The "Roma Emergency"

[ck4829]

Over in Italy, one can say things have crossed the line. The Roma population (Or Gypsies as some call them) are facing mounting repression, their camps are coming under attack, the government is scapegoating them for the crime rate, and the media is assisting the government in doing so.

The government/media (Because with Berlusconi in charge, the government and the media are the same thing) is calling it a "Roma Emergency"

I want to show you all a photo, it is graphic, so be warned.

This is the REAL Roma Emergency!



Covered are the bodies of two young girls, who even though they couldn't swim, they were seen thrashing around in the water; people supposedly just stood by and watched as they died.

We can't let this stand, repression is taking root; not in the middle east, not in some third world country, but right over on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Berlusconi must be stopped, it's time to for Congress to get up and demand Bush cut off his way-too-cozy relationship with this monster.

[villager]

1. Here we have "Il Dunce." There they have "Il Duce," as in a bad repeat...

with the first "Il Duce." The Italians seem to've forgotten their correction for their first fascist regime...

[atreides1]

2. Which Congress???

You surely don't mean the US Congress, do you???

They can't do the right thing for the American people, and you think they'll do something for foreigners???

[Obamanaut]

5. And yet, even though there is dissatisfaction with our congress,

nearly, if not all, of the incumbents seeking reelection will be reelected. The ideal time to enact term limits is November.

[FreepFryer]

3. I am hugely fond of my Italian friends and I find this behavior SO upsetting...

...I am hopeful they will resist the intentional use of racism to mobilize a renewed fascist state.

[villager]

4. Also, it turns out the Italian gov't is now "registering" all Gypsies:

" Under a new, controversial anti-crime measure, every Roma, including their children will be registered in a census and either photographed or fingerprinted -- a move condemned by the European parliament, the U.N., the Catholic Church and civil liberties groups as racial profiling.

The Berlusconi government says the initiative will help keep track of the group and better protect the rights of its children who under Italian law are entitled to free health care and education if they are documented."

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/21/gypsy.reaction/?iref=mpstoryview

[gateley]

6. This is chilling.

I remember being surprised when the proudly facist Berlusconi was elected. The 'registration' smacks of Nazi history in Germany. What's next? Corralling them all up, shipping them off to camps?

[Prophet 451]

12. They won't find us

We remember this shit, we remember how to deal with them. Go to ground, hit and run, look to teh roads. Same way we always have. The gadje will take our fashion, our cooking, even parts of our language but they keep on hating us all the same.

[LeftishBrit]

7. It's really the EU who have to clamp down on him.

He is a disgrace to his country and to Europe. He's a crook (should be in jail) and is very right-wing, and enables those who are even further right, e.g. the Mayor of Rome.

It's upsetting, especially as not so long ago he seemed to be out.

[Blue Diadem]

8. Link to different news article here saying there were 4 girls, two rescued, two died:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/21/italy.drowning/index.html

[Cleita]

9. It's no different than how we are treating the

undocumented workers coming from Latin America. They are being blamed for our failing economy and crime as well. This is how fascist governments work. The solution always seems to be to build walls and detention camps.

[awoke_in_2003]

14. I agree.

How people can just sit there on the beach with 2 covered bodies 20 ft away is totally beyond me.

[jberryhill]

16. Or ban them from beaches /nt

[southern_belle]

10. This is horrible!

:mad:

[roguevalley]

11. I saw a thread on this earlier. Did they actually watch them thrash

around?! I didn't hear that. This is awful. How do you sit around and not help someone?

[jberryhill]

15. How many ordinary folks...

...go into a rip tide to assist swimmers in distress on the beaches you go to?

If you are in condition for water rescue, then I salute you. Most people aren't.

Likewise, most people aren't skilled at resurrecting drowning victims.

What, specifically, would you have done?

[roguevalley]

20. first of all, my question was for information. The other thread said

there were life guards there but not that they were thrashing around and no one was doing something.

Your snoty retort to me is sad. What have I done? None of your business. I was asking a
question. Since you are such a hero, what have you done? And as for the two sitting there at
their little beach site with two dead girls laying not ten feet from them, defend that.

Upon editing for profanity, my father dived into a lake for over an hour to pull out a drowned child
and he didn't know how to swim. There are actually people out there that care about the fate and treatment
of others. Excuse me if that offends you.

[jberryhill]

22. "Since you are such a hero"

What?

You must have seriously misunderstood my post.

Your father did a great thing. Most people, if they dove into a rip tide to "save" someone, if they don't know what they are doing, would only provide more people in need of rescue.

You go diving in with life guards after someone sometime, and see how much they appreciate your "help". They want you out of the way because they don't want to pull your ass out next.

That photograph is taken with a telephoto lens, and you cannot tell the distance from the people on the beach and the victims.

as for the two sitting there at
their little beach site with two dead girls laying not ten feet from them, defend that.

Defend it against what?

If you were at the beach, and someone drowned and was pulled out of the water dead, what would you do? Go for lunch? Dance? Poke the body with a stick? Bury them in the sand? Gather around and gawk?

A lot of people might have to sit quietly for a while, reflect on life, and not do much of anything. Being present for a tragedy is a shocking event. Those "sunbathers" may simply be in shock. People in shock don't DO much of anything.

Tell me, from the photograph, what is going through the heads of those other people on the beach?

[Xithras]

13. Nobody "watched them thrash around".

Four went into the water and got into trouble. Two were rescued, but the other two drowned before they could be pulled back to shore. There are other threads here on the subject.

[Mudoria]

18. You should know by now that's it standard procedure

on DU to express your outrage and make calls of fascism wildly. And then the actuals facts show up: what a bummer.

[roguevalley]

21. what an awful thing all around.

[exothermic]

17. Geez, I thought this wuz gonna be about salmonella in tomatoes.

:+

[Selatius]

19. Berlusconi is scapegoating Roma Gypsies as the source of Italy's problems and ills. Sound familiar?

Sound like a guy 60 years ago named Hitler?