Kushti Atchin Tan

Gypsy Ways

2011-08-30T11:51:00.001-07:00

Everyday life of the Roma from Bulgaria

2011-04-24T03:42:00.001-07:00

The Domari Society of Gypsies in Jerusalem

2011-04-24T03:06:00.000-07:00

Check out the website here

Help Amnesty Protect Roma's Housing Rights In Rome

2011-03-22T03:35:00.000-07:00

One year after the launch of Amnesty International’s campaign The wrong answer – Italy’s Nomad Plan violates the housing rights of Roma in Rome, Amnesty International’s members and supporters across the world are still waiting for the Italian authorities to step up to their responsibilities.

The implementation of the “Nomad Plan” is only driving those affected deeper into poverty and marginalization. Indeed, the plan condemns Roma children and families to a cycle of forced evictions, disrupting children’s frequency at school and destroying any chance of integration and social inclusion. Segregation in degraded and overcrowded settlements is offered as the only solution.

Amnesty International is therefore calling on national and local authorities to stop forced evictions and to revise the “Nomad Plan” to bring it in line with international law and standards. Adequate alternative housing solutions must be provided after a meaningful consultation of Roma communities, so that Roma families are enabled to live in real homes, where they can fully enjoy their human rights.

Sign the petition here

Via Amnesty International

Dance

2011-03-18T13:55:00.001-07:00

O Drom e Bango

2011-03-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

picture from here

Just thought I'd blog a conversation on Twitter this morning between me, Veshengro (another Gypsy) and Miriam Wakerly (who writes fantastic novels about the issues surrounding the Romani communities).

Me: Comment from colleague this morning: "What century are Gypsies from?" Sometimes I despair slightly of humanity... ;)

Veshengro: HELP!!!!

Me: What's happened?! Or are you just despairing with me?

Veshengro: No, I am despairing with the question of your colleague as to which century Gypsies are from...

Me: Vineri, dikhlo ando sharo, i folki ande butti gullin: "where's your crystal ball?" Gotta laugh, right? ;)

Veshengro: My crystal ball has been retired. Batteries failed... I get this also as to living in a kenna: "don't you miss being a Gypsy?" - Duh???

Me: Totally! I've had the same questions about living in a kenna, it's crazy. So glad I'm on Twitter and know other people get it too. Less dispiriting that way. The fight is hard though! Still, I guess the more we inform, the better things will get (hopefully) ...and at least there are fantastic people out there like @miriamwakerly helping us as well :)

Veshengro: Is it just me or are most Gohja rather thick in that department? I mean before was the question & note I am working for the council... whether I live in a vardo and have a fire outside... and then comes the "don't you miss being Gypsy"...ava, but unfortunately people like @miriamwakerly are far & few between. We can but hope & yes, it is good to know one is not alone...

Me: Ava, and the "but you're not a Gypsy anymore, right?" Yes, right, I've magically switched ethnicity by living in a kenna.

Veshengro: Even many of our own think that though... Met a couple of "Brazils" from East London & said "oh, you Gypsy?" ... Not that there are Gohjas with that nav... and the answer: "no, our grandparents were but we are not... we live in a house".

Miriam: goodness - just spotted your tweets - has something bad happened? ( I mean worse than usual)

Me: Nah, just despairing at lack of knowledge as usual ;)

Veshengro: No, we are just chatting... well put, Scar... and this knowledge goes high up into government and the media too...

Miriam: Well the thing is - it is quite complicated and most folks have not really looked into it - at all.

Me: I know, it's crazy. But then I've had similar things said to me by people within the community, i.e. "Just because your dado & daye are Romani doesn't mean you are if you're atchin in a kenna."

Veshengro: We need to educate both sides, Gypsy and Gohja... that is the real challenge. Some ppl R so clueless... & then there is the outright denial, even to members of the fohki

Me: That's very true. Education is the key. I'm sure we can succeed! Though sometimes I have my doubts...

Miriam: It would be great if u and friends cd get to the LitFest when I do my on stage i/view. A chance for you to speak!

Speaking of which, Miriam's talk at the LitFest will be well worth attending, I'm sure. You can find out more about it here.

Amen o Roma na sam pal o Mars!

2011-01-20T06:57:00.001-08:00

E raňi Enisa Eminovska kerel sar konzultantka andro Open Society Institute andre Macedonija. Nekbuter pes interesinel pal o džuvľikano pharipen-gender problematika andre maškarutňi the vichodno Europa. But pes interesinel palo čoripen, the romengere hakaja. Andre peskeri na buťakeri vrama kerel bi lovengero aktivizmo. O vakeriben laha kerďam andre Indija pre konferencia.

