From where I’m standing

The expulsion of Roma people from France has been difficult to witness, and is worrying. How do we combat this us-and-them attitude, which seems all too prevalent across borders?

The Roma are open to a new kind of vilification, and from all quarters. I have noticed the aversion they attract in public places in the UK.  And the media – and not just the tabloids – aren’t helping matters.

Just last month in the Financial Times, a comment piece alluded to there being too much hysteria in reaction to France’s actions.

Although the article recognised the abhorrent historical and contemporary treatment of Roma, it used language such as a “problem” and “finds it hard to fit into modern society” and, worse still, through the voice of a French citizen, “Why should we pay the price for what the Romanians and Bulgarians have done [to the Roma]?” This didn’t help.

On Facebook some of the Roma voiced their distress at being back in eastern Europe. But at the same time they noted that western Europe was becoming less and less likely to open golden gates to them. One commented, “…something is rotten in Sweden”. Sweden’s far-right party entered parliament for the first time last month. 

And what has all of this got to do with museums? Could museums be a voice of reason in all this fear and ignorance? Could they give visitors a historical and cultural explanation of the Roma? Could they let us get the full story or even another side of the story? Or let us hear the voice of the Roma that is sorely missing in media reports?

Museums can explain the background to the Roma’s persecution in eastern Europe for decades and why they are now making their way to western Europe – along with those who are seen as more palatable or less threatening to the human race and labelled very differently – as economic migrants.

Museums will have to find new ways to operate and become representative of the public in creative ways in our changing times. This certainly could be a great way of doing that.