A seminar “Hate speech and Gypsies\/Roma” was held in Moscow,

On April 3, 2007, a seminar "Hate Speech and Gypsies/Roma" was held in Moscow, organized by the Federal National Cultural Autonomy of Russian Gypsies (Nadezhda Demeter) and the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC).

The seminar, moderated by Anna Sharogradskaya (Regional Press Institute) and Leonid Raikhman (ERRC), was attended by Russian media journalists, experts, representatives of the Roma communities from Moscow, Pskov, Vladimir, Kaluga and a number of other Russian cities, as well as representatives one of the gypsy communities in Belarus.

During the discussion, questions were raised related to the stigmatization of the Roma people (Gypsies) in the Russian media, and attempts were made to identify the mechanisms of negative ethnic stereotyping.

At the same time, it became obvious that the negative stereotypes of the participants in the discussion are mutual: if the Roma ethnic group is constantly identified with crime, then journalists in the eyes of community representatives look like corrupt and unscrupulous non-professionals.

A significant part of the discussion was devoted to discussing the acute problems faced by the Roma in various regions of Russia. In particular, the issue of the demolition (already carried out or being prepared) of gypsy settlements is very relevant today. Arkhangelsk, Kaliningrad, Chudovo (Pskov region) are just a few cities where hundreds of people have lost or are about to lose their homes. And, as a rule, the campaign to evict the Roma is accompanied by a mass anti-Roma PR campaign unleashed in the local media and, often, directly inspired by the local administrations.

During the discussion, another problem was also identified - the low educational level of the Roma, which in many cases leads to their inability to formalize legal documents (for example, registration of land rights, the formal absence of which is the basis for the demolition of Roma houses) and serious difficulties in protection of their rights.

The participants of the discussion came to the conclusion that the problem of overcoming hate speech is not a one-sided process, dialogue and movement towards each other are important in it: overcoming the closeness of Roma communities, on the one hand, overcoming negative stereotypes of journalists, on the other.

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