Fighting the last ‘acceptable’ face of racism

by New Worker

 correspondent 

A LARGE group of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers assembled in Parliament Square on Saturday 21st May to protest at a new law governing their rights that sets them in a “Catch 22” situation and threatens their continued existence as an ethnic group.

They brought with them several traditional decorative horse-drawn carts, banners, placards and a petition of around 4,000 signatures.

And as they marched around Parliament Square their slogan was: “Five hundred years and still no justice!”

The Gypsies, Roma and Irish Travellers (GRT) are recognised by international human rights laws as an ethnic community.

But the Government is introducing new planning laws that will force them to prove they are Romany Gypsies or Irish Travellers by sustaining a travelling lifestyle – while the number of sites where they can legally stop is just not enough and being reduced dramatically.

The aim of the demonstration was to demand the withdrawal of this new law, which seeks to meddle with who they are and deny their children a home.

In a recent article for the Guardian, Mike Doherty of the Traveller Movement called discrimination against Gypsies and Travellers “the last acceptable racism”.

“Roma” make up Europe's largest ethnic minority and Britain is home to 300,000 Gypsies and Travellers, yet “Who is a Gypsy?” is a complicated and contentious question. Gypsy, Roma and Traveller groups are diverse and whether definitions focus on nomadism, ethnicity or heritage, there is little coherence between different policies for different purposes.

But it is clear that GRTs are amongst the most marginalised people in Europe, suffering high levels of exclusion and discrimination. In Britain GRTs experience extreme levels of poverty and inequality: poor educational provision, leading to low educational outcomes; worse health and lower life expectancy; stereotyping and abuse; job insecurity; and poor mental health.

If you use Google to search a definition of “Gypsy” the first answer that comes up in www.urbandictionary.com describes Gypsies as: “Fucking scum of the earth... Biggest scumbag wankers...” This sort of hate speech would not be acceptable if directed to any other ethnic minority. But it is commonplace for GRT groups.

Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers in the UK are recognised as separate ethnic minority groups and are supposed to be protected by the 2010 Equalities Act, but this safeguarding is seldom felt by GRTs.

Spokesperson and campaigner Shay Clipson says that racism is promoted by irresponsible hostile media reporting. But, she says, perpetrators of discrimination or attacks don't view themselves as racists.

"They think this is different because we're the same colour. We've been slow to respond to discrimination in the past but now we're taking people to task. We've had enough.”

In August 2015 the definition of “Gypsy or Traveller” changed in the Government's planning policy for traveller sites. The policy sets out guidelines for councils to follow when assessing the need for Gypsy and Traveller sites.

Prior to August 2015, the definition of “Gypsy or Traveller” that an individual must fall under to be eligible for a mobile home or caravan site was as follows: “Persons of a nomadic habit of life (for economic purposes) whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family's or dependents' educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently...”

The critical change is that the words “or permanently” have been removed and this small edit poses serious challenges for Gypsies and Travellers. It means that those who have ceased to travel permanently for whatever reason may lose any realistic chance of obtaining planning permission for a site on which they can lawfully station their caravan.

Yet the majority of Gypsies and Travellers in Britain are in fact settled. Moving around is increasingly difficult due to the absence of stopping places and a lack of jobs. And discrimination makes a “nomadic habit of life” doubly difficult. By settling in one place, Gypsies and Travellers have access to stable employment, healthcare, other vital services and education.

Human rights barrister Marc Willers QC said in an article for the Travellers' Times that “the concept of Gypsy status can be seen to restrict those ethnic Gypsies and Travellers who wish to continue living in caravans to low paid and manual work... Ethnic Gypsies and Travellers... should have the ability to pursue any career they choose without fear of being disenfranchised when it comes to seeking planning permission for a Gypsy site.”

In positioning nomadism for economic purposes as a prerequisite, this new definition of “Gypsy or Traveller” is “grossly insulting” to ethnicity and cultural heritage, says Clipson.

Commemorating the Roma Porajmos

By New Worker correspondent

ROMA people throughout Europe commemorate the Porajmos – the mass killing of Roma people by the Nazis – on 2nd August and in London this memorial event is traditionally is held at Hyde Park’s Holocaust memorial garden, near the Albert Gate.

Last Saturday a large group of Roma people, along with many Jewish supporters, met there to remember the Roma victims of the Nazi death camps – estimates vary from 250,000 to 1,500,000.

They included Ladislav Balaz, who chairs the European Roma Network and cannot return to his home country, the Czech Republic, Petr Jano, also a Czech Roma, Toma Mladenov from Bulgaria, Valdemar Kalinin, a former Red Army officer and poet from Belarus and Grattan Puxon, who heads the Roma network in Britain.

Also present were David Landau of the Jewish Socialist Group, Ruth Barnett a 79-year-old author and campaigner against discrimination who came to Britain in 1939 with the Kinder transport and Thomas Acton, emeritus Professor of Romani studies at Greenwich University.

They brought the Roma flag – top half blue to represent the sky that Roma travel under, bottom half green to represent the earth and with a big red wagon wheel in the middle – making it look a bit like the flag of India, which is where the Roma people are believed to originate.

The fate of the Roma under the Nazis is often spoken of as the forgotten holocaust and whereas now anti-Semitism is socially unacceptable, Roma people still face widespread irrational prejudice and hostility making their lives difficult and leaving them vulnerable to abuse and attacks.

This is very much the case in the former socialist republics where Roma communities have become victims again of extremist nationalists and fascists and now many go in fear of their lives.

Toma Mladenov is one such refugee – an activist for Roma rights he was imprisoned for his political activities for six months and fled to Britain on his release. He then had to fight the British Home Office to avoid extradition.

Valdemar Kalinin brought along a collection of medals awarded by the Soviet Union to Roma people who had served in the Red Army or in Soviet industry during the Second World War.

They warned of the real dangers of rising racism and Nazism in Eastern Europe and especially Ukraine.

But Roma in Britain also have real problems. Grattan Puxon spoke of a recent meeting with Communities Minister Eric Pickles and reported that our current government is definitely “Roma hostile”.

This is the government that supported Basildon council in evicting travellers from land they had bought and converted from a junkyard into living space because of technicalities over planning permission.

Grattan called for a national strategy for Roma and other Travellers that will allow them places to live together legally and to access the same health, social and educational services as anyone else.

Pickles recently issued a guidance paper: Dealing with illegal and unauthorised encampments – A Summary of Power.  This document brings together an armoury of legislation and legal processes, old and new, which can be used against Travellers.

Pickles makes no attempt to hide his purpose – its opening salvo is “This guide sets out the robust powers councils and landowners now have to clamp down quickly on illegal and unauthorised encampments.”

“This is nothing less than a declaration of war against Travellers and Roma, to batter those who try to carry on, intimidate people from continuing to live a Traveller’s life and to clear Roma encampments,” said Grattan.

“The Government and the media present Travellers as a problem. The real problem is the woeful lack of site provision.  At best no more than 150 pitches out of an officially recognised need of 3,000 individual family yards will be provided this year and next.

“Travellers have been encouraged by successive governments to buy their own land only to find, that having struggled to raise the money, they are refused planning permission to live on their land. Squeezed by the lack of sites on the one hand and Pickles’ ‘robust powers’ on other, where are Travellers supposed to go?  Nowhere. The intention is clear; to destroy Traveller identity and way of life.”

Last year’s Porajmos commemoration was interrupted by a police raid and attempt to arrest Romanian refugee Travellers at the ceremony who had been sleeping in the park because they had nowhere else to go.