The Business of the Camps During the ‘Nomad Emergency’

Abstract

This chapter looks at the role played by CSOs in the management of the ‘camps’ and at their interaction with local administrations. It reveals the existence of a pyramidal hierarchy with top-down relationships connecting upper-level positions to lower-level positions at several points, but with no bottom-up exchange. Public-sector inefficiency inevitably affects the Third Sector, especially the organisations that are most dependent on state funds. Over time, competition and antagonisms, corruption, inefficiencies, and a lack of transparency and accountability have contributed to the creation and consolidation of a complex system developed for the purposes of excluding the Romani peoples from Italian society. This chapter finds that national and local institutions and their sub-contracted agents have failed to promote the social inclusion of this minority group. Despite rhetoric emphasising inclusion, recent efforts have arguably further disempowered, discriminated against and excluded Romani individuals and communities. The recent Mafia Capitale investigation was therefore important for unveiling the existence of a lobby group which was living off the marginalised condition of the Romani people.