[IMC-UK-Features] article Despair of British Gypsies (with photo)

[deano at aktivix.org]

Hello Gratton, Mark,

as a regular London Indymedia volunteer, can I suggest what to do with your
article? The best thing is to post it, and any other reports, straight to the
newswire. Basically, all you have to do is hit the 'publish' button and follow
the instructions. Middle column features are pulled together from posts in the
newsswire, so if you post a few reports - including any photos, video, or audio
- they will be turned into a front page feature.

Cheers,

Deano(one of London IMC)
 
 

Quoting Mark <mark at tlio.org.uk>:

> Hi Grattan
> 
> I didn't get the photo attached
> 
> Also, about the article, can the travelling community at Dale Farm really
> be described as Gypsies?
> 
> When you describe how "Military-style, the bailiffs arrive at dawn in hard
> hats with heavy machinery. Women and children are soon marshalled outside,
> shivering in the glow of their burning homes", what event do you describe?
> You do not explain?
> 
> As a result, I'm reluctant to send to Indy with article in current form.
> 
> best,
> Mark
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
> Subject: Despair of British Gypsies (with photo)
> From:    "Dale Farm" <dale.farm at btinternet.com>
> Date:    Thu, April 24, 2008 7:56 am
> To:      imc-uk-features at lists.indymedia.org
>          pennieq at yahoo.com
>          mark at tlio.org.uk
>          chris.chapman at mrgmail.org
>          josephin at dircom.co.uk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Please put on Indymedia.
>   Grattan Puxon
>   Gypsy Council
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>     v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
>  w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  .shape
> {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
>                 Mary, aged 8, close to blazing fire set by
>                 Constant bailiffs at her Meadowlands caravan park
>                 in Essex.
> 
>                 Basildon Council are planning a £3 million operation
>                 to bulldoze a hundred homes at Dale Farm, Crays Hill,
>                 Essex.
> 
>                 Volunteer as Human Rights Monitor?
>                 email dale.farm at btinternet.com
> 
> 
>   BULLYBOY BAILIFFS DEEPEN
> DESPAIR OF BRITISH GYPSIES
>   By Grattan Puxon
> 
>   Military-style, the bailiffs arrive at dawn in hard
>   hats with heavy machinery. Women and children
>   are soon marshalled outside, shivering in the glow
>   of their burning homes.
> 
>        Armed riot police standy by to arrest any
>   Traveller who resists the eviction. Another trailer
>   park is being torched in Britain's undercover war
>   on its unwanted Gypsies.
> 
>       "For us this is ethnic-cleansing," says Richard
>   Sheridan, spokesman for Dale Farm, a village
>   community facing imminent demolition. "Eviction
>   will kill several of our elderly sick."
> 
>       He has witnessed the crushing of caravans
>   and the bullyboy tactics of bailiffs who will stop
>   at nothing to get the job done. Private security
>   companies are picking up a large portion of the
>   30 million euro spent annually by the UK to
>   wipe out the Gypsy way of life.
> 
>       Constant and Co., leading specialists
>   in this field, hope shortly to win a two million
>   euro contract from Basildon council to demolish
>   a hundred homes at Dale Farm.
> 
>       British Travellers, who now range far within
>   the European Union, say their treatment in the UK
>   is as racist as anything seen in eastern Europe.
>   You only have to check the London tabloid press
>   to confirm this conclusion.
> 
>       It's against Constant that Dale Farm
>   Housing Association has just posted a formal
>   complaint with Secretary of State for Justice
>   Jack Straw. The dossier contains allegations
>   of arson, assault and theft by bailiffs who
>   are said to ignore health and safety
>   regulations and trample on the human
>   rights of their Gypsy victims.
> 
>                       JUDGE SPEAKS
> 
>        Film showing a pregnant mother on the
>   ground and children screaming prompted
>   a judge in the UK High Court last month to
>   call for a halt to such raids. Judge Collins said
>   the use of Constant is inappropriate and the
>   policy of repeated evictions must be
>   reconsidered.
> 
>        The problem started back in 1994 when
>   the Criminal Justice Act halted the building
>   of municipal trailer parks and increased the
>   powers of the police to harass Travellers.
>   Their traditional way of life outlawed, they
>   were advised to buy land and settle down.
> 
>        Many have done so only to be refused
>   planning permits. New homes have been quickly
>   wrecked and following eviction, families have
>   found themselves moved on daily from temporary
>   camps on car parks and wasteland.
> 
>       A recent government-sponsored Gypsy
>   task force reported on the dubious methods
>   of bailiffs and called for introduction of a
>   proper complaints procedure. It says evictions
>   should stop while Travellers await new
>   accommodation provision under the 2004
>   Housing Act.
> 
>       But at the earliest this will not begin to
>   happen until 2011. The majority of local
>   authorities are dragging their feet and seem
>   unlikely to comply for five, even ten years.
> 
>       "We can't wait that long," comments
>   Sheridan. "Thousands of our children are
>   missing school and live in constant
>   insecurity."
> 
>        With nowhere legal to live the nomadic
>   minority of Britain's 350,000 Gypsies fear only
>   further persecution. The failure of the British
>   government to pursue this issue with
>   vigor has left many in dispair.
> 
>        Richard Sheridan is turning to the Russians
>   for help. Armed with his complaints dossier, he's
>   attending a conference on the protection of
>   minorities in Luxemburg next month, linked to
>   the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian
>   Federation.
> 
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