LIGHT ON Bliki

For Eastern European Roma in Finland, to be faced with racist slurs is everyday occurrence. For example, volunteers who work with the Roma report that spitting and name-calling are the most common form of racist behaviour. Especially beggers are regular victims of racist attacks. In an interview, a volunteer working to promote the rights of the East European Roma in Finland noted that while walking through the Helsinki Railway Station with a pregnant Romani lady, a guard started shouting after her: "Begger, get out of here!". Such slurs are reportedly an everyday experience for East European Roma in Finland.

The discrimination against beggers ignores the structural problems causing poverty and misery among the Romani population, mainly arriving from Romania and Bulgaria to Finland. Beggers are often dehumanised and their presence in the public space is considered to be contaminating. Furthermore, when a woman is walking through the railwaystation and gets stereotyped as a begger by a station guard on duty, the slur demonstrates the internalised prejudice of the professional practioners.

Kerjäläiset epäinhimillistetään usein julkisessa keskustelussa ja heidän läsnäolonsa nähdään saastuttavana.


A kéregetőktől gyakran vitatják el emberi méltóságukat, úgy gondolva, hogy jelenlétük beszennyezi a közterületeket.

I mendicanti rom sono spesso disumanizzati: la loro presenza in uno spazio pubblico è considerata contaminante.

Berači so pogosto razčlovečeni in njihova prisotnost v javnem prostoru je dojeta kot kontaminacija prostora.

http://yle.fi/uutiset/solvaukset_ja_sylkeminen_romanien_arkea_helsingissa/6285230