Judge stops demolition of Essex Travellers site

Jo Siedlecka

More than 50 Gypsy and Traveller families in Essex won a High Court fight on Friday, to stop the local council from evicting them.

The families bought the green belt land at Dale Farm, Billericay and Five Acres Farm, Wickford, about ten years ago. It had previously been derelict or used for storing scrap metal. The families pay council taxes and have gradually built up semi-permanent homes there. But they do not have planning permission.

Basildon District Council has been trying to evict them for several years. Last December, the council decided to use section 178 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, to enter the land, evict the residents and demolish their dwellings. This would have left them homeless, and the council would not have been able to offer alternative accommodation.

In a 26-page judgment, Mr Justice Collins said the eviction order could not stand and he ordered more time to investigate concerns on the needs and welfare of the families. He drew attention to the high degree of prejudice faced by Gypsies and Travellers and the discrimination they have suffered at the hands of local authorities. (There has also been a very one-side campaign in the local press and the Daily Mail). Judge Collins said sick and vulnerable persons, and children attending school had not been given proper, individual consideration, nor had anti-racist legislation been fully complied with. Any future decisions by the Basildon council would have to be based on these and other considerations, he said.

The judge warned the residents they would not be able to stay on the sites permanently, but said: "I think that the approach has been that the sites should be cleared, rather than a consideration of whether there are any individual families whose circumstances are such that in their individual cases eviction would be disproportionate."

Judge Collins gave the council permission to appeal against his decision, saying the case raised "important points" over what appeared to be the "insoluble problem" of providing sites for Gypsies and Travellers.

Traveller spokesman Grattan Puxon said in a statement that the ruling "represents a major legal victory for Britain's long harassed Gypsies and Travellers, many of whom have in recent years seen their homes mercilessly bulldozed. "

"This is a wake-up call to all councils," said Dr Keith Lomax, the solicitor representing Dale Farm's 132 households, comprising chalets, mobile-homes and caravans. "Those that don't provide legal living space will find they can't rely on enforcement powers."

A meeting of the Gypsy Council has been convened for 10 June at Dale Farm to consider the implications of the judgment.

Father John Glynn, Parish Priest at Our Lady of Good Council in Wickford, told ICN last night: "This judgment is a welcome stay of execution. The great thing is that it draws attention to the situation of these individual families. I hope this will now lead to a proper dialogue between all the parties."

Father John said the local Churches, have offered to help bring the sides together for talks.

On Friday, the Bishop of Brentwood, Bishop Thomas McMahon, the Anglican Bishop of Chelmsford, Bishop John Gladwin, and other Catholic and Church of England clergy visited Dale Farm, where a small cabin was opened recently to be used as a chapel and community centre.


Source: Roma News Service/ICN

© Independent Catholic News 2008

Gypsy families anxiously waiting for help

By Rizwan Ehsan Ali
5/9/2008
Rawalpindi

The smell of burnt household items was still in the air on Thursday morning as poor men, women and children of a ‘katchi abadi’ in Dhoke Ali Akbar searched for whatever left in ashes.

In a matter of five minutes, around 125 huts were destroyed when nine days ago fire broke out in the slum late at night after a burning candle fell in one of the huts that went unnoticed.

“Only 10 huts could be saved while the rest of them were completely destroyed,” Mohammad Ajoob, a resident of the ‘katchi abadi,’ told ‘The News’ on Thursday.

While those who matter like nazims and chairmen of various welfare committees visited the site a day after the incident, until Thursday evening hundreds of men, women and children were anxiously waiting for some real assistance.

The majority of these gypsies, who migrated from Bahawalnagar some 25 years ago, have been living in makeshift huts on a piece of land, measuring 18 kanals, in Dhoke Ali Akbar. The April 30 fire was the first in all those years.

When fire broke out in the slum, men and women ran for their lives, carrying their children. All of them took refuge in a nearby school.

Talking to ‘The News,’ a few residents claimed that they were promised financial assistance, but for the last nine days, nobody has come and asked them what had happened to their huts.

Most of the slum-dwellers collect cardboards and empty plastic bottles and make their livelihood by selling them. However now their main worry is their damaged huts and how to restore them.

“Even our kitchen utensils were completely burnt. We have no vessel to cook food,” said Fatima Bibi.

The woman claimed that she had lost all new clothes and household utensils, which she had kept for marriages of her two daughters — Irshad Bibi and Gogi.

Some women in the locality, like Farida Bibi, believed that since they were poor maybe that’s why nobody is taking pain to come and see what had happened to them.

“Had this tragedy befell some rich people, their damages would have been compensated by now. But we are poor, who would listen to us?” Farida Bibi questioned.

Sakina Bibi, who cannot see, was more worried than others. Her son Ghulam Sarwar used a pushcart for collecting cardboards and empty plastic bottles from all over the city. Now as his pushcart had been completely burnt, Ghulam Sarwar has carry a big sack on his shoulders to carry on with his work.

“Who would come here? Do you have any idea?” Sakina questioned to this correspondent with tears in her eyes.

“When we have lost our source of income (a pushcart) how could we continue our lives,” she added in a sombre voice.

Poor men, women and children now have no other choice but to beg in streets of the nearby locality. They go door-to-door to collect household utensils and money.

While some succeed at the end of the day, the rest wait for another day in a hope they would get something for their children.

Essex: chapel, community centre opened at beleaguered Gypsy camp

A small community centre and chapel was officially opened at Dale Farm Traveller and Gypsy camp near Crays Hill in Essex on Saturday.

The log cabin, which has been named after St Christopher, one of the patron saints of travelling people, will be used for community meetings, health projects, IT and literacy for children and a chapel for the site's Catholics. It was built with a £9,894 government youth grant fund from the Equality Council

The building was blessed by Father John Glynn of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Wickford. There were also speeches by Lib Dem peer Lord Avebury, Clive Mardner, director of the Equality Council, who sponsored the project, and site spokesman Richard Sheridan, Gypsy Council president.

