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Tuesday, November 06, 2007
What Romanians Do For Italy
There's been a lot of hate and rage towards Romanians living in Italy these days. Mostly because some are dangerous creeps. But apart from these few villains, what are the others doing there? Well, according to a 9AM article (in Romanian, sorry), they create revenue adoptive-country Italy. Yes, they make money for Italy. How much? Well, they contribute about 11.3 million Euros to Italy's gross domestic product. There are about 600,000 Romanians (out of about 4 million foreigners) and they generate 1% of the GDP. And these are only those established there legally. They don't do as much as the Mafia, which contributes about 6%, but they do a pretty good job, don't you think?
Also, it seems like Romanians and other immigrants also work more than Italians. So, when you go about your business of throwing shit at us, Romanians, at those living there, in any kind of field, from football to constructions, think twice.
This situation is starting to piss me off. Sorry, I can't stand it anymore. This happens here in Spain too. And it is sad, very sad.
Living in Spain I can say a few things about this in situ: - I am tired of the image that the television is showing about Romania. All the Romanians I have seen on TV since I live here (18 months) are gypsies, so Spanish peolpe think that Romanians are all gypsies. There are lots of persons that have no other information than what they see on TV, this is ignorance, but they are like this. I'd like to see a Romanian that did something for Spain on TV, as there are lots of them, but I see none. Only gypsies stealing, killing, etc. Today I saw two Romanians (gypsies) that killed their three years daughter. This is the image they show, the only image. - Romanians here do jobs that Spanish people would not accept and then Spanish people complain about Romanians coming to steal their jobs. WRONG: it's true that Romanians and other immigrants do these jobs for less money but Spanish people would not do these jobs even if they would be very well paid.I never saw a Spanish person working in construction (maybe there are some, but I haven't seen them yet). - There are some countries in the world where people tend (enjoy, like, love) to complain about everything. Spain is such a country. People spend most of the time complaining about everything. Romanians that live here buy food, pay for living so they contribute to Spain's economy but they don't see this. They are not able to understand that if it weren't for the immigrans the buildings would take much longer to be built.
I could say much more but I prefer to forget about this subject. I am really sick of being treated as an unwanted immigrant in this country while I pay rent, I pay taxes, I have a decent job and I study a career here. I didn't come to steal anyone's job, I just came to live here, just as they do. I am sick of having to queue for hours (more than 4) everytime I need a paper just because I really need it and they don't care about the service they give to immigrants (I had to go twice when I was pregnant, one month before giving birth to Alex and I had to queue for five hours, two consecutive days, because of one error they commited in sending me some papers, they just forgot to attach one document. They did not care that I really could not stand up so many hours being pregnant, but I needed the paper so I had to do it. It is also true that the people that were queing didn't let me pass even though it was very visible that I really could not stand up anymore. Not only Spanish people are indifferent. It's funny to see that if you go to Carrefour you have priority being pregnant, but you don't have it in public insitutions. Shame on them!). They would not hire more people to offer a better service. And there are people that queue for more than 2 days here for papers, but they don't care. We're not "their people" so why should they treat us better? If we don't like it we are invited to go back to our country. This is not fair, we treat them better when they come to our country.
NOTE: I don't mean that all the Spanish people think like this, I have met very special people here, people that understand reasons and who are not racists without studying the situation a little bit. But there are lots of people, as I said before, that use TV as the unique information source and that believe that all that they say on TV is true and that all that exists in the world is what they say on TV.
See Romanians are white, so you can make disgustingly prejudiced stamentments about them that incite hatred and violence against Romanians - but it's not racism, so it's ok. :(
Just in case anyone reading this isn't sure - I am being sarcastic.
Hi Sim. I know this, you wrote more on it a while ago. And I am so sorry you have to go through all this. See, we are blamed when discriminating against Romas (Romanian gypsies for those who don't know the term Roma). But discrimination is quite ok when it comes against Romas and Romanians in general from other European citizens...
No matter where we chose to live, we still pay taxes. That should insure equal treatment when it comes to public institutions.
Safiya, good one :) Yes, all of us are completely white, especially the Roma minority. They should rest assured there is no racism happening around them :D We're also blue eyed and blond :))
I was just reading some news on this topic and the whole thing is disturbing,to say the least. I've been living abroad for a long time now, but never in a European country. But I must say that, although I never liked the fact that the two countries I've lived in, Japan and Australia, are soooo far away from home, I always secretly thanked God that, because of the distance, they were less likely to have a detailed knowledge of Romania and Romanians. And, bad as it may sound, I've come to think that ignorance is better than stereotyped, prejudiced images of my country and my people...