Video

Roma Families Living In Uncertainty

2011-01-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

Baxtalo Nevo Bersh!

2010-12-31T16:17:00.000-08:00

Gulorri Rat

2010-12-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

Gulorri rat, Devlesi rat

Sa mishto, y cerhaj

Strefal p'o chavarro kai sovel

Manusalen, vov si o Devel

Amare bezexa lel

Sarkolesko gi thovel.

Dikh s'o corroi, dikh s'o ciknoi

Avral sil, si pahoi

A vov beshel p'o phus an'o luv

Mashkar i xerni thai o guruv

E bidar na lazhal

Vov so kerda o sundal.

Picture credit

Dale Farm: A Tribute

2010-12-27T02:03:00.000-08:00

This makes me sad. It makes me worry about the nature of humanity. It makes me wonder why all our protests were in vain. It makes me pleased that people like Miriam Wakerly exist. But most of all, it makes me need to act.

Travelling Ahead

2010-11-20T07:40:00.001-08:00

A new site for young Travellers in Wales has been launched in conjunction with Save the Children. Travelling Ahead has a forum, pictures, polls and games for youngsters to enjoy, as well as information about Traveller history and culture. There are sections for parents and for people who work with young Travellers. It has the potential to be a really great thing if it's used in the right way; I'm just hoping there are people dedicated to making sure no one gets on the site who shouldn't be there, as this is one of the main problems with sites for children, especially children from racial minorities. Still, it's a great idea and I hope it thrives.

Romany Vanners

2010-11-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

One of the most iconic symbols of the Romany people is the beautiful Vanner; here is a tribute to these wonderful animals:

Lead Camp Closed

2010-11-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

The lead-polluted camps in Kosovo, in which Roma people have been living since 1999, have finally been closed. Various groups are claiming credit for the closure, although to be honest it's probably an accumulation of pressure from a variety of sources that led to the move.

The inhabitants have been resettled in new homes or in another nearby refugee camp, which has been made safer from lead poisoning. In total, 50 Romani, Ashkali and Egyptian families have been resettled.

More info and picture credit

Armed masked attackers assault French Roma

2010-11-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

A Roma camp in Triel-sur-Seine has been attacked by a group wearing masks and toting guns. They fired shots into the air, understandably making the resident anxious, and stayed for about half an hour. The attackers arrived in a police car wearing police uniforms, which officials believe to have been stolen. They broke down caravan doors and forced at least one woman to strip naked.

More info here

EU lifts threat of legal action against France

2010-10-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

A while ago, the European Commission threatened legal action against France for the mass expulsion of Roma people. Viviane Reding, the EC's Justice Commissioner, demanded evidence that racist motives were not being employed, and that the Roma people were not being expelled on the grounds of ethnicity. Having looked into the matter, she then decided that France has adhered to the safeguards stipulated by the EU directive.

So far, France has expelled more than 1,000 Bulgarian and Romanian Roma people, using police raids to get them to leave. Events have been compared to WWII even by Reding herself, who has now reneged and decided that there can't possibly be a racist motive for expelling an ethnic group from a country...

President Sarkozy insists that he has the right to expel jobless Roma who are unable to look after themselves. This is the kind of thing that can be applied to people who aren't Roma as well, and therefore on the surface of it doesn't seem to be racially motivated. However, the definition of this right seems to be that each case must be looked at individually - and you can't wipe out entire populations of an ethnic group whilst simultaneously insisting that you're taking each individual into account.

Sarkozy also said that the Roma people move into an area and prompty promote 'breeding grounds for prostitution, people trafficking and child exploitation'. Lots of people would say that's not a racist thing to say. But, like I always say with statements like this, turn it around. Replace the word 'Roma' with the word 'black' or 'Jewish', and you'll see that it really is racist and unacceptable.

More on the BBC website
Picture credit

DikTV

2010-09-23T01:59:00.000-07:00

DikTV is a new online TV station that will broadcast programmes only in Romani. The initiative is happening on a voluntary basis, with Romani journalists stepping forward to present and produce programmes for people to watch.

One of the criticisms often levelled at me when I insist that people who speak Romani can understand each other is that the language differs from country to country. This is true, but mainly affects the spelling and pronunciation of words, rather than the words themselves. Despite the Romani I speak being a strange mixture of Sinti and Scottish Romanichal influence, I understood the introductory video, which you can watch below. I think it's perfectly possible for Romani speakers to understand each other - we just have to be willing to make the effort.