The opening of the community centre has aroused controversy locally, and a hostile campaign in the Daily Mail. While the Gypsies and Travellers have bought the agricultural land at Dale Farm, and lived there for many years, Secretary of State Ruth Kelly has upheld Basildon's decision to evict the community. This Friday (9 May) Judge Collins is to issue his long delayed ruling in the judicial review in the British High Court into Basildon's policy towards some two hundred "illegal" families which it refuses to accommodate.

Eviction specialists Constant & Co., whose bailiffs have been accused of 'wanton destruction,' including the burning and looting of caravans during removal operations, are already believed to be planning to bid for the £2 million demolition of the Dale Farm township.

Lord Avebury said: "The bulldozing of Dale Farm would be a disaster." Richard Sheridan said: "If we are evicted it will be a traumatic experience for all the families who have nowhere to go."

Billericay MP John Baron has urged the National Lottery to stop funding the equality council because he claims it is "biased to travellers".

Essex Racial Equality Council, which sponsored the centre, has been threatened with a cut off of funding by Lord Haddingfield. His opposite number on Basildon council, Malcolm Buckley, has already ended ties with racial equality workers whom he accuses of a bias in favour of Gypsies.

Their leader, Clive Marden, said at the ceremony that he did not care what Tory MP John Baron said, he was proud to be involved with the Dale Farm project, which was going to benefit so many children and young people. "I'm happy to take the flak," Marden commented.

Next week, the Bishop of Brentwood, the Bishop of Chelmsford, and other Catholic and Church of England clergy will be paying their own visit to Saint Christopher's.

Source: Roma News Service

© Independent Catholic News 2008

The History and Culture of Gypsy Travellers - Landgate WI - April 25

The April meeting of Landgate W.I. started with president Jean Watson introducing this month's speaker Philip Godliman.

It was decided to open the meeting with his talk on 'The History and Culture of Gypsy Travellers'.

Member anticipated a very interesting talk and so it turned out to be. Mr Godliman retired from teaching in 1971 and having an interest in the life style of the gypsy travellers he joined the Kent Travellers Education Service which helps gypsy families ensure their children attend school as much as possible.

Most people have this some what romantic idea of gypsy life with fortune tellers and peg sellers being the stereo type. Others see them as traders and scrap dealers leaving a mess behind them wherever they stop.

The truth is that 90% of travellers are settled in houses now or at least on permanent sites.

The term gypsy covers a number of types - these included the circus and fairground people, barges on the canal boats and new age travellers.
The history of gypsies goes back to their emergence from India it's believed over 1,000 years ago. They moved across the world through Europe and North Africa.

They arrived in Britain 500 years ago and were entertainers in the Tudor court. However during the later part of the 16th century the persecution began which has carried on through the centuries and right into modern times.

Thousands were killed in the holocaust during the Second World War.
Because times have changed over the last 30 years or so the work that was done has now been lost.

Many spent the summer fruit and hop picking and making pegs and flowers in the winter time. The women would go round selling their goods door to door.

In 1968 the council Site Act came into force making it illegal to stop just anywhere so permanent sites were established and this enabled families to put caravans and mobiles homes on site.

Life may never be the same for future gypsy families but the urge to travel and the very strong sense of history will ensure the survival of the gypsy way of life.

This report is a shortened version of Mr Godliman's comprehensive talk as members were enthralled for over an hour.

June Humphries thanked him for being one of the most interesting speakers Landgate has had.

Jobs lost at pioneering gypsy project

Eleven jobs have been lost at a flagship education service for Pembrokeshire gypsies and travellers, as a result of European funding delays.

Additional funding for the Priory Learning Centre at Monkton Priory Community Primary School came to an end in October. It was hoped a new fund would begin immediately to allow the project to continue as normal, but there is still no sign of the money.

The additional funding allowed the centre to expand its service and provide learning support workers for 14 schools in the area, helping to meet specific educational needs of more than 200 gypsy children.

However, as the project has been left waiting for the money to fund the scheme, 11 outreach staff for the Priory Project - mostly LSA workers - have been made redundant.

Ten of the redundancies have now been taken as regular LSA workers independently under schools' budgets.

Monkton Priory headteacher William Rees said: "The gypsy learning centre is used as an example for similar projects all over Wales. It supports gypsy children at primary level and as they move on to secondary education.

"The Department of Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills and, in particular, the additional needs and inclusion division have been hugely supportive of our project, but we are currently operating on half our normal funding and there is a desperate need to implement European funding as soon as possible."

The project receives its core funding from the Welsh Assembly, but received match funding two-and-a-half years ago under Equals - a budget for specified ethnic minority education, administered by the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO).

When the funding ended last October, it was hoped there would be a smooth transition to the new Convergence fund, but the project has not yet received the additional funds.

Shadow finance minister and south Pembrokeshire AM Angela Burns says she has raised the subject eight or nine times at the Assembly.

"Several organisations, including The Priory Project and The Sunderland Trust are suffering as a result of this gap in funding," she told the Western Telegraph.

"I've now been reassured that the various projects will be notified about what money will be available to the and when by the end of May or early June."

A spokesman for the Welsh Assembly said: "WEFO awaits further information from Pembrokeshire County Council before continuing its assessment of the project proposal for gypsy and traveller pupils."

4:17pm Saturday 19th April 2008

Horse fair could be Euro highlight

Published on 18/04/2008

APPLEBY Horse Fair has the potential to become one of the best cultural events in Europe, according to a new report.

The study, conducted by a team from Salford University, looks at how tensions between residents and the gypsy/traveller community can be addressed to make the annual event a major tourist attraction.

Commissioned by the district and county councils, the report recognises that opinion is currently divided about the value of the fair.

It states that there are those who welcome the event and see it as a boost for the local economy, yet there are others who have concerns about issues such as unauthorised use of land, the early arrival of gypsies and travellers and the rubbish that they leave behind.

