Child Maid Trafficking Spreads From Africa to U.S.

Child Slaves: Trafficking in Underage Maids Reaches U.S. From Africa, Where It Is Widespread

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI Associated Press Writer
IRVINE, Calif. December 28, 2008 (AP) The Associated Press

Late at night, the neighbors saw a little girl at the kitchen sink of the house next door. They watched through their window as the child rinsed plates under the open faucet. She wasn't much taller than the counter and the soapy water swallowed her slender arms.

To put the dishes away, she climbed on a chair.

But she was not the daughter of the couple next door doing chores. She was their maid.

Shyima was 10 when a wealthy Egyptian couple brought her from a poor village in northern Egypt to work in their California home. She awoke before dawn and often worked past midnight to iron their clothes, mop the marble floors and dust the family's crystal. She earned $45 a month working up to 20 hours a day. She had no breaks during the day and no days off.

The trafficking of children for domestic labor in the U.S. is an extension of an illegal but common practice in Africa. Families in remote villages send their daughters to work in cities for extra money and the opportunity to escape a dead-end life. Some girls work for free on the understanding that they will at least be better fed in the home of their employer.

The custom has led to the spread of trafficking, as well-to-do Africans accustomed to employing children immigrate to the U.S. Around one-third of the estimated 10,000 forced laborers in the United States are servants trapped behind the curtains of suburban homes, according to a study by the National Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley and Free the Slaves, a nonprofit group. No one can say how many are children, especially since their work can so easily be masked as chores.

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Sex slavery: Living the American nightmare

By Alex Johnson and Cesar Rodriguez
Reporters
msnbc.com and Telemundo
updated 8:07 a.m. ET, Mon., Dec. 22, 2008

When FBI and immigration agents arrested a 28-year-old Guatemalan woman three months ago in Los Angeles, they announced that they had shut down one of the most elaborate sex trafficking rings in the country. It was also the family business.

The woman, Maribel Rodriguez Vasquez, was the sixth member of her family to be rounded up in the two-year multi-agency investigation. Vasquez, five of her relatives and three other Guatemalan nationals were charged with 50 counts, alleging that they lured at least a dozen young women — including five minors as young as 13 years old — to the United States with promises of good jobs, only to put them to work as prostitutes. All remain in custody as investigators attempt to unravel the complex case.

Vasquez — quickly dubbed the “L.A. Madam” — attracted attention because she had been featured on the fugitive-hunting television program “America’s Most Wanted.” But it was one of only a few such cases to be spotlighted by national media, contributing to the false impression that cases of immigrant sex trafficking are isolated incidents, law enforcement officials and advocates for immigrants say.

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Gypsy and Traveller sites to be set up

The government has allocated more than a third of a £21 million fund for Gypsies and Travellers to creating new sites.

Over £7 million of the 2009/10 fund, which is aimed at preventing unauthorised encampments, will be spent on new sites. These will be set up in the south west, east of England, south east, and north west. London, and the midlands will only see modifications to existing sites.

Announcing the funding junior housing minister Iain Wright said: ‘The problem of unauthorised camping and the tensions it can cause will only be tackled through sufficient provision of well-managed, authorised sites, coupled with effective enforcement.

‘Site provision helps reduce the need for enforcement action…which costs around £18 million a year.’

Steve Staines, planning worker for Friends, Families and Travellers, said much of the previous rounds of funding went on site refurbishments rather than new sites.

‘The problem is this time [with] 36 per cent going to new sites, if they’re provided by local authorities at around £100,000 a pitch, this isn’t going to provide very much of the grand total of what’s needed, so we have a shortfall that the Homes and Communities Agency needs to look at,’ he said.

He added that more creative ways of using the money should be adopted, such as those put forward in Gypsy and Traveller development plans by Epping Forest. This includes suggestions made to the HCA on introducing self builds and shared ownership on sites.

Declan Carroll, chief executive of Cara Housing Association, is expecting to receive some of the funding. He said the development of new sites is slow as many local authorities have only just finished needs assessments, and there is often local opposition to sites.

Downturn Boosts Far-Right Groups

5:09pm UK, Tuesday December 23, 2008

Greg Milam, Europe correspondent

Far-right groups across Europe could be gaining support as the financial meltdown continues.

