Why all the negative propaganda about Romanian immigrants?

[lottieandmia]

Nasty propaganda from the daily mail. How predictable! And so the bigoted comments on Facebook begin...

Tabloid anti immigrant and frankly racist hysteria. The Mail Online is currently showing a picture which purports to be of Romanians queueing up to get a bus to the UK today. The trouble is, it's a service which doesn't operate any route to the UK on Thursdays. That's how accurate their reporting is.

Some interesting facts on this on the Zelo Street blog - see zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-romanians-are-coming-or-maybe-not.html
and zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/migrant-hate-speech-proved-wrong.html

Thanks nenny sadly I think some people actually want to believe the racist propaganda.

...because if the ruling class can blame immigrants, the poor, the disabled, or any of 'the other', then they can divert people's attention and anger towards them instead of the real culprits, who are the psychopaths in power.

Quite, ttosca. Ah well thankfully some of us can see it for what it is.

There was a Romanian lady working in McDonalds on thurs who was talking to a (bored) colleague whilst clearing tables. She was saying about negative press and how lucky she was to have a job and be able to have a better life.
This colleague was not in any way interested, but I was! She seemed desperate to get across that they were not trying to get welfare, just get by.
I gave her a huge smile and a good morning to her on the way out
I cannot abide the way the media has dealt with this, race attacks are sure to go up, I have already heard the nasty fucks from our estate swearing about immigrants taking 'their' jobs (spiff-smoking, dole-claiming men who terrorise the estate)

DH and I paid our taxes for 7 years, ever since we came to the UK. We are involved in the community, contribute to it regularly, and didn't steal anyone's job. We are both in highly specialised jobs for which many nationals (including British) applied. I am sick of the question "so, do you plan on going back to Romania?" and I still can't believe that one of the midwives who visited my newborn and I was surprised (raised eyebrows, etc) that we owe our own house and do not rent.

Romanian, I feel really sick about the sort of treatment you and your fellow countrymen have been getting, and thoroughly ashamed about the role of the press in stirring all this up. i really hope that common sense and fairness will reassert themselves as soon as possible.

I have a Romanian cleaner who has arrived at my house in tears on a few occasions due to racist attacks she has encountered on her way to work.

She is a lovely person who has made enormous efforts to improve her English and make a contribution since she arrived. She is trying to qualify in childcare.

What shocked me most was the treatment she received when trying to register for a National Insurance number so that she could actually pay tax. The people who interviewed her (job centre staff I think) were so rude to her and laughed at her with each other in front of her.

I find this scape-goating so worrying and don't understand why intelligent society does not learn from hindsight.

Romania is an extremely poor country. Grinding poverty.

The Roma population of Romania are far worse off than the majority of the population. The fear is that level of poverty will drive Roma people to migrate into wealthier European countries where even living on benefits would give them a far higher standard of living. The fear is legitimate about mass migration which will cause inevitable strains on the public health, education and welfare systems of other EU countries.

The issue is not about Romanian people per se.

As I've said before, Ttosca and I practically disagree on everything. If I wanted to turn left, Ttosca would just want to turn right.

But on immigration we're both agreed so that has to tell you something.

Much of the hysteria is peddled by the tabloids and rags like the DM. It's an incredibly lopsided view that preaches to our fears. That those 'foreigners' are coming in droves to steal our jobs and live off our benefits.

The reality is that immigrants come, they work damn hard often doing jobs we don't want to do. They pay their taxes, proportionally are less likely to claim benefits and over time they put roots down and settle.

But the MP's are happy to let the tabloids keep pushing the lies because it deflects the blame from them. And each day we're blaming immigrants, we're not holding the politician's to account.

All the people I know who have migrated to the UK have one, or often two jobs and none of them claim benefits at all.

I agree that the DM is an irresponsible, fascist rag. I did try to address some of the bigoted comments I saw made on Facebook. I really don't get how some people are so gullible and stupid.

It's so good to see positive comments. To be honest I work in a multicultural environment so I haven't experienced racist comments at work, but I am aware how heated the immigration discussion can become.

MoreBeta, agree that Romania is a poor country, but not very often people make the distinction between Roma and Romanians. The Roma issue is very complicated and more complex than we can discuss now. A lot of Roma migrated way before 1 Jan, not sure how. Also, genuine question: how can they be entitled to benefits if they are newcomers? When I came to the UK, I had no recourse to public funds before I paid my taxes for a whole year, which only seemed fair. Even if I wanted to, I could not claim.

