tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/gypsy-10085/articlesgypsy – The Conversation2022-01-27T12:56:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1703122022-01-27T12:56:37Z2022-01-27T12:56:37ZSocial care: how Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children face discrimination across Europe and the UK<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442585/original/file-20220125-19-16a39cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Roma boy and his horse in Velykyi Bereznyi, a settlement in the Carpathian mountains, in Western Ukraine.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/velykyi-bereznyi-ukraine-february-28-2021-1962358759">Brum | Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Throughout Europe – from Italy to Hungary – Romani children are <a href="http://www.errc.org/reports-and-submissions/life-sentence-romani-children-in-institutional-care">overrepresented</a> in institutional care. This is particularly acute in eastern Europe. As many as four in five children in the care institutions of some countries <a href="http://www.errc.org/uploads/upload_en/file/5284_file1_blighted-lives-romani-children-in-state-care.pdf">are of Roma</a> origin. In Bulgaria, while the Roma comprise less than 10% of the population, they account for more than 60% of the children’s home population. In Slovakia, that number rises to 80%. </p>
<p>The situation in the UK <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-policing-bill-will-criminalise-gypsy-and-traveller-families-there-is-a-better-approach-174487">isn’t much better</a>. <a href="https://www.criticalpublishing.com/anti-racist-social-worker">Social work experts</a> estimate that between 2009 and 2015, there has been an increase of 733% in the number of Roma children in foster care. A <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/bjsw/bcab265/6500256">recent analysis</a> of the UK government’s own data from 2020 confirms that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children are over-represented in child welfare services in England. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Financing-Roma-Inclusion-with-European-Structural-Funds-Why-Good-Intentions/Kostka/p/book/9780367582951">research shows</a> that Roma communities across Europe are routinely denied access to essential services but are instead subjected to oppressive state intervention. Senior public servants I have interviewed in Slovakia and the Czech Republic alike have expressed explicitly prejudiced views. </p>
<p>Those interviewees held that all Roma share predictable beliefs, values and behaviours and are prone to violence, negligence, laziness, addiction and illiteracy. They see the abject poverty experienced by many Roma families as an active choice or a cultural norm rather than the result of centuries of oppression and ongoing <a href="https://theconversation.com/gypsy-roma-and-traveller-communities-endure-worsening-racism-and-inequality-this-must-be-a-turning-point-114890">discrimination</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of young children smile up at the camera" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442587/original/file-20220125-27-1mzyqvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442587/original/file-20220125-27-1mzyqvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442587/original/file-20220125-27-1mzyqvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442587/original/file-20220125-27-1mzyqvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442587/original/file-20220125-27-1mzyqvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442587/original/file-20220125-27-1mzyqvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442587/original/file-20220125-27-1mzyqvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Roma children in the Old Town of Constanta, in Romania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/constanta-romania-august-22-2015-happy-308745359">ELEPHOTOS | Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Poverty pathologised</h2>
<p>Across Europe, many Roma families have little or no access to social support. Preventative measures are scarce or non-existent. According to <a href="http://www.errc.org/reports-and-submissions/life-sentence-romani-children-in-institutional-care">a 2011 report</a> by the European Roma Rights Centre, poverty is often cited as the reason for children being removed. And removal is often the first, rather than the last recourse. </p>
<p>The report cites the harrowing case of one Hungarian Romani family. When their home was damaged in a storm, instead of receiving financial help to make the necessary repairs, the family’s newborn baby was placed in foster care.</p>
<p>In the media, these communities are frequently portrayed as uneducated, culturally backward and lazy, predisposed to criminality and to exploiting benefits. In Poland, headlines talk of Gypsies attacking people, of Roma being not poor but <a href="https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,16280560,kradna-oblapiaja-niszcza-i-nie-sa-biedni-jak-gazeta-wroclawska.html?disableRedirects=true">liars and thieves</a>.</p>
<p>I have found that, despite not knowing very much about Roma culture, public authorities treat the coping strategies of the most at-risk families as problematic and abnormal, under assumptions that equate Roma culture and poverty with harmful behaviour. In Slovakia, charity workers told me that the authorities view marginalised Roma communities as a threat to mainstream society.</p>
<p>For a study of Romanian Roma migrants in Poland in 2013, I conducted <a href="https://intersections.tk.mta.hu/index.php/intersections/article/view/387">interviews</a> with social workers who insisted that removing Roma children is necessary and justifiable, citing nomadic lifestyles as a reason. As the manager of one social-work team in Wroclaw told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The parents come and go, they don’t want to work, or send their children to school, it is not possible to work with them, they lie; but worst of all they force children to beg. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Britain, there are legal prohibitions on child removals on the grounds of poverty or deprivation. However, research has found that <a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/research_report_12inequalities_experienced_by_gypsy_and_traveller_communities_a_review.pdf">Gypsy</a> and <a href="https://policypress.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1332/policypress/9781847428738.001.0001/upso-9781847428738">Traveller</a> children are often placed in care following official “concern” and amid disputes over accommodation, school attendance and employment-related practices. </p>
