I think it would be impossible to have a productive discussion about Roma in an American website.
The Largest Gypsy Ghetto in Europe – Stolipinovo, Bulgaria (2016)
31–40 of 258 posts
Re: The Largest Gypsy Ghetto in Europe – Stolipinovo, Bulgaria (2016)
#32I have quite a few European friends on social media and they always seem perplexed whenever racial tensions flare up in the USA. Some even have openly asked "why do Americans find it so hard not to be racist? It's not that hard." I always respond by pointing out that the citizens of almost every country are naturally xenophobic and/or racist, just not necessarily against people of African descent. In the case of Euro…
When I was growing up in New England in the 1970's, children commonly used the term "gyp" / "gyped" as a slang version of "cheat" / "cheated".
It's only as an adult that I realized this was probably a racial or cultural slur.
Re: The Largest Gypsy Ghetto in Europe – Stolipinovo, Bulgaria (2016)
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you know Roma?
My friend. Let me help you with a definition from the top hit on Google for this word.. racism /ˈreɪsɪz(ə)m/ noun prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.
I would like to know your opinion, after living for a few weeks nearby one of such group. Maybe you would turn racist then? /s
Most people here do not have that experience. In their ignorance they think, that it is a case of racism. It is not. It is not tolerating asocial behavior.
Romas, who integrate into the society are accepted by the majority. Unfortunately, that requires for the individuals to break ties with their community, because their community encourages their members to behave asocially. It is really hard problem, you cannot even start with pupils in school, as they routinely skip it, because... see previous sentence.
Untold millions of euro were spent to solve this problem. It was wasted money.
Re: The Largest Gypsy Ghetto in Europe – Stolipinovo, Bulgaria (2016)
#34I have quite a few European friends on social media and they always seem perplexed whenever racial tensions flare up in the USA. Some even have openly asked "why do Americans find it so hard not to be racist? It's not that hard." I always respond by pointing out that the citizens of almost every country are naturally xenophobic and/or racist, just not necessarily against people of African descent. In the case of Euro…
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You're probably being downvoted for mentioning neo Nazis but you're absolutely right. Racism and these various similar tensions aren't "natural", they're constructed over time by people with their own agendas. In the U.S. what we've come to know as racism is a set of ideas constructed to justify slavery. Roma people were similarly held as slaves in the medieval area - discrimination against them benefitted slaveholders economically and justified their exploitation.
Re: The Largest Gypsy Ghetto in Europe – Stolipinovo, Bulgaria (2016)
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I came here to write pretty much this. Here's a picture to clarify even further. https://imgur.com/m88rKwx
Honest question: I can't figure out what the point is that that image is making. (I can't reconcile the image with the caption.) Could someone explain?
There is a whole subset of memes focused on the "political compass", which maps one's position from liberal to conservative and from authoritarian to libertarian. Right-wing authoritarian is where people like nazis are typically placed; left-wing libertarian is where progressives or green party type people are typically placed. The joke is that some Europeans will say, "We should treat everyone equally; hon hon, look at silly American being racist!" then go treat gypsies poorly (moving from bottom-left to top-right).
Re: The Largest Gypsy Ghetto in Europe – Stolipinovo, Bulgaria (2016)
#36You can go on google maps and judge for yourself:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.1589047,24.785939,3a,75y,202...
You can compare to other areas of the city:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.1589047,24.785939,3a,75y,202...
I think racial tension came down a lot the last 10 years, and the reason is that quite a few Roma work in Western Europe. For the ones in Stolipinovo I believe the prime destination is Dortmund. FWF I think the EU helped diffuse the tension by allowing increased mobility of both Roma and poor Bulgarians. I think the Roma neighbourhoods were much worse around the turn of the century and the politics were much more aggressive towards the Roma - I remember the Attack party being really popular back then.
I think it has been slow, but nowadays it is not as acceptable as once was to publish bluntly racist texts like this example from a prominent BG journalist in 2012:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=bg&tl=en&u=https:/...
In 2018, the same guy got a lifetime achievement award from the union of BG journalists.
Re: The Largest Gypsy Ghetto in Europe – Stolipinovo, Bulgaria (2016)
#37I have quite a few European friends on social media and they always seem perplexed whenever racial tensions flare up in the USA. Some even have openly asked "why do Americans find it so hard not to be racist? It's not that hard." I always respond by pointing out that the citizens of almost every country are naturally xenophobic and/or racist, just not necessarily against people of African descent. In the case of Euro…
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In-group out-group thinking is completely natural. That doesn't make it good. If you expose a dog to only one race or one sex from when it's a puppy, it will be uncomfortable as an adult around others. Same goes for a child. It's up to us to adjust ourselves to a diverse global community that our genes never could've prepared us for.
Re: The Largest Gypsy Ghetto in Europe – Stolipinovo, Bulgaria (2016)
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know exactly what you mean, I'm european and it bothers me too. From my perspective the United States is amazing because a lot of "white" people who stick together are actually from different parts of Europe who might not have always been fond of each other. This is all conjecture but as a european I feel like I can easier spot where a european is from based on their appearance, while white americans don't see that…
> I feel like I can easier spot where a european is from That's because you have seen italians speaking and acting italian, romanians speaking romanian etc. Americans see americans speaking american
That's what my American friends say, but it's easy to tell, for example, Albanians and Greeks apart, or Englishpeople and Spaniards.
Re: The Largest Gypsy Ghetto in Europe – Stolipinovo, Bulgaria (2016)
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do not think they would be friendly to any local Bulgarian that wandered into the neighbourhood. Also "many children don’t attend school." is rather a problem, isn't it. And though I do not know much about Bulgaria, I doubt it's because of the money. I'd assume Bulgaria has free schools and probably social support for financially struggling kids. There are so many different nations in Europe, some with their nation…
Post author here: Note that the people that live in Stolipinovo are Bulgarian. I guess you meant to say "I do not think they would be friendly to any non-Roma Bulgarian". That's an assumption that (from experience) is incorrect. Also, I'm not American, but I get that a lot.
"non-Roma Bulgarian"
are you quite sure they self-identify as Bulgarian? My experience from a different country is a different one.
Re: The Largest Gypsy Ghetto in Europe – Stolipinovo, Bulgaria (2016)
#40I have quite a few European friends on social media and they always seem perplexed whenever racial tensions flare up in the USA. Some even have openly asked "why do Americans find it so hard not to be racist? It's not that hard." I always respond by pointing out that the citizens of almost every country are naturally xenophobic and/or racist, just not necessarily against people of African descent. In the case of Euro…
Most Roma at a very young age are taught by their parents a moral code that says, "Never steal from your own Roma people, but outsiders are fair game, for they are not your people." During countless European wars this was also the code, for example, "English ships may rob Spanish treasure galleons, for the Spanish are not the English." "The Spanish may rob the indigenous New Worlders of their gold, for they are not Spanish." There have been many largely unsuccessful humanitarian efforts in Europe to get Roma to assimilate better, to abandon their nomadic lifestyle so that their children can remain enrolled in the same public school and eventually qualify for decent jobs that can pull them up in society. But they are culturally resistant to change.