The warning comes at a time of increased racist violence and attacks on gypsy communities across Europe.

A far-right group called the Hungarian Guard, which has been accused of persecuting gypsies, says it will defy attempts to ban it, as governments become increasingly concerned at the rise of the right.

It is feared that extremist parties could make significant gains in European elections next June, particularly in eastern European countries.

In an interview with Sky News, a senior member of Hungary's right-wing Jobbik party said the financial crisis was making people look to parties they might once have called extremist.

Zsolt Varkonyi said: "They realise that they have been lied to by our leaders, our politicians, our economic experts, so perhaps it is time for them to listen to us.

Jobbik also defends its official links with Hungarian Guard. "It was formed because there is no security in Hungary for people in villages; they are robbed and they are killed.

"Talking about the image is just scratching the surface. What they wear, how they look, it's not really important."

Hungary has been among the countries hardest hit by the financial crisis. The government was forced to turn to the international community for an emergency bail-out.

Hungary has established its first national police force to deal specifically with crimes against the Roma gypsy community.

Political analyst Krisztian Szabados told Sky News: "We expect that public support for right wing extremists, which has been around 1%, will rise to at least 7%. We expect violent clashes between right-wing extremists and the gypsy population."

There have also been significant increases in violent racist attacks reported in the Czech Republic and Italy.

Traveller site to get cash boost

A traveller site in Leicester will have more pitches and better living conditions after receiving nearly £36,000 of government funding.

Communities minister Iain Wright said the Meynells Gorse site would be refurbished.

Leicester City Council has been awarded the cash as part of the government's Gypsy and Travellers Sites Grant.

Those living on the new authorised pitches will pay rent, council tax and all other utility bills.

Mr Wright said: "The Gypsy and Traveller Sites grant is crucial to the delivery of both new and better sites to ensure that Gypsies and travellers have authorised, decent places to live.

"The problem of unauthorised camping and the tensions it can cause will only be tackled through sufficient provision of well-managed, authorised sites, coupled with effective enforcement action."

It is hoped that the funding will help reduce the costs of enforcing against unauthorised sites, which costs local authorities about £18m a year.

£2.5m funding for work at Gypsy site

Dec 22 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

A GOVERNMENT minister has announced almost £2.5m funding to improve a Gypsy site in County Durham.

East Howle site near Ferryhill will be extended and refurbished, Communities Minister Iain Wright announced yesterday. It was one of a number of successful bidders for funding from the Gypsy and Traveller Sites Grant in 2008/9 to provide new pitches to reduce unauthorised camping, and help improve conditions on existing authorised sites.

The funding will enable local authorities and registered social landlords to provide new authorised pitches for residents who will pay rent, council tax and other utility bills.

It is also designed to help reduce the costs of enforcing against unauthorised sites – it is estimated that this costs local authorities around £18m a year.

In the North East, £2.4m of Gypsy and Traveller Sites Grant has been allocated to East Howle. Mr Wright said: “The problem of unauthorised camping and the tensions it can cause will only be tackled through sufficient provision of well-managed, authorised sites, coupled with effective enforcement action.”

The funding announcement comes just over a year after a report commissioned by Durham County Council, landlords of East Howle, found that more permanent sites were needed in the county.

Additional temporary stop-overs for families ‘passing through’ the county should also be considered, it added, and Durham County Council’s six existing sites should be urgently refurbished.

German memorial for Gypsy victims of Nazis

Fri Dec 19, 10:41 am ET

(AP) BERLIN – Germany has started building a memorial to about 500,000 Gypsies persecuted by the Nazis.

Construction on the square well in Berlin's central Tiergarten park follows 16 years of debate among leading groups representing Germany's Gypsies, or Sinti and Roma. It is due to be completed in 2009.

Romani Rose, leader of Germany's Central Council for Sinti and Roma, spoke at Friday's groundbreaking ceremony. Rose praised the government for "recognizing its historical responsibility for those Gypsies who were persecuted under the Nazis."

Some 220,000 to 500,000 Gypsies were killed during the Holocaust. Berlin also has memorials to Jews and gay victims killed by the Nazis.

Warwickshire parents remove children from school after gypsy camp is set up nearby

Dec 19 2008 by Christina Savvas, Birmingham Post

Angry parents removed their children from a Warwickshire school because they felt threatened after a group of gypsies set up camp in their village.

