Why is it still acceptable to be anti-gypsy? is this not racism?

[madz]

Hiya I have been reading some answers about so called "gypsy problems" and have been offended by some of the misrepresentations of gypsy culture, as a gypsy I think that it is about time that this is seen as racism and gypsys are afforded the same legal protection as others, in 1976 Mrs. Indira Gandhi pledged support for the demand that Roma be recognized as a national minority of India origin but this is still not the case, due to the limited space I can not go into the full extent of the persecution of my people but anyone wanting to know more should read the Patrin timeline of Romani history online. Roma originated in India before ad400 and arrived in europe in 1300 where the persecution began with slavery, in fact slavery of roma was continued until 1857 in europe 50 years after the abolition of slavery. in 1455 Prince Vlad of Dracul had 12000 gypsy slaves transported, the history of the Roma is filled with persecution, slavery, banishment, disfigurement, rape, children being taken away, and murder and it is a little known fact that the Roma were the first to be interred during the Holocaust and the last to be recognized, during the Holocaust 1,500,000 Roma were killed by the nazis, even in England the persecution has been intense, with laws that enforce execution, transportation, branding, slavery, disfigurement and child abduction. Even in the last century the 1994 criminal justice and public order act outlawed caravan sites leaving 5000 families without a legal home. Every day I have had to hear people with their ideas of what or who a gypsy is and how we are all theives, liers and beggars who mess things up and leave, there is good and bad in all communities but why is the persecution still allowed, why is it ok that a man can threaten and beat and get away with it because his victim was only a gypsy. Is this not the last socially and politically accepted form of racism?

[Octavius]

The Race Relations Act 1976 ('the RRA') can potentially be used by travellers for protection from discrimination. The RRA makes it unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on the grounds of race in the areas of employment, education, training, housing and the provision of goods and services.

The definition of 'race' includes 'ethnic origin' . For a 'traveller' complainant to come within the scope of the RRA, he or she must first establish membership of a distinct ethnic group.

If any particaular post offends you, then report it and contact the AB Ed.

[paddywak]

The sad fact is that there will always be groups of people who cannot accept other people simply because they are "differrent" in some way. I have not had any dealings gypsies but I have found that other minorites are pretty much like the majority of people in that most just want to get on with their lives, some are great, and some are grade one b*****ds

[madz]

the rra1976 can be potentialy used but I have much experience of courts not accepting that Roma are an ethnic group, until the time that we can be recognized as such the only real legal protection we can have is to hope that the officers involved in any case are a little more understanding and do not listen to the liabelous counter allegations that are usually made and do not immediatly assume that it must be the fault of the "gypsy"

[ethandron]

maybe part of the problem is that gypsy's seem to be able to park their caravans anywhere they like, whereas if it were jo public who was to park a caravan in the same spot, they'd be immediately arrested by the police for trespass. where gypsy's are concerned, the police seem to have their hands tied and be accused of racism. if people want to be treated fairly, they have to behave fairly.

[madz]

as i have said there is good and bad in all cultures and this is true within the gypsy community, it is not true that we can just park anywhere, we will be moved on and verbally abused even if we are set up just overnight on the age old accustomed sites of common ground, i have never stolen from people, i have never left rubbish and i usually just travelled between shows which meant that the longest i would stay is overnight, there are only so many hours a day that you can drive safely and you need to stop, i dont think that this is something that is appreciated fully when we are moved on in the early hours, If you have any doubt as to the extent that travellers will be mistreated by the police then try a google on the battle of the bean field when men, women and children tried to escape but were trapped, beaten, terrorised and their vehicles destroyed , i agree that there may be a little antagonism with some gypsies towards some of the officials but i am sure that if you had been treated so appallingly for so many generations just for trying to live would there not be some resentment, as the 1994 act has outlawed caravan sites where are we to go? we are a very fair people by nature but the only resort of most of us is to become stationary, which is to deny the generations of people that have kept the travelling culture alive, who have faced such terrible and disgusting abuse, where is the freedom that we so wanted, if we were allowed to set up regular stopping places and left to arrange our own affairs with local farmers who have always been happy to accept the products of our work, generations of pickers and labourers, we would not have to resort to staying on the side of roads and in gateways, how would you feel if your home was in this dangerous position? let us live fairly and i am sure that the majority of hardworking decent families would be more than happy to comply

[maxximus]

interesting, i had no idea roma culture originated in india madz. i have met gypsies and this was never mentioned. i will enjoy looking into this, thanx. ignorance is generally the root cause of racism, unfortunately.

[ethandron]

the battle of beanfields seems to be more to do with new age travellers or hippies, than roma gypsies. in fact i didn't see a mention of gypsies at all. not condoning police strong arm tactics, but surely there's a difference between the two groups? and their heritage.
if people want to live a certain lifestyle, then they have to be prepared to accept the consequences of their actions. in the way i accept i have to pay my mortgage or rates if i want to stay in my house, or behave in a certain manner to continue working in my job.

[paddywak]

Hi madz, I was wondering if you could tell me, approxomatly
what percentage of the people we see travelling about and call "gypsies" are actually Roma as oppossed to new age tavellers and hippy types?

[madz]

The battle of the beanfield is one of the few recorded cases of police brutality towards travellers, the same tactics are used to deal with all travellers
As I have said all along there are good and bad in all communities.
New age travellers are also a varied community varying from those with gypsy blood who want to try and reintroduce travelling as a way of life, to those who are suffering with drug addictions trying to keep some form to their lives.There are no formal records that i am aware of to say what the exact numbers of gypsys, whether travelling or not, and the numbers of various types of travellers so it would be hard to correctly quote the percentages.
I agree that it is important to pay your mortgage if you wish to stay in your house but please realize that caravans do not come free, some of the chrome plated large showman vans cost similar to an average house, horse drawn vardos cost many thousands, horses that work must be well cared for , great pride is taken in the appearance of a working horse and it must be kept in the peak of fitness, for the more modern traveller vehicles must be kept fully legal and travelling the large distances that these are expected to do must be kept in good mechanical order. Most gypsys that I know have also bought a piece of land that they can stay on temporarily to mend the damages caused by travelling and rest people, animals and vehicles over the worst of the winter until the new travelling season is open because they are not allowed to stay on their own land. So it is not the case that the gypsy has a free and easy life, it is filled with as many responsibilities as the modern age can bring, not the least of which is to ensure a good education for the children, it is not that we are a people that shirk our responsibilities , it is a way of life that has been kept alive for centuries and deserves to be allowed to continue without preconceived prejudism

[paddywak]

Thanks for the info madz, I think quite a lot of the prejudices
that people have is due to the fact that they don't really know anything about the groups they dislike so much apart from the various well known stereo types e.g all drug pushers are black, all gypsies are scrounging thieves etc, etc. Perhaps if people bothered to do a bit of research some of them might find there views changing .

[puck]

I think most of the people labelled as Gypsies are not Romanys but Irish tinkers. From the mess they leave behind when they leave & the fact that the crime rate goes up when they are in the area it is no wonder they are not popular.
There once was a true Romany family which visited our area, Vardo and all, and they were fine