Travellers rights

The rights of Roma and other travelling people

Freedom of movement for all

The latest ideas coming from reformists on migration are worth discussing. On the one hand you have a recent Institute for Public Policy Research report which argues that we have to accept freedom of movement of labour within the EU and it distances itself from UKIP and the Tories. That’s fine. But it also talks about being tough on the misuse of these rights. So, on the other hand, it is missing the point about the ideology and politics of the right. If we are all citizens of the world then we have to be in favour of freedom of movement for all people around the world, and especially in...

Sheffield: “The Roma are under the cosh”

Andy Shallice, an socialist activist based in Sheffield, spoke to Solidarity about the background to David Blunkett’s recent attacks on Roma migrants living in Page Hall, Sheffield. In the original Radio Sheffield interview Blunkett did [about frictions between Roma and other communities living in Page Hall] there were no quotes about race riots. Yet the Daily Telegraph picked up on this in their subsequent report of the radio interview. To me the reporting is part of what the right wing press will be doing for the next six months up to the European elections. It is what Blunkett said about...

Fight anti-Roma racism!

The French philosopher Michel Foucault once said that the way those with most power talk about those with least power always shines new light on the nature of power. We have learned a lot about power in the last week. On 11 November, Sheffield Brightside MP and former Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett claimed that the influx of central European Roma migrants into the Park Hall area of his constituency was causing so much friction there could be riots. He blamed the Romani migrants. He said: “We have got to change the behaviour and the culture of the incoming community, the Roma community...

No to anti-Roma racism!

Solidarity 301 (25 October) reported on the case of Maria, the “unusual” girl found living in a Roma community in Greece and removed from her family. Fanned by racist outcries from the media, Maria was quickly proclaimed to probably be of Northern or Eastern European origin and in all likelihood trafficked, all based on her physical appearance. The reason the Greek authorities gave for their suspicions about her origin was the inability of the family to produce documents for Maria. Solidarity rightly pointed out at the time that many Roma travel and live without documents, often unable to...

Fight anti-Roma hysteria!

The case of a young girl named Maria living in a Roma community in Greece has caused a disturbing outcry. She was noticed by the authorities because “she looked unusual... lack of resemblance between the blonde-haired, green-eyed, pale-skinned little girl and her parents”. The subsequent outcry seems to centre on the idea that it is awful that a “blonde-haired, green-eyed, pale-skinned” girl who appears to be of northern or eastern European origin is begging on the streets as part of the Roma community. The concern for her welfare seems to be limited to her appearance (and therefore ethnicity)...

Basildon Council orders Dale Farm families to pay for their eviction

In October 2011, Basildon Council violently evicted 83 families from land they owned (at Dale Farm) because they did not have planning permission. Now, Basildon Council has told families who have virtually nothing left that they must pay £4.3 million for the cost of the eviction! Many of the families had lived in Basildon for over 10 years: their children were born in the borough, attend the local school and were the first generation in the community to learn to read and write. The bulldozers turned this once thriving and close-knit community into a virtual wasteland, creating deep troughs and...

Anti-racists fight “special schools” for Roma

Roma, Traveller, and socialist activists demonstrated outside the Czech and Slovakian embassies in Kensington on Tuesday 13 November against the policy of “special schools” for Roma children in these countries. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has called the schools “Educational Apartheid”. The schools, which are invariably inferior and chronically underfunded, have continued to exist in defiance of a ECHR ruling, and illustrate the rising tide of anti-Roma persecution across the former Eastern Bloc. One activist told Solidarity : “I’ve been involved in Roma solidarity for over fifty...

"Fight for Sites" campaign launched

On 20 September, around 50 supporters of the Traveller Solidarity Network gathered in Toynbee Hall in East London to launch a new campaign, Fight For Sites. The Traveller Solidarity Network sprang up out of the battle to stop the brutal eviction of Traveller families from the Dale Farm site in Essex following a long campaign by the Tory council, supported by a racist local press and a groundswell of anti-Traveller bigotry. The meeting heard speeches from outside supporters of the anti-eviction campaign, and also from members of the Traveller community, including a speaker from the Irish...

New traveller solidarity network

A new traveller solidarity network has been set up to support families who are being evicted from their homes despite the huge questions raised by the Dale Farm eviction last month. The Traveller Solidarity Movement met in London on 5 November to discuss strategy after Dale Farm. The meeting resolved to set up the network, linking local supporter and activist groups, including anti-fascist and anti-racist organisations, with regional travellers. A website and mailing list is being set up, but to get involved now subscribe to the Dale Farm mailing list. Travellers themselves will lead the...

Dale Farm eviction

Police and bailiffs finally succeeded in breaking the resistance of traveller families and their supporters and, on Wednesday 19 October, began clearing plots at the Dale Farm campsite. Over 100 riot police were mobilised to aid with the eviction and tasers were used on travellers and activists defending the site. Electricity to the caravans was disconnected, endangering the life of a man whose defibrillator stopped working. He was later rushed to hospital. 34 people were arrested. Bailiffs also breached a High Court order stipulating that they must give 48 hours’ notice before commencing any...

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