Category: ACERT

Last week the veteran Romani writer, activist and musician, Dr.Ronald Lee died. His funeral is on 29th January 2020, in Canada.

Of his background and early education, of both Rom and Romanichal heritage, I heard various accounts, not least from himself. His life became public when, while working as a museum curator he wrote the semi-autobiographical novel “Goddam Gypsy”, which, along with his articles in the dying days of the Third Series of the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, showed the most intricate and nuanced knowledge of the great variety of Romani communities in Canada. 

After finishing his novel he went to England in around 1969 to try to join in the great adventure of the new Romani politics of the Comite International Rom. He found this somewhat disillusioning; he had always been both a cultural and linguistic nationalist and an advocate of Romanestan, and the struggle for caravan sites for Romanichals in England and for civil rights for Rudari in Paris, which were the main practical activities of the CIR at that time, did not enthuse him.  He did however work with Donald Kenrick to produce what is still the easiest and most effective primer for learning Vlach Romani. (Learn Romani, UHP press) and spend time with Jim Penfold in his house in Battersea. He became a fast friend of the old London Roma, who were related to the Roma he had worked and lived with in Canada.

Disillusioned with both the Gypsy Council and the Gypsy Lore Society, he decided to return to Canada in 1970, in time for the actual publication of his novel, and following that earned a living for the rest of his career as a journalist. He remained the representative of the CIR, and sent a voice recording of his poem “Angla Mande Dui Droma”, about the agonising dilemmas of the educated Rom to the first world Romani Congress in 1971. I remember the awed silence as his sonorous, absent voice echoed around the school dining hall in which the congress was held.

He visited England occasionally as a journalist; I remember Mr W.R. Rishi and his sons hosting a dinner for him in Croydon  where I and his fellow-journalist David Altheer of the Times were present – Mr Rishi put photographs of us all, looking so much younger than today, in the journal Roma. But the bulk of the 1980s were a period of disillusion with the perennial failure of Romani politics, and of too much reliance on alcohol to dull the pain.

All that changed when Roma refugees began to come to Canada after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. One Canadian Roma activist started a small organisation to help asylum seekers and went to Ron and begged him to get involved again. And he did! It was as though his whole life had been a preparation for this moment. His intricate knowledge of the comfortable, settled, Canadian Romani communities meant that he could go to them, and had the right words to tell them that they could not remain silent when ignorant gajo Canadian politicians were unleashing floods of poisonous racist rhetoric on East European Roma fleeing the racism which the fall of communism had unleashed.  He knew the answers, and could pass them on to the younger generation of Canadian Romani intellectuals, and he could do the cultural politics of music and art which could engage the immigrant Roma.

In the 1990s he came to be what he had always wanted to be, an authentic hero of the Romani revolution, rekindling the networking and intellectual energy of his youth. But whereas in 1970, his message to the old London Roma had been “Stay hidden, stay safe from the anti-Gypsyism which plagues the Travellers” his message now was that the Romani bourgeoisie could not dare stay safe and hidden when other Roma across the world were being beaten, killed, robbed and marginalised just because they were Roma.

He not only wrote more, but taught a university course on Romani Studies in Toronto for some years, and was given, to the applause of the Romani political world, an honorary doctorate. Thanks in great part to him, the Romani political and cultural struggle in Canada is an example to the whole world. His years in the wilderness were essential preparation for his years of achievement. We miss him, but his writings, recordings and spirit stay with us.

Thomas Acton – ACERT Trustee

A  pioneering pilot research project into the psychological effects of hate crime on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities is underway. 

Take part and have your say by completing this short survey here: https://bucks.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/a-pilot-research-project-into-the-psychological-effect-of-2

The project  aims to  establish an evidence base for the significant anecdotal evidence that highlights the ‘ripple effect’ of experiencing hate crime on mental health. In particular it has been suggested that repeated exposure to hate crime may be implicated in high incidences of suicide (or para-suicide) within Gypsy, Roma and Traveller  communities.

Buckinghamshire New University are undertaking this pilot research project for community led organisation GATEHerts. The project has been funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee (MCHLG). 

ACERT would like to wish our members, friends and supporters a peaceful and prosperous new year.

We’d like to …. but it’s not easy to feel optimistic.

The re-election of a Tory government, on a manifesto which ignores the thoughtful recommendations of the Women and Equalities Sub-Committee and instead promise new laws to make lives of families living on the roadside more difficult, gives us no encouragement.

Brexit with its undertones of nationalism and xenophobia threatens Roma migrants in the UK and also fuels racism And intolerance which can impact on all of us. Austerity may be coming to an end, but the increase in inequalities and child poverty it created are likely to linger on.

Nevertheless, ACERT has plans for 2020 which we hope will make a difference. They centre around our networks conference to be held in Manchester in June.

We recognise that very few families and teachers of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children have anywhere to turn for advice and encouragement. Our aim is to build self-help networks for parents, teachers and students, with the conference being the opportunity to identify potential users, understand what are the challenges they face and to plan and design the networks with them.

We have applied for a small grant to enable us to part-fund the event and to pay for some initial development work. We are also writing an online parents guide (downloadable and printable, for those without online access) and we will continue to work with other organisations in any way we can to challenge discrimination and create opportunities for our young people.

Wishing you all the very best for the upcoming year. Together we can make a difference!

The Guardian publishes Lisa Smith’s letter supporting George Monbiot’s article condemning Priti Patel’s consultation on the extension of police powers against unauthorised camps.

Lisa wrote:

George Monbiot is correct to call out Priti Patel for playing the race card in the run-up to the election (Journal, 14 November). In April, the House of Commons women and equalities committee concluded its inquiry into the inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. It concluded that “Leadership from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government … has been lacking” and called on the Cabinet Office “to create a specific work stream for eliminating Gypsy and Traveller inequalities”.

Unauthorised camping is a symptom of the lack of a coherent strategy across government, local and national. The Criminal Justice Act 1994 criminalised unauthorised camping and gave the police extensive powers. It didn’t solve the problem, and neither will the proposals in the consultation. In fact, in response to Dominic Raab’s consultation launched in 2018, around powers for dealing with unauthorised Gypsy and Traveller camps, the National Police Chiefs Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners rejected calls for a clampdown on unauthorised sites and said “criminalisation of Travellers was not the answer”. It instead called for a “significant increase” in the number of permanent and temporary sites across the country.

The women and equalities inquiry was a serious and thorough effort to improve the situation for the benefit of everyone. This consultation, with its online survey app format and leading questions, is just the opposite.

Lisa Smith Chair, The Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers

This eminently sensible and reasonable approach stands in stark contrast to the Conservatives’ same old law and order response.

We will tackle unauthorised traveller camps. We will give the
police new powers to arrest and seize the property and vehicles of trespassers who set up unauthorised encampments, in order to protect our communities. We will make intentional trespass a criminal offence, and we will also give councils greater powers within the planning system.

Tory manifesto (p.19)

ACERT EC discussed a request from Adrian Jones – Policy Officer, National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups – to respond as individuals and as an organisation.

…. the more responses we can encourage the better. If the Government wants to play the numbers game let’s outnumber them.

Adrian Jones

EC members who had completed the questionnaire as individuals commented on its subjective nature and amateur format. They felt that ACERT shouldn’t complete the questionnaire because it would be “…tantamount to collaborating with the Nazis.” Instead we will draft a letter to the Home Secretary, along the lines of Lisa’s to the Guardian, and encourage other organisations to sign it.