Anyway, enough about me. Take a look at the video introduction, then head over to the Facebook page for more information.

Appeals for clothes and food

2010-09-16T06:02:00.000-07:00

The French Roma people who are being ousted from their homes are in desperate need of food and clothing to keep them going. If you can send a package, it would be much appreciated - please email me for the address to send things to.

Thank you!

We Are the Nidi Foki

2010-08-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

Young we kinned
And jelled in yesterdays.
Once England wondered where we'd jelled out
Over puvs and vesh's ways.
Had we driven old grais always, even through the Northern Seas?
And penned our puri jib in whispers underneath a desert's breeze?
But kak, a bori rai-mush harked
As chavis rokkered Romanes
And in our muis jinned a jib
From India, like ours they guessed.
They dragged the bori panis wider, reaching puvs so far and broad
And distant by long bersha's miles from Nidi's peerdos, Gypsies' yawks.
Some kommed in love to jin the puv
A thousand bersha mored from mind.
Their kalo skins and unloved yawks
Dikked love through rain and perished tears,
And proud that distant puvs brought cousins distant they might kom adui,
And pogger mingri's okkabins they spat through baulo's loveless muis.
But English kams and English panis,
English bavals surrounding heaths
Still warmed and soaked and whispered round
The tickners born beneath its clouds,
In divvuses our dads and dais have known, and theirs in winters past
And Romanes will play upon our chavvies' lips while England lasts.
So Eastern words and Northern lives may meet
Within the Gypsy's chest.
We're what we are and what we'll be
Through un-jinned droms to future's rest
For like the Gorger foki we jel under kams that kakker rest
And Nidis, English folk and all folk jin in the rati's quietness.

By Damian le Bas - you can find his blog here; he also works for the Travellers' Times

Picture credit

Government to give cash to councils for Travellers' sites

2010-08-31T03:40:00.000-07:00

In a surprising new government initiative, councils are to be given cash incentives to set up authorised Traveller sites within local communities. Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, wants to stamp out illegal sites but is aware of the difficulties Travellers face when trying to find somewhere to live. The government's new plan therefore sees councils being rewarded for setting up legal, authorised sites for Travellers, and Travellers who stop on unauthorised sites being more heavily penalised than they currently are (though quite how much more you can penalise someone than taking away their home, I don't know).

Anyway, it sounds like a reasonable initiative, and hopefully it will give way to better relations between the Travelling and static communities within local council areas.

For more information, see the Independent's article.

Picture credit

Roma

2010-08-20T01:10:00.001-07:00

Romany Me

2010-08-19T02:10:00.001-07:00

France Deporting Roma

2010-08-19T00:38:00.000-07:00

The French government is deporting Roma people to Romania, hoping to get rid of 300 Roma camps. Fifty-one camps have already been destroyed, with the people who were living there being placed in temporary accommodation (have you ever seen temporary accommodation? If not, you'd probably find yourself in for a bit of a culture shock).

It always astounds me that governments are still allowed to just ship people out of the country in which they live, purely on the basis of their ethnicity. Sure, they incite 'crime' as a main reason for making the Roma leave - so are they going to deport all French criminals as well? What about the many Roma who have not committed any crime? Or perhaps the French government means that it's a crime to be born a Gypsy, much as it was seen as a crime to be Jewish by the Nazis, who also, incidentally, turned their attention to the genocide of Gypsy groups.

Racism is not OK. It doesn't matter which group it's against - that's the whole point of not being racist. You can't say "I'm not racist, I have nothing against any ethnic minority", and at the same time decide that an entire ethnic group can't live in your country, purely on the basis of their race. Why can't people see that?

More info on the BBC.

Green and Blue: Gypsy Poetry

2010-07-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

Kana aven le tare ta tardeon

pasa o gorì le paiesko

ando zaleno clmpo thaj ceri

oce astardeople o traio.

When a Gypsy caravan arrives

There, on the banks of a river

In a green field and sky

Nature becomes alive.

(Luminita Mihai Cioaba)

A cèlé o kwitipé

ni kwitipé ka a lètte

ka èivèle a tras...

There was a silence

A silence that surrounded you

And that brought fear...

(Giulia di Rocco)

Tor vast phandime, ke dikhav len sas

umblavde anda kala sastripen,

cirikle dukhaqe, phakha chinde.