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<img alt="Travellers walk alongside horsedrawn painted wooden caravans down a road." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442588/original/file-20220125-15-5gjzun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442588/original/file-20220125-15-5gjzun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442588/original/file-20220125-15-5gjzun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442588/original/file-20220125-15-5gjzun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442588/original/file-20220125-15-5gjzun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442588/original/file-20220125-15-5gjzun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442588/original/file-20220125-15-5gjzun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In the UK, social workers often feel ill-equipped to properly assess Traveller families.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/stafford-england-june-21st-2019-traditional-1430319233">Andy J Billington | Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Damaging stereotypes</h2>
<p>The British historian, <a href="http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781780232577">Becky Taylor</a>, underlines that this oppression has a long history. From their arrival in Britain in the 16th century, Gypsies were actively prosecuted for their costumes and nomadic way of life, which was deemed a threat to British society. The 1530 Egyptian Act aimed to end the “naughty, idle and ungodly life and company” of Gypsies by either forcing them to assimilate or face exile and death. The 1824 Vagrancy Act further criminalised the nomadic Gypsy lifestyle, equating it with harmful behaviour and risk. </p>
<p>Stereotypical views held by care professionals still lead to discrimination. Of the 137 child-protection professionals surveyed in a <a href="http://www.errc.org/uploads/upload_en/file/the-fragility-of-professional-competence-january-2018.pdf">2018 study</a> in England, half believed that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller <a href="https://theconversation.com/care-system-fails-gypsy-roma-and-traveller-children-31477">children</a> were more at risk of significant harm than any other child. They cite parental neglect rather than poverty as reasons for the commencement of child proceedings. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ippr.org/files/publications/pdf/Roma-communties-and-Brexit_Oct2016.pdf?noredirect=1">Recent Roma arrivals</a> to the UK have similarly suffered from being labelled as as hard to reach, hard to engage, or uncooperative by social services. <a href="https://www.advicenow.org.uk/lawforlife/law-for-life-projects/multimedia-toolkit-for-roma-parents/">Dada Felja</a>, from the Law for Life charity, which supports Roma parents, says that this mistrust stems from the discrimination and racism they have long experienced at the hands of public officials. </p>
<p>Within the assessment and referral process, <a href="https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/news/2019/june/new-report-roma-migration-benefits-to-britain/">language barriers,</a> cultural differences in family structure and child-rearing practices, acculturative stress (the stressors associated with being an immigrant or ethnic minority and adapting to the local culture) and isolation are rarely considered. </p>
<p>Research has shown that social workers often do not <a href="http://www.errc.org/uploads/upload_en/file/the-fragility-of-professional-competence-january-2018.pdf">properly assess</a> Roma children and their families, because they feel ill-equipped or unable to do so. Assessments are crucial to understanding the child’s experience and what support the family might need. They also help to ascertain whether alternative carers could be found within the extended family. Failing to undertake such assessments is a clear indicator of discrimination and structural inequality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170312/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Kostka does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Romani children across Europe are overrepresented in institutional care. Research shows widely held prejudical views and structural inequality is to blame.Joanna Kostka, Lecturer in social work and sociology, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1148902019-04-05T10:59:12Z2019-04-05T10:59:12ZGypsy, Roma and Traveller communities endure worsening racism and inequality: this must be a turning point<p>Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities continue to experience open discrimination and prejudice, both in the UK and Europe. Just in the past few weeks Roma people have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/27/roma-call-for-protection-after-vigilante-attacks-inspired-by-fake-news">attacked in France</a> as a result of fake news spread about the community. Meanwhile in the UK, the Equality and Human Rights Commission intervened in a holiday park which held a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-47309039">“no Travellers” rule</a>, and a caravan site allocated for use for Travellers was subject to an <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-47654041">arson attack</a>. </p>
<p>April 8, 2019 marks International Roma Day – a day created to celebrate Romani culture and raise awareness of the issues facing <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-who-are-the-roma-19402">Roma people</a>. The day was established in 1990, but since this time the challenges Roma face have remained and even increased, <a href="http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/35774/?template=banner">driven by</a> the rise of the Far Right and austerity. </p>
<p>The reality of their situation has been driven home by <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmwomeq/360/report-summary.html">a new report</a> from the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, which provides a damning critique of the progress made on addressing the inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. It also challenges the government to do more to improve communities’ outcomes in education and health care, tackle discrimination and hate crime, as well as violence against women and girls. </p>