The document looks at how many of these issues can be resolved just by improving communication between gypsies/travellers and the people of Appleby and surrounding area.

Ultimately it recommends more funding for the event, which would result in improved refuse collections, toilet provision, road safety and policing.

However, it also recognises growing concerns that the event is moving away from being a traditional horse fair to becoming a market or car boot sale. The report is one of two commissioned by local authorities in Cumbria to address the needs of the gypsy and traveller community in the county, both during the horse fair and on a permanent basis.

Both documents were unveiled at a meeting in Penrith earlier this week, attended by representatives from a wide range of parties, including the gypsy and traveller fraternity, involved in the studies.

The second report highlights the negative attitudes towards these people and the lack of available sites for them to set up home. It calls for better communication in a bid to change attitudes and the provision of new plots in each area of the county.

The findings estimate that there are at least 771 gypsies and travellers living in Cumbria, yet there are no local authority-run sites. The only authorised plots are at private sites in Carlisle in Penrith.

The knock-on effect is that they are ultimately moved on, which in turn causes problems accessing basic services such as healthcare and education. On top of this, more than a third of gypsies and travellers in Cumbria say they have suffered harassment or intimidation.

Billy Welch, one of those representing the gypsy, traveller and fairground community at the launch in Penrith, said he was extremely encouraged by the report and hoped it would finally lead to action.

Travellers on different roads

Jackie Cosh
Published: 18 April 2008

Roving workshops are showing schoolchildren there are more similarities than differences between them and Gypsy Travellers.

Gathered in a circle around an open box, one by one the children pull out an object: a horse, a caravan, a power tool. Then the class discussion begins. What relevance could these objects have?

The object box is one of the tools used by a group of Gypsy Traveller children who, with the help of Save the Children, are running workshops in Scottish schools in order to raise awareness of their culture and, ultimately, reduce discrimination and bullying.

The idea came about following a peer research project conducted by Save the Children. Of the young Gypsy Travellers who took part, 91 per cent reported they had experienced discrimination. It was clear that they wanted to try and change this, to educate other children and to challenge these prejudices.

And so began a programme which started with a series of displays in museums and has seen the children visit the European Parliament, where they met MEPs and demonstrated their work.

A two-year project entitled “Who We Are” proved popular and resulted in a follow-up, “Don’t Judge Us”, which is being funded by the Scottish Government’s Race Equality Integration and Community Support Fund.

Karen Carrick, Save the Children’s Travellers’ development officer, co-ordinates the scheme. “We wanted to use the material from our research to work against this discrimination,” she says. “The aim of the workshops is to illustrate there are more similarities than differences, and to counter stereotypes.”

The children at Dysart Primary in Kirkcaldy, Fife, are younger than those the group normally addresses, but this is not a problem. “What we do is flexible,” Miss Carrick says. “The sessions can be adapted to suit the age group.”

As well as the object box, photographs are used to open up discussions. The children talk about what they think the pictures mean. Then they learn what the relevance is to Gypsy Traveller life.

Other resources which have been developed for the workshops include DVDs showing “A day in the life of…”, a poster, leaflets, a booklet, games and quizzes.

The 45-minute sessions often begin by showing a short film clip about everyday life as a Gypsy Traveller. This opens up discussions on the similarities and differences. “We watch TV too,” says one child. “You live in a caravan instead of a house,” says another. The idea that they may not be very different is sown in the children’s minds.

The group then moves on to the fun part, with arts and crafts being used. This may involve making bow tents with pipe cleaners and pieces of cloth. Younger children may make paper flowers, a traditional Gypsy Traveller task.

“I make paper flowers and go round the doors selling them,” says Shantelle, “and my granny still makes wooden flowers.”

The informality encourages the schoolchildren to relate to the young Gypsy Travellers leading the sessions and ask whatever they like. The group is past being surprised at the questions they are asked.

Ultimately, the project’s success is measured by how much attitudes change.
Before the workshop, the schoolchildren are asked to fill in knowledge cards and give three words they associate with Gypsy Travellers. These are often far from complimentary, such as “thieves”, “dirty” and “earrings”. Afterwards, they fill in knowledge cards again. The words are usually more positive: “normal” and “like us”.

“By the end of the sessions, 95 per cent of children have changed how they think of Gypsy Travellers,” says Miss Carrick.

Karen Carrick, Save the Children, T 0131 527 8200

Official site for gypsies would have 'benefits'

By Melanie Vass

BOURNEMOUTH residents have been urged to "consider the benefits" of the official traveller and gypsy site proposed for land at Longham.

The recent arrival of a group of travellers at Turbary Park could have been prevented if Bournemouth had an authorised camp to direct them to, council officers claim.

The council is currently going through the legal process to evict the group of travellers, who are sited in a sensitive conservation area.

But Sue Bickler, the council's head of strategic services, said: "This current situation just highlights the need for an authorised traveller and gypsy site in the town.

"By having a dedicated site with decent facilities, this situation could have been avoided altogether as the travellers would be able to go directly to the site, preventing them from pitching up on other, less suitable or equipped areas of the borough.

"Were travellers to disregard this transit site and stay in an unauthorised area, the police powers to move them on will be greatly enhanced from the current situation.

"In addition, taxpayers' money would also be saved on eviction and clear-up costs that have sometimes occurred in the past, following illegal encampments."

But it is not just residents the council needs to convince - the National Romani Rights Association claim the proposed site is completely unsuitable for human habitation.

Basil Burton, chairman of the association and former Gypsy Liaison Officer for Dorset County Council, has written to Secretary of State Hazel Blears and Claire Cooper, the head of the Gypsy and Traveller Unit, urging them to intervene.

Consultation over the proposed site adjacent to Ringwood Road near the bridge over the River Stour is due to start in June.

The council then intends to make a final bid to the Government for funding in July.

