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Racism towards Travellers in the UK

skyscraper101 said:
I'm no expert but I suspect the bigoted attitudes are formed by years of media grooming that 'travellers' are generally a nuisance to society who contribute little and infringe on the lives of 'normal hard working people' fueled in no small part by sensationalist reality TV like Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and the like.
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There was a series a few years ago that tried to counter the negativity, 'Gypsy kids, our secret world' - two of the main kids it followed were in BB1's school, well the girl was in BB1's class, used to come to school by horse and leave it on the school field, the brother was excluded and schooled for an hour a day at the local garden centre cafe. BB1 was pretty friendly with the girl, but as the show demonstrated, prejudice starts very, very young for these kids and they are mostly lost by the time they turn 10. From their first day at infant school other parents warn their kids to stay away from them, it's fucking heart-breaking to hear kids being subjected to that. So it's really no surprise at all that the communities are mainly insular and very wary of outsiders. BB1 used to go to the girl's farm a few times, they share a love of horses and animals in general, and she was always made very welcome there, but the vast majority of kids at her school had nothing to do with her and she left half way through.
 
I'm not an ethnic traveller but I'm still recognised by the government as a traveller - a cultural traveller, as well as new age and boaters there's also showmen, I have friends who fall into more than one category - ethnic and cultural. So it's not that clear cut. For me it was a choice - I wasn't born into it, but I do know cultural travellers whose kids are registered travellers because they were born into it. I obviously don't face any racial discrimination, I don't struggle like ethnic travellers do, but there are some problems, because everything in this country assumes that you have a land address and you're on the grid. For instance it took me 10 years to get a gp to register me back in London, despite the law saying they must register you, many of them refuse to. You need to provide utility bills for so many things nowadays and we can't, they won't accept our boat license. When El Jugs dad died, even though we had power of attorney and used his residential address for our post we weren't on any of the bills, we realised that bills are used to prove your identity, your passport or driving license isn't enough, so one of his banks and his phone company refused to speak to us. I've met boaters who are living in poverty, struggling because they don't know how to access benefits, although there are NGOs that can help with that if we signpost them. I have no credit rating, because I'm on the electoral rolls as NFA, this can cause problems, for instance, say you've had enough, you want to rent on land, you haven't used a residential address for post or voting, you're not gonna pass most lettings agents credit checks., or be able to get a mortgage. It's not something you get told, you find out. The van lifers group on FB is full of folks suffering the dawning realisation that the general public often treat them the same as ethnic travellers and they hate it, especially when they have their own prejudices about travellers. 'But I'm better than them.' Erm, no mate. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8083/
 
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Two personal experiences of travellers descending.

1. they set up camp on a bit of land at the end of Livingston village. They stayed three weeks. When they moved on, it took Council workers two days with a JCB and a lorry to clean up the mess they left.

2. They set up on the vacant plot next to our office. They stayed two weeks. When they moved on, all rubbish had been bagged and stacked neatly at the entrance to the site. You wouldn't have known they had ever been there.

One size does not fit all.
 
pinkmonkey said:
I'm not an ethnic traveller but I'm still recognised by the government as a traveller - a cultural traveller, as well as new age and boaters there's also showmen, I have friends who fall into more than one category - ethnic and cultural. So it's not that clear cut. For me it was a choice - I wasn't born into it, but I do know cultural travellers whose kids are registered travellers because they were born into it.. I obviously don't face any racial discrimination, I don't struggle like ethnic travellers do, but there are some problems. For instance it took me 10 years to get a gp to register me back in London, despite the law saying they must register you, many of them refuse to. You need to provide utility bills for so many things nowadays and we can't, they won't accept our boat license. When El Jugs dad died even though we had power of attorney and used his residential address for our post we weren't on any of the bills so one of his banks and his phone company refused to speak to us. I've met boaters who are living in poverty, struggling because they don't know how to access benefits, although there are NGOs that can help with that if we signpost them. I have no credit rating, because I'm on the electoral rolls as NFA, this can cause problems, for instance, say you've had enough, you want to rent on land, you haven't used a residential address for post or voting, you're not gonna pass most lettings agents credit checks., or be able to get a mortgage. It's not something you get told, you find out. The van lifers group on FB is full of folks suffering the dawning realisation that the general public often treat them the same as ethnic travellers and they hate it, especially when they have their own prejudices about travellers. 'But I'm better than them.' Erm, no mate.
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Ah, so you are a bargee then? :)
 
I'm always recognised by travellers as a traveller (to alot of confusion earlier) even though for most of my life that background has been hidden from me. The Romany community here in Copenhagen have given me great honour in recent months. My paternal Grandmother was adopted as a result of some liason. On whatever the old version of the waltzers was.
My Irish (maternal) side definitely were travellers on my grandfathers, which is what he did most his working life in the UK, travelling from building site to building site. Sending money home. I think we forget where we come from and do not pay enough homage to our ancestors.
 