The travellers caused uproar when they arrived on the rural site at Darlingscott, near Shipston-on-Stour, next to the home of Olympic minister Tessa Jowell, during the Easter bank holiday.

After a nine-month battle by the local council to evict them, a three-day public enquiry into whether the camp can remain ended at Stratford-upon-Avon Town Hall yesterday.

The travellers’ families, who lodged an appeal against eviction, said they bought 16 plots on the site in October 2007 for £20,000 each. But Stratford-on-Avon District Council refused planning permission for the camp and secured an injunction to stop any more people going onto the site and halt building work.

Coun Christopher Saint said: “There was a lot of local concern when the gypsies arrived. They felt compromised by the sudden appearance and felt it created a negative impact on the community. Several parents removed children and transferred them to other schools.”

Coun Michael Hutchins, of Tredington Parish Council, added: “The junior school has had 11 children from the travelling community with potentially another 21 of school age and three pregnant mothers. If they have to take all these children in one go they would not be able to cope.”

He raised concerns about pollution, flooding and dangerous driving.

Paul Cairnes, barrister for the local authority, said allowing the site to remain would be harmful to the rural area. He said Ernest Wilson, who lodged an appeal against the decision to remove the families resulting in the public inquiry, failed to demonstrate the site would meet a need in the district as identified in the Gypsy Travellers Accommodation Assessment.

The team acting for the gypsies said they had a right to permanent residency.

Barrister Michael Rudd said: “What do you expect them to do? Move them down a mile then they move back a mile. It becomes a never ending problem. There is a clear and undisputed significant regional need for additional pitch provision. The personal need of the appellants is also recognised. The appellants perhaps unusually in such cases have attempted to engage in consultation and were ultimately forced to move onto the appeal site in a last resort.”

During the enquiry members of the gypsy community told of their desire to settle permanently on the site so they could educate their children.

Hungary's far-right to defy court

A far-right group in Hungary accused of persecuting the Roma (Gypsies) minority has said it will defy a court order banning the organisation.

The Hungarian Guard Association said it was a movement not a party and could not be dissolved by a court order.

The organisation regularly marches in uniform through Roma-populated areas in protest at what it calls "Gypsy crime".

On Tuesday, a Budapest court ordered the group to be dismantled for racial discrimination against the Roma.

The Hungarian government and Roma groups welcomed the verdict.

But the Guard Association - which claims to have 1,500 adherents - said it would continue its activities as before.

The group's president, Gabor Vona, told the BBC that the court ruling was a blow to Hungarian democracy.

"As with all previous attacks, this will only increase the number of our recruits," Mr Vona said.

Critics say the association - which was formed last year - is fascist, but its supporters describe it as patriotic.

Budapest court rules to dissolve paramilitary Hungarian Guard

The Budapest Municipal Court ruled on Tuesday to dissolve the right wing paramilitary Hungarian Guard.

The court judge, while explaining the decision, referred to a march staged by the group last December in Tatarszentgyorgy and said that speeches about "Gypsy crime" made during the event had insulted the dignity of the local Roma minority, the Hungarian News Agency MTI reported.

The judge said that Hungary's public dignitaries and the parliamentary parties had all condemned the event and such speeches.

The general public might be misled to get an impression that "here comes the Guard and it will restore order," which cannot be accepted under the constitution, the judge said.

Triggering fear in itself was a violation to the rights of others, the judge said.

Gabor Vona, chairman of the Hungarian Guard, said that his group would appeal against the rule.

Bush administration takes parting shot at endangered wildlife

Last minute Endangered Species Act regulations put nation's wildlife at risk of extinction

WASHINGTON—Rushing to put in place changes it failed to secure in the past eight years, the Bush administration has finalized new Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulations today, cutting huge holes in the safety net that protects animals and plants in danger of becoming extinct.

First proposed by the Department of the Interior a little over three months ago, the new regulations will eliminate the requirement that agencies seek advice from expert biologists with federal wildlife agencies in decisions about whether dams, towers, highways and other projects will likely harm imperiled species.

