Up and down the country, bigots are celebrating the 'successful' eviction of the travellers of Dale Farm, yet are their celebrations somewhat premature? While the traveller's may have lost the fight for their homes, they leave behind a legacy and no longer is the plight of the Gypsy and Traveller community a silent one. The media attention that has surrounded the fight for Dale Farm has enlightened Britain to the inequalities faced by the Gypsy and Traveller population, and the eviction signals not the end, but the beginning of a movement for equality.
Perhaps I should say this with caution, for a movement can only be established if those who have been supporting Dale Farm, continue to advocate on behalf of, and alongside, Gypsys and Travellers. We must ask the question, were the activists at Dale Farm there for the right reasons? While some may have taken a ride to Dale Farm on the bandwagon, it does appear that many of the activists have only one motive – that is, to fight for the equal rights of Gypsy's and Traveller's.
Activism of this nature has a tendency to attract a certain group of people, stereotypically young, 'rebellious' and middle class. Despite who, or who not, these activists may be, it is evident that they are well educated individuals who hold the cultural capital (see Bourdieu, Bowles etc) to maintain a successful movement and to mobilise the Gypsy and Traveller community to fight for a more equal existence.
It is easy for minorities, such as the Gypsy and Traveller community, to allow activists to speak for them rather than with them, yet there is nothing more powerful than the voices of the community itself. While the commitment and compassion of activists is deeply appreciated and needed, they must encourage and motivate Gypsy's and Traveller's to use their voices, to be heard, and to be in control of their own movement. If you refer to my previous post, I outline the challenges to educational engagement within the Gypsy and Traveller community, yet engagement with education is vital if we are to avoid another silenced generation of Gypsy's and Traveller's.
It is by no means easy for a Romany boy to stand up and be heard, indeed its even harder to feel like I still 'fit in' with my own people since I chose the path of education. I could have been a tradesman, I could have worked for the family business, and kept my head down and lips sealed. That is what was expected of me, but all that changed when I was told I had a disease in my spine. Suddenly the future that had been written for me had to be altered, and I was told that what was expected of me culturally would risk my health, thus I stayed in education.
I guess what I am trying to say is that finding education was the silver lining to my cloud. I could have given up when I was diagnosed, but instead I tried another path. They say that every tragedy can be a blessing in disguise, thus while the loss of Dale Farm may be a devastating blow to the fight for equality, out of the ashes will rise a movement that will really change things for the better. Who is with me?
This is nothing to do with equality - apart from the equality to live and abide by the same rules. As for your bigotry statement - it makes you as credible as those that stereotype travelers as horse-stealing, fly-tipping, stealing thugs!
ReplyDeletethank you for your feedback, it is lovingly and greatfully appreciated.
ReplyDeletePeople always want things to be black & white - sad - nothing is - I like your response though ;)
ReplyDeleteI wish I could share your belief that things will change for the better though - much worse things go on, unfairness, people treated like they don't count, and nothing seems to change to me. The scum still float to the top and seem to rule the world.
Bigotry? I think it's obvious eh?
But you keep blog'n pal - you are a wee gem Pipalino!
Thanks william ;P
ReplyDeleteSo, the key would be to encourage more engagement from the GRT community with education, and this is something, when I looked at this issue last year, that has two main issues that need addressing, one from within the community, as you stated above, and the other from the wider community. An Ofsted report, cited in a 2008 publication from the Department of education (“The inclusion of Gypsy, Roma and traveller children and young people”) highlights one cause for this:
ReplyDelete“Where the presence of travelling children is openly acknowledged, and where positive and accurate images of the different communities are featured within both the resources of the school and the curriculum, then the pupil response is lively and there is a genuine openness to learning.”
This implies that part of the problem is the attitude of teachers and the school as a whole to the GRT community, on top of the effects of evictions like Dale farm.
An attitude reflected on by the community themselves: ‘Countless names and descriptions have been foisted upon us. The language used to describe Gypsies/Travellers is constantly changing and has more to do with government policy than ethnic identity…..Society has an incurable urge to label us so that they can painfully squeeze us into a corner of society’ (Reid,1997 Cited by Cudworth 2010), so what we can see here is a group who feel isolated and squeezed out by the rest of society. Their labelling historically as “‘criminal, backward, deprived etc” (Cudworth 2010, 2 citing McVeigh 1997) also highlights the way they are seen as a group by the wider community, effects when it comes to attitudes to the education system perhaps.
(Cudworth's refs from this: http://www.jhubc.it/ecpr-porto/virtualpaperroom/063.pdf (David Cudworth 2010) (accessed 12/11/2010) I think I sent you the link last month)
"there is nothing more powerful than the voices of the community itself"
ReplyDeleteThis.
a lot of what you say is true, but we too would prefer to make the Traveller voice heard rather than speak for them. This was a common discussion over the last several years. Easier said than done....
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff, thank you - you are one of those voices and it's good to hear. I love this brave new world with the internet, blogs, twitter etc. letting us engage and connect with people and events that would probably just not happen in 'real life' - you are probably too young - are you really only 16?? - to appreciate how new and amazing all this is. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good post, you are a really talented writer and raised several valid and relivent points.