7:00pm Friday 11th April 2008

Gypsy shock for towns

12:01 - 10 April 2008

PROPOSED gipsy and traveller sites in Comet country may be moved closer to towns away from villages.

Cabinet members at North Herts District Council (NHDC) decided on Tuesday night to explore the possibility of abandoning sites currently earmarked for rural areas and move them close to towns like Hitchin, Letchworth GC and Baldock.

Mid Beds District Council (MBDC) also said it would consider sites near towns but Stevenage Borough Council (SBC) say it is not considering any new sites.

Councillor F John Smith, leader of NHDC, said: "We are looking at possible alternatives to our present rack of sites, and planning officers will report back to cabinet in June.

"Then we could rule out rural sites but we need to complete the consultation programme into the sites which have already been recommended by Government.

"Once that has been completed we can then consider other options.

"Depending what planning officers report back to us, it is possible some sites could go on the outskirts of towns because these settlements provide amenities such as schools.

"We will make no recommendations until our June meeting other than saying we are looking at alternatives on the fringes of urban areas."

A spokesman for MBDC said: "We are still consulting local people about possible sites but some of these are on the edge of our small towns. If further edge-of-town sites are put forward, we would consider these as possible options."

SBC said in a statement: "We don't yet have any plans for new pitches in the borough. When new pitches are provided we anticipate providing them at the existing Dyes Lane site, although there is limited potential there."

Chairman of Pirton Parish Council David Saunders said: "Perhaps we will soon be getting back to living a normal life in the village.

"Ninety-nine per cent of people here are against this plan for the village."

Councillor Sheila James, of St Paul's Walden Parish Council, said: "We would be delighted if we were taken off the list of sites being considered."

The current sites in Comet country are on land close to Stevenage Rugby Club; Preston Hills, Whitwell; Lilley Bottom Road, St Paul's Walden; Holwell Road, Pirton; West Drive, Arlesey; Arlesey Road, Stotfold; Kennel Farm Holdings, Biggleswade and St Albans Road, Codicote.

Both NHDC and SBC were among six councils in Hertfordshire including the county council who commissioned a report by consultants Scott Wilson into potential gipsy and traveller sites in their individual area.

It followed a recommendation from the East of England Regional Assembly that 1,180 new gipsy and traveller pitches must be found in the region with 99 in Bedfordshire and 115 in Hertfordshire by 2011.

Byelorussian gypsies lit candles to commemorate their relatives perished during World War II

Minsk, April 9, Interfax – Byelorussian gypsies commemorated their relatives perished in the years of World War II on Tuesday, the day of Romany nation, head of CIS and Baltic gypsy communities and head of the gypsy diaspora Oleg Kozlovsky told Interfax.

They lit candles and let wreaths flow in the river in their memory.

According to Koslovsky, the question of World War II genocide is still very important for Byelorussian gypsies and all gypsies of the CIS countries. “Byelorussian gypsies murdered by the fascists should be recognized the same victims as Jews or representatives of other nationalities,” the interviewee of the agency stressed.

He explained that if gypsies killed during World War II had been recognized as genocide victims, then the question of moral and material compensation to the victims and their families would have been considered from “a different angle.”

“We are collecting historical documents about gypsies suffered from Nazism, but the process of finding the documents is very complicated, as no gypsy had a passport then. Historians say that only 1% of the total pre-war gypsy population survived the war in Byelorussia,” Koslovsky noted.

According to him, about 60, 000 gypsies live in Byelorussia today, the majority of them inhabits the Gomel region. All Byelorussian gypsies are settled, they ceased migrating about 50 years ago and live mainly in the cities, and 90% of them are Orthodox.

Troubled gypsy site rescued by generous goverment payout

TRAVELLERS are delighted they have finally received a grant to improve facilities on two sites after being "neglected" for years.

Bromley council were succesful in their bid for government money, receiving £468,451 for Star Lane caravan site in St Mary Cray and £369,869 for Old Maidstone Road, Sidcup.

The Star Lane site had no electricity for three years following of an arson attack. Power was finally restored in October last year.

Work is expected to begin in June and will include the repair and extension of the two sites with refurbishment of amenity facilities, repairs to broken fences, site clearance

and traffic calming.

Artist and traveller, Lucy Smith, 44, of Star Lane, said: "We're obviously absolutely delighted and thrilled that we have finally got some money and that the funds have been awarded our way.

"It was terrible when we were without electricity for so long. It was really depressing, we've definitely been overlooked and I'm glad the site is being rescued."

Mother-of-four, Mrs Smith, believes work has been slow because contractors are afraid to enter traveller sites.

She said: "They seem frightened to come in, but it's just their imagination running away with them, thinking that they might have things stolen and so on. People don't understand travellers, it's a taboo. They tar everyone with the same brush thinking we're lary and want something for nothing.

"This is a lovely situated site and there is huge potential here. There are very few problems. It's quite safe and I let my children play around here. We have been neglected but we're excited for the future and getting the site back to how it should be."

Mrs Smith dismissed claims that gypsy travellers contribute nothing to the local economy.

She said: "Many travellers own their own property and pay ground rates. We send our children to schools and work as well."

A condition of the grant, which comes from the Department for Communities and Local Government, is that Bromley council provide 25 per cent of the money which amounts to £150,000.

Project worker at the Bromley Gypsy Traveller Project, James Bellsham-Revell, is also delighted with the payout.

He said: "It's great that at last they've been given some money, it's wonderful but it's taken a long time. It's vital that there is investment in infrastructure on traveller sites and that plans are progressive. The sites have not been a priority for the government.

"There is a deep-seated prejudice against gypsies but many people are completely ignorant. There is no way people would say the same things they do about black people or Asian people as they do about gypsies.

"But travellers and gypsies are recognised as a distinct group in the Race Relations Act 1976 and it's about time the general public did also.

