Annual Report 2014 - Discrimination and the Roma community

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Cases of discrimination in the media
The broadcast of programmes like this simply fans the fire of stereotypes and prejudices towards the Roma
community as a whole, identifying the latter with crime and drugs trafficking.
24. National. The media. Direct discrimination. We received an email from a person informing us of a cartoon
featuring caricatures of people in prison posing as Roma. The message reads:
To the Secretariado Gitano:
I’m not Roma myself but I live in Albaicín (Granada) and in my 25 years I have had the opportunity to
know Roma starting in preschool and in normal everyday life; sons and daughters of tourism entrepre-
neurs and artists such as singers, dancers and famous guitarists. I believe it is insulting to say that Roma
are well integrated. Please bear with me for a minute as I explain. That assertion could be interpreted to
mean that by nature they are not well integrated and that those that are integrated are an exception
to the rule. While applauding the integration of the sectors most discriminated against in society is
positive insofar as it encourages this process to continue, we must be very careful of how we approach
this issue paying attention to the socio-economic context; what may be positive in one situation may
be an insult in another for the reasons I have just explained.
I am writing to you after seeing a drawing intended to be humorous in the El País newspaper. I decided
not to read the article and simply held on to the impression caused by the caricature, the same im-
pression made on the large percentage of “readers” who buy a newspaper and flip through it without
completing reading each and every page.
Description:
A cell with Luis Barcenas inside accompanied by a guitarist and a singer, all three dressed as inmates.
Impression:
It is common and normal for Roma to be imprisoned and they themselves feel comfortable.
The Equality Department first expressed its gratitude to this person for informing us of the case and then we
wrote to the Press Ombudsman but have not yet received a reply.
25. National. Internet. Direct discrimination. It is not uncommon to find pages in Facebook (social network) with
anti-Roma content inciting hatred and violence. This network allows users to create interest groups. In this case,
we came across a group that discussed and responded to the following survey (fake, of course):
The Fundación Secretariado Gitano conducted a nationwide survey with the following question: who would you
prefer to have as your next-door neighbour, A Gypsy family or a well known ETA (terrorist group) militant. The
vast majority preferred a fucking ETA murderer. That’s a good indication of anti-Gypsy racism.
Thanks to the action taken by other users who denounced this group, Facebook banned their page. Neverthe-
less, content of this nature is all too frequent on the different social networks and its detection and elimination
is usually complex. Action taken by private citizens as in this case is key to combating racism and discrimination
against the Roma community on the Internet.
26. National. The media. Direct discrimination. In a TV programme on Channel 5 they were discussing pictures
relating to a news story about a pyromaniac woman whom the police caught “red-handed” trying to set fire to
a lot in Madrid. The journalist made specific mention that the woman arrested was Roma.
As we have already pointed out in other similar cases, the mention of ethnicity adds nothing to the story and
only serves to reinforce the negative image that people have of the Roma community