAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!**

cont.
However he seems to prefer the situation on the balkans that to me sound more like polite segregation than an actual national community (btw. no idea how he defines "nation" or "roma" for that matter, a common problem now), thinks being condescending is not impolite, perhaps seems to dislike the term "Sinti" or even that so many stress to belong to Germany for centuries.
cont.

At the start of this book I would not have thought that this author could piss me off so much towards the end.
Not only does he himself often sound as if Roma could not or don't want to do anything about their lot, he seems to blame Germany (which he seems to regard as a homogenous mass) for being so "late" when it comes to confronting its past, maybe we should have done it like most other countries...
cont.