<p>The committee report demands that the government develop a clear and effective plan to support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, in line with the inequalities they face. The report also suggests a key role can be played by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/race-disparity-unit">Race Disparity Unit</a>, which gathers information on the experiences of minority groups in the UK, by demanding that government departments must “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41560927">explain or change</a>” any disparities between Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and the general population. </p>
<h2>A history of neglect</h2>
<p>The fact is, the discrimination and adverse life chances faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller populations in the UK and Europe have been a problem for decades. Reports from the <a href="https://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/projects/ema/download/file/commonground_report.pdf">Commission for Racial Equality</a> (in 2006), the <a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/gypsies-and-travellers-simple-solutions-living-together">Equality and Human Rights Commission</a> (in 2010) and the <a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcps.ceu.edu%2Fsites%2Fcps.ceu.edu%2Ffiles%2Fattachment%2Fbasicpage%2F3034%2Frcm-civil-society-monitoring-report-1-synthesis27-2017-eprint-fin.pdf&data=02%7C01%7Cp.brown%40salford.ac.uk%7Ca94887e4511a40a36e4b08d6b0f39271%7C65b52940f4b641bd833d3033ecbcf6e1%7C0%7C1%7C636890957523286177&sdata=r%2BQh4BFbh5TE9qio64jHp%2FFlyCK5kpPWMLxvLvYL8MU%3D&reserved=0">European Commission</a> (in 2018) have rigorously documented the inequalities and discrimination faced by these communities. </p>
<p>Indeed, the most recent of these confirmed that countries with larger Roma populations experienced an increase in anti-Roma hate speech, segregated and poor accommodation, even as hundreds of thousands of Roma endured a lack of access to basic services including clean water and sanitation. With <a href="http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/34914/?template=banner">the steady arrival</a> of Roma from central and eastern Europe to the UK, there’s a real risk of replicating the hostile anti-Roma environment seen in much of central and eastern Europe, which forces such communities to flee and polarises neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>The UK government’s record on Roma issues has been one of inaction and neglect. Plans, such as <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reducing-inequalities-for-gypsies-and-travellers-progress-report">the coalitions 2012 strategy</a> to tackle inequalities have been <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/women-and-equalities-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/inequalities-faced-by-gypsy-roma-and-traveller-communities-16-17/publications/">widely derided</a> for having limited scope, little ambition and weak recommendations. The most recent inquiry failed to consider the shortage of pitches and site accommodation across the UK, which many groups representing Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities would consider to be one of the most pressing concerns. </p>
<p>Yet the report represents a significant intervention against government inaction and hostile policy making. Few politicians – with notable exceptions such as Kate Green and Baronness Whitaker – speak out against the inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. Indeed, during the inquiry, Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/women-and-equalities-committee/tackling-inequalities-faced-by-the-gypsy-roma-and-traveller-communities/oral/94879.html">said</a>: “Let’s be honest: we are all Members of Parliament and we all know there are no votes in championing this group of people”. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267782/original/file-20190405-180036-1jy55qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267782/original/file-20190405-180036-1jy55qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267782/original/file-20190405-180036-1jy55qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267782/original/file-20190405-180036-1jy55qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267782/original/file-20190405-180036-1jy55qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267782/original/file-20190405-180036-1jy55qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267782/original/file-20190405-180036-1jy55qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">All eyes on Westminster.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/westminster-palace-big-ben-clocktower-by-1192264885?src=eH2llmmZSHg9_k-o9MeiQQ-1-3">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>As with all reports prepared by parliamentary committees, the government has 40 days to respond. With the current atmosphere of <a href="http://www.nlgn.org.uk/public/2019/nlgn-leadership-index-january-2019/">anti-migrant sentiment</a> in the UK, coupled with the continuing hostility to Gypsies and Travellers, it is difficult to predict the sort of response the report will receive. But maintaining the status quo cannot be an option. </p>
<h2>Turning point</h2>
<p>Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, on average, continue to die far younger than members of other communities and have poorer health than members of other communities. They also experience the death of a child far frequently than other communities. The needs and position of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities are so stark that considered steps must be taken. </p>
<p>So this should be an opportunity for the government and other public bodies to take more forceful and co-ordinated action. One way forward is for the government to use the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/race-disparity-audit">Race Disparity Audit</a> to address inequalities. Vocal leadership is also required from within government at all levels. For too long, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities have been used as a political football, with few people in positions of power speaking up for their needs.</p>
