Tiny homes

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

So-called “tiny homes” – and my God, tiny they often are – are all the craze in the “Western” world, it would seem, right now, in the second decade of the 21st century, and many families with children even downsize to those small and tiny dwellings which, in many cases may not be a bad idea. There are even, though primarily at present only intended for homeless (single) people, tiny homes villages – communities – springing up in some places with communal buildings, launderette, etc.

At the same time, however, almost everyone seems to be up in arms about the fact that Roma families in Eastern Europe “have to live” in small homes where all the kids, sometimes together with the parents, sleep in one bed and there are but a few rooms, if not just one, in the house.

A little like when the Gypsy caves in Sacramonte and Quadix were condemned by the authorities as “unfit for human habitation”, the Gitanos forced into apartment complexes, which did not suit their lives, and the caves then sold off to non-Gypsies as holiday homes and some even for permanent use. Just saying.

I am not against small homes, the opposite rather, as I can also clutter up a large one, and I think that many homes, in the USA and elsewhere, have gotten way too big and their footprint, both literal and environmental, also.

Most people, however, still see it the way that if you have a small house and your children have to share a room or, oh dear, they may have to share a bed or even the bed with the parents then you are poor, very poor, and, oh no, this can't possibly be, especially not when it is working class families or Gypsies. This goes especially for countries such as the USA, Britain, and some other places. Some of those tiny homes today, however, are taking tiny to the extreme. Small, even one-roomed, cabin kind of house is one thing but some of those are about the size of a sheepherder's wagon.

In those tiny homes into which many people downsize, even entire families with two or three kids, this is, shall I say once again, the norm, namely the family bed, with all sharing. But, hey, those are the modern well-educated folks and that's OK.

I am all for smaller homes and, yes, even, like in China and other places in Asia, for the family bed but what I cannot stand is the way that some people who live in small homes, whether out of choice or often not, and the whole family sleeping in the same bed, being told that they live in homes that are too small for them, and so on.

I am even and especially for the small homes communities – as some of those tiny homes are really a little too tiny that are in use there – for co-housing of larger extended families and intentional communities where the homes are mostly for living and communal kitchens and other common areas are also available. They would reduce the footprint in all aspects greatly. They are a great idea and far too many homes today are far too big.

My peeve is only with that the world seems to measure with two different kinds of scales here. When it comes to the hipsters and such like then downsizing to tiny homes is being applauded, even when this is with children. However, people who, to some extent by force of circumstances, are living in small homes, such as many Rom (Gypsies) then they are being castigated for living in such small homes.

Small homes are the way to go, I very much believe, and therefore rather than condemning the Rom (Gypsies) and their small homes maybe people could learn from them and, at the same time, help those Rom to better small homes. How would that be?

The family bed (more about the family bed in another article) is also very hip today among many of the “modern” families while not so long ago the very idea was being held as an anathema and people where the co-sleeping of parents and children is common were portrayed as backwards, such as in many Asian countries. In China this is still very common today for everyone to pile into the same bed of an evening, even among the urban dwellers, and for many a Chinese mother having their children sleep in separate beds, let alone in rooms away from the parents would be an anathema and a cause for mental anguish.

© 2018

Fascists on the ascent

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Everywhere in EU member states (and non-EU countries of Europe) the specter of fascism is seriously rearing its ugly head again. And that not just in the from of fringe groups and insignificant parties. In some countries they have made it into parliament and in some they even are in government, unfortunately, already. In other countries they are headed in that direction. The danger is real and present.

On Sunday, November 19, 2017, in Ostia, a suburb of the Italian capital Rome, there was an election runoff for the post of mayor and for members of the town council. The winner was the Five-Star-Movement (M5S) with 59.6% for their candidate Giuliana Di Pillo. The candidate for the governing Democratic Party (PD) in Italy already had to bail out in the first run with only 13% of the votes cast. With “only” 40,9% of the votes the candidate of the fascist “Brothers of Italy” (FdI), Monica Picca, was unable to prevail but the result shows that the extreme Right led by ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi is on the ascent.

But I do not think that we need this result in a rather local election as a sign and proof that the fascists are on the ascent all over Europe. But not all often wear their aims so broadly on their sleeves as some do. Many come in the guise of Liberals.

In Poland in early November 2017 an estimated 60,000 “nationalists” (can we say Nazis) alone in Warsaw, during nationwide wave of demonstrations and marches, called for all Jews to leave the country and for a white Poland for only those with Polish blood. I can't say what they may have said about the Gypsies, as the media did not report that. And they would have reported nothing had the call no been for Jews to leave the country.

As a Rom I do not need reminding that the fascist are on the rise as we can see this day in day out in countries such as Hungary, Romani, Bulgaria, etc., and not just by mob actions and pogroms but by government speech and more. But when such actions are “only” aimed at the Rom, the Gypsy, the world remains silent and, unfortunately, many Romani People in the West too, even when they are in the know about this.

When the word “Jew”, however, falls then they finally wake up, and make mention of it, as in the case of Poland in early November 2017. No mention was made as to what was said about the Rom in Poland, though I am sure there was a lot that those fascists did say about the Gypsies and how they would like to deal with our Romani People.

