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UK Forum Hits Back at Lords' Eviction Ruling

By Grattan Puxon
March 10, 2006
 

 Top European Romani spokesmen intend shortly to meet with UK diplomats in Strasbourg to discuss the new crisis which has arisen following this week's Law Lords ruling giving the green light to continue ethnic-cleansing of Britain's 60,000 Travelling people.

UK Forum delegate Kay Beard, of the Association of Gypsy Women, will go to Strasbourg on 2 April.

Chair of the European Roma and Travellers Forum Rudko Kawczynski has been fully briefed on the latest situation ahead of his appointment. Meanwhile in London, Forum representatives are to meet with officials at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 6 April.

Most alarming to Travellers on the road is that even prior to this legal blow to our human rights local councils had stepped up their move-on efforts. Private security firms are being hired and police, despite recent diversity training, still harass those camping illegally, although they have nowhere else to go.

Joe Jones, of National Gypsy and Traveller Affairs, says in Kent one family alone in has received 50 enforcement notices. The notorious bailiff company Constant & Co is more than ever active in the county and police officers regularly assist them.

But one partial ray of hope remains. The ruling applies to those camping on council-controlled ground. We have yet to have a test-case involving Travellers living on their own land where it's clear they have established a permanent home.

The testing of human rights in this situation will begin in May when residents at Dale Farm, the UK's largest Travellers' community, mount both planning appeals and a judicial review of Basildon council's decision to spend up to 5 million euro bulldozing their homes.

Both the Commission for Racial Equality, which is participating in the judicial review, and Basildon's opposition Labour Party leadership have drawn attention to the racist dimension of the Dale Farm case.

Permanent Home

The Law Lords said the recreation field occupied by the Maloney family in the Leeds test-case could never be considered their home. Dale Farm is virtually a village, with chalets, mobile-homes and brick-walled gardens, parts of which have been occupied for more than four decades.

In recent years, hundreds of families have been evicted from their own land. An accelerating process of ethnic-cleanings has taken place behind a smoke-screen of planning regulations, in which councils have over-ridden human rights issues, as well as education, welfare and medical considerations.

At Dale Farm, campaigner Nora Egan has just given birth to a baby daughter. Seven other mothers are expecting babies in coming months. It will be bumpy road, legally and practically, for anyone attempting to evict them. Another Strasbourg test-case is likely at the end of it.

The wider issue is whether the UK Government's new initiative, laid out in a long-delayed circular, will work. It purports to place a duty on local authorities to designate land for future council-run and Traveller-owned caravan parks, filling the present official shortfall of 4,000 yards.

Basildon and neighboring Brentwood, among many other authorities, are already digging in their heels. The former opposes a site proposed by the ODPM and the latter simply claims to have no land, and is preparing to argue the matter in the high court.

The UK Forum and Brentwood Support Group are staging the RED WHEELS AGAINST RACISM FESTIVAL in the two boroughs, in celebration of Roma Nation Day, 8 April. It will also mark forty years of human rights campaigning since the foundation of the original Gypsy Council.

"I was kicked off my land 12 months ago," said Cliff Codona, chair of the UK Forum. "I'm still fighting back. We'll keep this up for as long as it takes - we've no other choice."

The Local Government Association, an umbrella for councils across Britain, has welcomed the Law Lords verdict. At a regional meeting in Essex last month members remained mute when this writer appealed for a positive response to the ODPM circular on identifying suitable land. That's the only long term answer to a chronic state of affairs. But as long as evictions are condoned by law, nobody wants to know.

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Roma Nation Day 8 April

Red Wheels Against Racism

The 8th April, designated Roma Nation Day by the 1st World Romani Congress in London in l971, will be celebrated more widely than ever this year both in Britain and across Europe.

Among events marking the 35th anniversary of this special day, is the Red Wheels Against Racism Festival, in south Essex and the launch of Rokker Radio by the BBC.

The Festival opens at the Brentwood Theatre at 7.30 pm on Friday, 7 April, with a performance by the Romani Rad ensemble. This will be followed by a series of sketches and dialogues depicting events in the history of Gypsies in Britain, and extracts from the play Traveller In Progress by Michael Collins.

The full play will be performed on Saturday, 8 April, at Laindon Community Centre, Laindon. The show opens at 2.30 pm with a screening of ATCH, a short film by Jake Bowers.

Tickets for Travellers In Progress can be obtained at �5 each by sending a cheque made out to Romanistan Publications to: 1 John Harper Street, Colchester C01 1RP - Proceeds to Save Dale Farm Campaign

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Tune in to Rokker Radio on Sunday, 9 April, between 5pm and 7pm on BBC Three Counties for the start of a weekly programme produced for the Travelling community by Romany journalist Jake Bowers.

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