Roma reaching Roma Gypsies key for 10-million plus worldwide

BUZAU, Romania (BP)—Forfeiting a starting position on a professional soccer team didn’t make sense to the parents of Mihail Stoica, a talented young Roma Gypsy believer from the mountains near Buzau, Romania.

For the Roma—an ostracized, poverty-stricken people group dispersed throughout the world—Stoica’s chance to rise above his status was a rare opportunity too good to pass up. Yet, the influence of the professional sports lifestyle came at too great a cost to stay in the game.

In a squatter village near Medgidia, Romania, a group of Roma children play near the railroad tracks. A Roma Bible study meets each week in this village.
“I was playing soccer, my personal idol,” Stoica said. “I didn’t think it was a sin to play soccer, but then I realized the price that came with that. So I left playing soccer and just followed Jesus Christ.”

In the summer of 2006, Stoica obeyed God by joining eight other young believers from across Romania to travel to a foreign city to tell others about Jesus Christ. These growing disciples are the result of the International Mission Board’s most developed work with the Roma.

The result of Roma reaching Roma is a key hope for other Gypsy work that spans throughout Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East and, more recently, into South America.

The Roma people made their way to Europe in the 14th century after being evicted from their native India. As early as the 1500s, many were removed from parts of Europe and relocated to South America.

Others traveled into parts of Northern Africa and the Middle East by force or by choice.

Through these staggered diasporas, the Roma have put down roots among people who despise them not only for their dark skin, but also for their poverty, illiteracy and poor living conditions.

Wherever their travels take them, Gypsies tend to adopt the local language and beliefs while still maintaining their own. The Romani language, strong family relationships and lifestyle characteristics unite the 10 million-plus Roma worldwide.

Best known for their wagons, fortune telling, colorful clothing and parties, the Roma are a proud, passionate people who fight against the loss of their culture and family circles.

IMB workers and national partners reach out through literacy education, teaching job skills and using Bible storying to evangelize and disciple new Roma believers.

Today, although this scattered people group may vary in dialect or location, IMB workers are able to minister along family and cultural lines to bring the Roma to Christ and train them to reach their own people—to have their own leaders and missionaries.

“When the Roma begin to do their own evangelism, they begin to cross barriers so quickly,” said Jim Whitley, an IMB worker who recently transferred from Romania to work in South America among the Roma. “A real indigenous church-planting movement. ... [T]hat’s the ultimate goal.”

Films 'to shatter myths' surrounding Gypsy and Traveller communities

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing , Communities , Local Government on Monday 7th April 2008 - 9:26am

A unique set of films exploring views, myths and misconceptions about Gypsy and Traveller communities has been developed by four Regional Assemblies.

The films 'Somewhere to Live' were specially commissioned to support consultation on new Gypsy and Traveller caravan sites in the Regional Assembly areas covering East of England, South East, North West and West Midlands.

Each of the four Assemblies are updating their long term planning framework (Regional Spatial Strategy) to address Gypsy and Traveller needs, responding to concerns, that a shortage of permanent sites is increasing illegal camping.

It is the first time that Regional Assemblies across England have collaborated in this way, sharing costs and ideas to create an innovative approach to consultation. The films tackle controversial views upfront, giving an insight into both public perceptions and Gypsy and Traveller lifestyles.

East of England is the first region to launch its film as part of its public consultation which recommends 1,187 more Gypsy and Traveller caravan pitches by 2011.

East of England Regional Assembly Chairman Councillor John Reynolds said: "The film brings a human angle to the difficult and controversial issue of planning for Gypsies and Travellers.

"This is a unique way of informing the public, including hard to reach groups and facilitating engagement with council members, as Assemblies develop policy on addressing the shortage of legal stopping places for Gypsies and Travellers. It is important to improve access to services and facilities that most take for granted."

The films include region-specific views from members of the public, Gypsies, Travellers and their neighbours.

In addition, the films share interviews with Romany journalist Jake Bowers and Gypsy student Christina who explain myths, culture, public perceptions and the need for legal sites that give people access to education and healthcare.

The film has also been entered for a 2008 Royal Town Planning Institute award for Equality and Diversity.

Production of the film was managed by the South East England Regional Assembly and undertaken by production company @Voytek.

International Roma Day: Aladár Horváth on reality TV in Hungary

A leading activist denounces ghettos and the media-created ‘exotic trash’ images of Europe's biggest minority of eight million people, who celebrate their day on 8 April.

Sitting down to seltzer water in Aladár Horváth’s dimly lit office by the ‘Keleti Pályaudvar’ metro station in Budapest, I have to rely on a professor to translate what the chair of the Roma Civil Rights Foundation and the Gandhi Public Foundation is saying. His fight is demanding and intense, yet his air is tempered with hospitality and humility. The broad-shouldered activist gives detailed, thoughtful answers, making it easy to see why he was once an advisor to prime minister Peter Medgyessy.

In the last days of János Kádár’s communist regime in 1988, Horváth participated in the Lakitelek meeting of reformists and maverick politicians, considered the starting point of changing the communist regime. The Roma successfully fought alongside a group called ‘The Anti-Ghetto Committee’, one of the first civil rights movements in eastern Europe which paved the way for greater minority freedom. In one case, they fought against the building of a ghetto in Miskolc, the third most populous city of Hungary, where the Roma population is one of the highest in the country. At 29 square meters apiece, the plan for 168 flats with no heating or plumbing promised racial segregation to potential residents with no choice but to live there - 20 kilometres away from the city.

(MORE)

Gypsy protest outside BBC 'will go ahead'

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Communities on Monday 7th April 2008 - 5:42pm

Campaigners from the Gypsy and Traveller communities say a protest outside the BBC's London headquarters to save a two-hour radio show will go ahead tomorrow despite assurances the programme will not be axed.

Supporters and musicians plan to sing a Romany lament at noon to appeal to BBC bosses not to cut the Rokker Radio show, which goes out on BBC Three Counties Radio in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire every Sunday between 7pm and 9pm.

