Tamas, I have found you a way out of Hungary!

[Fireblade]

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13579124&source=hptextfeature

The Roma in eastern Europe
Canada home and dry

Apr 30th 2009 | PRAGUE
From The Economist print edition
How Roma fleeing persecution win asylum in Canada

EMIGRATION to Canada was a well-trodden road for dissidents after the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. It is 20 years since the country's leaden communist regime perished in the velvet revolution. The Czech Republic is a regional success story. Yet rising numbers of Roma (gypsy) citizens are making the same journey to the same faraway country, because life at home is intolerable.

Around 250,000 Roma live in the Czech Republic. Their problems include poverty, lack of education, centuries of prejudice and, now, attacks by far-right extremists. According to the Canadian embassy in Prague, 861 Czechs applied for asylum in Canada in 2008, and 84 won it. Canada does not record their ethnic origin, but officials say most were Roma. That exceeds figures from countries such as Afghanistan (488 applicants) and Iraq (282). For communist Cuba, much scolded by the Czech government for its poor human-rights record, the figures were 184 applicants and 93 given asylum. The numbers for the first quarter of 2009 are even more startling: 653 applications, of which 34 were granted.

Admittedly, getting to Canada is easier for the Czech Roma than for Afghans or Iraqis (in October 2007 the Canadians lifted visa requirements for Czechs that had been imposed ten years earlier after a previous Roma exodus). But the figures are also higher than from other ex-communist countries with large Roma populations and visa-free travel to Canada. Last year only 288 Hungarians made applications, with 22 granted.

Some Canadian officials say asylum has become a business, with middlemen charging Roma to arrange it. But nobody has produced evidence of this, and the Czech authorities say they have seen no sign. Anna Polakova, who heads Romani-language public broadcasting in Prague, says the claims are absurd. She also questions the idea that Roma asylum applicants are motivated by Canadian welfare payments. "Even if you have little, your family has been here for two, three generations. You know the language. We have our graves here," she says. In her view, it is middle-class Roma who are leaving in frustration. "Despite all the talk, the fascists are walking down the street." She herself considered emigration after her son was badly beaten up by skinheads.

The Czech record is no source of pride. Not only has far-right extremism been rising, but so also is segregation. A government study in 2006 found that 80,000 Roma live in over 300 ghetto-like communities, four-fifths of which came into existence only in the previous decade. Roma activists blame Jiri Cunek, a Christian Democratic leader and former deputy prime minister, for making anti-Roma prejudice acceptable in mainstream politics. A mayor of Vsetin in the east, Mr Cunek ordered the eviction of dozens of Roma families from a run-down building in the town centre into containers on its edge.

Recently police blocked a confrontation between Roma activists and a neo-Nazi march in Krupka, in the north-west. Last November a similar event in Litvinov, in the north, turned into a riot, with police fighting 500 right-wingers trying to get to a Roma neighbourhood blamed as a hotbed of crime. A firebomb attack on a Roma dwelling in Vitkov, one of three in recent months, badly burnt a 22-month-old girl.

Roma are suffering in many other countries in the region. Hungary has witnessed a spate of especially nasty murders. But the rich, well-governed Czech Republic, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency, can surely do better.

Since you're too lazy to apply for an American visa, just go to Canada and claim asylum. I'm sure there are nice swamps in Canada too.

[Monoriu]

Been there, done that.  Bad idea.

[Ancient Demon]

Been there, done that.  Bad idea.

Why don't you like Canada?

[Monoriu]

Why don't you like Canada?

If I chose to stay in Canada, I would be chopping salmon heads somewhere. 

[katmai]

Why don't you like Canada?

If I chose to stay in Canada, I would be chopping salmon heads somewhere.

[Siege]

Why don't you like Canada?

If I chose to stay in Canada, I would be chopping salmon heads somewhere. 

You can always join the canadian military and go to afghanistan and claim 2400 meters kills, never mind that you used a .338 sub-minute of an angle gun, and hit the fucker only with your third shot. Three shots one kill. The question is why in hell that loser stayed in there and didn't run for cover after the first shot.

I guess that's what happen at those distances. A bullet hits somewhere around you and its already subsonic, sounding like if someone is throwing rocks at you in a 45 degree angle, and no gunshot sound or supersonic crack whatsoever.

[Zanza]

If I chose to stay in Canada, I would be chopping salmon heads somewhere.

Zoupa and Jacob are immigrants in Canada and they are doing fine jobwise as far as I can tell.

[Fireblade]

If I chose to stay in Canada, I would be chopping salmon heads somewhere.

Zoupa and Jacob are immigrants in Canada and they are doing fine jobwise as far as I can tell.

That's because they're white.

Monoriu and Tamas would have to take coloured people jobs.

[Octavian]

Why don't you like Canada?

If I chose to stay in Canada, I would be chopping salmon heads somewhere. 

You can always join the canadian military and go to afghanistan and claim 2400 meters kills, never mind that you used a .338 sub-minute of an angle gun, and hit the fucker only with your third shot. Three shots one kill. The question is why in hell that loser stayed in there and didn't run for cover after the first shot.

I guess that's what happen at those distances. A bullet hits somewhere around you and its already subsonic, sounding like if someone is throwing rocks at you in a 45 degree angle, and no gunshot sound or supersonic crack whatsoever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVESMxs4rbA

[Sheilbh]

If I chose to stay in Canada, I would be chopping salmon heads somewhere.

Zoupa and Jacob are immigrants in Canada and they are doing fine jobwise as far as I can tell.

Yeah.  47% of Toronto was born outside of Canada and it's 40% for Vancouver.  I think Canada's relatively open to immigrants

[Monoriu]

Yeah.  47% of Toronto was born outside of Canada and it's 40% for Vancouver.  I think Canada's relatively open to immigrants

A significant chunk of those come from Hong Kong.  The consensus among those of us who have been there is that Canada is a good place to live, but a terrible place to build a career. 

[garbon]

but a terrible place to build a career. 

Oh yeah, you seem to be climbing up the ladder in Hong Kong.

[Monoriu]

but a terrible place to build a career. 

Oh yeah, you seem to be climbing up the ladder in Hong Kong.

[Zanza]

Why would HK be a better place to make a career than a big Canadian city anyway? I bet even a civil service job in Canada would be better than yours.

[Tamas]

but a terrible place to build a career. 

Oh yeah, you seem to be climbing up the ladder in Hong Kong.

And FB, you redneck fuck, I ain't no gypsy. Besides, this is an old story. Hungarian gypsies had the legend for a while that Canadian welfare is much more substantial than Hungarian one, so tried to mass-flock into Canada. The first arrivals figured the legend was wrong, and most of them returned.
The same thing happened with France and Sweden as well.