Never again - Until Tomorrow
Grattan Puxon | 31.01.2005 04:34 | Migration | Repression | London
Bare-headed in the snow-covered camp Romani Rose, a leading spokesman for Europe's 10 million Roma at the Aushwitz commemoration yesterday, gave us a grim glimpse of the past and an impassioned warning for the future.
He said the steep rise in racism across Europe had again brought to the surface those dark elements which 70 years ago led by steps to the 'final solution'.
The beginnings of another samudaripen (genocide) are alread discernible, says Marcel Courthiade, of the International Romani Union. "Hitler is still here, well hidden under fair smiles."
At London's official commemoration, Prime Minister Tony Blair urged us to "work towards a world free of such prejudices".
Outside Parliament, a hundred people, Roma and Travellers, stood in the cold to tell him that in the UK today up to 30,000 face eviction from their own land while 10,000 live in fear of Immigration snatch squads and mass deportation.
"For Roma the hatred that brought us to Auschwitz," commented Toma Nikoleaff, vice-president of TERF, "is not a thing of the past."
Holding up a large Romani flag, one protester admitted he was himself an illegal immigrant. "I'll be legal as soon as Bulgaria becomes a member of the EU. Now I feel they're hunting us down like a rats."
He said he'd heard the Home Office has set monthly quotas which its snatch squads have to fill. They are picking on Romani families as a soft target.
Charles Smith, chair of the Gypsy Council joined the rally for a moment before taking his seat in Westminster Hall. He met briefly with the 40 women and teenagers from Dale Farm who later delivered their own petition to 10 Downing Street.
Margaret Slattery, a refugee from Twin Oaks, took a set of ten individual letters each asking Mr Blair to intervene to save their homes from destruction on l3 May, the deadline for the 'clearance' of this large settlement in Essex.
Among the parents of pupils at Crays Hill Primary School, Mary Sheridan said they would not allow Basildon council to close the school without a fight. The 70 children from Dale Farm make up more than 95% of those presently attending.
"Our children have a right to education," she said. "Forcing them to leave school is what Hitler was doing to the Gypsy kids years ago."
Men from Hamlet Hill, another private caravan park expecting eviction this summer, stood stoney faced as the Queen's limousine drove by. Threatening them is Epping Forest District Council which includes four members of the neo-facist British National Party. This council recently blocked Romani-owned land at Paynes Land and plans to evict Birchfield caravan park in the near future.
Actor Corin Redgrave told a television crew he was appalled by what is happening to Travellers around the UK. He said it seemed to him the lessons of the Nazi era had not been learnt though lip-service was being paid to the notion of expunging prejudice from British society.
"Racism is rapant," Redgrave said. "People are seeing their homes bulldozed. Police and bailiffs are treating them like criminals over an infringement of planning regulations."
No other ethnic group in Britain is ill-treated and bullied in this manner, Redgrave added.
Radio Essex and Radio Kent covered the event. as did Radio Scotland. But the print media largely ignored the voice of the Travellers. The Evening Standard carried a banner headline 'NEVER AGAIN' over a huge picture of Auschwitz.
On an inside page was a small news item headed 'New gipsy curb' announcing that 'John Prescott today promised local authorities new powers to evict gipsies from illegal encampments'. At the same time, the item said, the Deputy Prime Minister rejected calls from MPs for councils to provide permanent sites for gipsy camps.
The beginnings of another samudaripen (genocide) are alread discernible, says Marcel Courthiade, of the International Romani Union. "Hitler is still here, well hidden under fair smiles."
At London's official commemoration, Prime Minister Tony Blair urged us to "work towards a world free of such prejudices".
Outside Parliament, a hundred people, Roma and Travellers, stood in the cold to tell him that in the UK today up to 30,000 face eviction from their own land while 10,000 live in fear of Immigration snatch squads and mass deportation.
"For Roma the hatred that brought us to Auschwitz," commented Toma Nikoleaff, vice-president of TERF, "is not a thing of the past."
Holding up a large Romani flag, one protester admitted he was himself an illegal immigrant. "I'll be legal as soon as Bulgaria becomes a member of the EU. Now I feel they're hunting us down like a rats."
He said he'd heard the Home Office has set monthly quotas which its snatch squads have to fill. They are picking on Romani families as a soft target.
Charles Smith, chair of the Gypsy Council joined the rally for a moment before taking his seat in Westminster Hall. He met briefly with the 40 women and teenagers from Dale Farm who later delivered their own petition to 10 Downing Street.
Margaret Slattery, a refugee from Twin Oaks, took a set of ten individual letters each asking Mr Blair to intervene to save their homes from destruction on l3 May, the deadline for the 'clearance' of this large settlement in Essex.
Among the parents of pupils at Crays Hill Primary School, Mary Sheridan said they would not allow Basildon council to close the school without a fight. The 70 children from Dale Farm make up more than 95% of those presently attending.
"Our children have a right to education," she said. "Forcing them to leave school is what Hitler was doing to the Gypsy kids years ago."
Men from Hamlet Hill, another private caravan park expecting eviction this summer, stood stoney faced as the Queen's limousine drove by. Threatening them is Epping Forest District Council which includes four members of the neo-facist British National Party. This council recently blocked Romani-owned land at Paynes Land and plans to evict Birchfield caravan park in the near future.
Actor Corin Redgrave told a television crew he was appalled by what is happening to Travellers around the UK. He said it seemed to him the lessons of the Nazi era had not been learnt though lip-service was being paid to the notion of expunging prejudice from British society.
"Racism is rapant," Redgrave said. "People are seeing their homes bulldozed. Police and bailiffs are treating them like criminals over an infringement of planning regulations."
No other ethnic group in Britain is ill-treated and bullied in this manner, Redgrave added.
Radio Essex and Radio Kent covered the event. as did Radio Scotland. But the print media largely ignored the voice of the Travellers. The Evening Standard carried a banner headline 'NEVER AGAIN' over a huge picture of Auschwitz.
On an inside page was a small news item headed 'New gipsy curb' announcing that 'John Prescott today promised local authorities new powers to evict gipsies from illegal encampments'. At the same time, the item said, the Deputy Prime Minister rejected calls from MPs for councils to provide permanent sites for gipsy camps.
Grattan Puxon