Apologies for the serial posting lately but…..This is absolutely disgusting, a good example of the racism against the Roma in Europe:
Shocking Indifference to Roma Drowning, via CNN posted: 2 HOURS 38 MINUTES World News
TORREGAVETA, Italy (July 21) – Italian newspapers, an archbishop and civil liberties campaigners expressed shock and revulsion on Monday after photographs were published of sunbathers apparently enjoying a day at the beach just meters from where the bodies of two drowned Roma girls were laid out on the sand.
Italian news agency ANSA reported that the incident had occurred on Saturday at the beach of Torregaveta, west of Naples, southern Italy, where the two girls had earlier been swimming in the sea with two other Roma girls. Reports said they had gone to the beach to beg and sell trinkets.
Local news reports said the four girls found themselves in trouble amid fierce waves and strong currents. Emergency services responded 10 minutes after a distress call was made from the beach and two lifeguards attended to the girls upon hearing their screams.
Two of them were pulled to safety but rescuers failed to reach the other two in time to save them.
The Web site of the Archbishop of Naples said the girls were cousins named Violetta and Cristina, aged 12 and 13.
Their bodies were eventually laid out on the sand under beach towels to await collection by police. Photographs show sunbathers in bikinis and swimming trunks sitting close to where the girls’ feet can be seen poking out from under the towels concealing their bodies. A photographer who took photos at the scene told CNN the mood among sunbathers had been one of indifference.
Other photos show police officers lifting the bodies into coffins and carrying them away past bathers reclined on sun loungers.
“While the lifeless bodies of the girls were still on the sand, there were those who carried on sunbathing or having lunch just a few meters away,” Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported.
Corriere della Sera said that a crowd of curious onlookers that had formed around the bodies quickly dispersed.
“Few left the beach or abandoned their sunbathing. When the police from the mortuary arrived an hour later with coffins, the two girls were carried away between bathers stretched out in the sun.”
The incident also attracted condemnation from the Archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Crecenzio Seppe. “Indifference is not an emotion for human beings,” Seppe wrote in his parish blog. “To turn the other way or to mind your own business can sometimes be more devastating than the events that occur.”
Recent weeks have seen heightened tensions between Italian authorities and the country’s Roma minority amid a crackdown by Silvo Berlusconi’s government targeting illegal immigrants and talk by government officials of a “Roma emergency” that has seen the 150,000-strong migrant group blamed for rising street crime.
That has provided justification for police raids on Roma camps and controversial government plans to fingerprint all Roma — an act condemned by the European Parliament and United Nations officials as a clear act of racial discrimination. Popular resentment against Romanies has also seen Roma camps near Naples attacked and set on fire with petrol bombs by local residents.
In a statement published on its Web site, the Italian civil liberties group EveryOne said Saturday’s drowning had occurred in an atmosphere of “racism and horror” and cast doubt on the reported version of events, suggesting that it appeared unusual for the four girls to wade into the sea, apparently casting modesty aside and despite being unable to swim.
“The most shocking aspect of all this is the attitude of the people on the beach,” the statement said. “No one appears the slightest upset at the sight and presence of the children’s dead bodies on the beach: they carry on swimming, sunbathing, sipping soft drinks and chatting.”
© 2008 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
2008-07-22 10:36:37
This is an example of why I think Europe sucks. PWP like to defend it and think it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Neglecting to see that it has its fair share of problems dealing with themes of ignorace, racism, and misogyny. Eff Europe.
(I don’t think it’s possible to “serial post” on your own blog — or rather, that’s kind of the point.)
Thank you for posting this story, I had heard nothing of this, and it’s timely for personal reasons as well as just plain political outrage. What I don’t get–not only were the other people on the beach sitting around while the bodies were there, it sounds like NO ONE TRIED TO HELP THE GIRLS before the authorities arrived?!?!?!?!?! Is that the way you are reading it? Basically these people just went about their holiday picnicking while children were screaming for help a few yards away?
The mind boggles.
Well it appears that there were lifeguards that went to go help the girls, and that 2 out of the 4 could only be saved. That’s the impression I got from the article:
“Local news reports said the four girls found themselves in trouble amid fierce waves and strong currents. Emergency services responded 10 minutes after a distress call was made from the beach and two lifeguards attended to the girls upon hearing their screams.
Two of them were pulled to safety but rescuers failed to reach the other two in time to save them.”
I was reading some of the comments (I am stupid like that sometimes) and someone was saying they don’t trust the news report fully. They think that there’s something “fishy” about 2 Roma girls suddenly drowning off of a crowded beach in Italy. Perhaps there’s some sort of cover-up? Discrimination against the Roma in Europe is widespread and blatant, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s something else to the story we don’t know.
Gabriel, are you from Europe, or have you just visited there? I have been to various parts of Italy before and I really loved it, but there were certain aspects about the culture and status quo there that really bothered me: the racism/classism against the Roma, the misogynist advertisements plastered everywhere, etc.
Rescuers responded 10 minutes after they received a distress call? That doesn’t sound right. Surely if they were lifeguards, they should have been there on the beach, monitoring conditions, looking out for people in trouble. That’s sort of their job, isn’t it? They shouldn’t have had to be called by someone else, and then muck around for 10 minutes before getting in the water.
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too, Dissenter. And even if there were lifeguards present, it sounds like they were overwhelmed by trying to rescue four people — as in, other people could have jumped in and helped. This is just awful and I’m sure things like it happen every day.
Ack. I meant to put ignorance instead of ignorace…
Anyway. No. I am not from Europe and I have never been to Europe. When I say that it sucks, I mean it in the way that the US sucks. Great for opportunity for some, but opressive towards others. There are many aspects of European culture I will admit that I love. However, there are many aspects which I find quite disturbing. Much like how I feel about the United States.
I’ll most likely visit Europe at some point soon. I don’t hate it that much. But when PWP (progressive white people) claim that Europe is the greatest thing ever it makes me angry because there is as much social injustice there as it is here…it’s just in a different form. For example…your post reminds me of how the major news stations will broadcast 24-7 coverage of a missing little White girl, but if a little girl of color goes missing then we’re on our own. It’s sickening.
And only white (preferably blonde) women get murdered as well…..
gabrieloneverything: “For example…your post reminds me of how the major news stations will broadcast 24-7 coverage of a missing little White girl, but if a little girl of color goes missing then we’re on our own. It’s sickening.”
Polly Styrene: “And only white (preferably blonde) women get murdered as well…..”
Yup, there are barely any news sources or websites or anything that expose the murders and violence against women of color, particularly Black women and girls. I find What About Our Daughters to be one of the very few sites to report on or care at all about violence against Black women and girls in the U.S.
[...] Lara, at her recently begun blog Rychousmama reproduces a disturbing article about the callous behaviour of Italian beach-goers who ignored the bodies of two drowned Roma girls in Italians Don’t Give a Crap About the Roma: [...]
[...] Lara, at her recently begun blog Rychousmama reproduces a disturbing article about the callous behaviour of Italian beach-goers who ignored the bodies of two drowned Roma girls in Italians Don’t Give a Crap About the Roma: [...]