<p>Successive governments have tried doing nothing, pilot projects have been attempted and mainstreaming the needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities has been the recent approach. But all have failed over the long term or led to very little improvement. Government needs to lead and to foster leadership in others – there needs to be coordinated plans and actions. As in most areas, resources will also be an issue, but a desire and an ability to affect change is critical. In doing so, the UK will address some of the longstanding issues for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people and make communities more equal and less hostile places.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114890/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Brown has received funding from public bodies for his work on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller organisations. He is a member of the Labour Party and has worked as a Specialist Advisor to the Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities Inquiry.</span></em></p>A new report shows Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people still face overt racism and stark inequality – politicians must drive change.Philip Brown, Professor of Social Change, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1081362018-12-13T12:08:12Z2018-12-13T12:08:12ZGypsy Christmas food bank challenge is just one of their many contributions to society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250168/original/file-20181212-76962-13891ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=75%2C50%2C5516%2C3671&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gypsies' generosity is often overlooked. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-doing-grocery-shopping-supermarket-he-563097151?src=Ay-lqFFPbGWNvO8z00mVwQ-1-15">Shutterstock. </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While out shopping with his baby daughter last month, Watson Harrop Jr. – a Gypsy and professional harness racer from County Durham, UK – sparked off a social media challenge that has since gone viral. Harrop <a href="https://vimeo.com/303469148">filmed himself</a> at his local supermarket donating a trolley of groceries to a food bank, and nominating family members and friends to do the same within 48 hours. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/foodbank2018/">food bank challenge</a> has been hugely influential, and food banks across the country <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MorecambeFoodbank/posts/1961545927269253">are thanking</a> Gypsies and Travellers for <a href="https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/news/2018/11/gypsies-and-travellers-are-filling-foodbanks-across-uk">their generosity</a>. Meanwhile, coverage from <a href="https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/travellers-foodbank-challenge-nomination-gloucestershire-2279776,">local</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-46475820">national</a> news sources – including <a href="https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/news/2018/11/exclusive-tt-interview-traveller-man-who-started-food-bank-challenge-sweeping-uk">Harrop’s initial interview</a> with the <a href="https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/">Travellers’ Times</a> – has ensured that the challenge is being taken up across the UK, and abroad in countries such as France and Canada. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1068598698333081600"}"></div></p>
<p>When I contacted Harrop to ask him why he thought the food bank challenge he started was proving so successful, he was very keen to avoid another sensational “big fat Gypsy” story, which could <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/16/big-fat-gypsy-weddings-bullying-travellers">add to negative stereotypes</a> about Gypsies and Travellers. Harrop emphasised how this challenge is about communities of all ethnicities “coming together and helping families in need at the season of good will via the power of social media”.</p>
<h2>A common occurrence</h2>
<p>Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are some of the most marginalised and vilified people in society. As my colleague, <a href="http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781780232577">historian Becky Taylor explains</a>: “They are rarely seen as having a place in a country, either geographically or socially, no matter where they live or what they do”. </p>
<p>In the UK, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/15/acceptable-racism-gypsies-travellers-prejudice">nine out of ten</a> Gypsy and Traveller children have suffered racial abuse, while <a href="https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/news/2017/10/yougov-poll-shock-only-4-out-10-parents-ok-child-playdate-traveller">six out of ten British parents</a> would not be happy for their child to have a play date with a Gypsy or Traveller child. Gypsies and Travellers experience shocking levels of discrimination in the areas of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-45498034">education</a>, <a href="https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/news/2018/06/shocking-new-research-shows-extent-police-discrimination-towards-gypsies-and">policing</a>, <a href="http://www.ueapolitics.org/2016/06/02/losing-my-ethnicity-when-is-a-gypsy-not-a-gypsy/">planning policy</a>, <a href="https://www.nursingtimes.net/clinical-archive/public-health/attitudes-towards-gypsy-travellers/5035832.article">nursing</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-39736321">health care</a>, <a href="https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/social-housing-allocations-policy-discriminates-against-travellers-court-rules-57231">housing</a>, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/discriminating-against-gypsies-and-travellers-is-common-across-britain-report-finds-a6919651.html">employment</a> – and even in <a href="https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2018/12/10/Gypsies-and-travellers-regularly-face-discrimination-in-pubs-says-charity">pubs and restaurants</a>.</p>