Apparently, however, the EU condemnation, a very light one, came only after it was made public what had been said about Jews and where the Rom are under attack the EU, apparently, cannot possibly interfere because those are internal (domestic) affairs of the countries in question. It can interfere when it suit, though, such as when it condemns, and rightly so, school segregation. When, however, the lives and freedoms of Rom are threatened then it would seem, the EU cannot and will not.

But the EU has never had the best for the Rom at heart, regardless of what they say and regardless of the moneys that have been given to obscure projects that never seem to have materialized. It is a neoliberal construct after all and neoliberalism is one of the coin which, on the other side has fascism. Only neoliberalism is not as obvious, generally, as is outright fascism, the results, however, are, in effect, the same.

As far as the Rom, the Gypsies, are concerned, there is only one thing that will help and that is for the People, us, the Rom, to do things ourselves. We can petition governments and the EU, etc., as much as we like. As far as they are concerned we do not – really – count (except, maybe, during election times, especially not as long as we do not conform to their measures and be totally integrated into the neoliberal capitalist model of wage slaves.

Only we can free ourselves. But, alas, as far as our “leaders”, most of who we have not chose but who have appointed themselves to be our leaders, are concerned there is no money in that for them and thus they will do anything and everything to prevent us liberating ourselves. We need grassroots unity and ditch the “leaders”, the judges (Rechtssprecher) and the false sherengros (headmen), etc., free ourselves from their chains, and advance as one, regardless of tribe, group and clan.

© 2017

Festival to combat discrimination toward Roma bottle collectors

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Roma Amor campaign will encourage respectful behaviour though crime fears linger

Reports of abuse and discrimination against Roma Gypsies who attend Roskilde Festival to collect bottles for their deposits has led festival organisers to begin a campaign to help foster better relations.

The campaign, Roma Amor, started in June 2011 and has stimulated lively debate on Facebook where many people have voiced their worries about the link between the Roma and crime at the annual music festival.

“I have had some bad experience with Roma,” worte Andreas Thanh Long Jensen. “I busted one of them going through my tent and my bag. He said that he was just checking for cans, but why would I hide them in my sleeping bag.”

Frederik Petersson commented that the bottle deposits ought to go to charity. “I find it kind of selfish to collect bottles for personal gain, when other people do the exact same thing to help people who are actually in need.”

Aware of these sorts of concerns, the festival has launched a refund mediation team as part of the ‘good refund initiative’. The team will maintain a dialogue with the Roma collectors and encourage them and festival-goers to be respectful of each other.

The campaign also hopes to highlight conditions for a group of people that faces high rates of poverty. Many of those in Denmark have travelled here to pick up bottles in order to scrape together a living.

Roma Amor is part of a larger effort by Roskilde Festival organisers this year to bring about awareness of poverty and the plight of people such as the Roma.

Campaign Manager, Anna Sophie Rønde, drew attention to the discrimination by festival guests, who have been known to hang signs outside their camps warning off Roma, often in profane or offensive language.

“When Roma people go to Roskilde Festival to collect deposits, it’s not necessarily because they are Roma, but because they are poor,” she said.

Rønde also pointed out that in Romania, where Roma make up 2.5 percent of the population, only 27 percent of Roma are employed. Those that are employed earn around €10 a day.

A team of social workers has also been established to ensure that children are not made to work through the night and in front of main stages, where their size allows them to slip through the crowds to pick up discarded cans and bottles.

The point made by Frederik Petersson is rather silly if not naïve; the deposit on the bottles and cans is there for the person who bought the bottles or the cans and if they are too lazy to take the bottles back why should not those that wish to do so collect them for income.

It was like that for us when we were children when we still had a deposit scheme on bottles, both soft drink and beer, and many a child's pocket money was made up from just the collecting of such discards.

That it is, nowadays, at those festivals and other such locations in Europe Romani adults and children who collect the bottles and cans for deposit is a sign that other people do not value such amounts of small change as are those depots. But, does the saying to state that many pennies make a pound?

The fact is that were it not for the Romani People at such events many of those bottles and cans would be left laying about and not be returned to where they belong. The problem is that the purchasers do not, as said, the small amount which constitutes the deposit enough to bring back those bottles or cans to claim it.

That is, really, what is wrong with society in our so-called developed countries, whether Western Europe or the USA, etc. People still, despite the Great Recession more or less still in full swing, do not value their pennies enough to make those deposit schemes work properly.

Let the Romani go about their business and as to children being overworked. Good G-d, the kids see that, in general, as fun, and that includes and especially scavenging in front of the main stages. There is also money to be found lost on the ground which they will be more than happy to add to their collections.

I doubt, also, that the festival goers would love adults gathering the collectables in front of the main stages and thus blocking their view of the happenings on the stages.

In addition to that it is natural for Romani (Gypsy) children to “work” and has always been, in the same way as children have always worked on farms from a young age. Now they are bored all the time and get up to mischief. Let them do valuable work and they will feel much better too.

© 2011