Addressing Antigypsyism

In Italy it is not possible to talk about a specific framework to tackle antigypsyism at institutional level, with ad hoc regulation, public actors and programs specially created to defeat it. Nowadays, antigypsyism is fought through the general legal framework which protects citizens from racism and discriminations, as it is not acknowledged as a particular juridical case. A study published in 2015 by the Pew Research Center reported that 86 per cent of the respondents in Italy held a negative opinion about Roma. In the last few years the proliferation of antigypsyism has increased, the producers of racist content have spread and diversified: traditional media still have their importance in the matter, but local political actors, local news websites, self-produced “unofficial information” blogs, Facebook groups and even private pages on social networks have started to contribute to the spread on anti-Roma speeches. This situation has three main dangerous consequences and acts as a powerful hindering factor in preventing Roma inclusion possibilities, as: a) it has a direct and blatant impact in terms of daily discrimination on the lives of those targeted; b) it acts as a powerful deterrent means for the administrators in charge to design and implement inclusion policies addressing Roma and Sinti; c) it gradually allows explicit racist rhetoric against Roma and Sinti to be increasingly accepted by the public opinion, paving the way to occasional violent drifts.