Presenter and Romany journalist Jake Bowers had feared the BBC were planning to axe his show due to funding issues.

He argued that the money spent on the show is "insignificant compared to the financial commitment the BBC rightly gives to other linguistic, national and ethnic minorities across the UK".

But a BBC spokesman said there was no intention to close Rokker Radio:
"It is true that we have had discussions with the presenter about a range of options for the programme, including whether there might be potential for expanding the range and scope of programming covering these issues - for example by offering programming to other radio stations across the BBC local radio family.

"We will continue to look at how best we can refresh our coverage and to ensure that we are achieving best value for our listeners, but we can reassure listeners that there is no plan to close the programme down at this time."

The rally at Broadcasting House in Portland Place will still take place, but in celebration of Romany Nation Day tomorrow and to demand better media coverage for the Gypsy and Traveller communities.

Author Janna Eliot, who is part Roma and will be attending the rally,
said: "We are trying to establish that Gypsies should not have to fight for something that other communities are rightly given. [Rokker Radio] is one programme in Britain and we should not have to fight for it.

"Gypsies and Travellers get a lot of abuse in the press and we are hoping to have a lot of support and to show the BBC that Roma are a force to be reckoned with."

Supporters from The Dale Farm Housing Association who are fighting eviction from a Traveller village in Basildon, Essex, are also expected to turn out.

Gypsy and Traveller journalists, campaigners and Traveller education advocates are also backing the campaign.

Orhan Galjus, a Kosovan Roma journalist, said: "The BBC should begin the process of dedicating the same level of resources to the Gypsy and Traveller community as it does to other ethnic and linguistic minorities in Britain.

"If it is right that the BBC broadcasts in Welsh and Gaelic and provides an entire network to the Asian community, it is also right that it provide the same commitment to Europe's largest ethnic minority community, the Romany people.

He added: "Services in the Romany language are also badly needed to support and inform those communities who currently have no access to independent broadcasting.

"Across many parts of Europe a de facto apartheid blights the Romany community and its prospects. We urgently need the BBC's help to inform and educate our 12 million strong European nation."

Faces from the fringe

Green Bay photographer's trip to Slovakia opened her world to plight of Roma 'gypsies'

By Thomas Rozwadowski
trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com

A year ago, Slovakia was nothing more than a name on a map to Tina Bechtel.

Now the country has faces. Faces that remain nameless, but ones that stared intently while pressed up against the other end of her digital camera because they didn't know what it meant to have their picture taken.

As Bechtel walks through her "Gypsies (Roma) of Slovakia" photo exhibit at the ARTgarage in Green Bay, she points to the face of a young, married woman looking too childlike to be holding her own malnourished baby.

Another is of a father happily embracing his child.

Although they were reluctant to acknowledge her presence, Bechtel began snapping photos of four men standing against a wall and approached them with reserve so they could see the finished product. The man, who had never seen himself in a photo before, graciously requested a picture of his young daughter.

There are the signs of poverty and hospitality Bechtel noted, like the out-of-place satellite dish propped next to hanging laundry, piles of garbage and an outhouse. Or the way several boys began playing a Casio keyboard and dancing spontaneously for her. Or children becoming overjoyed at the sight of visitors in their settlement.

There are the gut-wrenching inequities — most notably, driving back to a hotel in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava and eating a nice dinner after seeing the poverty of the Roma people, better known to Americans as gypsies.

"No running water. No septic. No heat," said Bechtel, a local artist based in Door County. "At the worst one, houses were put together with whatever material they could find.

"I couldn't imagine living there. I don't know how they survive."

(MORE)

BBC says it has no plans to cut broadcasting to the Gypsy and Traveller community

London, 4.4.2008, 17:05, (Media Network Blog)

According to the Roma Network via Romea.cz, Rokker Radio, the two-hour radio programme established two years ago by the BBC for the Gypsy and Traveller community, is to be axed at the end of April. Romea claims that, as the show prepares to celebrate two years of broadcasting across local BBC radio in the East of England and across the world on the Internet, the BBC has decided not to fund the programme beyond the end of April. However, the BBC Press Office has contacted Media Network to say that this story is incorrect.

The programme began on BBC Three Counties Radio on Romany Nation Day in 2006 and has since grown to broadcast on 6 local radio stations across the East of England. Each Sunday night, between 7 and 9pm it broadcasts to Britain’s 300,000 Gypsies and Travellers, many of whom must drive long distances to hear it because they cannot receive it in their area or listen to it on the Internet.

Over the last two years, BBC Rokker Radio has attempted to address the lack of proper representation of Europe’s largest ethnic minority community in the media in Britain. It has raised issues of importance to the community whilst literally providing a common wavelength through which Gypsy and settled communities can begin to understand one another.

The BBC has sent us the following statement:
“There is no intention to close Rokker Radio. It is true that we have had discussions with the presenter about a range of options for the programme, including whether there might be potential for expanding the range and scope of programming covering these issues - for example by offering programming to other radio stations across the BBC local radio family. We will continue to look at how best we can refresh our coverage and to ensure that we are achieving best value for our listeners, but we can reassure listeners that there is no plan to close the programme down at this time. We are, however, keen to find new ways of reaching underserved communities, including the travelling community.

It’s important to explore options to provide wider and better coverage of the issues and concerns of this community across the whole of England, not just the East. Technology is delivering a wide variety of new ways to deliver content to audiences and we will continue to explore a number of innovative ideas to help give the travelling community a voice and to improve understanding with the settled community of their issues.”

BBC to cut broadcasting to the Gypsy and Traveller community

London, 2.4.2008, 11:11, (ROMEA/ROMA NETWORK)

Rokker Radio, the two-hour radio programme established two years ago by BBC for the Gypsy and Traveller community is to be axed at the end of April. As the show prepares to celebrate two years of broadcasting across local BBC radio in the East of England and across the world on the internet, the BBC has decided not to fund the programme beyond the end of April.