I saw your hands trapped

Falling within these chains

Birds of sorrow, wings clipped.

(Sterna Weltz Zigler)

Found here

Picture credit

New Romani-English dictionary added to sidebar

2010-07-25T02:16:00.000-07:00

If you look to your right, you'll see a couple of boxes marked 'ROMANI => ENGLISH' and 'ENGLISH => ROMANI'. This is a free online dictionary for both languages, provided by Freelang. It is by no means comprehensive, but it can be quite useful if you want to find out what a word means when I write part of a post in Romani. Enjoy!

Life of Some Roma Children in Serbia

2010-07-22T04:36:00.000-07:00

There are 600 squatter settlements in Serbia, the inhabitants of which are mostly of Roma origin. Of these, 105 are in Belgrade with seventeen more in New Belgrade. Here, Ivana Todorovic documents the life of the Stankovic family who migrated from Southern Serbia in search of better opportunities. Provided with few social services, their living conditions are rough and the children work to help support their family.

You can buy the full DVD here

Statistics: Diabetes among Romani People in Serbia

2010-07-22T04:28:00.000-07:00

Gypsy Culture Celebrated in Cardiff

2010-06-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

A series of events is being held in Cardiff Bay to celebrate Gypsy, Romany and Traveller history. Local Gypsies are encouraged to go along and share their arts: basket-weaving, fortune-telling and flower-making are among the skills that will be showcased. Young people have made posters and will be performing dances and shows. The events follow on from a smaller one last year, which met with great success. Let's hope other places follow Cardiff's example.

More information here
Picture credit

Roma Beyond Borders Exhibition

2010-06-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

Nigel Dickinson's photos show the diversity of the Romani people across Europe.

This is the ID card bearing a red cross, which

all Italian Roma are forced to carry

Not all Gypsies live in caravans. This is an

English Romanichal family in their lounge.

Traditional vurdon

Newer caravan

The annual Gypsy pilgrimage at Saintes Maries

de la Mer attracts many Romani people.

A boy plays outside the only flats in which the

Roma are allowed to live. The council refuses to

remove the rubbish piling up outside.

First Roma Political Party Created

2010-06-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

The first political party run by Roma people has been created in Moldova. The Social Political Movement of the Roma is chaired by Ion Bucur and currently has 7,000 members. The party's goal is to guarantee political stability in Moldova by eradicating poverty, increasing literacy levels, facilitating access to healthcare, and providing passports and employment for disadvantaged peoples, with a particular focus on the Roma.

Bucur states that in order to solve the Roma's problems in Moldova, they must be represented in parliament, government and local authorities. The party also supports Moldova's integration into the EU and improvement of relations with neighbouring countries.

More info can be found here.

Forced Eviction of Roma in Slovakia

2010-06-18T05:57:00.000-07:00

Nearly 90 Romani families have been living in Plavecký Štvrtok, a village near the Slovakian capital, for generations. They have built their homes there and have existed alongside the rest of the population for decades. Now, however, the Slovakian government has come up with a plan: they are asking the Roma people to produce documents showing that they own the land. These documents do not exist: whilst the Roma people live on the land, and have done for generations, they do not technically 'own' it, and so the government is going to forcibly evict them.

Amesty International is stepping forward with a petition against this action; you can sign it (please do!) here.

As one of the inhabitants, Darina, told Amnesty: "We have nowhere to go. This is our home. Each and every single house here was built by the people themselves, without any support. The state did not simply give us keys to our new homes. Each and every single person here had to build their house with their own effort."

Roma people stoned in their homes

2010-06-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

The burned home of one Roma family

Hundreds of villagers have been gathering in front of Roma families' houses in Croatia, throwing stones, setting light to the homes and chanting death threats. This follows on from an event a few weeks ago, in which a number of young boys were killed when their house was burned down; the police refused to act, so Roma families held a candlelit vigil for the murdered schoolboys alongside other parents from the school.

The Roma families are now unable to go to the local school, to the shops, even to call the emergency services; everywhere they go, everyone they turn to, they encounter violence. They have even been forbidden from digging a pit to bury their dead. If this happened to any other ethnic minority, uproar would rightly ensue. But the Roma? Nothing. And so we blog.

Happy Birthday Natalka!

2010-06-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

Natalka, who survived an arson attack on her home by four neo-Nazis, turns three today. She is recovering well and has apparently received more presents than ever before, including a doll's house she had been wanting for some time.

Just wanted to wish Natalka a very happy birthday; let's hope she continues to thrive and that those working for Romani rights help people to see sense about not throwing firebombs into people's homes.

