ANDREA SEABROOK, host:
And now, to Spain, and a story about the Gypsies or Roma people who have live there since the 15th century. It wasn't until the late 1970s that Spain accepted Gypsies as citizens. Now, the Spanish government is spending millions of euros to improve their lot.
But as Jerome Socolovsky says some Gypsies are resisting the government's efforts to move them out of the slums where they live.
JEROME SOCOLOVSKY: A long line of garbage trucks heads for the municipal dump, rumbling pass tin huts and cinderblock shanks in a shantytown on the outskirts of Madrid. Junkies and prostitutes languish along the potholed thoroughfare that has no stop signs or cross walks. It's not unusual for children to get run over. This is one of several shantytowns populated by Gypsies and immigrants. Municipal bulldozers have started demolishing illegally built homes here, and recently, things got out of hands.
(Soundbite of crowd noise)
SOCOLOVSKY: Spanish TV broadcast images of youths furling rocks and police running away. There have been several outbreaks of violent protests like this in recent months and some parts of the Spanish press are calling it intifada.
This slum, known as La Canada Real is a sight you don't expect to see in western Europe. Over the past few decades, it swelled to around 40,000 inhabitants. It's thought that about a third of the estimated 650,000 Gypsies in Spain live in shantytowns like this one. There are some nice homes here with gardens and even fountains, but all the dwellings are illegal and Madrid's urban sprawl is encroaching with luxury high rises just over the hill. Many residents of La Canada fear eviction may be imminent.
Unidentified Woman #1: Hola.
SOCOLOVSKY: A social worker goes into an old furniture workshop that's been converted into a school for illiterate adults. Gypsy women wearing thick makeup and flashy jewelry sit around the table, learning multiplication.
Unidentified Woman #1: (Speaking in Spanish)
Unidentified Group: (Speaking in Spanish)
SOCOLOVSKY: The high school drop out rate among Gypsies is 80 percent. Many of these women, when they were girls, were kept home from school and then started families in their teens. Still, the women don't complain about their laden life and the class is lively.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SOCOLOVSKY: The women are less happy about the city's plan to get rid of the shantytowns.
Ms. MARUJA VARGAZ FERNANDEZ(ph): (Foreign language spoken)
SOCOLOVSKY: At least they should give us a roof over our heads, says Maruja Vargaz Fernandez. What are we supposed to do? End up on the street? She seems unmoved by government promises of subsidized housing for those who qualify. The teacher, Paloma Cuaver(ph) says Gypsies are still weary of Spanish society. Even those who've moved up face stereotypes of them as beggars, thieves and fortunetellers. She says Spaniards are more prejudiced against Gypsies than against recent immigrants from Morocco, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Ms. PALOMA CUAVER (Teacher): (Foreign language spoken)
SOCOLOVSKY: There's less racism toward the immigrant population than there is toward Gypsies, she says, and they've been in this country for more than 500 years.
Unidentified Woman #2: (Singing in Foreign language)s
SOCOLOVSKY: The women in the class sing flamenco spiritual. Flamenco music is the Gypsy's best known contribution to Spanish culture. It's also used heavily in the new anti-job-discrimination ad campaign by the Gypsy foundation which tries to capitalize on Spaniard's positive association with the music.
(Soundbite of music)
SOCOLOVSKY: Since Gypsies became Spanish citizens from the late '70s, local governments have tried to integrate them by relocating them in municipal housing. Over the next four years, Madrid plans to spend $100 million in an effort to clear out all remaining shantytowns. The effort in Madrid is run by the Institute for Relocation and Social Integration. Seating at his sleek modern office, director Javier Ramirez(ph) says the Gypsies throwing rocks at police, do it because they are individuals with criminal records or something else that disqualifies them from the program.
Mr. JAVIER RAMIREZ (Director, Institute for Relocation and Social Integration): (Foreign language spoken)
SOCOLOVSKY: Those who know that they don't have a right to be relocated are trying to obtain that right by force, he says.
Some Gypsies say they prefer to stay in the shantytowns where they have a tight-knit community life. Others simply don't trust the authorities.
Dolores Hernandez Jimenez(ph) walks out of the relocation institute into the bitter cold. She said she thought she'd be relocated within a month.
Ms. DOLORES HERNANDEZ JIMENEZ: (Speaking in foreign language)
SOCOLOVSKY: But is still don't have a place to live and I've been waiting for four and half years, she says. It's not right that they do this to us Gypsies. It's not right. We are Spaniards.
For NPR News, I'm Jerome Socolovsky in Madrid.