"Every report on Roma becomes a sacrificial rite." Dijana Pavlovic and the anthropology of the perfect scapegoat

The road murder of Cecilia De Astis , the 71-year-old woman hit and killed by a stolen car driven by four Roma children , aged 13 to 11 , has rekindled controversy surrounding the Roma community . This has included attacks from politicians. We asked Dijana Pavlovic , writer, actress, and activist for the rights of the Roma people, for a comment.

How can we tell this ugly story from his point of view, with its negative protagonists being kids who steal a car and then kill a woman crossing the street along the way?

Obviously, we can tell it in many ways. From my perspective. I would tell it, as a citizen, as a terrible case, a tragedy, the result of youth distress. I would tell it as a problem of the suburbs. The only difference is that this is a case involving Roma children, and therefore it's told in a completely different way than we've been hearing all these days. According to this, Roma are destined for delinquency, or rather, criminality. This is certainly not a new attitude, so a news story immediately becomes a political issue. If Roma are involved, then the tone becomes exasperated, even paroxysmal.

Four children who shouldn't have been driving, one victim, and the ferocity of adults

If it's not news, then what is it?

"First of all, we are faced with a huge social issue here, with children living in a situation that, it's no exaggeration to call inhumane, children and families with whom the institutions seem to have completely lost touch, or at least have very frayed relations. But it's clear that even the news coverage of the Roma has become a source of political animosity. This attitude has always existed, but it was precisely codified a few years ago."

When?

I'm referring to the case of Giovanna Reggiani, the woman raped and murdered in Rome about twenty years ago. A terrible case that sparked a terrible political operation to demonize an entire population, because of a brutal crime, committed not by a Roma man but by a Romanian citizen who had married a Roma woman. Except that it was the Roma who were persecuted as a people. With evictions and forced deportations, the collection of fingerprints, even of minors, a language of extreme hatred that filled the media and political circles for weeks and months. Then began what was called the 'Nomad emergency,' which was handled with emergency methods, as if we were facing an earthquake, a disaster.

Everything was later reversed when the measures were deemed illegitimate by the Council of State, but by then the damage had been done. Therefore, since then, every news story, every matter involving the Roma, has been treated, by the media and by politicians, in a completely different way; thus, a veritable sacrificial rite is enacted against a small population, unrepresented, and thus becoming a kind of sacrificial victim.

What is the role of politics in your opinion in this?

"The Roma, as we were saying, are an easy target. They are very vulnerable, living in extremely fragile social conditions, and therefore it's easy to make them a scapegoat for all the social tensions and frustrations, for political gain. As in this case, which is not the first and, unfortunately, won't be the last. Especially on the part of the right, which naturally sees these events as an opportunity to unite and return to the scene with popular support."

But there's one unavoidable issue: these children were living in devastating conditions . Their families, who themselves are living in dire conditions, are also supporting them. So what can be done?

First of all, the premise is that we need to address these issues before they escalate. Here we are dealing with Roma children living in unacceptable conditions, but many Italian and foreign children also live in unacceptable conditions. Of course, these children belong to families who travel, without documents, completely disconnected from any type of service. But there are many non-Roma children who live precariously, victims of abandonment, violence, and abuse. This doesn't just happen to Roma children. So, first and foremost, we should ensure this doesn't happen.

To stick to news stories involving minors, I remember—I'm going from memory now—terrible cases where kids took guns and shot and killed their peers, stabbed each other, ganged up to rape a girl their own age, or even had other kids killed for a few euros. News stories whose negative protagonists were not Roma. And no one blamed the entire community, rightly so. I say there are many situations in which serious people, politicians with a true sense of responsibility, but also intellectuals, journalists, and ordinary citizens should ask themselves what to do to find solutions, calmly, before tragedy strikes. Something can always be done to improve.

Unfortunately, I think we can't expect this from this political and managerial class because they're not up to it. And so this whole thing becomes just a spectacle. That is, our politicians feel like they're engaging in politics because they go on television and say things, even more terrible ones, and the more they say them, the happier they are, the more they think they're good politicians. Unfortunately, this is a disease that doesn't just affect Roma people, but obviously especially Roma people."