If the multiculturalists are upset over the ongoing French Roma expulsions, just think how apocalyptic they’ll sound once Sarkozi or his eventual successor begins to tackle the challenge of the banlieus.
The truth is that there is a long tradition of open hostility towards Roma, one with uncomfortable echoes of the open hostility shown towards another ostracised minority in the past. Right across Europe, including in Britain, casual anti-Gypsy remarks are simply not taboo in the way that slights on other ethnicities mostly are today. Some of this, it is true, can be explained by distinctive facets of Roma culture, which do not fit comfortably within contemporary capitalist societies. Rolling caravans do not lend themselves to rooted integration, and especially when they are decoupled from standard western ideas about property rights. The latest French crackdown followed on from rioting that was sparked by the shooting of a young Roma man, and with dire school drop-out rates Gypsy communities tend to rub up against authority more often than most.
I like that. The Roma aren’t dirty and useless thieves, they’re just “decoupled from standard western ideas about property rights”. Actually, that would explain a lot about Goldman Sachs and the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision, come to think about it. It’s fascinating to see how conflicted eurofascists are already calling for France to be kicked out of the European Union over these racial expulsions; the EU is certainly showing stress fractures in some interesting and unexpected places.