Beyond the Bubble

French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has received harsh criticism from the European Union for his government’s recent initiative to deport 1,100 Romanian and Bulgarian Roma people, commonly referred to as Gypsies by French citizens.

Since July, over 1,000 Roma have already been forced to leave the country.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Roma people “have the right to enter France without a visa, but under special rules they must have work or residency permits if they wish to stay longer than three months.” It is reported that these visas are difficult to obtain.

While well within their right to deport illegal citizens, the French government is not entitled to an ethnically charged witch-hunt.

This categorization of people based on ethnicity has enraged the international community. The EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding likened the focused deportation to ethnic persecution. She stated that this event constituted “a situation that I had thought that Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War.”

Surprisingly, these policies may actually reverse the declining approval ratings of the incumbent government. According to the BBC, many native citizens believe the foreign-born Roma to be beggars and low-income individuals. The BBC noted that as many as 65 percent of French citizens may back the government’s actions with respect to the Roma people.

The French are not alone in closed immigration policies. In recent elections in both Sweden and the Netherlands voters have done an about-face on formerly liberal immigration policies, closing the countries borders to prospective citizens.

In his discussion of current political trends in Sweden Andrew Brown of The Guardian described that within the wealthy nations xenophobia seems to be on the rise.

“Islam has become the symbol of all that is strange and menacing and un-Swedish about immigration,” stated Brown.

Reporters have suggested that such sentiments have often been bred in silence. There is such stigmatization within the country for supporting any party other than one that is seen as “progressive,” that many people develop their views behind closed doors. This has led to racial profiling and prejudice.

As in France and Sweden, Middlebury students are often reluctant to participate in conversations on the topics of race, ethnicity and diversity. I fear that often our own hypersensitivity and tendency towards incontrovertible political correctness are stifling discussions. This leaves our community vulnerable to prejudice.

Maybe we have gone too far in our own efforts to be PC. Perhaps we have moved into an era of closet-beliefs — a new form of ignorance that can be equally as damaging.

When opinions are formed during open dialogue within a community they are subject to the broad array of knowledge and differing opinions present. At Middlebury, we are so fortunate to have individuals from such diverse backgrounds. Let us use this resource. Let us get more comfortable with stepping on toes in our attempts to better understand our peers and ourselves.