In Anna's story, her relationship with the multicultural Swedish is dual: on the one hand, this diversity makes it easier for her to stay in Sweden than in Hungary, but on the other hand, it has also changed Sweden through an increasing number of non-Swedes.
"Sweden is a multicultural society. Sometimes I even think that it shouldn't be called Sweden anymore because you seem to say so, barely Swedes, especially in cities."
Anna seems forever grateful that she was allowed to stay in Sweden and become a part of Swedish society. She is also very passionate about doing the right thing.
This rationality is the same as the rationality described by Fanon in Jean Venice (the main character in the novel) A person who is the same as others:
A black man born in Antilles but lived in Bordeaux for a long time, "He accepted the drinks, but in return he bought other drinks. He did not want to be bound by anyone. Because if he didn't buy it back, he was a nigger, as ungrateful as all others."
As a Venetian, Anna did not want to be regarded as an ungrateful, those who didn't even think he had debts to pay back. She would rather win their rights – she hopes the whole world knows it.
In Anna's story, a hierarchical citizenship appears, in which the rights of citizens are directly related to belonging to the state and society.
The relationship between "Swedes" and "immigrants" is one-way and distinct.
"Swedes are always Swedes" and always have the right to make demands on those who have immigrated without allowing the other way around. Compared with the pressure of "reward" mentioned above, Ana's "gratitude" is also facing the future of Sweden.
"I want to help people...I want to work with people, I want to help them, and contribute to society in the way I feel like I'm helping them."
Besides showing a response of gratitude or reward, the difference between us and them emerges, Anna wants to be a part of "we" and help "they" become a part of "us".
tickets to enter society are the tickets for reward, which were launched in terms of help and care to show her gratitude to the (Swedish) society. Helping others is doing the right thing. That's what she wants to help them do. Anna hopes that others will follow her as a role model and develop this desire to help others in the future.
"For my 24 years, I've been a listener. I'm not the kind of person who will ask others things, but the kind of person who will talk to them about their concerns, I like this, I like to listen to other people's worries, I like to comment and help them with words and my experiences, and to connect it with their questions, I like to say to them that this is what I do, or how my parents did it, you might be able to test it and do it."
She found that her experiences and wishes were also role models for others: like me, come with me.
The future she portrays is a return to a disappearing Sweden, a pure and orderly place in the past, where Sweden or Sweden.
Ironically, it is this sincere and ideal order that has permeated people like her in history and has kept her locked out today. However, she chose to rebuild this tragedy pattern—and hoped to let others follow in her footsteps.
Europe and (not)freedom of migration
If we temporarily put aside Anna's story and let's take a look at the background of Europe in recent years, then Roma has once again become the focus of public debate, because in Sweden and elsewhere there are increasing numbers of poor European immigrants mainly from Eastern Europe.
In short, in Europe, the Roma people and their existence are a core issue of reality.
Testimonies about how Roma in the new EU new member states were persecuted and discriminated against in all areas of today’s society—education, labor and housing, politics and justice—are uncommon.
Anna's story, and her ongoing negotiations to join multiethnic Sweden, reflect in some sense the negotiations on citizenship based on the situation of Roma immigration in the EU.
Her story can remind people that the unstable situation of European Roma can be seen as an example of the contemporary European citizenship paradox: As a European Roma, she is a fully mature citizen on the one hand, with all the formal rights granted by citizenship.
If we recall a recent event in France in 2010, the argument similar to that is activated in Ana's story, The escalating conflict between the Roma and the police in the camp of St. Agnan led to the decision of the French government to expel all Roma from France, citing so-called "sources of smuggling, shocking living conditions, prostitution and crime".
The expulsion of France clearly demonstrates the paradox created by European citizens of the EU. The Roma deported from France are formal European citizens and enjoy the rights it guarantees—including the right to free migration.
However, they were deprived of the right to migrate within the EU's borders. In other words, the formal right to free flow is essentially a privilege reserved for some people--not Roma.
In 2015, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Levwen sent a similar signal to expel the Swedish Roma in many ways.
Hundreds of immigrants from Romanian and Bulgarian , many of whom were Roma, were expelled from a vacant land in the Sorgenfri district of Malmö, the fourth largest city in Sweden, where they camped.
This expulsion attracted great attention from the media. When the Prime Minister commented on the incident, he stressed that EU immigration (they themselves) was given their responsibilities, not Sweden:
"Of course they might come here and stay here for a while, but in the long run, their own country must be held accountable for their employment, education and housing in their own country. This is not a matter of responsibility for Swedes."
Information is the welfare of immigration, not the responsibility of the welfare state Sweden. While the statement reflects the tone of contemporary immigration policy debate, it expresses historically familiar views. The idea of
sending a clear signal to avoid more migrant immigrants and the idea of providing benefits on a voluntary basis has long been historically emerging.
In addition, it also relies on the potential view of the Roma people that are common in history—Roma people are rebellious elements who profit from the benevolent spirit of others, and their lifestyles are passed down from generation to generation.
Based on Ana's story, Swedish story and European story, we hope to give some summary of what is happening today and tomorrow.
Recognition and the Future - Conclusion
The Swedish Roma situation, a group that has long challenged the traditional concepts of belonging, rights and obligations, and has been forced to live in many ways on the edge of society (Swedish and European).
