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Protecting the Roma from Rome's new Mayor.

iosaf | 14.05.2008 14:10 | Anti-racism | Migration | World

Gianni Alemanno was elected in April on a mixture of promises typical of his far-right platform. Upon his election fascist salutes were given to cries of "Duce!" on the steps of the Capitol in Rome. The most repugnant election promise was the immediate expulsion of Roma "gypsies" from the city. The Italian police have just been mobilised in Naples to protect Roma encampments from hate attacks last night which saw their shanties burnt. Many believed the general election which was lost by Veltroni (the former mayor of Rome) to Berlusconi was prompted because of the ongoing waste collection crises in Naples. It's time to identify the fascists.

Accordingly the news that Alemanno might sue "The Sunday Times" for defamation resulting from "misquotation" or "deforming" [sic] a quotation it carried in a piece it published last weekend entitled 'Italy needed fascism, says the new Duce', ought be seen it in its proper context.

There is a fascist in power in Rome. And the fascist salutes which greeted his election are now moving to expel the Roma community from Italy. The Roma have now been reported as moving on from the burnt camp in Naples.

Roma in Naples
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7400460.stm
 http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1405302.php/Naples_Roma_camp_abandoned_following_attack
 http://en.rian.ru/world/20080514/107310229.html
Roman Mayor on being a Fascist.
 http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1404826.php/Rome_mayor_says_he_was_misquoted_on_&quotpraise&quot_for_fascism

The Roma or "Romani" ethnic group is estimated at 15 million worldwide. It's "day" is celebrated on the 8th of April. Despite their undoubted influence on many musical traditions including flamenco, bolero, zidane or gypsy jazz as well as classical composers such as Liszt, Brahms & Bartok - they have often been the focus of persecution.

Estimates vary on how many were killed in The Holocaust :- "Ian Hancock, director of the Program of Romani Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, proposes a figure of up to a million and a half, while an estimate of between 220,000 and 500,000 was made by the late Sybil Milton, formerly senior historian of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum"

If you can read french you can learn all about their day and them here  http://journee-mondiale-rroms.org
or in English at Wikipedia
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people

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