Picture credit

Threat to Gypsy & Traveller Rights

2010-06-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

This letter about the coalition government's total disregard of Gypsy and Traveller rights has just been published in the Guardian, signed by a number of academics and journalists:

The coalition government has arrived with a civil liberties agenda (Report, 28 May). But not for the UK's most deprived and discriminated-against minority ethnic group – Gypsies and Travellers. Already the government has reversed progressive policies giving incentives for local authorities to develop Gypsy and Traveller sites, by cuts announced in the Housing and Communities Agency budget, cancelling all next year's bids for sites. The Conservatives announced plans to scrap planning and housing circulars which have started to give Gypsies and Travellers a "level playing field" in planning disputes with local authorities and planning inspectors. According to Eric Pickles, they want to revive the "Gypsy law" of criminal trespass. This discriminatory law was derided when Michael Howard campaigned on it in 2005.

Detailed research has identified targets for sites for Gypsies and Travellers, and yards for showmen. Many have been agreed with local authorities and progress was starting to be made. After years of inaction on sites a cumulative need has built up. The situation now is worse than ever and will only get worse without new provision. We face a future of more roadside and unauthorised encampments, leading to inevitable community conflict and enforcement costs to local council tax payers.

Gypsy and Traveller families have just 3,729 caravans on unauthorised sites in the whole of England, with a further 13,708 caravans on council and private sites (Caravan Count, July 2009) and "It is estimated that the entire Gypsy and Traveller population could be legally accommodated if as little as one square mile of land were allocated for sites in England" (EHRC, March 2009). We are calling on the government to think again on its policies and stick to progressive programmes based on civil liberties and fairness.

Traditional Romani Dances

2010-06-12T05:53:00.001-07:00

Reyhan & Hushnu perform and teach traditional Romani dancing:

Gypsy Life: In Photos

2010-06-08T23:36:00.000-07:00

Pictures found here

Sila Kale Bal

2010-06-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

Jekh e chaja daje
lele me mangav
voy si but shuzi
sar go rakljori (x2)

Sila kale bal
zelene yakha
me mangav la daje
o la me ka lav (x2)

Ka dikhel man daye
Sar o kham tato
Sar o kham tato
me sem baxtalo (x2)

Sila kale bal
zelene yakha
me mangav la daje
o la me ka lav (x2)

Voy phuchel man daye
dal ka lav la me
te ni lav la me
chor ka merel

Biyav ka kerav
muzika ka lav
muzika ka lav
thay ka pokinav

Sila kale bal
zelene yakha
me mangav la daje
o la me ka lav (x2)

New site in Cornwall given the go-ahead

2010-05-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

The BBC reports that a newly-proposed site in Cornwall should be going ahead. The site proposed was for one family to live in three mobile homes and three caravans on land near Truro. Although it has met with opposition from locals, who have branded Gypsies in general as 'trouble-makers', council officials have fought back on behalf of the family, saying that they are from a well-known traditional Gypsy family and would like to give up their travelling lifestyle to settle on the site, allowing their children to attend school more easily.

Roma Fashion: The World is Colourful

2010-04-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

Gypsies in Rome resist eviction

2010-04-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

I've blogged about Italy removing Gypsies from Rome already, but didn't know it was partly for the sake of an F1 track. I'm a huge F1 fan, but I think evicting people from their homes for the sake of a Grand Prix is a bit excessive.

So they're being moved to camps a while away from where they currently are. Enforced segregation from the rest of the community. Previously, I didn't really know anything about the camps they were going to; but have just discovered that they have little access to schools (unsurprisingly), and that the 'home' they're being moved to doesn't actually have anything resembling homes in the vicinity (also unsurprisingly), but point number three did surprise me. There is no drinking water on the camp. No drinking water. The nearest point where drinking water can be collected is 8km away. Seriously? In Italy? Walking 8km to get water? It's astonishing.

Amnesty International are on the attack, as is Navanethem Pillay, the high commissioner for human rights in the UN. Will anything be done? We'll have to wait and see. Somehow I find it doubtful.

Romani language to be taught in Czech schools

2010-03-17T02:09:00.000-07:00

The Czech Minister of Education has expressed his intention to teach Romani to children in Czech primary schools. He added that, if we want Romani children to go to school along with their peers, we should be teaching other children about Romani culture, just as we teach Romani children about other people's.

