The Italian schoolchildren's drawings which illustrate a hatred for Roma gypsies

[Honey]

The colours are bold and the lines simple, a typical drawing by a nine-year-old.
But the sentiments it reveals are shocking, a glimpse of the xenophobia creeping across Italy.
The picture is one of a number drawn by youngsters at a school outside Naples depicting firebomb attacks on a nearby Roma gipsy camp. Other children at the school exposed their hatred of the immigrants in written work.


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Elementary pupils' drawings show that many children approved of the Roma gypsy camp attack

The camp was firebombed ten days ago and there have been further attacks on the now-abandoned tents and shacks.
The locals acted after a woman claimed she had caught a Roma girl trying to snatch her six-month-old baby. The allegation reveals the distrust and fear many Italians feel towards the Roma immigrants.
The pictures by youngsters at the Istituto San Giovanni Bosco, in Ponticelli on the outskirts of Naples, show the camp ablaze with bystanders saying: 'Go away Roma' and shouting: 'Fight, fight.'
Several other children had written essays in which they said: 'Burning the houses of the Roma is justified.'
Another child wrote: 'They steal babies and use them for begging or sell their organs for transplants.'


Regret: One child's drawing of the burning gypsy camp is headlined 'We were wrong'
Yet another picture, signed by a boy named Giuseppe, said: 'The people did well to burn the camps at Ponticelli. They didn't go when asked nicely, so we had to use strong methods.' Written at the bottom of a picture by a boy called Ugo were the words: 'We are not racist, but they have got out of control so we had to burn the camps.'
Thousands of gipsies have arrived recently from Romania and other former Eastern Bloc countries.
In national elections last month, the Centre-Right coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi, which included the anti-immigration Northern League and the neo-fascist Alleanza Nazionale, swept to victory largely on a pledge to tackle illegal immigration.
But critics say the government is stoking the suspicion, and last night the Vatican weighed in with an appeal for calm.
Naples Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe said: 'I am shocked by the drawings of these youngsters, some of whom are only nine.


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Up in smoke: Firefighters watch as makeshift housing burns at a Roma camp in the Ponticelli suburb of Naples on May 14
'It shows that these young minds have been affected by an extremist ideology. To think these children believe it is right to burn camps.'
During the attacks on the Ponticelli camp, children could be seen with the adults who hurled petrol bombs and shouted abuse.
Mariano Coppola, deputy principal at the school, said: 'It doesn't matter how many of the children wrote these things or drew the pictures - and not all of them did - but even just one is bad enough.'
Yesterday Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni said Italy would get tough on the Roma and the issue of unauthorised camps would be resolved 'by the end of the year'.
He added that police and city officials would be given new powers to deal with the camps.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are an estimated 170,000 gipsies living in Italy.


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Devastation: A gutted gypsy camp in the Ponticelli neighborhood of Naples is now deserted
The tough measures have led to claims from charities and the EU that Italy is following a 'racist agenda'.
A survey published by Italian newspaper La Repubblica said 75 per cent of Italians thought the Roma were 'a problem'.
France is to spearhead a 'zero tolerance' onslaught against illegal immigrants which it hopes will be supported by all EU nations.
Paris takes over the leadership of the EU in July and it is then that the measures will be unveiled.
They include proposals to return unlawful migrants to their country of origin 'almost immediately', according to government sources.
'As far as these people are concerned, then the policy should be zero tolerance,' the source added.
The document also calls for the increased use of biometric visas to make passport fraud far more difficult and for asylum- seekers to apply for refugee status in advance.
It also asks member states to ensure that migrants allowed to stay adopt 'national and European values', including equal opportunities.

The Italian schoolchildren's drawings which illustrate a chilling hatred for Roma gypsies | Mail Online

[Just Kill Me]

That's a shame; little facists... j/k. It happens all over the world. Sometimes children aren't "taught" to hate; they just pick up on the vibe and learn from that. The saying is "children can be so cruel" but you know it doesn't start that way.
BTW I love Roma tomatoes; any relation?

[yanna]

I just don't get Roma. There is no use for them, they refuse to be a part of any society. I don't think they deserved to be burnt for it but I don't get why they are like that. There are a few here in Athens who have settled down, kids go to school and have proper jobs. I'm good with those but I can't stand the others who are around begging and stealing and dragging around their poor infants. It's unacceptable.

[Rica]

It's their parent's influence that makes them hate.

