Neoliberal Strategies to Defuse a Powder Keg in Europe: The "Decade of Roma Inclusion" and Its Rationale
In: New politics: a journal of socialist thought, Band 10, Heft 4, S. 137-148
ISSN: 0028-6494
The implications of Central & Eastern European countries' February 2005 declaration of the Decade of Roma Inclusion for the expansion of Roma rights are contemplated. Although various international institutions & organizations have acknowledged the need to expand Roma rights, it is demonstrated that many Roma communities welcomed the declaration with skepticism. Several related factors that prompted the pronouncement of the Decade of Roma Inclusion are identified including the possibility of undocumented immigration, the reduction of Roma autonomy, the strategy for offsetting high Romani fertility rates with the substantially lower birth rates of many Central & Eastern European societies, & the hesitant acknowledgment of the Roma genocide during WWII. After illuminating the socio-economic & demographic poverty of the European Roma population, the extent of anti-Roma sentiment throughout Central & Eastern Europe is illustrated; specific attention is dedicated to highlighting the difficulties Romani women experience in obtaining employment in present-day Bulgaria. It is concluded that policies enacted during the Decade of Roma Inclusion should be meticulously monitored to ensure the expansion, not reduction, of Roma rights & autonomy. J. W. Parker