Romanian - I know Romania fairly well. I used to be involved in business there and yes the Roma issue is a lot more complex than we can discuss here. I know a lot of Roma migrated to Greece, Spain and Italy (family or cultural links to Roma indigenous populations there?) and that has caused tensions in what are very difficult economic times in those countries.

I think it is the Roma issue that is the one that people worry about.

Large numbers of mainly illiterate, uneducated very poor people crossing borders (of whatever nationality or ethnic group) effectively as refugees within in Europe have caused major social/economic problems in many EU countries in recent years. They are not in the same category as relatively highly skilled/educated Romanian people who come to find work.

When I came to the UK, I had no recourse to public funds before I paid my taxes for a whole year, which only seemed fair. Even if I wanted to, I could not claim.

Exactly! But papers don't print that bit. The simple fact is that it is incredibly difficult to claim benefits if you are not a native.

When I met my now wife, she was denied benefits despite working and living in the UK for several years because she went back to her home EU country for 3 months to give birth to her son and get support from family. But because of this 'break', she failed the habitual residence tests and was left literally penniless with a young son.

All the Eastern Europeans I know came to the country well qualified and took jobs that our youngsters wouldn't get out of bed for. Some like my wife have clawed their way up the career ladder through grit & determination. Not one i know has come to sponge off our benefits.

The rhetoric is practically criminal and I think gives us a reputation abroad of being intolerant and racists.

I actually I really don't think it's all Romanians that people are worried about - it's Roma gypsies with Romanian nationality. It's the same with Bulgarians. But people know that if they voice their concerns about the Roma they will be accused of Naziism, so they make it a nationality thing rather than a race thing.

But we all know what/who people (and the authorites) are really worried about.

When I came to the UK, I had no recourse to public funds before I paid my taxes for a whole year, which only seemed fair. Even if I wanted to, I could not claim.

No, you didn't. But if you'd arrived without the funds (allegedly) to enable you to house and feed and clothe your family until you could get a stable job, and you had small children in tow, who were, by default, 'vulnerable' and 'at risk' because of your inability to house/feed them, then whether you were technically eligible to claim benefits or not the state would be obliged to find housing/shelter for you, and to give you a cash allowance for essentials.

And people know this, which is why they come.

And it's why people very often arrive with children who are not biologically their own. They 'borrow' or informally adopt or act as guardians for other people's children because it provides a means to an end - ie. access to instant housing and benefits of some form or other when they'd otherwise be left to their own devices.

Someone will be along shortly to say I am scaremongering, but I'm not. It's true. And several people who work in housing/social services said as much the other day to an illegal immigrant who had a child and was PG, and was enquiring about what would happen to her if she went to the authorities.

Mad do you have any references for these claims?

well here's one to be going along with, I am sure I can find others.

Because the country is overcrowded and we aren't building any more housing for these people.

My lovely nanny of 6 years is Romanian and she feels very strongly about this. She feels the media portray her negatively (although she's never come across any personal racism) and I can see what she means.

But she also understands why - we have a big problem with Roma in our area and it really is a problem. They sleep on the steps of the children's school and you can imagine how awful it is in the morning when the children are queuing up to get into school. It's a sleeping place, a toilet, a picnic area.... I often come home to find some of the Roma women going through my bins. And there is a lot of begging with children going on. There's also a trafficking element in that the groups round our way are almost always 6 or 7 women, a couple of children and one man who appears to "run" the group. It's not good. There isn't really a way to put a gloss on it - it just isn't good.

Prior to January, the Roma rough sleepers were here illegally (not that the BA did much to deport them - the problem is too big - they deport one group and another group arrive). Now there is not even that sanction available to us. I don't know what the solution is for the Roma situation to be honest. I do appreciate that this is a terrible life to be leading but that doesn't really help people in my area who would dearly love their children not to have to pick their way through human waste on their way to school.

I'm sure that a few will abuse the system. Just like I'm sure there'll be some who will come to our country and break laws eventually getting put into prison.

However, the vast majority we'll probably never hear from. They'll arrive, find a job, find a home and get on with life.

How hard do we need to look before we find a UK citizen, born and bred who is fiddling the benefits? Not very hard I imagine.

When we start applying different values and expectations purely because of where someone is born, that in my mind is the very definition of racism.

and here's another one which is the Guardian so it MUST be true.