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Nice to see them being portrayed as friendly and in a somewhat positive light. Unfortunately, this is one of the most unfairly treated ethnic groups in Europe -

Nice to see them being portrayed as friendly and in a somewhat positive light. Unfortunately, this is one of the most unfairly treated ethnic groups in Europe - the prejudice runs high even amongst people with generally progressive views - and I have to object to this headline's labelling of the area. I hope that in the coming years that would be treated as a racial slur.

turbinerneiter 6y ago
I never met a Sinti or Roma, but many eastern europeans, and they all had nothing but hate for this group, based on stories of crime and theft. Ticked me off a bit, since that was exactly the prejudice eastern europeans faced and face in western europe.
- eznzt 6y ago
  >Ticked me off a bit, since that was exactly the prejudice eastern europeans faced and face in western europe. At least here in Spain that is because most of the Eastern Europeans we get are Roma. So people automatically assume Bulgarians or Romanians are all Roma and act like them.
  - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
    > At least here in Spain that is because most of the Eastern Europeans we get are Roma. While Roma might be highly visible to you because some beg in the streets or appear in crime reportage, Roma are still only a minority of the Eastern European immigrants in Spain. They are a minority even of the Balkan countries’ immigrants in Spain. You just don’t notice all those ethnic Romanians from Romania who don’t look particularly exotic, and who are quietly working hard in some industry outside the public eye (i.e. agriculture, or taking care of the elderly, or even the IT sector).
- baq 6y ago
  There used to be a time when ‘entrepreneurs’ were much more likely to travel abroad than law-abiding citizens for a combination of reasons and I imagine a similar combination makes only the worst of them travel and be seen outside of their usual places, giving a very bad rep to the wide group as a whole.
definetheword 6y ago
> I hope that in the coming years that would be treated as a racial slur. It won't. Perhaps you should do some research and not try to object to or ban more language, as the term is not always used negatively. While some Romani are opposed to it, others use the term in a positive light to promote their culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_Lore_Society https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_Lore_Society Many on social media today claim to be gypsies in a positive light (however, they're more claiming to adopt certain culture aspects they appreciate).
wwosik 6y ago
I do not think they would be friendly to any local Bulgarian that wandered into the neighbourhood. Also "many children don’t attend school." is rather a problem, isn't it. And though I do not know much about Bulgaria, I doubt it's because of the money. I'd assume Bulgaria has free schools and probably social support for financially struggling kids. There are so many different nations in Europe, some with their nation states, many without. However, Roma or Travellers seem to have the same poor opinion almost everywhere - which is not really shared with any other people. Maybe it is not that fair to picture Bulgarians as the only source of the bad situation in this neighbourhood. Isn't there a way for the community to organise anything, even some basic cleanup? I didn't particularly care for the quote (from comments): > I generally try to avoid Western Europe these days – along with most of the Western world, people their are (in general) just trying to convince themselves that the little bubble they exist in is all that matters. A bit rich coming from an American, but anyway I do not understand what it that supposed to mean. I'd believe it's rather Western Europeans that try to care for the world as the whole, rather than do the least immediately necessary.
- EB-Barrington 6y ago
  Post author here: Note that the people that live in Stolipinovo are Bulgarian. I guess you meant to say "I do not think they would be friendly to any non-Roma Bulgarian". That's an assumption that (from experience) is incorrect. Also, I'm not American, but I get that a lot.
  - wwosik 6y ago
    "non-Roma Bulgarian" are you quite sure they self-identify as Bulgarian? My experience from a different country is a different one.
  - vetinari 6y ago
    > Note that the people that live in Stolipinovo are Bulgarian. Bulgarian (Greek, Macedonian, Hungarian. or other nationalities with nation-states) has two semantic meanings: citizenship and ethnicity. So it is possible for individuals to be Bulgarian citizens, but not of Bulgarian ethnicity. Or vice versa. Someone of Bulgarian descent born in USA won't be necessarily Bulgarian-in-the-citizenship sense. So in the grandparent case, he obviously meant "non-Roma", without regards to citizenship.

turbinerneiter 6y ago

I never met a Sinti or Roma, but many eastern europeans, and they all had nothing but hate for this group, based on stories of crime and theft. Ticked me off a bit, since that was exactly the prejudice eastern europeans faced and face in western europe.

eznzt 6y ago
>Ticked me off a bit, since that was exactly the prejudice eastern europeans faced and face in western europe. At least here in Spain that is because most of the Eastern Europeans we get are Roma. So people automatically assume Bulgarians or Romanians are all Roma and act like them.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  > At least here in Spain that is because most of the Eastern Europeans we get are Roma. While Roma might be highly visible to you because some beg in the streets or appear in crime reportage, Roma are still only a minority of the Eastern European immigrants in Spain. They are a minority even of the Balkan countries’ immigrants in Spain. You just don’t notice all those ethnic Romanians from Romania who don’t look particularly exotic, and who are quietly working hard in some industry outside the public eye (i.e. agriculture, or taking care of the elderly, or even the IT sector).
baq 6y ago
There used to be a time when ‘entrepreneurs’ were much more likely to travel abroad than law-abiding citizens for a combination of reasons and I imagine a similar combination makes only the worst of them travel and be seen outside of their usual places, giving a very bad rep to the wide group as a whole.

definetheword 6y ago

> I hope that in the coming years that would be treated as a racial slur. It won't. Perhaps you should do some research and not try to object to or ban more language, as the term is not always used negatively. While some Romani are opposed to it, others use the term in a positive light to promote their culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_Lore_Society https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_Lore_Society Many on social media today claim to be gypsies in a positive light (however, they're more claiming to adopt certain culture aspects they appreciate).

wwosik 6y ago

I do not think they would be friendly to any local Bulgarian that wandered into the neighbourhood. Also "many children don’t attend school." is rather a problem, isn't it. And though I do not know much about Bulgaria, I doubt it's because of the money. I'd assume Bulgaria has free schools and probably social support for financially struggling kids. There are so many different nations in Europe, some with their nation states, many without. However, Roma or Travellers seem to have the same poor opinion almost everywhere - which is not really shared with any other people. Maybe it is not that fair to picture Bulgarians as the only source of the bad situation in this neighbourhood. Isn't there a way for the community to organise anything, even some basic cleanup? I didn't particularly care for the quote (from comments): > I generally try to avoid Western Europe these days – along with most of the Western world, people their are (in general) just trying to convince themselves that the little bubble they exist in is all that matters. A bit rich coming from an American, but anyway I do not understand what it that supposed to mean. I'd believe it's rather Western Europeans that try to care for the world as the whole, rather than do the least immediately necessary.

EB-Barrington 6y ago
Post author here: Note that the people that live in Stolipinovo are Bulgarian. I guess you meant to say "I do not think they would be friendly to any non-Roma Bulgarian". That's an assumption that (from experience) is incorrect. Also, I'm not American, but I get that a lot.
- wwosik 6y ago
  "non-Roma Bulgarian" are you quite sure they self-identify as Bulgarian? My experience from a different country is a different one.
- vetinari 6y ago
  > Note that the people that live in Stolipinovo are Bulgarian. Bulgarian (Greek, Macedonian, Hungarian. or other nationalities with nation-states) has two semantic meanings: citizenship and ethnicity. So it is possible for individuals to be Bulgarian citizens, but not of Bulgarian ethnicity. Or vice versa. Someone of Bulgarian descent born in USA won't be necessarily Bulgarian-in-the-citizenship sense. So in the grandparent case, he obviously meant "non-Roma", without regards to citizenship.