"This administration’s disdain for wildlife and the environment has never been more clear than it is today," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife and former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. "For 35 years, the Endangered Species Act has helped save and recover imperiled wildlife on the brink of extinction. Now, with this administration facing its last days, they are doing everything they can to cement their anti-environmental legacy before the Obama administration takes office."

The Bush administration’s last minute rulemaking has drawn heavy criticism from the public, lawmakers, conservation groups and newspaper editorialists around the country. More than 250,000 comments opposing the changes were submitted to the Interior Department in the 60 days it allowed for the public to respond to the changes.

But the massive public outcry seems to have fallen on deaf ears. In its push to finalize the rules before President-elect Barack Obama takes office, the department had only 15 people spend only 32 hours reading the comments, averaging mere seconds in reviewing each of the more than 250,000 comments. Department officials then ignored the major concerns raised by the comments, making only cosmetic changes to the original proposals.

Both President-elect Obama and key Democratic leaders have signaled that they will oppose the ESA changes. In addition, Defenders intends to take immediate legal action to stop these regulations.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has argued that the new regulations are needed to keep the ESA from being used to limit emissions from coal power plants and other polluting sources that contribute to global warming. This continues the Bush administration’s failed approach of ignoring the problem.

"Global warming presents the greatest threat this generation has seen to ourselves, our wildlife and our environment, and yet the Bush administration has dragged its feet on addressing the impacts of a warming planet for its entire time in office," Clark said. "While the ESA by itself certainly can't provide a comprehensive solution to global warming, its protections will be essential in helping at-risk species survive a changing climate. If allowed to stand, these regulations will deprive the Obama administration of a powerful tool to protect wildlife and ecosystems from the effects of global warming."

Many of the ESA regulation changes finalized today were tried before in a failed legislative effort by former Representative Richard Pombo (R-CA), whose anti-environmental record and repeated attacks on the ESA contributed to his defeat in the 2006 elections.

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service are the keepers of the flame for our threatened and endangered wildlife. They are equipped to make decisions based on looking at the whole picture for a species, on what’s happening to their habitat, their health and other significant impacts," Clark said. "It seems that the Bush administration has prioritized the interests of its industry allies over its responsibility to the public for protecting our nation’s imperiled wildlife. We will work in the courts, with Congress, and with the Obama administration to overturn these damaging regulations, so that we can begin to address the environmental neglect and damage that has been done over the last eight years."

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Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than 1 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. For more information, visit www.defenders.org .

Fears over gypsy sites

10:43am Thursday 11th December 2008

By Liza-Jane Gillespie

PLANS to build new gypsy and traveller camps in Pilning have been met with opposition from residents.

Almost 100 people turned out at a special public meeting this week to vent their anger at proposals by South Gloucestershire Council to build two new gypsy and traveller sites and extend an existing site in the village.

The scheme is part of a consultation into possible sites across the district for 53 permanent pitches and 25 transit pitches, which the council was told to find by central government.

The plans for Pilning are to extend an existing site on Bank Road and build a new site nearby with another on Northwick Road.

At the meeting, organised by Pilning and Severn Beach Parish Council, residents said they felt their village was being expected to take more than its fair share of sites.

Karen Widdows, 42 of Pilning, said: "If South Gloucestershire has to do this then I'd expect the entire district to have sites and not for them all to be dumped in one area. It isn't fair."

Some residents said they were concerned about the future of the village if the sites went ahead.

Simon Ball, 47, an electrician from Pilning, said: "If this does go ahead they need to guarantee proper police support to help communities like ours and proper management of the sites."

Concerns were also raised about how close the Bank Road sites would be to the new St Peter's Primary School.

Residents also complained about a lack of communication from the council.

A spokesman said: "South Gloucestershire Council has endeavoured to undertake an extensive and participative approach to engaging local communities in what is an emotive and contentious issue. To support and promote the launch of the Gypsy and Traveller DPD Towards Preferred Options consultation, we have recently undertaken stakeholder workshops, community drop in exhibitions and have widely promoted the Gypsy and Traveller DPD through local community networks and newspaper adverts. In addition a telephone advice line, supported by balanced and accurate media reporting, have all provided a full opportunity for residents to find out more about the DPD and the issues and choices that have to be made in order to respond to the Government's Direction.