<p>As an academic of Romany Gypsy heritage, who also researches their contributions to British society, I’m all too aware of the misconceptions about Gypsies, Roma and Travellers that prevail throughout Europe. The positive contributions that Gypsies and Travellers make to the societies they live in are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/15/acceptable-racism-gypsies-travellers-prejudice">often overshadowed</a> by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/11/racism-travellers-gypsies-parliament-mps-poll">negative commentary</a>, or overlooked entirely. </p>
<p>But while Gypsies and Travellers don’t usually figure as charitable givers in books, films or news coverage, Harrop’s actions are not at all unusual for these groups. There are plenty of Gypsy and Traveller families and organisations regularly donating to good causes, both within and beyond their communities: from <a href="https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/news/2018/09/gainsborough-well-woman-group-all-it-together">raising money</a> for <a href="https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/news/2016/01/traveller-charity-walk-great-ormond-street-hospital-makes-little-mary-proud-says-lisa">Great Ormond Street hospital</a> or <a href="https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/news/2016/09/travelling-hope-raises-over-ps3000-childrens-hospice">cancer research</a>, to <a href="https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/news/2018/12/catholic-travellers-give-aid-londons-rough-sleepers-saturday-and-call-out-volunteers">helping rough sleepers</a>. </p>
<p>Indeed, professional heavyweight boxer “Gypsy King” Tyson Fury <a href="http://www.sportbible.com/football/news-reactions-take-a-bow-tyson-fury-to-donate-8-million-purse-to-helping-the-poor-and-homeless-20181202">announced that</a> he will donate the £8m he earned in <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/boxing/2018/12/02/deontay-wilder-vs-tyson-fury-live-round-round-fight-updates/">his recent fight</a> against Deontay Wilder to the UK’s homeless. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250356/original/file-20181213-110246-g40pe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250356/original/file-20181213-110246-g40pe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250356/original/file-20181213-110246-g40pe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250356/original/file-20181213-110246-g40pe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250356/original/file-20181213-110246-g40pe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250356/original/file-20181213-110246-g40pe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250356/original/file-20181213-110246-g40pe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tyson Fury: more than just a boxer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/londonbt-sport-headquarters-united-kingdom10012018-deontay-1192624156?src=Jeu6l31P_q7HhheSiWQQbg-1-0">Vasyl Leibiuk/Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I asked writer Damian Le Bas – whose <a href="https://www.ruralmedia.co.uk/productions/work/oldest-show-road">work investigates</a> skewed media representations of Gypsy and Traveller communities – what he thought about the food bank challenge. He observed that, while charitable giving isn’t a literal, strict cultural obligation for Gypsies and Travellers, it is held in very high regard. “There is a strong belief in both Romany and Irish Traveller culture that you should help the helpless,” he said. </p>
<h2>Come together</h2>
<p>Despite their demonstrable contributions to society, Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities still regularly experience prejudice, hate and discrimination. Sherrie Smith – co-founder and manager of a <a href="http://reportracismgrt.com/">hate-incident reporting</a> and <a href="http://www.gateherts.org.uk/">support service</a> for Travellers – told me that they have received dozens of reports relating to hundreds of hate comments posted in response to news stories about the food bank challenge. </p>
<p>These comments use certain strategies to <a href="https://online.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3828/rs.2014.2">present racist patterns of thought</a> as non-racist, non-discriminatory and rational observations. This includes characterising all Gypsies as criminals and “others” who demand special treatment and legal favouritism. People posting such comments may profess respect, tolerance and even admiration for imagined “authentic” Gypsies elsewhere, while also claiming that those they refer to are not “real” Gypsies at all. </p>
<p>Gypsies and Travellers grow up and live their lives aware of the “<a href="http://www.academia.edu/28572681/Divided_Spaces_An_Examination_of_everyday_racism_and_its_impact_on_young_Travellers_spatial_mobility">stigma of trouble</a>” attached to their identity. As human rights defender Dr Sindy Joyce argues, this leads Gypsies and Travellers to exclude themselves from public spaces, even those where they might be able to to challenge such prejudices. When I first worked with the University of East Anglia’s outreach team to bring a group of young Gypsies and Travellers from local sites onto campus, I was struck by the group’s feedback: “We walked around the university all day, and nobody called us any bad names”.</p>
<p>In the lead up to Christmas, Harrop’s food bank challenge sets an example of generosity and giving that everyone can follow. And in the current climate of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/nov/30/record-number-of-uk-children-excluded-for-racist-bullying">rising intolerance and racial abuse</a>, maybe people should learn a thing or two about what the Gypsies have done, and continue to do, for society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108136/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hazel Marsh is on the executive committee of the Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers (ACERT) </span></em></p>What have Gypsies ever done for the UK? There’s metalwork, art, music, boxing, equine expertise, skilled labour … food bank donations.Hazel Marsh, Senior lecturer, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/365342015-01-22T15:24:14Z2015-01-22T15:24:14ZTo understand the Roma, you need to read their literature<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69754/original/image-20150122-12071-zujz6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Traditional Romani dancing in Spain</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/gypsy/search.html?page=8&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=72972331">Curioso</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>‘Did you go to school?’</p>
