tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/romanians-8235/articlesRomanians – The Conversation2014-05-15T15:46:01Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/267782014-05-15T15:46:01Z2014-05-15T15:46:01ZBeware the numbers game on Romanian and Bulgarian workers<p>It is tempting to try and use <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-no-flood-of-bulgarian-and-romanian-migrants-but-its-too-soon-to-say-its-a-trickle-26727">the recent release of figures from the labour force survey</a> as a (metaphorical) stick with which to hit the likes of UKIP and Migration Watch who predicted that huge numbers would arrive. </p>
<p>Many on the other side of the debate have <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/14/number-romanian-bulgarian-workers-falls-border-controls">grasped upon the news enthusiastically</a> as proof that the storm of panic played out in the media in 2013 was fuelled by shameless “scare-mongering”. However, this would fall into the trap of entering the immigration “numbers game” – precisely the territory that favours those seeking to use the issue to stoke popular fears.</p>
<p>On the face of it the <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/may-2014/statistical-bulletin.html">figures from the labour force survey for the first quarter of 2014</a> do show a small decrease in the numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK labour market: down around 4,000 compared to the last quarter of 2013. This would indeed seem to provide early evidence that there has not been a significant surge in migration from these two countries following the lifting of restrictions on 1st January 2014.</p>
<h2>Statistics are pliable</h2>
<p>However, headline statistics on numbers of foreign born either working in the UK or entering and leaving the country are notoriously inaccurate and also dangerously reductive. Ignoring the complexities behind them and simply focusing on the aggregate figures plays right into the hands of UKIP and Migration Watch. Those organisations will have little difficulty in twisting and contorting those and other figures (either now or later) to extrapolate or predict whichever number they need to make their arguments.</p>
<p>But numbers mean nothing without interpretation. The UKIP/Migration Watch argument is that the net increase in population due to migration over time poses an existential threat to the UK. Pointing to a reduction in the rise in migration in order to challenge this argument is self-defeating and will be music to their ears. Effectively it implies a concession of the central point that more immigration must be a bad thing. It also means that any subsequent rise in the figures can be fired straight back as counter-evidence.</p>
<p>It is the ideas that give meaning to these numbers which should receive greater scrutiny. There have been some good attempts – see, for example, the excellent guide to myths on immigration developed by Class and <a href="http://www.redpepper.org.uk/immigration-the-real-story/">Red Pepper</a> but these risk falling into another trap: mirroring the simplicity of the UKIP/MigrationWatch claim – immigration threatens the UK – with another – immigration is economically beneficial to the UK. </p>
<p>If we reduce the migration argument to costs and benefits this justifies stricter controls on migration if the numbers “dictate”. Immigration is about jobs and economics, but it is also about families, friends and communities. A simple response to a complex issue is the natural instinct of both the authoritarian and the partisan, but it <a href="http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/33/6/885.refs">rarely makes for good policy</a>. Increases in the use of detention for non-criminals and many elements of the new <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/house-of-lords-27381419">Immigration Bill</a> (particularly on removal of citizenship) show where this is leading. The war of statistics over migration has real, human, casualties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26778/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Balch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is tempting to try and use the recent release of figures from the labour force survey as a (metaphorical) stick with which to hit the likes of UKIP and Migration Watch who predicted that huge numbers…Alex Balch, Lecturer, Department of Politics, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209822013-12-04T14:32:15Z2013-12-04T14:32:15ZIgnore the scare tactics – Roma integration is hard but worth it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/36931/original/fhyxfpbw-1386161452.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some migrants are more equal than others.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve Parsons/PA Wire</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Those who follow the situation of Europe’s Roma know that there is never a “dull” week in which we don’t hear of accusations, abuse, or even violence against them. Most events do not grab major headlines in the British media; not so the happenings of the past few months. </p>
<p>In mid-October, Greek police <a href="https://theconversation.com/roma-in-the-tabloid-crosshairs-over-blonde-angels-19526">detained</a> a Roma couple on suspicion of abducting a four-year old girl who later turned out to have been informally adopted; in Ireland, authorities <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/world/europe/irish-government-promises-review-of-roma-case-but-rights-groups-protest.html">removed two children</a> for DNA testing who later turned out to be who their parents said they were. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, in Britain, a <a href="http://www.salford.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/363118/Migrant_Roma_in_the_UK_final_report_October_2013.pdf">report</a> was circulated among Labour politicians which claimed that the number of immigrant Roma in the UK was not around 40,000 as previously accepted, but a confounding 200,000. Former Labour home secretary, Jack Straw, went public ten days later to proclaim that his own party had made a mistake by letting a million eastern European immigrants into the country; his words were echoed by the opposition leader Ed Miliband. That same day, Straw’s predecessor David Blunkett gave a radio <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24909979">interview</a> about the Slovak Roma in his Sheffield constituency.</p>