This represents a huge step forward in attitudes towards the Travelling communities, and it's wonderful to have something positive to report about any government's relationship with Gypsies. Of course, there is still a long way to go, and who knows whether the minister's intention will be realised? But as first steps go, it's an important and positive one.

Perhaps before long we'll have children from all countries rokkerin a bit of Romani jib!

Full article can be found here.

Roma family attacked with Molotov cocktail

2010-03-15T04:24:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night, a family living in a Roma village in Ostrava came under attack when someone threw a gasoline-filled bottle through the window of a nursery. Residents managed to extinguish the flames from the bottle, which exploded near to where a 14-year-old girl had been sleeping.

It is the fourth such incident to have occurred since last April, when four neo-Nazis burned a Roma family to death. As yet, the person or people who threw Saturday's bottle have yet to be found, but in Vitkov, where the attack took place, the penalty for arson can be up to 25 years in prison.

Let's hope they're caught and punished...

The full article can be found here.

Roma and the Media

2010-03-15T04:12:00.000-07:00

A group of scholars is to meet in Warsaw to discuss the topic 'Roma and the Media - Countering Prejudices and Promoting Tolerance'.

With the recent ravaging of Roma homes in Italy, and the constant disparaging of the Travelling communities by the media, this couldn't have come at a better time. Let's just hope they come up with some effective solutions!

Find out more about the meeting here.

What are your thoughts? How are Gypsies, Romany people and Travellers treated by the media where you live? What can or should be done?

UN Human Rights Chief voices concern over Italy's treatment of Roma

2010-03-14T03:15:00.000-07:00

A Roma camp, burned to the ground by Italian authorities.

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, said today that "vilification and deliberate negative stereotyping of any group of people is unacceptable and dangerous", after noting that a survey of 5,684 television news stories linked immigration with a specific criminal activity or security issue nearly every time.

She also spoke out against Italy's domestic policy, which criminalises immigration. As a result of this policy, she pointed out, innocent women, children and men "are sometimes spending more time in detention than genuine convicted criminals."

Italy removes Roma from Rome

2010-03-12T08:26:00.000-08:00

Italy has just implemented a 'nomad plan' to evict 6,000 Roma people from Rome. The problem? Well, other than the forced eviction of a large ethnic group, the people are being given nowhere to go. Or nowhere reasonable, at least.

Over 100 Roma settlements will be destroyed, and the people will be forced to move into just 13 camps. I'm no mathematician, but that doesn't adequately cover the housing they're being evicted from... and the plan is predicted to leave at least 1,000 Roma people without a home of any kind.

Amnesty International is piling on the pressure to allow the Roma people to stay in their homes, or at the very least to give them adequate housing in the place where they're going. Not only this, but they're being sent to camps, out of sight of Rome itself, which will only exacerbate the already-rampant discrimination the Travelling peoples experience throughout the world.

How can you help? Spread the word. Blog it, tweet it, write to people. Let everyone know that you don't stand for racial discrimination and ethnic segregation.

Es-tu un Vrai Manouche ?

2010-03-09T14:31:00.000-08:00

Nouveau quiz sur Facebook : es-tu un vrai Manouche ? Moi j'étais très fière que mon résultat indiquait que ouais, je connais mes origines et ma culture ! Et vous ?

Slideshow of Roma pictures by Amnesty International

2010-02-16T01:25:00.001-08:00

Amnesty International have released a slideshow of pictures featuring Romani people, to support the campaign for adequate housing for the Roma in Romania. About 75 people have been living in metal shacks next to a sewage treatment plant since 2004. All they ask is housing that doesn't actively kill them. Is that really such a big demand?

Romani Radio: Similarities between Indian and Romani cultures

2010-02-14T10:14:00.001-08:00

EU Votes for Huge Investment in Rroma

2010-02-12T05:34:00.001-08:00

11/02/2010 - David Campbell-Bannerman MEP, Deputy Leader of the UK Independence Party, has commented on a new law passed by the European Parliament yesterday which would allocate regional development funding for the housing of marginalised communities from all member states, including the United Kingdom, and not just those which joined in 2004 (as intended). He believes that such funding will result in a massive increase in traveller and gypsy migration to Britain.

Speaking in the European Parliament, he said, "My constituents in East Anglia are already deeply concerned at the scale of the traveller and gypsy communities, particularly so in Essex. They will be angry should these measures facilitate yet more EU mass immigration. Britain has seen a rise in population of 3.5 million in the 12 years since 1997, half the size of London . Given too that nearly nine out of ten new British homes (86%) will be built due to immigration over 30 years [2004-34] proposals like this seem to be yet another bridgehead for major migration into Britain. We don't have the room. This is about space not race."