Sasaferrato said:
1. they set up camp on a bit of land at the end of Livingston village. They stayed three weeks. When they moved on, it took Council workers two days with a JCB and a lorry to clean up the mess they left.
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As when we used to hold outdoor raves, if you were forced to pack up and fuck off within a limited time-frame, a mess would often be left behind, similar holds true for many a traveller camp...
 
Magnus McGinty said:
I never said it wasn’t a social construct but, you know, racism is based on something and we need words to describe those things.
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This book challenged and changed my understanding of the relationship between race and racism. Addresses some of the things you're said on this thread so far.

"Most people assume racism grows from a perception of human difference: the fact of race gives rise to the practice of racism. Sociologist Karen E. Fields and historian Barbara J. Fields argue otherwise: the practice of racism produces the illusion of race, through what they call “racecraft.” And this phenomenon is intimately entwined with other forms of inequality in American life. So pervasive are the devices of racecraft in American history, economic doctrine, politics, and everyday thinking that the presence of racecraft itself goes unnoticed."

www.versobooks.com

Racecraft

Praised by a wide variety of people from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Zadie Smith, Racecraft "ought to be positioned," as Bookforum put it, "at the center of any discussion of race in American life." Most people assume racism grows from a perception of human difference: the fact of race gives rise to the...
www.versobooks.com www.versobooks.com
 
Where I live (Medway), the comments in local news sites/Facebook pages whenever travellers park up are horrendous. Open calls to burn them, allegations of all sorts before anything has happened, the works. Self care is not reading the comments sections I suppose.

I do think that local authorities are missing a trick in not making a handful of areas as something like designated traveller sites. This would negate the need to trespass on other sites and would provide opportunity for the removal of waste as well other facilities. Mind you this would also remove the need for lurid headlines and rumours to fuel the racism so.....
 
pinkmonkey said:
and every single bit of crime gets blamed on them soon as they arrive. My neighbour said that on some towns, locals would sneak into their camp at night and try to poison their dogs.
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850,000 tourists and chancers descend on my town in the summer. Local paper always leads with 5 caravans in a carpark causing crime wave. Social media full of “strange transit white vans” and “be careful of your shed” messages

It is the last “acceptable” form of racism in the country.
Plenty of dog whistle stuff and straight up abuse from neurotic daily mail/express reading creatures
 
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As has been pointed out, there have been centuries of friction between a nomadic culture or sets of cultures living among settled non-nomadic communities. Kikuyu versus Maasai, Bedouin in the Arab world, Roma versus Europeans. Civil society is framed around the non-nomadic generally, leaving the others experiencing discrimination and exclusion.

Easy targets for the shit politics of today. The traveller sites have been closed, attempts to balance the needs of travellers with the communities they pass through have largely been abandoned. It's painful and sad tbh.
 
Boris Sprinkler said:
It's a cycle. Same with Jews. Insular behaviour comes from learned outcomes.
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If that were true, all black and Asian folk in Britain would be psychotic racists. I'm sure there's some truth in what you suggest but why isn't the opposite the case (solidarity among minorities). It's well established. Read past my post in the thread I linked to above and note the experiences of another poster (Foo's) black son, who was barred from the traveller's site.
 
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Spymaster said:
If that were true, all black and Asian folk in Britain would be psychotic racists. I'm sure there's some truth in what you suggest but why isn't the opposite the case (solidarity among minorities). It's well established. Read past my post in the thread I linked to above and note the experiences of another poster (Foo's) black son, who was barred from the traveller's site.
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I would suggest, particularly in predominantly Catholic countries, that shame plays a part in that insularity.
 
Spymaster said:
I've posted about this before but I, along with many other British Asians, find it difficult to sympathise with this group of people who are themselves, very often, incredibly racist towards black and Asian people.
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Which group?

Travellers are not one homogeneous group.

I've also heard prejudice displayed by black and Asian people towards romany, Irish travellers and new age travellers.

The point is anyone can be racist/ prejudiced.

I would argue that travellers in general face institutional racism and prejudice as POC do.
 
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