Tears of a Clown

Here's an interesting papal speech which is more important than it looks at first blush; it has the quirky starting point of a visit of a circus at the Vatican, but the Pope takes a serious tern in ministering to folks who are away from home most of the time-

Benedict acknowledged the sacrifices circus workers make to bring joy to young and old alike, traveling constantly and living on the margins of society. He noted they lack schools for their children or parish churches to call home. But he urged them to keep the faith.

That's a problem for migrant workers in any number of professions; you normally don't think of circus workers in that bucket.

"I hope that you can find, in the communities where you stay, people who are welcoming and available and able to care for your spiritual needs," Benedict said. He urged governments to better integrate itinerant entertainers in the social fabric.

That's a loaded prospect in modern-day Europe, since you likely have those "itinerant entertainers" coming from minority groups, especially the Roma. Treatment of Jews was the focal point of this anti-Jobbik party rally today in Hungary, but Roma-baiting is Jobbik's stock in trade; the nativist party is the #3 party in the Hungarian parliament.

There is a sadly-flourishing nativist niche in European politics. Greece's Golden Dawn nativists have been in the news during the ongoing financial fubar there and France's National Front typically runs a strong third in their elections, even coming in second a decade ago when the left was fragmented.

The main object of scorn varies from country to country; black Africans get Golden Dawn's ire, while French and Dutch nativists are focused on Muslims. However, none of the nativists seem to like the Roma, who are generally rootless by nature, having long since left their South Asian home turf to be fringe minorities in much of Europe.

Getting folks to respect and minister to "Gypsies, tramps and thieves" (to borrow from an old Cher song) that are the stereotypical carnies on the road runs counter to nature. That's why the Pope felt the need to point this out, although he should have been a bit more direct in pointing out the ethnic friction that might well be there between migrant carnies and the locals.

The US segment of the Peanut Gallery might take some of this to heart has we look at our own migrants; we're likely to see some push towards immigration reform next year as Republicans look to ignore the nativist wing of the party and opt to deal with illegals by legalizing them rather than making them outlaws.

Comments

[NKR]

This is wonderful- thanks!