He added that, "the Roma population is the largest marginalised community receiving support, plus others of similar socio-economic condition” and that the EU's "overall budget for the European Cohesion Policy is a staggering €347 billion (£306 billion) over seven years, larger than many (national) economies".

Find out more here.

Dale Farm and the people who want to tear it down

2010-02-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

The bloke who wanted to tear down our community centre and chapel at Dale Farm as an illegal structure is up in court now as an alleged thief and liar, one of four parliamentarians so far charged in Britain’s current furore that could see some Westminster politicians go to jail.

But then Lord Hanningfield, until this week Opposition spokesman for local government and leader of Essex County council, is an anti-Traveller Tory. Baron Hanningfield of Chelmsford had been the Queen’s Deputy Lieutenant of the county when in 2004 bailiffs and riot police stormed the Meadowlands caravan park, burning homes and evicting Travellers onto the road in freezing winter weather.

Hanningfield is presently charged with making thousands of pounds worth of false claims for overnight accommodation while allegedly being chauffer-driven home from parliament. Yet he was furious when Essex Racial Equality Council helped Dale Farm obtain a first-ever grant and vowed he would undo the deal. He succeeded in barring Traveller Education Service teachers from stepping foot inside St Christopher’s community centre after they had been invited to tutor children there.

However, Travellers continue to use the log cabin centre and remain in residence on their land at Dale Farm, though still under imminent threat of a massive eviction operation by Basildon council, employing Constant, the notorious hard-hat bailiffs, who specialize in the ethnic cleansing of Gypsies.

Like most of his colleagues, Hanningfield has little notion of what is at stake at Dale Farm; nor that the Minceir, as Travellers are called in their own language, define themselves as a distinct ethnic group, a people separate from the settled population. Recent genetic studies have identified mutations among Minceir that are rare in the rest of the Irish population, suggesting possible descent from ancestors whose roots probably predated the arrival of the Celtic tribes.

As to Minceir language, many of its word-stems, including bloke, replaced by feen since that word was adopted into English, have been traced to Old Irish. But others, so far defying etymological analysis, could belong to an otherwiselost pre-Celtic tongue that has been partially preserved in Minceirtoiree.

Despite this evidence, Irish law continues to define the Minceir only as a social group while English law recognizes them as an ethnic group. The reason may be largely political as even nonTraveller supporters claim they could win more friends as Irish folk who took to the road in the Famine than as itinerant outsiders. For the moment this has created an unsatisfactory trade off between unachieved social acceptance and a growing aspiration to be recognized for whom they truly are. In an increasingly multi-ethnic Ireland, it’s hoped that full recognition will come soon rather than later.

Minceir Whidden and the earlier Minceir Misli have pointed out that nomadism, the most obvious characteristic of the Traveller culture, is much older than the sedentary way of

life. At least one writer on Irish history, Owen McNeill, maintains that Travellers are the direct descendants of metal-workers who flourished in early Celtic and pre-Celtic times. Certainly, Irish myths and legends speak of a separate people who lived in bender-tents, as did modern Minceir up to the l960s.

Horse-drawn wagons and later trailer caravans replaced the pre-historic benders, and mobile-homes and chalets are the preferred habitat of today’s Travellers. These are the homes being defended at Dale Farm. But more than their homes, blokes like Richard Sheridan, as spokesman for the biggest Minceir community in Britain, are making a determined stand, as did their grandparents, for the right of the Minceir, now believed to number 100,000in Britain and Ireland, and increasingly scattered across Europe and North America, to preserve an ethos that is all their own.

They fear that if not determinedly defended their culture is in danger of being undermined, if not destroyed, by gammy feens like Lord Hanningfield and local MP John Baron, another parliamentarian in trouble over large expense claims involving a house built in the greenbelt. A brutal ethnic cleansing is theimmediate threat; longer-term erosion could come from forced conformity and assimilation.

Article by Grattan Puxon

Typical Roma? ERGO launches international campaign

2010-02-02T01:37:00.000-08:00

The European Roma Grassroots Organisation Network has just launched a campaign called 'Typical Roma', which addresses stigmatization and stereotypes as root causes of the social exclusion of Roma. The campaign raises the awareness for active citizenship of all people in one society and intends to promote a positive image of Roma.

The campaign launched on January 27th in Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria, with further campaign launches this week in Romania and Moldova.