The programme began on BBC Three Counties Radio on Romany Nation Day in 2006 and has since grown to broadcast on 6 local radio stations across the East of England. Each Sunday night, between 7 and 9pm it broadcasts to Britain’s 300,000 Gypsies and Travellers, many of whom must drive long distances to hear it because they cannot receive it in their area or listen to it on the internet.

Over the last two years, BBC Rokker Radio has attempted to address the lack of proper representation of Europe’s largest ethnic minority community in the media in Britain. It has raised issues of importance to the community whilst literally providing a common wavelength through which Gypsy and settled communities can begin to understand one another.”

Because of the unfortunate reduction in the BBC licence fee, regional management in the BBC have decided that it is too expensive to maintain. The £800 it costs each week to staff this vital service may well be in excess of the average cost of regional programming, but it remains the BBC’s only real commitment to date to the Gypsy and Traveller community. It is also insignificant compared to the financial commitment the BBC rightly gives to other linguistic, national and ethnic minorities across the UK.

With just one month before Gypsy and Traveller broadcasting is silenced in Britain, Gypsy and Traveller journalists, campaigners and Traveller education advocates have launched a campaign to save and expand the programme. In an open letter to BBC Director General Mark Thompson, members of the European Romani Journalists Federation have started to campaign for equal representation on and within the BBC.

“The BBC should begin the process of dedicating the same level of resources to the Gypsy and Traveller community as it does to other ethnic and linguistic minorities in Britain. If it is right that the BBC broadcasts in Welsh and Gaelic and provides an entire network to the Asian community, it is also right that it provide the same commitment to Europe’s largest ethnic minority community, the Romany people.” says veteran Kosovan Roma Journalist Orhan Galjus.

He added: “Services in the Romani language are also badly needed to support and inform those communities who currently have no access to independent broadcasting. Across many parts of Europe a de facto apartheid blights the Romany community and it’s prospects. We urgently need the BBC’s help to inform and educate our 12 million strong European nation.”

The decision to axe the programme comes as parts of the British press regularly demonise the community. On March 24th, a Sun front-page declared that a “Gipsy Hell” had been unleashed, when a group of Romany families set up a permanent caravan site next to a home owned by Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell. Campaigners claim that even the Sun would shrink from printing banner headlines containing the words “Black Hell” or “Asian Hell.”


ROMEA/ROMA NETWORK

Choreography contest winner borrows from Gypsy culture

Nelly van Bommel walked away with the cash in March 2007 as the clear winner of the Milwaukee Ballet's Genesis Choreography Competition.

Now she's back to claim the other half of her prize: a commission for a new work, which the company will perform on a mixed-rep program Thursday through Sunday at the Pabst Theater.

"O Clemens," her prize-winning octet, was smart, buoyant and elegant, like its accompanying Vivaldi concerto and Pergolesi "Stabat Mater."

Van Bommel, who has her own modern Noa Dance Company in New York and never danced in a ballet troupe, made a dance that showed the dancers' balletic lines to advantage and for the most part kept them comfortably vertical.

The second time around, she would stretch the vocabulary more, but still respect the dancers' training and style.

"It's light, it's dancey," she said of her new work, during a break at the Milwaukee Ballet's Walker's Point studio. "This is a little wilder, I think, than last time, but still very much a piece for them. I probably wouldn't have made it for my dancers.

"The experience last year was good. I learned a lot about the process, and ways to make it more efficient."

Building from a base

Like many modern choreographers, van Bommel has a core of regulars. Their shared history and aesthetic turns dance-making into a collaborative give-and-take over extended periods of time.

Ballet dancers and ballet companies don't work that way.

"Usually, I don't start from the beginning," she said. "I start with a draft and move things around. That can be confusing to dancers. This year I tried to be more clear about that, so they know where we're going."

Van Bommel said some of her 12 dancers worked with her on "O Clemens," and that gave her a head start this year. Instead of standing around waiting for her to dictate steps, they're pitching in some, in the modern-dance way.

"It took a couple of weeks, but now I can take from what they give," she said. "It's like cooking. You take what they give, add spices and shake it up."

Seven Romanian Gypsy songs were their starting point.

The music reflects a long-standing interest in Eastern Europe in general and Gypsy culture in particular.

Van Bommel grew up in France and lived there until moving to New York in 2002. She had some contact with Roma people in France and on trips to the East.

The title of the piece is "Gelem Gelem," after the song a Gypsy congress that convened in London in 1978 adopted as a national anthem.

"Every year, a Gypsy camp formed in our neighborhood," she said. "My mother was a teacher, and sometimes the boys - always boys, never girls - would attend her classes for a month or two before they moved on."

Getting in the mood

In preparing for this piece, she listened to a lot of Roma music and looked at a lot of Roma dancing on video.

"There is this wonderful research tool, now - it's called YouTube," she said. "The girls shake their shoulders a lot. The guys have a lot of percussive footwork. And the movement is always driving down."

Some of that seeped into her new 30-minute ballet, but she does not intend to mount a stylized folk dance.

"I always wanted to use Gypsy music in a way that is not folky," she said. "It's more my fantasy about Gypsies and the Roma diaspora.

"I'm especially interested in the women. In traditional culture, they're subservient until they're married. Then they gain some prominence. I'm interested in how Gypsy women are portrayed in literature. Often, they're like Esmeralda, beautiful and strong. I wanted to explore that, and I have such a female character in the piece."

While the dance hints at characterization, it doesn't tell a story.

Van Bommel is more after the specific moods of the seven songs. Like most Roma tunes, they evoke either sentimental yearning or dancing and partying.

"I want to move between nostalgia and fiesta," the choreographer said.

The music's powerful rhythm posed the biggest challenge. The path of least resistance would be to simply move with the thrust of the beat, complicated and compound as it might be.

"I'm in love with this music," she said.