ReplyDeleteI am ashamed to think that in the 21st Century gypsies are still not being treated with respect... Just because they choose a different lifestyle doesn't make it wrong!
Maybe if people gave gypsies more respect they would get respect in return.
Great post and keep up the good work
I'm tired so I may not express myself well. I've not read the September blogs yet but read the other ones and comments. Your understanding of the issues and ability to express it is far deeper than many achieve in a whole lifetime and I reckon you will continue to develop that understanding.
ReplyDeleteStereotyping is such a huge way to stir up barriers to understanding diversity within any group and the fact we are all just people different and the same. When I was in college back in 96 doing an art/textile/illustration project based on Native American culture I knew one day I would cringe at that early research. I was ignorant and still am in many ways but until we dig deeper we are all ignorant and all ignorant of some things, life is for me about addressing where i still hold ignorance of the fuller picture. We tend to stay ignorant of many things, unless we are directly involved or in a stereotyped group that is used to further build mistrust, anger and division. Tactics successfully used around the world on tribal people, disabled, unemployed, uneducated, travellers, bikers, etc to corrode empathy and ability to see the humanity in one, the other or each other. Raising suspicion, myth and sustaining division.
I was talking to a friend about being the black sheep of the family earlier and then thought of the wolf in sheep's clothing and the reputation the wolf has which maybe makes it less dangerous than the sheep following the herd into the killing pen...actually scrub that the wolf is less dangerous than the sheepdog which protects them for them to be fattened up for slaughter and round them up at the command of the herder, who is ordered by the owner, who in turn is at the mercy of the retailer and the taxer of the lands, then the demand for the lamb from the consumer...and all that...the consumer influenced by conditioning through stereotypes and indoctrinated prejudice have been happy to keep their learnt wrong truth as fact, so they don't even consider their cut of lamb was once alive, never mind all the people in the process of getting it to the table and the politics involved...sorry this is a bit muddled I am looking forward to having longer windows of clarity as I recover from the ills of convention.
I have been mostly ill and debilitated for just over 8 years but now have a chance to get better having realised I am surviving co poisoning that had overtaken the cfs brought on in my opinion by the steroids that also caused me horrific acne. I call the last few years varying between pretty bad health and I may actually be dying in this moment, research. Research to learn how to live and be who I am, no matter who disapproves or approves or expects me to be. I can't please everyone and I have been almost idolised and demonised for the exact same aspects of my personality, which is a part of me explores ideas of who I am and who we are as our individual aspects of humanity.
I never really fitted into any stereotype yet I can be identified as an arty, hippy type depending on the person giving me labels...which have also included witch, weirdo, mystic, visionary, waster, spooky, freaky, kind, weak, strong, intense, boring, overthinker, deep and shallow...
Oops too long part 2
ReplyDeleteSorry I have gone on but I really enjoyed reading your stuff which alongside other things in my life made me think of another aspect of society again, which I sort of see from all sides in some ways. Even the stereotype of the elite is something that divides us, yet we need to see the division before we can understand how we can unite maybe? At least more people need to see it and not just join the bandwagon of oh it is alright they are only the 'bad' ones, we can take away their liberty, dignity and ability to sustain their needs and because they are the enemy to decency. Some of the most decent people I have met have been looked down on by a large section of siciety...society...the spelling mistake is more accurate maybe of the sickness of our time...you made me think and then I ponder...maybe too much before I press publish...smiles
Keep being you...I don't need to tell you that, you already know...thanks for sharing...
I was brought up in the staus quo of bricks and mortar, state education, higher education and then the high paid, job that slowly kills you... Bollocks to the "rules".
ReplyDeleteThey serve only one purpose: the domestication of humans.
It ties us up and bounds us to living a half life. We make an agreement without choice and in so doing self abuse through unobtainable perfection; an image of what we should be through programmed expectations which is reaffirmed by others expectations through the same negative programming (see mikeyp as an example of an a-typical, Daily "Hate" Mail reader spinning the same programmed drone response without independent though).
Rules are for cattle who need to be led.
I'm not advocating chaos, but I am advocating independent thought and personal & moral responsibility.
If rules are so damn great why is this country in such a mess? Case in point.
Everyone has the right to live their life even if the path looks different from our own and even a bit strange we don't know what our own path looks like to others. It's what makes us individual.
Living on land you own is NOT breaking the common law which pre-dates acts of parliament. The common law trumps legal acts. The only thing that ties you to legal acts is your birth certificate.
Lawful rebellion is the answer.
Just to raise a point. Shortly after some travellers move into our area, there were a lot of shed and garage breakins. Every one was running around like headless chickens, " it's those bloody gypo's" they were all screaming. Some time later a group of local youths were caught breaking into a garage, and admitted to the spate of breakins in the area. Food for thought.
ReplyDeletePip, keep fighting your corner, you are the best spokes person I have ever read for the problems facing the Romany cause.
ReplyDelete