The overall solution to Anna's story is a problem that needs to be solved urgently, namely who should truly belong to society and under what conditions will be excluded? Our biggest concern is recognition.
Who will be recognized as a fully qualified citizen? On the contrary, who is forced to live a life that is not recognized, and in the eyes of those around him or herself is not recognized?
Anna tells how she came to Sweden and how she tried to find the meaning of life and become a part of Swedish society, these stories solve these urgent problems of belonging.
It can be seen as a story of belonging but not belonging at the same time, not acknowledging who it is, and vice versa.
This story shows some of the internal pressures that may arise in Sweden and Europe in the aftermath of immigration (policy).
In a sense, this highlights a double paradox, when it comes to citizenship of today's international immigration: as a Swedish citizen, she belongs to - formally - society, but as Anna describes, based on who she is - i.e., Roma, she still does not belong entirely to this society.
Also, at the same time, considering the EU's European immigration policy, she is the embodiment of the ideal EU citizen--a Roma, to be precise (by definition, non-territorial). But at the same time, she is also regarded as an alien. In other words, her Roman identity sets her apart.
Looking deeper at the logic of Anna's story, it seems to be in danger, she wants to escape who she is, by hiding and manifesting itself as a non-Roma through her actions towards others, i.e. by doing the right thing, in some way, in her opinion, she becomes a non-Roma.
hope this will allow her to fully integrate into Swedish society. Last but not least, she also encourages others to follow her as a role model.
However, the tragic moral of this story is that Anna's willingness to be inclusive is doomed to fail. No matter what she does, she may even try to destroy herself and escape her Roma identity, she is still the Other.
Again, similar to Fanon, "My irrationality is countered by reason; my reasons are the same as the 'real reason'. For me, every hand is the loser."
Anna is still an abnormal body, defiling the originally "pure" Swedish social body, and then defiling the European social body. Whether she wants it or not, she is deprived of the right to enter society as a formal member of a social group.
The tragic story about Anna, we believe that it shows not only the personal destiny, but also the destiny of Europe.
Roma is actually part of European society, but they are still not fully allowed to be part of European society.
Even if Anna erases herself and becomes a part of society, she is allowed to belong to the same society. In other words, her Roman identity made her double the same.
Anna's story solves the key questions about European citizenship and the future of Europe: Who should be truly included in the European citizenship community and under what conditions should be excluded? These particular questions are at the heart of today's European political debate.
On the one hand, throughout Europe, strong voices declared "the death of multiculturalism " and proposed to develop new forms of national cultural hierarchical citizenship, not just in Sweden.
On the other hand, in Sweden and other European countries, there are advocates for the development of a new, more inclusive social group that expands citizens’ rights by accepting previously excluded people, including Roma (e.g., as emphasized in the Roma integration strategy launched by the European Community 011)
About the concept of Roma and recognition, the key in Ana’s story is that recognition is a problem of equal citizens in society, which is not a natural thing.
instead, this is the result of a long struggle, with outsiders challenging the status quo and demanding new forms of citizenship beyond predefined patterns, distinctions and exclusion boundaries. The demands of such struggle were at least not proposed by the European Roma, who have not been recognized for centuries as citizens or fellow humans.
Recognition of Roma can only be achieved when they begin to acknowledge and challenge the neocolonial relationships they encounter, thereby empowering themselves in the various environments that make up their daily lives (schools, workplaces, government agencies and other institutions).
This kind of negotiation is also the best in contemporary Europe, where the Roma themselves are actively involved in determining the problem and solutions.
claims are several. Some of them claim collective rights as part of the non-territorial Roma people within the EU borders, while others claim to be part of the European “we” and have legal rights to all substantive rights that belong to “inside.”
They demand to be recognized as belonging here, which is reminiscent of how Fanon demanded to be recognized as black and French in the early 1950s: "I am French. I am interested in French culture, French civilization, French people. We refuse to be regarded as 'outsiders', and we are fully involved in this French drama."
There are several situations regarding the future of Europe and European citizenship.Perhaps the most common definition in Europe today is the identity or homogeneity of national culture, that is, the division of the boundaries between the core and edge of Europe and between Europe and its "outside".
Referring to Fanon, this scenario can be described as a reaction based on the fact that the Roma people have been disagreeing with European citizens.
However, there are other cases. The key is to create a future in Europe another place, yesterday or contemporary popularity; as a place created by people who act, not just reactions.
Here, the pressing question remains, following Fanon: "Educating man to be an action in all his relationships to maintain respect for the fundamental values that constitute the human world is the first priority of a thoughtful, ready-to-action person.
Therefore, it is at stake to develop a future European possibility that actively recognizes the formal and substantive rights of the Roma, based on the concept of "I am not just enclosed in things at this time and here". I am for something else, for something else."
In people's daily lives, debates and negotiations about citizenship are often carried out in a dull way.
However, as recent developments in suburbs around Sweden and other European countries have shown, this debate may also take the form of collective action to challenge the current concept of citizenship in contemporary multiethnic Europe, demonstrating the struggle for equal citizenship.
Which scenario will ultimately guide the future of Europe—of course—is a matter of political, political debate and rights claims.
Whether violent or not, these debates point out other directions for the future of European citizenship, and the results are by no means decided in advance.
