Danielle Levy

There’s something down right scary about singling out one ethnic group. The French government ongoing expulsions of the Romas back to Bulgaria and Romania has earmarks of discrimination and prejudice. What’s even more disturbing is that the Romas, often called gypsies, are part of the 27 nations European Union and people from one nation are permitted to go anywhere. While individual countries have the right to protect themselves, from, for example mass migration from sub-Saharan Africa, it is not clear the Romas fall in that category. French President Sarkozy has vehemently defended his policy and the fact that he wasn’t as well received as he hoped at the last EU meeting is encouraging. The EU has agreed to review the situation. Meanwhile the expulsions continue. The Romas, who as a group are not wanted in Italy, in Romania, in Germany and in other countries as well, go when they are tracked down by the French police, and then find a way to come back. That may help them survive, but that doesn’t solve the prejudice they face. Let’s hope Sarkozy’s determination will force the EU into action and find a better solution.

My young nephew who’d enlisted in the Marines and was sent to Afghanistan was injured recently. He lost his legs. Today’s technology is such he may be able to avoid being in a wheelchair and even if not he will go on to live a productive life. Until then though there will be a lot of rehab and a lot of steps to go through. So far he’s been stoic and so strong. After all, his father told me, he is a Marine. But at some point he’ll have to deal with the loss of his legs. They are gone, amputated completely and irrevocably. It’s fashionable for our politicians to invoke supporting our troops. Are they including the thousands of young men and women whose lives like that of my nephew have been altered? We consider ourselves lucky, so many are enduring far more difficult losses and injuries. Yes, he was awarded a Purple Heart, but I wonder though, who will thank my nephew and the thousands of others for their sacrifice? Will the Afghan people? Will the nation manage more than a few words meant for political effect? Will the world? Sadly it may depend on whether or not we can prevail and push back the extremists who wreck so much harm.

There’s another way to look at Africa besides wars, famines and corruption. The business and economic research arm of the McKinsey Global Institute paints a very different picture. Since 2000 316 million people have signed up for cell phone service, that’s more than the entire population of the U.S. And what’s more the one billion people who make up the continent spent $860 billion in 2008, that is more than did India’s population of 1.2 billion. Despite the economic downturn, Africa was one of the two regions (Asia was the other) where collective economies in 2009 rose by %1.4 through the global recession. In addition, surprisingly the number of serious conflicts, that is where at least 1000 people die annually have declined. The report had more interesting figures, but one lesson remained: Too often we allow our ignorance of a subject to determine our perception.