<p>‘No, sir, but do not believe that it prevents me from seeing clearly. We too are human beings, I think.’ </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In The Color of Smoke, Hungarian Romani writer Menyhert Lakatos (1926-2007) shows the life of a settlement just before World War II. The novel is filled with amusing anecdotes and razor-sharp observations about the Romani place in society. It presents in an accurate and even anthropological way the daily, sometimes incredible, life of Gypsies in Hungary. It would not be an exaggeration to describe Lakatos as a Romani Proust. </p>
<p>With a population of 10m to 15m, the Romani people live everywhere in the world and form the largest minority in Europe. <a href="http://www.livescience.com/25294-origin-romani-people.html">According to</a> the German novelist Günter Grass, they might be the best Europeans, in that they have always known how to adapt. They have tended to speak both the language of their country and Romany, and to adopt their nation’s religion. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.livescience.com/25294-origin-romani-people.html">Having migrated</a> from the north-eastern part of India centuries ago, one of the distinctive features of the Romani is that they form a minority everywhere. This means that they do not constitute a diaspora (except for the war migrants, such as those the former Yugoslavia). They have been <a href="http://inventionofthejewishpeople.com/">made a people</a> by their common fate, with a little help from the Nazi attitude to minorities. </p>
<p>Yet nowadays, what is the common point between a <a href="http://www.thelocal.es/20131122/the-crisis-makes-spains-gypsies-even-more-invisible">Spanish Gypsy</a>, whose ancestors settled in Spain centuries ago, who only speaks Spanish since the language of his people was banned; a bilingual Romanian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalderash">Kalderash</a> whose ancestors were enslaved in Moldavia and Wallachia for 500 years; and a <a href="http://www.historytoday.com/becky-taylor/britains-gypsy-travellers-people-outside">Gypsy traveller in the UK</a>, where they are part of a tiny nomadic minority?</p>
<p>Their historical, cultural and linguistic differences arguably outweigh what they have in common. This makes it very hard, not to mention discriminatory, to generalise about “the Gypsies” – not that this stops leading figures from doing so, based on nothing but their own ignorance or mistaken beliefs. </p>
<p>These differences become clearer in the literature written by Romani people, which became more widely known from the 20th century onwards. It allows us to listen to unique voices, hear their point of view, and get more accurate information than is likely to otherwise be available. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69794/original/image-20150122-12095-b1lim8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69794/original/image-20150122-12095-b1lim8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69794/original/image-20150122-12095-b1lim8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69794/original/image-20150122-12095-b1lim8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69794/original/image-20150122-12095-b1lim8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69794/original/image-20150122-12095-b1lim8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69794/original/image-20150122-12095-b1lim8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69794/original/image-20150122-12095-b1lim8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria, north England, is one of the renowned meeting places for gypsies and travellers each year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmonk/9018622851/in/photolist-ceJowd-bXmZgi-bXn1Q2-bXmYaF-bXmYQx-eK9ch1-eJWNnr-eJWMH8-ceJqom-ceJmws-bXn1u4-ceJnAs-ceJmSw-ceJq9Y-ceJpc9-ceJmod-bXmYmB-bXmWkc-ceJnDQ-ceJozA-bXmWyD-bXmWUZ-ceJnwu-bXmW1v-bXmXde-ceJqzd-ceJqYb-ceJpyb-ceJmWS-ceJp7h-ceJnnu-ceJnkd-bXmYYT-bXmXfD-ceJoRL-ceJnfo-bXmWPF-ceJpgo-ceJoMG-bXmWeB-bXmZHR-ceJm93-bXmXat-ceJmBA-bXmW4e-ceJnhS-ceJp8y-eK9dV9-877npz-bXmZna">Jim Monk</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Defining Romani writing</h2>
<p>It can be difficult to define Gypsy literature. You can’t place it in a specific geographic area. This makes it independent of national categories, and can create problems with the writing sometimes, since literature tends to invite the imagination of the reader to settle it in a particular space. </p>
<p>Romani writing sometimes suffers from the perception that the people are not indigenous to the country in which they are based. The nomadic stereotypes tend to mean that they can only ever speak as a minority within their country. They are always seen as Romani writers rather than, say, Hungarian or English writers. </p>
<p>Neither can you define it in terms of a common language. Some Romani writers write in <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/508791/Romany-languages">Romany</a>, while many others write in their national language. It is hard to talk in terms of aesthetic similarities, since we are talking about literary works that span most formats, including novels, tales, poetry, prose and plays. </p>
<p>As for a cultural frame of reference, the authors’ cultural universes are as distinct as the countries to which they belong. But reject these other criteria and you can be left only with ethnicity, which risks sounding like discrimination, albeit a positive version, and miserably reduces the author to his work. </p>
<p>While it is impossible to deny that these people belong to a nation – their own nation – the best antidote to trying to over-classify them as one homogeneous group is to read what they have to say. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69557/original/image-20150120-24465-1iwltfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69557/original/image-20150120-24465-1iwltfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69557/original/image-20150120-24465-1iwltfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69557/original/image-20150120-24465-1iwltfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69557/original/image-20150120-24465-1iwltfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69557/original/image-20150120-24465-1iwltfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69557/original/image-20150120-24465-1iwltfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69557/original/image-20150120-24465-1iwltfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Romani trumpeteers in Greece.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=u-YjdX-PfM2RYqvKv6JWpQ&searchterm=romani&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=148436168">dinosmichail</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What kind of writings?</h2>
