the_future_modernes: a yellow train making a turn on a bridge (Default)
now bring me that horizon... ([personal profile] the_future_modernes) wrote in [community profile] politics2010-04-29 01:03 am

Why can't some ideas die a fiery death? Or sending the Roma to boarding school. (This will end well)

Slovakia proposes taking Roma children from their parents and putting them in boarding schools


Some 10 per cent of Slovakia's population are of Roma ethnicity - most are illiterate and live in poverty in the far east of the country.

To combat the problem, the country's government has suggested a radical proposal - that Roma children be sent to boarding schools in an attempt to integrate them into Slovak society.

The plan has already been condemned as illegal by human rights groups and the European union. Yet many in Slovakia see it as an essential measure to improve Roma standards of life.

Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee reports from Rankovce.



I was not very happy with the way this was reported either, I mean really? No mention of why exactly the Roma are poor and isolated from the general society? No examination of the harms that forced assimilation can enact on children and the minority group's culture? So here's a bit more context:


Roma Women sterilized against their death 30 mins Long but very worth it
Slovakia's Roma population has always had a difficult life. Regarded as culturally inferior, they are discriminated against at all levels. Now evidence suggests they are being sterilized against their will. Ingrid Ginova was just 16 when doctors sterilized her without her knowledge. When she publicized her plight, police threatened to imprison her. Her story gives added weight to a new report stating that Romany women have been sterilized for decades without their consent.

Produced by SBS/Dateline
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures


So we got segregated schools, segregated healthcare (one day a week for Roma women, the rest for the white Slovakian, segregated facilities), job discrimination, Roma are different and inferior and OH GOD THEY WILL OUTBREED US ALL!!!!! and on and on and on... and now we've got boarding schools!! Yeah I see where this is going. and it ain't ANYWHERE good. But the best that Al Jazeera English can do is make it look like the Slovakian have been so helpful to the Roma , for 1000 years, no less! I am so disappointed, they usually do better.

Roma Rights - Slovakia


And: Slovakia's separation barrier to keep out Roma



A bit on Roma history


and from Amnesty Int'l Slovakia: Roma Children Still Lose Out: Segregation persists in Slovak schools despite new law - Campaign Digest
amadi: A bouquet of dark purple roses (Default)

[personal profile] amadi 2010-04-29 09:16 am (UTC)(link)
This will undoubtedly be entirely different from other cultures' efforts to rip minority children from their homes and educate them "properly" so that they can grow up "better" than their communities of origin. Because so much has been learned from prior examples.

For f's sake, can we skip attempts at educating and just make these people watch Rabbit Proof Fence on a repeating loop until they get it? Because I'm tired and their skulls are clearly thick.