Antigypsyism: Foundations of an ideology of hatred against Roma

• In Event: Critical Criminology 2. Exclusion and the Construction of Hate

Abstract

Roma communities represent the largest ethnic minority in Europe (European Commission, 2020), dating their presence in Europe for nearly half a millennium (End, 2012). The history of the Roma community has been starring in marginalisation, oppression and violent manifestations of hatred and persecution (Martínez, 2007; CoE, 2012; Cortés et al., 2019; Matache 2020; Molina 2020). Hatred towards Roma has been manifesting systematically on the European continent over the centuries.
These manifestations have been leading Roma to be victims of a specific form of racism manifested through explicit violence (End, 2012; Coe, 2012; End, 2015; Carrera, 2017; Rostas, 2019), hate speech, exploitation, stigmatisation, and the most brutal discrimination (ECRI, 2011). This phenomenon, known as antigypsyism, has configured a specific widespread and customary ideology marked by hatred and fear and based on a set of sustained prejudices and stereotypes about the historically constructed artificial and fictitious image of the "Gypsy" (Alliance, 2017; End, 2014; Selling 2015; Selling 2018; Carrera et al., 2017).
Despite the cessation and prohibition of discrimination against racialised minority groups, as well as the gradual establishment of policies, strategies and measures to combat discrimination and socially integrate an excluded minority group such as the Roma; the manifestation of this ideology has been presented in a violent, persistent and recurrent way (ECRI 2005; ECRI 2011; CoE 2012; Perry, 2001) suffered daily by members of this group (James, 2020; Chakraborti & Garland, 2015).
Throughout this paper, the study will focus on categorising antigypsyism from the field of Hate Studies, inquiring about the ideology that underlies and promotes hatred towards Roma. Thus, this categorisation of antigypsyism will produce a more complete and reliable knowledge about this phenomenon. Specifically, it will attempt to achieve a holistic understanding of hatred towards Roma and its manifestation, perpetration, and effects in the context of neoliberal global capitalism.

Author

• Fernando Ruiz Molina, University of Plymouth