<p>It is striking how almost all literary works by Gypsy writers include in their speeches the voice of the other, and their prejudices. Both educational and defensive, this allows the “gadzo”, or non-Gypsy reader, to enter the work more easily.</p>
<p>Many texts are life stories, placing them at the limit of literature. Other stories are notable by their banality, but this is precisely what makes them interesting: because Gypsies are not usually represented as being part of the ordinary, this can make for extraordinary writing. </p>
<p>Through Gypsy eyes, the protagonists are for once not immediately branded as different, weird or foreign. They are not Romani in the plural of a confused set of people supposed to be all alike, but singular and subjective instead. They are men and women first of all, who are also Gypsies. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69558/original/image-20150120-24441-dbe0nr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69558/original/image-20150120-24441-dbe0nr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69558/original/image-20150120-24441-dbe0nr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69558/original/image-20150120-24441-dbe0nr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69558/original/image-20150120-24441-dbe0nr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69558/original/image-20150120-24441-dbe0nr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69558/original/image-20150120-24441-dbe0nr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69558/original/image-20150120-24441-dbe0nr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ceija Stojka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ceija_Stojka_Wien2008.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Ceija_Stojka_Wien2008.jpg">Manfred Werner</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many texts also enable Gypsy people to rework a collective past that national histories continue to forget and almost deny. <a href="http://www.theromanielders.org/elders/2/4/">Ceija Stojka</a> and <a href="http://romove.radio.cz/en/clanek/18396">Philomena Franz</a> tell the story of their years in the Nazi death camps, for instance. <a href="http://wordswithoutborders.org/contributor/magda-szecsi">Magda Szécsi</a> in Hungary speaks about how Romani where treated during the Soviet era. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.cairn.info/resume.php?ID_ARTICLE=TSIG_037_0118">Coucou Doerr</a> tells of his Gitana life between France and Spain during World War II. <a href="http://www.theromanielders.org/elders/2/12/">Sandra Jayat</a> tells of her bohemian life in Paris in the 1960s. <a href="http://rombase.uni-graz.at/cgi-bin/art.cgi?src=data/pers/maximoff.en.xml">Mateo Maximoff</a> uses the testimony of his ancestors <a href="http://www.depechestsiganes.fr/mateo-maximoff-chantre-des-cultures-tsiganes/">to describe</a> the Gypsy slavery that lasted five centuries (until 1865) in the very heart of Europe. </p>
<p>The only way to grasp what I’m talking about is to read these writers. They are not books about Gypsies (always with that indifferent plural), but books in which authors speak on behalf of themselves. It will make your convictions flicker, change your view of the world, and give you a good read too.</p>
<h2>Top three Romani books</h2>
<ul>
<li>Menyhert Lakatos <a href="http://www.lovelybooks.de/autor/Menyhert-Lakatos/The-Color-of-Smoke-An-Epic-Novel-of-the-Roma-1115953000-t/">The Color of Smoke</a> </li>
<li>Ceija Stojka <a href="http://www.artbook.com/9783869840833.html">Even Death is Afraid of Auschwitz</a></li>
<li> Various <a href="http://www.herts.ac.uk/about-us/corporate-governance/our-structure/subsidiary-companies/uh-press/romani-studies/the-roads-of-the-roma">The Roads of the Roma: A Pen Anthology of Gypsy Writers</a></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36534/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cécile Kovacshazy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The only way to understand the Roma is to read their literature – it allows the authors to speak for themselves, and can change your perceptions.Cécile Kovacshazy, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, Université de LimogesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/259332014-04-25T05:18:17Z2014-04-25T05:18:17ZEurope’s hidden shame: Romani Nazi death camps barely merit signposts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47018/original/qjpbjn8w-1398345721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Europe's untouchables: the Roma and Sinti</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kristinaulmer/4815485236/in/photolist-36WAp4-DckTv-7WpPbs-aqgcT7-6PnMvh-8ct79x-dvjKmw-iDBHUY-6kqwjN-cZv4Cw-nh9wxY-5UKPvp-C4ef9-kzo9nT-czfENu-kfGoCe-5SampL-6ud6z8-82V6od-8kwBZw-b48pQ-bMwp2H-GvChK-6aD3ey-2ATA1x-8ct8wR-ao1VdE-JwJdW-5Scsqw-8FoaTm-2J9sfs-6QqzJV-2J58Pt-CoF3n-644qA9-8dQzXm-91tAcS-4tSj7s-CoF33-6QPqob-z3Fkr-jt8Hdg-4ufvjg-7yFQKG-2jCrFi-dgvDSs-dgvCvT-5Vv5Bc-d6Zsi-4fk3BZ">Kristina Ulmer</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gypsies, tinkers, pikeys, travellers – everyone knows the terms, not to mention the even more derogatory ones. The <a href="http://www.sintiundroma.de/en/sinti-roma.html">Roma and Sinti people</a> have been the subject of prejudice and discrimination in Europe for centuries. </p>
<p>This has ranged from gypsy hunts in 16th century Bohemia, to incarceration and extermination under the Nazi regime, to present day discrimination against a population of more than 12 million people across Europe. </p>
<p>In the UK, <a href="http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/1402/Prejudice-Rife-As-Stonewall-Launches-New-Project-To-Combat-Discrimination.aspx">a third of residents said in a survey</a> a few years ago that they were prejudiced against gypsies, travellers and Eastern European Romani. This scale of bigotry pervades much of Europe. </p>