Find out more at the Typical Roma website.

Being Gypsy: A film by Sérgio Castro

2010-01-30T01:03:00.001-08:00

Human rights appeal over Traveller evictions

2010-01-29T05:21:00.000-08:00

The Everyman Group, a human rights group based in Italy, has written to various UK authorities to highlight the plight of Italian Roma people, and to urge Basildon council not to evict hundreds of travellers from Dale Farm.

A statement said: "A decision to go ahead with the eviction would be unworthy of the United Kingdom, which... remains a beacon in the European Union for those who are involved in human rights activities."

Virtual Exhibition: Pictures of a Romani Village

2010-01-27T00:36:00.000-08:00

A team of seventeen photographers recently travelled to Roskovce, a small village in Slovakia inhabited solely by the Romany people and separated from the rest of the population. The photographers wanted to show the village through the eyes of the Roma, so they met 60 children and teenagers, asking to be guided through the village and shown aspects of Romani life.

The result? A virtual exhibition, which you can see here.

Be-Longing: Travellers' Stories, Travellers' Lives - an exhibition for anyone who has ever wondered about the Roma people

2010-01-23T17:56:00.000-08:00

Be-Longing is an exhibition that will be happening in London from the 4th of February until the 20th of March 2010.

The event focuses around the photography of Eva Sajovic, who captures the lives of people from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the UK and Slovenia, in an attempt to highlight the prejudice they encounter in day-to-day life.

Eva's aim is to promote an understanding of travelling communities, and to counter the prejudices that surround our people. She will also be exhibiting conversations she has recorded during her work with these communities through workshops, screenings and seminars.

Exhibition Events:

Workshop with Romany artist Delaine le Bas

Saturday 13th February 2010

12.00 - 17.00

Seminar exploring the role of photography and other artistic media in challenging stereotypes and prejudice

Wednesday 17th February 2010

18.00 - 21.00

Seminar: The Future of Travelling Communities

Tuesday 9th March 2010

10.30 - 16.00

Film Screening of Romano Hip Hop by R Point

Thursday 18th March 2010

19.00 - 21.00

Closing event with music

Saturday 20th March 2010

18.00 - 21.00

If you would like to book a place at any of these events, please contact the gallery on info {at} 198 {dot} org {dot} uk

All events will be held at the following address:

Contemporary Arts and Learning

198 Railton Road

SE24 0JT

Working towards an end to police terror during Gypsy evictions

2010-01-18T02:42:00.000-08:00

So many young Roma people are terrified of the police by default: they have grown up knowing the police only as people who conduct random midnight raids on their homes, bulldoze their lives and evict them from places they have grown to know and love.

The new generation, however, is rising up to work against this, as reported by Grattan Puxon. The evictions at Dale Farm are a fantastic example of this: Constant & Co. have been given the contract by Basildon Council to evict the Roma population from their site. This will be the largest ever eviction undertaken by Constant & Co., who are well-known for being a classic example of anti-Roma sentiment in the UK. 100 homes are set to be crushed, burned and bulldozed.

What is being done to counteract this? The UK Children's Commission has risen up to demand that Basildon Council supply them with information regarding the Roma children who will be victims of this ethnic cleansing: they want to know not only how children will be safeguarded during the eviction, but also their future housing possibilities.

The Health & Safety Executive has reminded Constant & Co. that bringing bulldozers to Dale Farm while children are present will be a serious breach of health and safety law. Inspectors could halt the eviction at any stage: whether they do step in or not is another matter entirely, but at least they are speaking out.

Basildon Council is also required to draw up a risk assessment before going ahead with the eviction; something which often does not happen when Gypsies are being evicted from their own land. A number of Roma representatives will be meeting with the police and the council to discuss further options.

Things can improve, but only with more support. Show your support by telling people about the Roma in Europe, and by not forgetting how they are treated. Help us to stop ethnic cleansing from occurring.

The Life of a Romany Gypsy

2010-01-10T21:36:00.001-08:00

Bulgarian Roma win case against police brutality

2010-01-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

In an unusual and exciting victory, three Bulgarian nationals have won a case against the police force for charges of brutality. Trayan Zhorov Sashov, Krum Sotirov Yankov and Zdravko Alexandrov Simeonov complained of police brutality during their 2001 arrest on suspicion of stealing metals. They also lamented the failure of the State authorities to institute an effective criminal investigation into their allegations of bad treatment.

The European Court of Justice found their case to be valid, and paid each of them 3,000 euros in damages. Aven Romale!