"An email was sent to Peter Jackson last week inviting him or his representative to attend a public meeting at Bank Road Primary School on 8th December. This invitation was declined, but an offer to meet with three representatives from the Parish Council was put forward as an alternative. This invitation has been accepted and the position acknowledged by the Parish Council.

"Colleagues in the Children and Young People department (CYP) were fully consulted and made aware of the proposals to include sites in the G&T DPD prior to the document being considered by South Gloucestershire Council's Cabinet on 6th October. The proximity of G&T sites in relation to the new school in Pilning was not objected to in principal by CYP. Should further issues be identified, these will be fully considered following the close of the public consultation.

"The current list of proposals are those plots of land which have been put forward to the Council. In addition, not only has the Council's Property Services department searched council-owned land, subject to criteria from the Spatial Planning team, but the Council continues to have discussions with the Government about other publicly-owned land. These efforts to find suitable sites are on top of letters that the Council has written to the National Farmers' Union and utility companies.

"This is a relatively early stage of the process and some proposals will no doubt drop out of the process after the comments received in this consultation have been analysed. The difficulty the Council has experienced over the years in identifying land continues, but the Council must adhere to the Government's Direction. It is also anticipated that other proposals will emerge from the process. This position was explained to the Pilning and Severn Beach Parish Council in a recent letter.

"The majority of sites will be private for family use and any 'management' will be the same as for any other private dwelling in South Gloucestershire. Once sites have planning permission with attached conditions, planning enforcement will become easier. Only multiple pitch transit sites will have schemes of management and these will be agreed at the planning application stage."

Death Sentence Looms for Prairie Dogs, Ferrets

Officials in Logan County, Kansas want to invade land owned by wildlife-friendly ranchers to poison the state's largest prairie dog town!

This isn't only bad news for the prairie dogs -- but also the highly endangered black-footed ferrets that depend on them.

I just wrote to Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, urging her to do all she can to stop the poisoning -- you can, too. Just go to this website to help:

http://action.defenders.org/saveprairiedogs

Prairie dogs play an important role in the health and balance of the American plains. Hawks, burrowing owls, swift fox and other wildlife -- especially the highly endangered black-footed ferret -- depend on prairie dogs for burrows and a food source.

But after decades of poisonings, prairie dog populations -- and the health of the grasslands they support -- have declined. In fact, just days ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that they will consider prairie dogs for protections under the Endangered Species Act.

We can't let county commissioners poison the Kansas prairie -- and end recovery of one of North America's most endangered animals in the state.

Take action today to help save these animals -- the poisonings could start as early as Monday, December 15th:
http://action.defenders.org/saveprairiedogs


Thanks!

Addressing race equality in health services for Gypsy, Travellers and other minority ethnic groups

Published by traceybignall for Race Equality Foundation in Health
Tuesday 9th December 2008 - 12:20pm

Gypsies and Travellers form diverse communities with some people living nomadic lives and others settled in authorised sites or within social housing. Both settled and nomadic groups experience difficulties in accessing health services despite research evidence of their poor health outcomes and greater need.

A lack of continuity of care during pregnancy, high levels of suicide and self-harm due to mental distress; and the inability to use palliative care services for those who are highly mobile, are some of the health issues faced. Some resources, such as the Pacesetters Programme, do have specific targets to improve these communities health locally, however, good practice still needs to be embedded within a national programme or a national strategy on Gypsy and Traveller health, according to Zoe Matthews in the Better Health Briefing paper on the health of Gypsies and Travellers in the UK.

This is one of a series of Better Health briefing papers produced by the Race Equality Foundation. Each briefing paper provides an overview of the key messages for practice on a range of topics for health practitioners and includes practice examples, list of resources and further reading.

The papers are part of a programme of work to improve the health; housing and social care provision to black and minority ethnic communities. The programme resources will help primary care providers in addressing health inequalities and developing good practice in catering for the health needs of diverse communities.

Equipping practitioners to embed race equality in practice and service provision is encouraged through national events, such as the forthcoming Mainstreaming Race Equality: using evidence to promote change in health services conference being held on Tuesday 10 March 2008 at the Kings Fund, London. This event will enable delegates to have a better understanding of what it means to ‘mainstream’ race equality and explore evidence of what works in meeting equality requirements and duties.

