France, Roma and Travellers (Gens du Voyage): Not The Same Discrimination.

France’s expulsion of Roma continues to make waves. The state ‘circulaire’ which specially called for the removal of a specified ethnic group has caused outrage across the world. The EU has vividly criticised the action.

Today Sarkozy at the Brussels summit will defend, in a very loud voice, his government’s actions (the idea that his PM François Fillon has any power is rapidly evaporating). Whatever he says, Sarkozy stands condemned and France may have to face European legal sanction (Here).

But before we follow the route of Louise Doughty (here) and call for France’s expulsion from the Union some points should be considered.

That is not just that discrimination against Roma is not a specifically French problem, as the Guardian rightly points out in its Editorial today (Here). It is that a lot of reporting is based on confusions.

Firstly, the racism of the French action  has been roundly attacked…. in France.

Secondly, there is a basic inability to think clearly  here.

There is no general French action against ‘gypsies‘ – as even the Guardian sloppily asserts. There is a distinction between Roma (from Bulgaria, Romania) and ‘gens du voyage‘ (travellers). They are not the same, though obviously there are (often) ethnic links from the same stem.  The former are sedentary, the latter, voyage. In French law the latter term covers anybody who is ‘nomadic’ – including those with no Roma connections at all. Some travellers in the UK have an Irish origin, and some in France have a distant background in those who similarly ‘took to the road’ . 

French state policy towards the the gens du voyage – who are overwhelmingly French – is not so different from that of other countries.

There is an exception. The oddity of a special identity card (at the origin designed for fair and circus workers) this is related to such things access to education and other services, not a repressive move.

French legislation obliges local municipalities to provide sites for travellers (aires). Exactly as in Britain there is often local opposition to them, and many councils find ways not to provide them. Exactly as in Britain there are ‘fears’ by locals, and, exactly as in Britain, a reluctance by councils to provide services (such as education) for travellers. Exactly as in Britain gens du voyage are often expelled from non-authorised camps.

Prejudice, yes, discrimination, yes, explusions, yes.

But this is not the same as the action against Roma. That is shoving people out of the country.

Britain does not have a substanital Roma population. There are a few individuals. Nothing  comparable to France’s. That is a group of people installed in temporary sites resembling third-world ‘shanty-towns’ (bidonvilles).

France, more directly than in other European countries, has decided to deal with this by the worst kind of method: explusion.

Why? Commentators seem to blame not just French governments (who are certainly at  fault) but French republicanism for its failure to deal with the needs of Roma. Apparently centralised states that lay claim to the device of liberty, equality and fraternity are incapable of dealing with ‘diversity’.

Josie Appleton argues in Spiked-on-Line (Here)  that France lacks ‘intermediatory institutions’ to cope with minorities. This means they are not intergrated. The French state  has (therefore?) latched onto ‘Roma’ as symbolic others to attack.

Her knowledge of France and this issue is illustrated by her claim that the gens du voyage in Saint Aignan are…Roma.

One wonders what the wonderful British multicultural state would do with the installation of Roma settlements….

Sarkozy is attacked by his critics on the left  for his anti-republican discrimination. Perhaps the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity might be better at combatting racism than letting people fester in diversity.