Sim, I'm very sorry you had to go through all of this. It's very sad when I hear how some people act towards us and other immigrants. I'm working on a project 50% of the time in UK and I'm lucky to be on an international team so my colleagues are nice to me. However, I heard some of them speak bad about immigrants and making fun of them. They don't care and don't want to stop and think that immigrants actually increase their GDP, help their country have new buildings, clean cities and facilities, good services and so on. Sim you are right, their citizens would not do this work even if they would be payed a lot. And you're also correct they complain a lot! God, they love to talk about any small thing that's bad while we are used to handle our problems without complaining. The people I liked are from USA, they act nice, are used to different nations so they overcame discrimination decades ago. When I was in Singapore, those people had no clue about Romanians so they were extremely nice with us. Conclusion: want to immigrate? If you can choose, Americas and Asia Pacific are good options.
Cris, I think you are wrong about the US. They have thousands of jokes on immigrants, on how lazy they are and on how the genuine US citizens support them. I've seen quite a few and they make me feel quite uncomfortable...
Hi, I live in Spain too, but I am from the UK. Spain is a terribly racist country due to its isolation from the rest of Europe under Franco. The people here, although they have been free of Franco for forty years are still very unsophisticated.
The other point is that Europe is like the United States was 100 years ago as far as the integration of various races is concerned. Time will pass and our individual suspicions regarding 'strangers' will pass into history.
I have many Romanian friends, some gypsy, some not. I get on well with them, but I have also found that to be the case with almost everyone I have met, in that, there may be individuals who I don't like, or that I love dearly, but that has nothing to do with what country they were born in!
Name: Alina Home: Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania About Me: "This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts". It's also where I feel free and my preferred means of expression. See my complete profile
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This situation is starting to piss me off. Sorry, I can't stand it anymore. This happens here in Spain too. And it is sad, very sad.
Living in Spain I can say a few things about this in situ:
- I am tired of the image that the television is showing about Romania. All the Romanians I have seen on TV since I live here (18 months) are gypsies, so Spanish peolpe think that Romanians are all gypsies. There are lots of persons that have no other information than what they see on TV, this is ignorance, but they are like this. I'd like to see a Romanian that did something for Spain on TV, as there are lots of them, but I see none. Only gypsies stealing, killing, etc. Today I saw two Romanians (gypsies) that killed their three years daughter. This is the image they show, the only image.
- Romanians here do jobs that Spanish people would not accept and then Spanish people complain about Romanians coming to steal their jobs. WRONG: it's true that Romanians and other immigrants do these jobs for less money but Spanish people would not do these jobs even if they would be very well paid.I never saw a Spanish person working in construction (maybe there are some, but I haven't seen them yet).
- There are some countries in the world where people tend (enjoy, like, love) to complain about everything. Spain is such a country. People spend most of the time complaining about everything. Romanians that live here buy food, pay for living so they contribute to Spain's economy but they don't see this. They are not able to understand that if it weren't for the immigrans the buildings would take much longer to be built.
I could say much more but I prefer to forget about this subject. I am really sick of being treated as an unwanted immigrant in this country while I pay rent, I pay taxes, I have a decent job and I study a career here. I didn't come to steal anyone's job, I just came to live here, just as they do. I am sick of having to queue for hours (more than 4) everytime I need a paper just because I really need it and they don't care about the service they give to immigrants (I had to go twice when I was pregnant, one month before giving birth to Alex and I had to queue for five hours, two consecutive days, because of one error they commited in sending me some papers, they just forgot to attach one document. They did not care that I really could not stand up so many hours being pregnant, but I needed the paper so I had to do it. It is also true that the people that were queing didn't let me pass even though it was very visible that I really could not stand up anymore. Not only Spanish people are indifferent. It's funny to see that if you go to Carrefour you have priority being pregnant, but you don't have it in public insitutions. Shame on them!). They would not hire more people to offer a better service. And there are people that queue for more than 2 days here for papers, but they don't care. We're not "their people" so why should they treat us better? If we don't like it we are invited to go back to our country. This is not fair, we treat them better when they come to our country.
NOTE: I don't mean that all the Spanish people think like this, I have met very special people here, people that understand reasons and who are not racists without studying the situation a little bit. But there are lots of people, as I said before, that use TV as the unique information source and that believe that all that they say on TV is true and that all that exists in the world is what they say on TV.