Then they came for the Gypsies
The appearance of neo-facist leader Nick Griffin on a popular BBC panel
programme last week has caused outraged protest by those who fear
extreme-right wing policies are becoming acceptable in today's
would-be police-state Britain.
But if the British National Party with its million votes is moving
into the mainstream, its just as frightening that once middle-ground
politicians are willing to court favour with the neo-fascists by
assuming a brownshirt colouring.
Romanies and Travellers may have been in Britain half a millennium
or more, yet are still not accepted by a middle -England majority.
Those who continue to follow a nomadic life -style get it in the neck
everyday due to institutional racism locked into our bureaucracy
and police forces.
We're seeing it happen in Italy and Hungary, now we'll see it happening
here. Twenty miles from the Mother of Parliaments, by the lorry-full and
Landrover, with bulldozer and crane - stop them if you dare! - they're
coming for the Gypsies.
On UN Human Rights Day 10 December, Basildon's Tory chief will formally
lead his cabinet in voting to give a two million pound contract to a bunch
of hard-hat bullyboys to oust hundreds of Travellers from his district.
It will be the ugliest yet act of ethnic-cleansing by a British local
authority against an outpost of Europe's nascent Roma nation.
Certainly the 4,000 Basildon voters who backed the British National
Party at the last election will be pleased to have what in effect must
be an endorsement of their bigoted anti-Gypsy attitudes. Something for
the BNP’s two MEPs to boast about it in the European Parliament.
A dirty, neo-fascist wave, a tsunami of social exclusion is to break over
the peaceful Dale Farm community, smashing up lives and drowning the hopes of another generation of Traveller children, presently attending local
schools.
No matter that the impotent UK Children's Commissioner says it shouldn't
happen, and boo to the goose that is the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. The CEHR has let itself be used in the charade which Basildon council calls its court-mandated engagement talks with Dale Farm residents.
Sorry, that should read resident; only one attended last week's hole-in-the
corner meeting with hard-nosed get 'em shifted project leader Dawn French.
The incessant message of these talks, now labelled pointless by a Gypsy
Council representative, is that hundreds of Dale Farm residents must abandon their homes and land and, voluntarily, wander forth along Britain's rage-ridden roads - where you can't even light a fire nowadays without attracting a fine.
Oh, Basildon may have been told by the UK Government to provide alternative land for the Dale Farm community. Obligatory under the Housing Act. Only Tony Ball interprets that as a mere request and stands sturdily by his eviction policy, believing the brutal back lane happenings will be quickly covered over by next May's expected Tory election landslide.
In bright new British Cameronland it won’t matter what happened to the Gypsies.
However, there is every sign that Dale Farm is fighting back. The rape of human rights is not something mothers here will take lying down. They are organizing a mass rally outside the Basildon Centre on Human Rights Day, an event they intend will be worthy of that universal anniversary.
They are also seeking to address a last appeal to the cabinet meeting at 7.30 pm that evening.
"We hope," says Mary Sheridan, recently back from Germany, from where 14,000 Roma are being forcibly repatriated to Kosovo, "that those upset by the sight of the BNP on television will be moved to join us in trying to stop fascist
talk becoming brownshirt action."
Can blatant racism be halted? Basildon is the next battleground. Meanwhile,
Dale Farm residents and supporters have received death-threats, several of
which have been reported to Essex police, it was revealed at a Human Rights
Day planning meeting last evening attended by former Mayor of London aide
Atma Singh.
____________ _________ _
JOIN THE HUMAN RIGHTS DAY RALLY !!
7pm 10 December
St Martin's Square, Basildon
Transport for supporters: contact
dale.farm@btinternet.com
Grattan Puxon is a Gypsy and Traveller rights activist, author and journalist
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the blog authors on this website do not necessarily reflect the views of this website. Comments on this website are the sole responsibility of their writers and the writer will take full responsibility, liability, and blame for any libel or litigation that results from something written in or as a direct result of something written in a comment.