Survival and resistance of Roma groups between antigypsyism and legal issues

Abstract

This article analyzes the negative representations and the forms of media and legal persecution directed at Roma and Sinti communities. Roma populations are subjected to a stigmatizing social construction, conveyed through stereotyped and superficial knowledge. The widespread generalizations involving both Roma and Sinti adults and minors contribute to legitimizing distortions within the legal sphere. In particular, punitive overreach manifests itself through disproportionate sentences, rooted in the systematic association between Roma, Sinti and criminality, ignoring the structural causes that expose them to poverty, discrimination and consequently to the circuits of illegality. However, certain cultural identities are shaped through daily encounters with marginalization, in a constant struggle for material, psychological and cultural survival. Survival in contexts of housing ghettoization, school exclusion, unemployment and lack of access to services, takes on a particularly profound meaning, becoming an instrument of resistance. The primary survival strategy  of some Roma groups has always been to live in communities, to live together, remaining united to face daily challenges, maintaining certain identity bonds, and thus resist processes of isolation.