[buttmunch]

I just don't get Roma. There is no use for them, they refuse to be a part of any society. I don't think they deserved to be burnt for it but I don't get why they are like that. There are a few here in Athens who have settled down, kids go to school and have proper jobs. I'm good with those but I can't stand the others who are around begging and stealing and dragging around their poor infants. It's unacceptable.

Are you serious? The Roma are an incredibly complex and diverse society with a number of main branches. Just because their style of living doesn't fit into your rather simplistic view of what is 'normal' right and proper doesn't mean it's wrong. You are perpetuating the myth that all or most Roma are begging, theiving losers who don't give a damn about their kids. Get a clue and get an education.

[Ravenna]

Eh, Yanna is just calling 'em as she sees 'em. The level of hatred evident in these drawings is disturbing, especially coming from children, but I can understand the negative feelings. I've had contact with the Roma in Italy and Spain and they were complete pests: begging, creating diversions, swarming and trying to rob my father-in-law. Perhaps they are not all begging, thieving losers, but it's easy to get that impression.

[buttmunch]

I've come in contact with them as well and sure, some beg but big deal. The fifty homeless guys on the high street beg as well. That doesn't make me blanket all white people as homeless losers who beg and take drugs.

[sputnik]

^^^^
they do refuse to live by the law though. that's a problem not only in western europe where they come in waves by the thousands to beg (and steal - it's a proven fact that numbers of purse snatchings and pickpocketings go up in this city when there is a heavy roma presence) but in eastern europe as well. and yes, it's true people are very racist toward them and exclude them but they also refuse to live by society's rules and won't keep their children in school and arrange marriages for their children while they are still teenagers.
and sure, maybe that's their culture and their way of life but unfortunately, you can't live in modern society without somewhat adapting and integrating.

i do not agree with the xenophobia and racism they face but i also understand the frustration and anger they provoke in people and in governments because when they do try to help them and integrate them, they won't comply. they won't keep their children in school because it goes against their nomadic lifestyle, then they complain they are excluded from society but what do you expect when you live in a caravan and never stay in one place, or get a job or go to school?

[Sweetie]

I'll do it for a caravan.

[Just Kill Me]

Hell yeah, I love Snatch!
Do you like dags?

[AliceInWonderland]

[samantha jones]

Without getting into a long story, most of the homeless, gypsys here in Roma are from the E.U., particuarly Romania, for some reason, and from Africa. There is a whole underground system of begging..and women steal babies, rent babies, and drug them to obtain symptathy and get more money. I've seen 2 year old children who look, in their drugged, sleeping state, as if they are breast feeding. That's way too old to breast feed and done for cash only. If the women don't make enough money for the day, when they go back to their camp, they are beaten and-or raped. It's a sad cycle.

The new PM of Italy is a hard ass right wing guy, who coincidently or not, happens to love Pres. Bush and is probably in bed with him. Bertolosconi is cleaning up Roma.

So the kids are learning hatred and intolerance from their parents, probably, but the Roman culture and Bertolosconi are anti-immigrant.

Unless of course, you are American...then you're ok. Then again, we're not the ones begging on the streets. Just trying to survive the high Euro. Wow....I get to live for another few months without calling in my uncles from NYC!

Off my soap box now.

[yanna]

Originally Posted by buttmunch

Are you serious? The Roma are an incredibly complex and diverse society with a number of main branches. Just because their style of living doesn't fit into your rather simplistic view of what is 'normal' right and proper doesn't mean it's wrong. You are perpetuating the myth that all or most Roma are begging, theiving losers who don't give a damn about their kids. Get a clue and get an education.

Just saw this and I won't say the first thing that came on my mind, it could get me banned.

I have a perfectly good education. I grew up seeing Roma everywhere, I had Roma children as schoolmates, would you say the same? I voted for one of their leaders when he was running as an MP here because that man wants to keep the good parts about their culture, their music, some of their traditions but he wants them to become part of society. I see them every day, begging, dragging their infants with them. THat's no fucking life. And where the hell did I say that it I believed all of them are like that?

[moomies]

You should say it, Yanna

I mean telling someone to get an education with the assumption that the poster is UNeducated is insulting and it was meant as an insult, that's pretty low. It's just a difference in opinion (based on one's own experience), no need to get personal attack-y like that.

[McJag]

NO,NO Yanna & Moomies-I cannot speak for her, but I think Butt meant get educated about Romas-not get an education in general. That's how I interpet it.
Here we have the Travelers-similar. They marry off children,swarm into towns with roofing schemes,etc. They are a very different culture with little respect for laws. The most common last name here is "Johns". Several TV shows have been shown about them.