Travellers rights

The rights of Roma and other travelling people

The Roma struggle for health

Recent legislation — namely the Police, Crime, and Sentencing Act (2022) — gives the government new powers which are intended to push out the Roma way of life. Roma-government relations have become more strained as a result, and access to resources a harder and more weary battle. The Act does a number of things, the most problematic of which is the criminalisation of “trespassing” on public and private property. At the same time as attacking the right to protest, it clamps down on the act of traversing land, a central element of Roma culture. It is one of the worst attacks on the community in...

Diane Abbott and racism

Left-wing MP Diane Abbott has apologised unreservedly for what she wrote about “Irish, Jewish and Traveller” people not suffering racism. Even ultra-Blairite John McTernan commented: “Swift and appropriate apology from Diane Abbott. She has been subjected to vile racist abuse throughout her career, and her apology should be accepted in the spirit it is offered”. The Labour leadership, which has largely declined to defend Abbott against racist and misogynist abuse, is opportunist and hypocritical on bigotry and oppression, and will show that again if it doesn’t lift her suspension from the...

Women and Roma in the war

The European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine delegation which visited Lviv on 3-7 May heard from feminist activists and campaigns for women’s rights. The war has had a profound effect on women’s lives. Sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war by the invading Russian forces, creating enormous suffering and trauma. The ability for women to access abortion is far from guaranteed. Though abortion is legal in Ukraine, those trying to get one can face social stigma and religious prejudice. Shamefully, many traumatised Ukrainian women who succeed in escaping to Poland discover that they...

Tube workers: Join the fight to kill the bills!

The justified media and public attention on the "partygate" scandals that may ultimately topple Boris Johnson carries a risk, that attention is pulled from the Tories' political project, expressed through the legislation it aims to pass.

Two bills currently making their way through Parliament, the...

Police Bill: wake up the labour movement!

An energetic demonstration, initiated by Extinction Rebellion and involving many different campaigns and activists, gathered at Parliament on 8 December to oppose the Police Bill. Let’s make this the start of a renewed movement against the Bill, reviving the spirit of spring 2021 when tens of thousands across the country demonstrated against it. There is not much time. The House of Lords will start voting again on 17 January, and soon after the Bill will be back in the Commons. We need to wake up the labour movement, rousing the biggest possible sections of it to shout out and get people on...

Labour's shadow equalities minister promotes anti-traveller leaflet

A Labour Party leaflet distributed in Orford, Cheshire, for the 2021 local government election campaign promises that a Labour council would “deal with traveller incursions”. (Pictured below.) For many opportunist Labour politicians, calling for harsh crackdowns on travellers can be seen as an easy – and still-respectable – means of getting votes from bigoted constituents. In 2019, another Labour front-bencher, Toby Perkins, published election leaflets that said that “Travellers were extorting thousands of pounds for leaving illegal settlements,” and that he was “disgusted” by this. What is...

Anti-racist resources

This page brings together various anti-racist resources to learn about anti-racist movements, and arm yourself with ideas to beat back racism: readings and pamphlets, video and audio.

Hungary: three months of decrees, but no food

The new emergency law passed in Hungary has made waves in the international press, and rightly, though much of the coverage has been inaccurate. For example, the BBC on 30 March said: “The Hungarian Parliament has voted by 137 to 53 to accept the government’s request for the power to rule by decree during the coronavirus emergency”. However, the 2012 Hungarian Constitution (put in place by Fidesz) already grants the power to rule by decree in a state of emergency. The new law is actually about the edicts that are issued during a state of emergency. A state of emergency legally lasts until the...

EU fences off refugees

As the leaders of the EU countries on 27-29 June put their names to their “universal accord” on immigration policy, news arrived of another horrific tragedy off the coast of Libya. A hundred men, women, and children drowned as their rubber boat exploded and they drifted helplessly in waters where NGO rescue ships are now banned by Marco Minniti, Italy’s Minister of the Interior, not in the current right-wing Italian government, but in the previous centre-left one. Their deaths bring the total in the last months to their highest rate for a long time, despite a significant drop in the numbers...

Don't believe what you read in the Mail

Over the last fortnight the national press has picked up a story about a violent incident at Hinde House School in Sheffield. To take the version initially printed by the Sheffield Star and then picked up by the Mail... three Roma Slovak pupils attacked another boy following an argument “about a football”. The victim was “punched to the ground” and left with a broken nose. The school has now, the reports continue, been presented with a 1,600 name petition demanding that, in the words of one parent “something be done”. Other reports breathlessly describe pupils being “stabbed, mugged and nearly...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.