Saturday, September 04, 2010

Protests against Roma expulsions held in France

Kara Weinacht
9/4/2010
4:34 PM

This article reports on a League of Human Rights protest against the deportation-like treatment that Roma people are receiving in France. Overall this short article speaks to what the protest was like and notes political figures who disagree with France's behavior. I feel though, that it is really lacking in specific examples and instead skips to accusing France of xenophobic behavior. While there are statistics showing that France is kicking out almost 1000 people monthly, there is no personal story attached to it in the article, just a vague group of people who are being vaguely oppressed. But on the other hand, I do want to side with the Roma people being mistreated, because first off, the article even says that these people have been put down again and again throughout history, and secondly I personally feel that people aren't illegal. The article brings up that there were illegal encampments being targeted for expulsion, and that is the only infringement on human rights that I was able to take away from this article. National boundaries are outdated and should not mean that certain people or groups of people can't live in a space or place. Even though the article doesn't do a good job of portraying it, this issue of expulsion of the Roma people from France is not only an abuse of the EU rules but also it shows an apathy towards human rights. Way to go France.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11186592

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