<p>His words of concern appeared to have got lost in translation; the press went into a frenzy over a misquote, claiming that he had warned of “riots” against Roma. UKIP’s Nigel Farage was quick to express agreement, praising Blunkett for his “courage” yet taking the higher ground and condemning his “use of language”. The government now stood bare in the line of fire: in January, restrictions on work permits for citizens of Romania and Bulgaria are being lifted. In the eyes of the public, “Romania and Bulgaria” is a mere <a href="https://theconversation.com/get-ready-for-more-scare-tactics-on-eu-immigrants-14061">paraphrase</a> for “Roma” – and “Roma” in turn is nothing but a politically correct substitute for “Gypsy”. </p>
<p>Public figures on the left and right were now insinuating that the New Year would bring a tidal wave of workshy, rootless, Gypsy child-kidnappers. Nick Clegg tried to assure the public that it’s not the coalition that’s responsible but the Roma, whose behaviour, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24944572">he said</a>, was “sometimes intimidating, sometimes offensive”. </p>
<p>With public anxieties rising, Downing Street’s options were limited: Britain cannot opt out of an EU-treaty at short notice. So last week, the prime minister, David Cameron, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25114890">announced</a> that he will restrict benefits for EU-migrants and deport “beggars”. The mention of both “benefits” and “begging” is again widely understood as code for “workshy Gypsies”. Experts in constitutional law as well as the EU’s Employment Commissioner said the plans could not be legally implemented – but what counts is the rhetoric. </p>
<h2>‘Hordes at the gates’</h2>
<p>We have been here before. Back in 1997, media and politicians <a href="http://www.errc.org/roma-rights-journal/%E2%80%9Ewish-you-werent-here--the-response-of-the-british-press-to-romani-asylum-seekers/499">ran amok</a> when a group of several hundred Czech and Slovak Roma arrived in Dover and claimed asylum. </p>
<p>At the height of preparations for full the EU accession of the Czech and Slovak republics, the UK <a href="http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/briefingPaper/document/65">posted</a> border control officers at Prague airport, whose task was to ethnically profile Roma and prevent them from bordering planes headed for Britain. In a private <a href="http://www.marston.co.uk/rspp/luprsv013p02a00079.pdf">letter</a> to his Czech counterpart Vladimir Špidla in July 2002, Prime Minister Tony Blair described the immigration of Czech Roma to the UK as an “unacceptable situation” and added that “the Roma community need to know that unfounded asylum seekers will be returned immediately”.</p>
<p>But just as today’s Roma panic bears little relation to reality, when restrictions on the immigration of Czech nationals were lifted in 2004, there was no wave of Roma queueing up to claim benefits in Britain. But still the British government and opposition are caught in a spiral of angst and tension, triggering and then reinforcing fantasies and fears that have surrounded the image of “Gypsies” in European societies since the Middle Ages.</p>
<h2>Inclusion is a two-way process</h2>
<p>So what is the real issue facing Roma migrants in the UK? There are two. The first is the perception by outsiders. Roma migrants are visible because they arrive in extended families, often with many children; they tend to be unskilled, and so they are not usually silently absorbed within the workforce of large companies. Instead, they are enterprising, and exploit economic niches – which brings them in view of the wider public and hence makes them more conspicuous. </p>
<p>More than any other ethnic group, they are subject to prejudiced expectations about their collective behaviour, which politicians like Nick Clegg reinforce through their judgemental statements. Unless the UK tackles anti-Roma perceptions and prejudice, the exclusion and marginalisation of Roma will continue to thwart any chance of their integration.</p>
<p>The second issue is at work within the Roma community. Having endured centuries of oppression, they find it hard to trust institutions and to believe that they can enjoy full equality. If their situation is to change, Roma need to learn how to make use of the opportunities that society has to offer in education, employment and careers, not least by actively standing up to defend their human and civil rights. Social inclusion is thus a two-way process. </p>
<p>But that process can be managed. At the University of Manchester, I’ve been teaching a course unit on Romani language and culture since 1996. I have seen generations of students take a genuine interest in Romani customs and history, making this the topic of their essays and then taking it upon themselves to enlighten colleagues and acquaintances about this vulnerable minority once they graduated and took on professional careers. </p>
<p>As a university, we have encouraged local schools and Council agencies to engage with the Roma, and offered background information on Roma culture to teachers, police officers and Council officials. Together with the Big Life Company and Sure Start, we offered training and support to Roma youth. </p>
<p>After all these efforts, Manchester City Council now reports that school attendance rates of Roma are <a href="http://romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/migrom/docs/MCCRomaReport2013.pdf">outstripping those of non-Roma</a>. There are no complaints about Roma behaviour, and the police are publicly dismissing any claims of Roma criminality. Young Roma have taken up positions as mediators and classroom assistants; others have gone on to college and university, and some have won prizes for community volunteering. Prejudice has seemingly declined and Roma participation has increased. Manchester has made social inclusion possible for Roma – and other cities in Britain might wish to draw on this experience.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/20982/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yaron Matras receives funding from the ESRC and AHRC.</span></em></p>Those who follow the situation of Europe’s Roma know that there is never a “dull” week in which we don’t hear of accusations, abuse, or even violence against them. Most events do not grab major headlines…Yaron Matras, Professor of Linguistics, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.