Traveller Night
Monday, 28 June 2004 at 7:30PM
Grand Banks Occupied Social Centre
158 Fortess Rd, Tufnell Park Tube

Film about the plight of Travellers in the UK
Open Discussion
Dinner

Travellers face increasing pressure and opposition from local councils to leave the land that they have bought and maintained in good faith. The government urged them to stop living on council land. So, they began buying land to live on in the 1980s. Travellers have made every effort to compromise with governemnt pressure. Buying land was done with the intention to give their children some stability, security, and long-term education. Now, they are repeatedly evicted from their own land – land that they paid for is reposessed from them – regularly leaving them homeless and adrift with nowhere else to go. All Travellers seek is to maintain their way of life.

The BNP (British National Party) has explicitly targetted Travellers in their campaign platforms, saying 'BNP councillors will press for the power to immediately evict travellers/ gypsies from
private [ed note: ie land they own themselves] or council lands...' (source: BNP 2004 Council Elections Manifesto @  http://www.bnp.org.uk/elections/elections2004/manifesto/manifesto_2004_9.htm) The far right British National Party has made strides in the most recent election, with 788,773 votes - a share of 5.16%. Poll results suggest the party's support is not necessarily the product of low turnouts as sometimes argued. (source: BBC News website)

In Epping and Bradford the BNP made further gains in the most recent elections, gaining 3 seats in Loughton. Days after the election families at Payne's Lane faced immediate eviction. In Epping specifically - an area that is home to many Traveller sites - the BNP pledged to 'evict Gypsies immediately'. Some of the local Travellers have lived on their own land at Paynes Lane and Lower Nazeing for fourteen years and now face eviction. The BNP's failure to make a major breakthrough electorally is partly due to a campaign against them, but also due to the vote split caused by UKIP. UKIP has been referred to as 'BNP Lite' and also holds arguably racist stances on issues like Travellers and immigrants.

At this time more than ever we need to stand in support of Traveller communities and all groups targetted by racist policies. For more information or to receive regular updates, email  nooneisillegal2003@yahoo.co.uk or phone 07800647216.

Links:
 http://www.irr.org.uk/
 http://www.gypsy-traveller.org/
 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/patrin.htm