<p><a href="http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/people/victroma.htm">Somewhere between 220,000 and 500,000</a> Roma and Sinti people are estimated to have lost their lives during the World War II. This imprecise statistic is a deliberate result of the disregard given to the process of forced labour and extermination that they went through.</p>
<h2>The people beneath the Jews</h2>
<p>In Nazi racist ideology such people were beneath contempt and considered to be worth less than Jews, so they did not see a need to record their incarceration or death. The lack of detailed record by an otherwise fastidious and technically obsessed regime is one of the reasons for the absence in history and concentration camp museums of the gypsy holocaust, or <em>porrajmos</em>, as the Romani call it. </p>
<p>Of the concentration camp sites across many of the countries that the Third Reich successfully invaded and annexed during World War II, there are few signs of the places where the Roma and Sinti were incarcerated and the vast majority lost their lives. It would seem that even remembrance is denied to a culture where the oral rather than written tradition is more common in recounting history. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/DARK-TOURISM-FOLEY-LENNON/dp/0826450644">My own research</a> into the field known as dark tourism – the attraction by visitors to sites of death, destruction and mass killing – has recognised the enduring attraction of concentration camps and sites associated with the Nazi holocaust. </p>
<p>These sites exist to preserve a memorial and educate future generations about the mistakes of the past. Their preservation is normally linked to education, promoting future tolerance and understanding. Auschwitz, near Krakow in Poland records more than one million visitors per year; and Sachsenhausen, just north of Berlin achieves close to 400,000 visitors every year. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47016/original/c4wnjngn-1398344998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47016/original/c4wnjngn-1398344998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47016/original/c4wnjngn-1398344998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47016/original/c4wnjngn-1398344998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47016/original/c4wnjngn-1398344998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47016/original/c4wnjngn-1398344998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47016/original/c4wnjngn-1398344998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Lety camp only has this sign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Lennon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The limited number of sites associated with the gypsy holocaust has also been the subject of exploratory work. For example the remains of so-called gypsy camps in many parts of the Czech Republic – where there was a significant Roma and Sinti population prior to the war – have been lost and their locations are rarely commemorated. Indeed, <a href="http://www.holocaust.cz/en/history/camps/lety">Lety Concentration Camp</a>, one of the largest Roma and Sinti camps is commemorated by a single sign (in Czech) and just one interpretive board. </p>
<p>The site of this former camp is now covered by a sprawling industrial pig farm and pork processing plant established after the war and of such a scale that there is no vestige of the former buildings. <a href="http://www.antifa.cz/content/czech-roma-holocaust">Czech nationals collaborated and participated</a> in identifying and incarcerating Roma and Sinti, but this dark period of the country’s history is a narrative that is yet to find a proper voice.</p>
<h2>Echoes of the past</h2>
<p>This lack of commemoration and concern is not limited to the past. In contemporary Europe, Roma and Sinti still suffer discrimination and prejudice. It is notable that the European Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg <a href="http://www.romea.cz/en/news/world/the-shameful-history-of-anti-gypsism-is-forgotten-and-repeated">declared in 2008</a>, “today’s rhetoric against the Roma is very similar to the one used by Nazis and fascists …” </p>
<p>Roma and Sinti <a href="http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/looking-past-poverty-life-roma-ghettos">often live in ghetto-like conditions</a> around Europe. Their settlements are characterised by crumbling infrastructure, high rates of unemployment, low educational participation and poor levels of educational attainment.</p>
<p>In the UK between 75,000 and 300,000 gypsies and travellers <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181669/DFE-RR043.pdf">are functionally illiterate</a>. The average school leaving age <a href="http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/news/roma-children-spread-the-word-on-their-culture">is under 13 years</a> and the propensity for depression and other mental health problems <a href="http://romasupportgroup.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Roma-Mental-Health-Advocacy-Project-Evaluation-Report.pdf">is 20 times higher than the norm</a>. Domestic abuse is common and infant mortality rates are among the nation’s highest. </p>
<p>This depressing and tragic evidence of discrimination has set these peoples apart from much of Europe for centuries. Their problems and issues go largely unreported and even their tragic past is either partially ignored or deliberately overlooked. </p>
<p>It has been said that until a nation can confront the very worst of its past, it cannot progress and grow. Here we have a tragedy that is both part of our shared past and a real element of our present. This excluded and oppressed minority require both a voice and our urgent attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Lennon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gypsies, tinkers, pikeys, travellers – everyone knows the terms, not to mention the even more derogatory ones. The Roma and Sinti people have been the subject of prejudice and discrimination in Europe…John Lennon, Director of Moffat Centre for Travel and Tourism Business Development and Vice Dean for Glasgow School for Business and Society, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.