To register interest contact Tracey Bignall at the Foundation by email tracey@racefound.org.uk

Further information about the project, briefing paper and national conference is available on our website: www.raceequalityfoundation.org.uk

Fresh look at gypsy site options

Monday, December 08, 2008, 07:00

A NEW consultation on gypsy and traveller sites in North Lincolnshire will begin next month.
Sites at Caistor Road, Barton-Upon-Humber, and Conesby Quarry, Scunthorpe, are to come under fresh scrutiny by the public.

The second stage of the North Lincolnshire Council consultation will run for six weeks from January 16.

Cabinet member for housing Coun Mick Grant said: "We need to know of any other potential suitable sites in Brigg, Barton or Scunthorpe."

The two sites have already proved controversial since they were selected in a consultation earlier this year.

Scunthorpe Speedway neighbours the Conesby Quarry site but staff there oppose re-opening area as gypsy site.

Promoter Rob Godfrey said: "We are putting a submission together and come January we will stand our ground and come out shouting."

For the full story, buy today's Scunthorpe Telegraph.

What do you think of the gypsy/traveller site plans? email viewpoint@scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk or comment here

The crime of surviving

By Miguel A. Seman


“When they are accused, they are found guilty of trying, in every possible way, to survive,” wrote John Berger.

Eduardo Galeano is right when he says that if those who first started surviving in the darkness of the caves had been us, man would have barely lasted a little while on earth. Those first inhabitants were capable of lasting, when they were destined to disappear perhaps, because they joined forces to defend themselves and share their food.

Humanity as we know it today does not understand that the salvation of a few at the expense of many is like leaping into thin air. So much that it leaves them and it leaves us without land, water or sky. It pushes us out of the planet, which, like a very old animal, is already tired of us and wants to abandon us.

Hunger forces men to migrate from one continent to another. Some die at sea, other scratching at the doors of a world which steps on their hands so that they cannot even hold on to desert stones. The European Union has just established the right to suspend the rights of the “surplus” population by sending them, for up to eighteen months, to out-of-court confinement camps.

Sixty-nine immigrants have already died trying to reach the Spanish coast this year and forty percent of Spaniards are in favor of the criminalization of the illegal immigration.

In Italy, an important sector of the society is asking the government to clean the territory of the “trash”, while a splendid ancient fascism goes round the streets burning gypsy campsites. In the “Identification and Expulsion Canters”, where a great number of gypsy children die “accidentally”, there is a meticulous registering of minors. When the news was published, the online version of the Critica newspaper displayed many -- too many -- comments in favor of the expulsion of Romany, African, and Muslim people from the peninsula.

On June 20, the Argentine writer Jorge E. Nedich wrote a critical article for La Nacion newspaper on the resurgence of racism in Italy. What was striking, and also alarming, was that from ten messages at least nine attacked the author and the gypsies and justified the persecution.

Argentineans do not separate too much from Europe. The difference, perhaps, lies in the fact that we hide behind some makeup that shows us a little bit better to the world than how we really are. We pass laws on an equality of rights we do not believe in and we support international treaties we do not respect. The poor residents of our country, like in the history of all nations, are the internal foreigners. The rootless, the ones suspended in jails, those without sentence or destiny. The nomads that move from one province to another, from one city to another, only seeking work and food, those whose hands we step on, so that they cannot even hold on to the fences that separate them from the world.

We know nothing or almost nothing about our earliest ancestors. But our presence here, agonizing and irresponsible, is the last refuge of human life, and it testifies that sometime, back when everything lay in the open, they managed to make out what we cannot understand today: that life was a collective matter, that air and water belonged to everyone and that it was necessary to gather together around the fire, get warm, and share food.

Perhaps it was then that the earth and the sky began to love them.

The Spanish language original version of this article can be viewed at the web site www.pelotadetrapo.org.ar.

Gypsy group’s warning over U-turn on traveller sites

Concern at council moves to abandon hunt for areas after public feedback

By Calum Ross

Published: December 12 2008

Democracy will have been failed if councillors back plans today to end the unpopular search for travellers’ halting sites in Aberdeen, a gypsy group claims.

The Gypsy Traveller Education and Information Project (GTEIP) is “extremely concerned” about moves to abandon the quest for four temporary halting sites in the city, in favour of expanding the existing campsite at Clinterty, near Blackburn.

