Migration and Multi-ethnic Communities by Maija Ojala-Fulwood

Author:Maija Ojala-Fulwood [Ojala-Fulwood, Maija]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, Anthropology
ISBN: 9781317989301
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2013-09-13T04:00:00+00:00

Samu Pehkonen

Impromptu facts and moral panic: the Roma people and local communities

Positioning the Roma

“[T]here is a lot of talk in the media about FEUDING NEIGHBORS or CONFLICTS in the village. That’s bullshit! This is a Gypsy problem, nothing else. No Gypsies, no feuding neighbors. The Swedish media doesn’t like this so they resort to using euphemisms to discuss the problem.”655

“If someone gets pissed off because of me filming [the Gypsy beggars], I don’t really care. I’mmore pissed off by the fact that these parasites come to Finland and misuse our welfare system.”656

These two quotations show some of the present-day reactions to the problematic position of the Roma (or Gypsy) people, a traditionally nomadic ethnic group. While attitudes toward immigrants of different ethnic backgrounds have generally become more polarized in Europe in the wake of the “refugee influx,” the Roma hold an unfortunate record of perpetually being unwelcome everywhere. Also, in the Nordic countries, their mobile and culturally conservative way of life has made them a group with “traces of dubious origins,”657 who are not fully in synch with the prevailing Nordic public space and social order but tend to “stand out” as morally suspicious.658 The individual reactions quoted above are based on and reflect a growing collective moral panic, an emotional reaction to an issue deemed to be a threat to the sensibilities of “proper” society. The quotes also suggest that the Roma pose a challenge to society; “ordinary citizens” are losing their trust in authorities who are incapable of handling the Roma problem.

The fact that both these events are accessible to the public through various audio-visual and written records makes them an interesting starting point for this chapter. The first quotation from a Swedish internet forum relates to a neighborhood conflict that took place in Vojakkala village in Haparanda, Northern Sweden for more than two decades. It attracted nationwide media attention and culminated in an attempted murder in 2008. The District Court sentenced six members of a Finnish Roma family to a total of 22 years’ imprisonment. For some, the court decision provided evidence of the Swedish authorities finally putting an end to a Gypsy threat, while for others, it was just another example of injustice and anti-Roma sentiment.

The second quotation provides an argumentative basis for a self-proclaimed Finnish immigration critic who has been filming various encounters with Eastern European Roma beggars in Finland. These recordings are then posted on the internet and narratively reframed as witness to the failings of both national and European immigration policies, to show distrust toward authorities, and to flirt with vigilantism. Extending or criticizing the news coverage on the Roma beggars in the established media, this type of citizen journalism with biased emphasis aims to reframe public perceptions of and responsibilities toward the Roma. Just like “compassion depends on visuals,”659 so does suspicion and hate.

Although the Roma in these two cases are ethnically different, i. e., in the neighbor conflict, the family belongs to a group of Finnish Kale Gypsies with a 500-year

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