The Roma people of the Czech and Slovak republics, along with travellers throughout Central and Eastern Europe, were the first victims of the Nazi pogroms. They have suffered systematic discrimination since World War II.
In the Czech Republic unemployment stands at 5%. For the Roma people it is over 70%. This systematic discrimination extends to education, health and housing. The stigmatising of a whole community has encouraged racist and fascist groups. Since the arrival of the post communist government in 1990 there have been over a thousand attacks on the Roma people. Murders by skinhead racist gangs have taken place.
The population of travellers in the Slovak Republic is about 600,000. The sense of anger and isolation from society as a whole is a major factor in the small number seeking political asylum in Australia, Canada and Britain.
About 800 Roma people have sought safety in Britain. After a series of lurid press stories, and statements from the Home Office about systematic abuse of the asylum system, none has been granted refugee status so far. Indeed nobody has been granted asylum either from the Czech or Slovak Republics for at least seven years. There are now three hundred Roma asylum seekers being held in detention. The idea that this is a flood of people is ludicrous. It is true that a great strain has been placed on the Kent County Council Social Service budget. However the blame for this does not lie with the applicants themselves but with the Government for not repealing the appalling decision of the last Tory Government to remove benefits from asylum seekers.
There is a direct link between the failure of the media to recognise the plight of these people, the hysterical press reporting of the alleged “floods” and the attempt by fascists to march through Dover. All credit is due to the wonderful coalition of anti-racist and anti-fascist organisations who combined together to stop the obscenity of a fascist march.