Wednesday, May 30, 2012

"Liberté, égalité, fraternité" on trial

I come from Romania. Leaving my affection for that place aside, I have to understand that first things you associate with that beautiful corner of the world are : Gypsies, Transylvania, Dracula, Ceausescu, Housemaids, Beggars, Petty Crime and Corruption, widely spread corruption, melted in the administration with a thick layer of bureaucracy on top of everything, and encouraged (many times in the open) by whoever won the elections (it doesn't even matter from which political spectrum they come from). Some, they make me smile, but many scare  me to death.
Gypsies, for example, are just like any other ethnic group in Europe, some integrated in society, some...not, some addicted to petty crime, some rich, some poor, some educated, some not so very nice... just like any other group of people. Xenophobic tendencies in us all made them representatives of a despicable way of life, by throwing, wrongfully, upon them all the guilt of being... different, of having crime in their culture. I bet, many of us don't know that many of their family names are associated with trades: Geambasu (traders of horses), Lautaru (musicians), Rudaru (gold workers, jewelers and wood workers), Fieraru (metal workers) and many more. Its very wrong to label them all as people of crime, and what is even worse (for me personally), that many times my nationality is associated with that education in the spirit of crime and begging. It is wrong also for Europe to point finger at Romania claiming that we are not doing enough to help them integrate, while Europe itself discriminates against them (best example of that is France, the place of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité"; They didn't even try to find viable solutions with long lasting effects, the first initiative was expulsion.)

Which brings me to the point I am trying to make: wherever I go, I wear those labels stamped on my forehead, in my ID; the only way to get them of is with deeds. Nobody gives me credit, based on my national identity (fair or not), the only credit I get lays in my deeds. I don't even ask any more, I got so used with it.



Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Rights in the EU



Good morning, Immigrants!

   Clearly the morning is not at all good and I would like to get a load of my chest. As any integrated member of  society, I have need of this invention called a mobile phone. Sure, it isn't that I have just realised we have this invention at our disposal, but as my old phone broke, I decided to buy a new one, a "smart-phone". I set my sights on the new Sony Xperia S, with a retail price of 550 euro. Good! Now, let's get myself to the local phone network company to see what that advertisement with 250 euro off your phone if you get their monthly plan is. The whole idea was that it would have been helpful financially to get that discount.
   Getting there, all my dreams have been shattered by this middle-aged, over-weight sales representative as the first thing she asked me was : "Are you a Cypriot?". Dumb-founded I reply: " What does that have to do with it?". It turns out that you can't apply to their monthly plan unless you are a Cypriot or have permanent residence in Cyprus (this means to have lived and worked continuously for 5 years in Cyprus).As I have been living and working continuously here for 3 years, clearly that doesn't apply for me yet. But, if I want to get that monthly plan I'd have to leave a deposit of 500 euro to them. What's the point in that? If I could afford the cost from the beginning, I wouldn't have needed the monthly plan. I could have just bought the damn phone!
     Here's the problem: as a citizen of a member state of the UE, shouldn't I be entitled to the same rights as the citizens of the state in which I reside? Well, I do! But there is no competent entity to enforce these rights, nor to punish the ones that do not follow these rights. As a lowly human being, even if I complain to the Consumer Protection Agencies, my cries would have died out without being heard by anyone.
     The benefits and rights provided by the UE are all just theories and dreams to be had, because in reality, you are the same as before it was formed. Just another immigrant with no rights only on paper...