"It's fun, but it's more than fun. You can't just go with the music, you have to go away from it and come back again. I want the bodies to be strong, strong enough to compete with the music and resist it.

"But sometimes you can't help it, and you're carried away."

Still time to comment on plans for Gypsy and Traveller ...

Members of the public from across the region, including Gypsies and Travellers, still have time to respond to the consultation on proposals to tackle the shortage of caravan pitches for the Gypsy and Traveller community in the region. This is part of the Government's commitment to ensuring an affordable place to live for all. It is being co-ordinated by the Government Office for the East of England (GO-East) on behalf of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

An event on Wednesday March 13 targeted local authorities that are responsible for planning authorised pitches for the 4,229 Gypsy and Traveller caravans in the region. Of these 1,140 are currently on unauthorised pitches. The event, held in Ely, provided an opportunity for local authorities to hear directly from the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) about their recommendation that each of the region's 48 local authorities should provide at least 15 additional pitches.

Members of the Gypsy and Traveller community were invited to an event at the Government Offices in Cambridge on Wednesday 19 March, to hear more about the proposals and how they can make their views known. They were updated on progress to date, and the process that GO-East are currently engaged in prior to finalising the proposals in 2009.

Tim Freathy, Acting Deputy Regional Director of GO-East said:

"It is important to engage with the Gypsy and Traveller community on this issue which directly affects their future in the region. We need to ensure that their views are heard and the event today gave the community an opportunity to hear about the consultation and how they can contribute. By providing enough authorised sites to meet people's needs we can reduce unauthorised encampments and help to end friction with settled communities."

Gloria Buckley, a member of the Gypsy and Traveller community in the East of England, took part in the event. She said:

"Today's meeting is a milestone for the Gypsy and Traveller community. It has been a difficult process to get this far, to get the proposals on paper, and now we need to take the next steps. I would like to encourage the community to stand up and have their views counted.

"Gypsies and Travellers, like every other community, need somewhere to live. The East of England is a large region - over 7,300 square miles. Shortage of space is not an issue; what we have had is a shortage of understanding. I hope that today's event and this consultation process will begin to break down the barriers that have existed for too long."

The plans for additional Gypsy and Traveller caravan pitches are part of a single issue review of the East of England Plan (Regional Spatial Strategy) and follow two years of research and consultation with local authorities, businesses, voluntary organisations, the public and Gypsies and Travellers.

The East of England Plan provides a clear, agreed, long-term vision for how the region will provide jobs and homes for its residents until 2021 and beyond. It is the framework for putting into place the Government's growth agenda within the region and ensuring that growth is sustainable. The adequate provision of homes and affordable housing to accommodate the needs of different communities, is a vital element of the Plan.

(MORE)

'Racist' slurs mar gypsy consultation

Published Date: 27 March 2008
Location: Bedford

By Paul Fisher

Council says it can't publish more than 3,000 responses to a document seeking views on where to put new traveller caravan pitches in Mid Beds.

'Racist' comments from more than 3,000 residents have overshadowed a public consultation on plans to provide new pitches for travellers in Mid Bedfordshire.

Mid Beds District Council asked its taxpayers' for their views late last year – but of the 3,500 responses received, only 400 can be published.

The overwhelming majority refer to criminal activity or feature other racist remarks, the authority has said.

The council, which needs to find 25 more caravan pitches for travellers under the Government's Local Development Framework, has now been forced to extend the consultation period until May, to allow residents to submit revised opinions.

Cliff Codona, chairman of the National Travellers Action Group, said the consultation just proved the type of racism the gypsy community regularly faces.

He said: "There is racism against travellers and I think you could not have picked a better area of the country to prove that fact. It is nothing to do with gypsies or travellers, it is just everyone jumping on the bandwagon. However it should not stop the council following through Government legislation that says traveller sites should be provided. They should get on with it and provide sites that are desperately needed. Every time plans are put on hold it gives people time to put the boot in."

Mid Beds District Council is now writing to the 3,100 people who submitted unacceptable comments to ask whether they would like to resubmit their views, but based on planning issues and not stereotypes.
Mark Hustwitt, spokesman for the council, said: "It would not be responsible for us to publish any racist responses.

"If someone objects because of a planning reason, like being against a development because it is on a greenfield site, then we will publish it, but we cannot discriminate against any group because of stereotypes.

"No-one would now say someone should not get planning permission because they are black or gay; this applies equally to gypsies and travellers.

"I must say we were very surprised at the response. I think it is one of those areas where people find it acceptable to be racist and they are wrong."

The 400 comments that are acceptable will be published on the council's website this week.

The council will look at the preferred sites for development in May.

Mr Hustwitt added: "There are already many gypsy families living quietly in Mid Beds who are part of their communities. We are obliged to find 25 sites in Mid Beds to help control unauthorised encampments."

Bedford Borough Council is is under the same Government obligation to provide between ten and 15 new pitches for travellers across the borough. It expects to announce a consultation period soon.

The full article contains 479 words and appears in n/a newspaper.

Last Updated: 27 March 2008 3:01 PM

Music Review: Gabi Lunca - Gabi Lunca: Sounds From A Bygone Era - Vol.5

Written by Richard Marcus
Published March 23, 2008

When my mother's grandfather came to Canada in the 19th century from Bucharest, Romania, (according to family legend he knifed a Cossack during a pogrom and had to leave in a hurry) they chose Quebec because they were fluent in French. Bucharest, along with a couple other cities, considered itself the Paris of the Danube. It was common for educated Romanians to be bilingual, and even favour French over their native tongue as a sign of their cultural refinement.

While this influence waned in the twentieth century, especially after Romania was "protected" from the corrupting influences of the West by the Iron Curtain, French cultural influences could still be found in certain areas. At the same time, while Romania's gypsy population had suffered horrible deprivations in World War Two due to being one of the Nazi's targeted inferior races, the influence of that culture on popular music that was perfo