The Roma Problem in Italy--What's the Solution?

My first introduction to Italy's Roma community--
known by many as gypsies--happened late at night on the train, traveling from Lake Como back to our home. Guido and I had just settled into our seats, when a drunken man shoved a woman and child onto the train. The woman held a small violin and wore a long green skirt that swished over her feet as she walked. The dark-haired boy held an accordion that stuck out awkwardly from his skinny arms.

The man began yelling at the conductor, then crying, as the woman hurriedly ushered her son into a seat. The train conductor remained calm--I would have hated to see the result if this had happened in the fiery south of Italy--and finally let the man on the train, I'm assuming the family hadn't paid at all. The man staggered between the rows of chairs, the scent of alcohol on his breath assaulting us as he walked past. I asked my boyfriend what was happening.

"They're gypsies," he said. "Roma. It's quite common for the man to force his wife and child to perform and beg while he does nothing but get drunk--like this guy."

I felt nervous the whole way home, but since the conductor sat a few seats in front of us, I didn't say anything. I just listened to the man grumble and shout as his wife and child intermittently and breathed a sigh of relief when they got off the train a few stops later.

My second time was an early morning a couple weeks ago, as I rushed to meet a friend at another train station. I ran into the bathroom to use it before my train arrived. The door to the bathroom was closed--though there were several stalls inside--and when I tentatively pushed it open and walked in, three large women crowded at the sinks, their long tatty skirts covering their legs, their bras barely covering their pendulous breasts. They were trying to wash themselves and weren't happy to see me. When I tried using one of the sinks, one woman yelled at me and told me it wasn't working (it was). Uncomfortable, I quickly rinsed my hands and ran out of the bathroom.

It's hard to know what to think about the Roma population in Italy, a big news story these days in Milan. Originally a nomadic group that migrated to Europe from South Asia, Romas have had integration issues for ages. They tend to maintain a tight knit, clannish mentality when they emigrate, causing backlash--sometimes horrifying--such as the persecution of the Romas alongside with Jews during World War II. When Romania joined the EU in 2007, the number of Romanians in Italy, a large amount of whom are Roma, tripled to 800,000. Italy hasn't really known what to do since.

When I mention Romas to native Italians (and to other Europeans too), there's a real underlying anger for how the Romas have failed to integrate into their culture: they're considered liars, beggars, cons, and murderers. Yet the question remains: is their failure to integrate a cause or an effect? Some say that the Romas don't integrate because they face social resistance: as soon as their Roma heritage is on the table, no one will rent to them, no one will give them a job, services are refused. But others say that the problem lies on the Roma's shoulders: they don't want to work, they teach their children to beg and steal, and they don't want to integrate into Italian society.

Something tells me that the truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the murky gray area between the two perspectives.

In response to the 2008 murder of an Italian woman in Rome by a Roma man, as well as a supposed surge in other Roma-related crime, Milan has begun to dismantle Milan's largest gypsy camp, Triboniano, while also bulldozing hundreds of smaller, impromptu camps around the city.

"These are dark-skinned people, not Europeans like you and me," said Riccardo De Corato, who is Milan's vice mayor from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's ruling party and who is in charge of handling the camps. He later added: "Our final goal is to have zero Gypsy camps in Milan." --The Washington Post

If that's the prevailing reason for these actions, then I'm horrified. These statements are rascist and not far enough from Fascist and Nazi propoganda for my taste. But the reality is that many of the Romas have not integrated. There are huge Roma communities pulsing with crime. There are many Romas who steal from tourists and locals and who live off government funds, payed for by hard working taxpayers. While all Romas are not the problem, some are, and something needs to be done.

This immigration challenge reflects a troubling situation that Europe has found itself in: how to support immigration and integration while retaining a European identity, and protecting its natural-born citizens. As immigrants from Northern Africa, Turkey, and Eastern Europe flood Europe's cities and work force, this has become a real crisis. How lenient can Europe be?

What's the right response to this situation? Who gets protected? Who gets punished? And how do we sort through this mess while maintaining respect for basic human rights? Thoughts?

Check out a news story about the problem below:



...and then this one about gypsies stealing from tourists. I don't particularly like the tone, but as a traveler, you have to be aware of the scams that are out there and be careful. Many people have way less money than you do and they're desperate. Be informed and be safe.