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Introduction
- Central European University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Introduction [After WWII] Roma survivors had to settle next to forests, in the middle of fields or on riverbanks. These were the only places where they were allowed to settle down and start over. They built huts and began to call them flats. No attention was paid to them, and they were given no help. Anna Husarova Romani woman from Jarovnice1 May 24, 1945—it is sixteen days after the end of World War II. Czechoslovakia has been liberated and among the first laws adopted by the newly formed government2 is a directive on Governing Certain Conditions of Gypsies.3 Paragraph 2 of the directive states: “In villages where they [Roma] have dwellings in proximity to public, state-owned and other roads, the dwellings will be removed, placed separately from the village on distant places selected by the village” (Jurová 2002b). This is neither the first nor the last attempt to regulate Roma4 settlements and separate them from villages of non-Roma. Rather it is only one step in a long process of attempts to keep Roma outside the majority territories . Such attempts date back centuries and keep being reincarnated under different regimes and in different ways, yet with similar outcomes. As newcomers to villages with practically no resources to buy land, Roma were allowed to settle in places allocated by the non-Roma majority . As soon as the conditions modify—for example, value of the land 1 Testimony from the Stories exchange project, www.stories-exchange.org/sep/english/ stories/story.cfm?SID=118&CID=1. 2 Adopted by Expozitura Poverenictva Vnutra (Department of Interior Affairs of the newly formed government). It is an amendment to an older directive from April 1940 on Governing Certain Conditions of Gypsies. 3 In Slovak: Uprava niektorych pomerov Ciganov. 4 I use Rom (plural Roma, adjective Romani), the term promoted by most Romani organizations and Roma. The English equivalent of Gypsy (Tsigan) has negative connotations in Slovakian. 2 Introduction changes, new road close to the settlements proximity is constructed, or non-Roma realize that the Roma are too close to the village—multiple ways were utilized to resettle them. The most recent example described in the book is the construction of new social housing as far from the villages as possible. Consequently, Roma settlements can now be found on the outskirts of villages, separated from the majority population by roads, railways, or other barriers, disconnected from water pipelines and sewage treatment. What role did environmental conditions play in the selection process when the majority decided where this unwelcome minority had to live? Is it an accident that Roma shantytowns5 are next to a landfill, on contaminated land, or that they are regularly exposed to floods? Why do water pipelines end on the edges of their settlements, meaning that Roma have to walk miles every day just to collect potable water? There was (and, unfortunately, still is) discrimination in equal access to environmental benefits and people are not equal when it comes to exposure to adverse environmental impacts. Roma are not the only ethnic group discriminated against in Slovakia, but they are the leading group when it comes to unequal distribution of environmental benefits and harm among Slovak people. Such distribution is analyzed from the perspective of environmental justice, which is defined here as fair treatment of people regardless of ethnic origin or class in the distribution of negative environmental consequences from development plans and policies, industrial operations or natural disasters, and as fair access to natural resources and a clean environment. Environmental justice is also about the recognition and involvement of stakeholders regardless of their economic status or ethnicity in development, implementation , and enforcement of policies, programs, and projects related to the distribution of environmental benefits and harm. Around 550 people in Rudňany-Pätoracké of Eastern Slovakia live in a zone endangered by landslides or surrounded by toxic waste from mining activities. More than 300 Roma from Hermanovce wake up in the morning in the settlement at the fork of a river that floods their houses regularly . Today we find Roma settlements in regularly flooded areas, close to landfills or under the chimneys of derelict factories. What is even worse, once Roma inhabit a space, it becomes—in the eyes of the majority, that is decision makers—unsuitable for any development plan or project. On 5 The Slovakian name for these settlements is osada, which could be translated as “camp” or “colony.” I prefer to use the term shantytown or informal settlement instead...