The Press and Journal revealed last month that Aberdeen City Council’s political leaders were prepared to withdraw their plans after listening to public feedback.

The U-turn is expected to be supported by the strategy committee today, but the GTEIP warned councillors they may regret the move.

Jennifer Third, the organisation’s strategic co-ordinator, said in a strongly-worded letter to the committee that backtracking on the policy would represent a “complete breach of trust” with travellers who had worked with officials on the plans.

“Given that an intention to consult has already been made public, the whole democratic process required to be demonstrated and to be implemented by local authorities is being ignored.

“To prevent this happening because of ill-considered and intolerant statements and threats by groups and individuals is not democratic. To abandon the work carried out over the last three to five years because of a group of loud, prejudiced individuals could be viewed as a failure of the proper democratic process and could create a precedent that the local authority could regret in the future.”

Fierce community opposition to the previous policy of finding two halting sites in north Aberdeen and two in the south, included claims of a death threat and intimidation against Kingswells and Sheddocksley councillor Wendy Stuart last year.

Kingswells and Bridge of Don community councils have welcomed the policy change, as members believe sites identified in the areas are inappropriate.

Council director John Tomlinson said in a report: “While no one expected that there will be any local community that would welcome a halting site in their locality, it has proved extremely difficult to identify sites that have any level of acceptance within communities. Given that there has been ongoing consultation with the gypsy-traveller community since 2000, which has identified a need for short-term halting sites to complement the site at Clinterty, there will need to be positive engagement with this community not only to encourage use of Clinterty, but to regain and rebuild trust and credibility.”

Thousands in countryside rally against "Gypsy violence"

By: MTI
2008-12-01 09:23

Over 3,000 people joined a torchlight march in Kiskunlachaza, about 45 km south of Budapest, on Friday night, in a protest against violence after a 14-year-old local girl was murdered there a week ago.

The town's mayor Jozsef Repas addressed the gathering, lamenting the decline in public safety in the settlement. Although the murderer or murderers have not been identified, Repas said: "Kiskunlachaza has had enough of Roma violence!" He also said that police were often branded "racist" if they tried to act.

Participants in the march were not all local. Some came from nearby Rackeve, others from more distant towns. A 200-300-person contingent from the right wing paramilitary Hungarian Guard attended as did some members of a motorcycle group known as the Goy Motorcyclists.

There was a heavy police presence and searches of some of the marchers yielded knives and daggers.

County police are continuing their investigation of the murder. They declined to give details of new evidence, saying that if the information were made public it could influence the investigation.

Gitane: Sexy, sophisticated gypsy food. Really.

By Molly Freedenberg

To take a page from Dani Leone's book, I have a new favorite restaurant. It's Gitane, opened by the same people who brought us Cafe Claude, and it's fantastic. Of course, I might be a bit biased. The name "Gitane" means "gypsy woman," and indeed, the restaurant's interior and menu was designed with gypsy culture in mind. Having been told my whole life that I'm descended from gypsies and horse thieves (on Mom's side, from the Slavias), I felt a kinship with this place before I'd set foot inside the deceptively small building. Plus, in a town brimming with neuvo Californian, Asian fusion, Pan-American, and upscale Southern cuisines, there was simply something refreshing about someone doing something I'd never heard of before.

So several weeks after the eatery's grand opening, I scooped up a friend with a sophisticated palate and a sense of adventure and headed downtown. We knew not to expect some kitschy regurgitation of gypsy stereotypes, but we had no idea we'd find a place so eclectic, classy, interesting, and sexy. We fell in love with the bar area, a narrow corridor with dark patterned walls and reflective ceiling, giving the illusion of great amounts of space without sacrificing a sense of intimacy and warmth. Our bartender was fantastically helpful and friendly (not to mention cute cute cute), and seemed to be a true lover of cocktails. The bar's signature drink, The Gypsy, was a delightful twist on the St. Germain's elderflower trend - a light, subtly sweet, complex concoction with an herb-y finish and easy drinkability. My companion ordered the 1862, named for the year of the Cinco de Mayo massacre after its primary ingredient (tequila) and made ambitiously interesting by the addition of Campari. It was suggested as an apperitif, and though it was far too bitter and biting for both of us, would probably delight dedicated Campari fans.

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