Italy, as the first – but will it be the last – European Union county, has begun setting up what can only be described as Concentration Camps for Gypsies.
This all in a supposed effort to turn Gypsies, who are often foreign Rom from the former Yugoslavia and Romania as well as Bulgaria, and, as it is claimed especially for their wellbeing and that of their children. The Nazis told similar stories to the Rom during their reign, when they forced them to settle, took away their horses and wheels from the wagons and then when they moved them into the once Jewish ghettos.
In Rome the Prefect will identify new areas for the nomads' camps (nomads?). Those settlements will be called “villages of solidarity” (dordi, what an interesting term for a ghetto or KZ). The “villages” will be controlled by a special public security police force of a minimum of 100 men; this means that the Romani situation will be managed a a problem of public security. It looks as if Gypsies in some EU countries are now being seen similar to terrorists. What next?
Each of those villages, as the authorities say, will give “hospitality” to 1000 to 1500 Rom and will be additionally controlled by security forces and associations.
All those “villages” will be more than 18 miles (30km) away from the center of Rome and well away from any services.
This makes, and one cannot say it any other way, Italy the first EU member state that is openly creating new concentration camps for Gypsies.
And what is Brussels doing? Well, nothing. It is the controlling center of the EU after all. This proves yet again that it is all but lip service when they talk about equal human rights for Gypsies in the EU and elsewhere. Let us not forget either that Germany is the true power behind the EU and that Anti-Gypsy-ism has been big always and is on the rise more and more again in that country. The rest of the wold also says nothing, nor do the organizations that claim to be representing the Rom, like the ERTF which is claimed to be the government of all Rom in Europe. It is obvious that it cannot attack its own paymaster.
Food for thought to us all, I hope...
Freedom is not free. It is very costly and sometimes has to be paid for in blood. If we do not fight for it now we may all end up rather unfree in such camps.
© M V Smith, June 2007
