Recent events have brought the issue of Roma in the UK into sharp focus, but these days immigration and integration are especially touchy subjects
Here's an exclusive: there is such a thing as society. There are ties that bind, events and situations that affect us all. But there is also a certain stratification. Some dates mean everything to one cluster; to others, nothing at all.
August 2 didn't ring any particular bells with me, but for the Roma in the UK – and throughout Europe – it's a day of infamy: the day the SS descended on the gypsy family camp at Auschwitz and gassed 2,800 people.
Last Friday afternoon, as London moved seamlessly into the weekend, activists marked the event with a series of symbolic gatherings.
Grattan Puxon, 73, who co-authored the first book about the atrocity – Gypsies Under The Swastika – describes a commemoration of terrible history. But alas, he says, it's more than that these days. "It's not just remembering what happened under Hitler, but also that we see many thousands of Roma being persecuted again by Nazis in Europe. I have been doing this for 50 years and people are sensing that there is danger again. The Roma are vilified so that the public will accept them being singled out for brutal and unfair treatment. It's disheartening to see the amount of anti-Gypsy feeling."
So there was a particular shape to Friday's schedule, which started with a tour of the Czech, Slovak and Romanian embassies, before moving to the Holocaust memorial in Hyde Park. Then the French embassy – France, Puxon says, recently expelled 9,000 Roma. A French politician is alleged to commented that Hitler should have killed more.
Last stop, Marble Arch, scene of the recent standoff that brought the issue of Roma in the UK into sharpfocus. Following the establishment of an unofficial Roma camp in Marble Arch and Park Lane, and the inevitable complaints, the authorities moved in, transporting very many back to Romania.
"They were forced to go," says Puxon. "It was voluntary," I tell him. "What else could they do?" he replies. "All their choices were bad."
They'll come back, he says. They have rights; they're citizens of Europe and the Romanian economy is tanking, with them at the bottom. But they can't just pitch tent where they like, I say. They shouldn't have to, counters Puxon. Let them work, let them find living space, help them integrate. I wish him luck. These days, that's a hard sell. Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 hours ago.
Here's an exclusive: there is such a thing as society. There are ties that bind, events and situations that affect us all. But there is also a certain stratification. Some dates mean everything to one cluster; to others, nothing at all.
August 2 didn't ring any particular bells with me, but for the Roma in the UK – and throughout Europe – it's a day of infamy: the day the SS descended on the gypsy family camp at Auschwitz and gassed 2,800 people.
Last Friday afternoon, as London moved seamlessly into the weekend, activists marked the event with a series of symbolic gatherings.
Grattan Puxon, 73, who co-authored the first book about the atrocity – Gypsies Under The Swastika – describes a commemoration of terrible history. But alas, he says, it's more than that these days. "It's not just remembering what happened under Hitler, but also that we see many thousands of Roma being persecuted again by Nazis in Europe. I have been doing this for 50 years and people are sensing that there is danger again. The Roma are vilified so that the public will accept them being singled out for brutal and unfair treatment. It's disheartening to see the amount of anti-Gypsy feeling."
So there was a particular shape to Friday's schedule, which started with a tour of the Czech, Slovak and Romanian embassies, before moving to the Holocaust memorial in Hyde Park. Then the French embassy – France, Puxon says, recently expelled 9,000 Roma. A French politician is alleged to commented that Hitler should have killed more.
Last stop, Marble Arch, scene of the recent standoff that brought the issue of Roma in the UK into sharpfocus. Following the establishment of an unofficial Roma camp in Marble Arch and Park Lane, and the inevitable complaints, the authorities moved in, transporting very many back to Romania.
"They were forced to go," says Puxon. "It was voluntary," I tell him. "What else could they do?" he replies. "All their choices were bad."
They'll come back, he says. They have rights; they're citizens of Europe and the Romanian economy is tanking, with them at the bottom. But they can't just pitch tent where they like, I say. They shouldn't have to, counters Puxon. Let them work, let them find living space, help them integrate. I wish him luck. These days, that's a hard sell. Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 hours ago.