In May 2001, IFWEA's European regional organisation Euro-WEA held a seminar in Spain entitled "Workers' Education; Civil Society; Racism, Nazism, Fascism and Xenophobia - Romanies/Gypsies". Liz Cumberbatch, the Development Education Officer of the WEA (England and Scotland), reports on the main issues to emerge from the seminar.

The aims of the seminar were:

	to increase our common knowledge of the underlying causes of racism and xenophobia, and identify ways of combating these;
	to encourage the exchange of experiences on how we, in practical work in civil society, can make visible and help the building of progressive forces against racism and xenophobia;
	to build a network, by means of information technology, to establish an information bank of experiences which will spread experiential information in this field;
	to give special attention to the situation of Romanies/Gypsies in European countries;
	to discuss with Romany representatives what Euro-WEA can do to strengthen the Romany position in Europe.

Bob Purkiss, Chair of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) and a trade unionist of many years experience, introduced the main themes. He set the tone of the seminar by pointing out the basic factual situation regarding migration in the European Union:

A net migration of 800 thousand is not nearly enough to correct the effects evident in the working population of Western Europe, of an ageing population.

Racism affects all Black and Asian communities and individuals, not only new migrants.

Transnational companies engage in discriminatory practices across borders. So it is no longer sufficient to fight discrimination only in one country.

Recent European Union legislation against discrimination must be incorporated into national legislation by 2003. This necessitates that we monitor national governments.

Equality must be actively promoted. It is not enough merely to end discrimination. Freedom of settlement is absolutely as important as freedom of movement.

The final statement of this address echoed throughout the seminar: Racism and Xenophobia are not generated by diversity but by economic and social inequality. The emphasis thus moved from the immigrant minority communities to the indigenous majority communities.

Situation of the Roma people in Europe

Various speakers reviewed the specific issues for the Roma/Gypsy peoples across Europe.

The Roma population is spread as follows:

• Total population of Roma 12.5 million
• Roma population in America 2.5 million
• Roma population in Europe 10 million (mainly central and Eastern Europe)
• Roma population in Spain 650 thousand

Little is known by non-Roma people about the Roma people and their culture apart from the stereotype of Flamenco dancing and music. This stereotype was actually taken over by Franco as a symbol of Spain! Much gypsy culture has been assimilated into European cultures but is not acknowledged. Another unacknowledged fact about the Roma is that half a million died in Nazi concentration camps.

Speakers questioned the validity of the generally accepted definition of Gypsies as travellers. Are Gypsies nomadic by culture or do they move about as a result of persecution? A parallel with the Jews was pointed out. The Jews were another race who were persecuted and forced to move from country to country. The earliest Romani's in Europe were slaves. There have been several waves of immigration across Europe; for example, the population movements which resulted from the Communist takeover of Eastern Europe. The most recent wave, still in its early stages, is a result of the break up of Communist governments in Eastern Europe. The growing crisis in Eastern Europe, involving among other things, escalating violence and discrimination against the Roma people, is bringing about a greatly increased Roma demand for asylum. Western Europe regards the Roma problem as economic, therefore not an entitlement for asylum or refugee status.

The Roma see themselves as a stateless nation, a nation scattered. They are often not recognised as such by others. Even in Spain where the Roma have been settled for three centuries and see the Andalusia region as a place of acceptance, there is still a stigma attached to them. They have a strong sense of identity, but have had to give up their way of dressing and their language. Some disagreement emerged between the speakers as to whether the blending of Roma and Spanish culture in Andalusia should be seen as a positive situation for the Roma or simply as a tourist attraction? If the economic situation should worsen, would they again be the targets of discrimination?

Strengthening our opposition to racism, nazism and fascism

Bjorn Fries, Mayor of the Swedish town of Karlskrona and holder of the Olaf Palme International Prize 2000 for work in Anti-racism, focused on the Swedish organisations of the far right. The speaker described his approach to anti-racist work within his town.

Neo-Nazi organisations in Sweden have a collective hardcore of about 150 people, almost certainly connected with criminal activity. These are not a threat to democracy but are a threat to individuals. Much of the thinking and stimulus for these groups comes from Nazi websites and publishers in the United States, where they shelter behind the constitutional amendment protecting freedom of speech. Some Swedish MPs have set up a support group to help MPs threatened by racist attack.

Why do people engage with these organisations? It probably has little to do with ideology, but much to do with disenfranchisement, disenchantment and disengagement. These are often lonely people who do not belong to groups or have friends. They are often young men with fractured family lives and frequently no father figures. Bjorn stated that 8 out of 10 would have had a bad experience with a member or members of an ethnic minority. They often see themselves as the little man against the system. When the local group in Karlskrona increased from 4 members to 200, Bjorn began a practice of meeting with the local leaders to try to include them in dialogue. In his town, in order to receive social benefits, they have to conform and not wear racist symbols or actively engage in racist activity. He feels strongly that society/communities have to give these people a reason to be part of the system and not to act outside it. The group is now down to 15. The aim of Bjorn's strategy is to destroy the ideas, not the people.

General discussion and outcomes

Seminar participants discussed what could be done by Euro-WEA at a practical level, and what in particular could be done to build cooperation between Roma organisations and our organisations.

It was felt that we must find ways as organisations and as individuals to influence government policy on immigration and asylum seekers at national and European levels.

We must focus on the needs of the arriving communities: legal rights, housing, social security, education and training.

The issue of migration is global, not merely European. We need to look outside as well as inside Europe for good practice, ideas etc.

It is vital to focus education on the majority communities. Anti-racist education must be included in all our programmes. Majority communities are not homogeneous and contain those who are socially and economically excluded. These people fear incomers. Anti-racist education can help such excluded groups to focus on the real causes of their poverty and not to blame other groups, particularly black and ethnic minority groups.

Racist and xenophobic ideas and stereotypes are deeply embedded in our language and culture. This needs to be challenged constantly.

There is a case for providing anti-racist education as well as multi-cultural education. Sometimes this can act merely a prop to the status quo or a celebration of cultures and languages, rather than a challenge to racism. However, we should remain positive about living in a multi-cultural/multi-racial society.

As for the Roma people, it tends to be their cultural organisations which get support, while their political organisations are not helped. There are issues facing the Roma communities internally: separate schooling, separate development, Roma language, education of young Roma in their own language and culture.

For more information contact Liz Cumberbatch at: WEA Development Education, Aizlewood's Mill, Nursery Street, Sheffield, Britain S3 8GG; +44-114-2823484 (phone); +44-114-2823150 (fax); liz.cumberbatch@virgin.net  (email).