Support UK’s Romany Gypsy & Traveller people, to bring down a new law which seeks to deny us a home

Enough!
Please sign this petition to support us, the UK’s Romany Gypsy and Traveller people, in bringing down a new law which seeks to meddle with who we are and deny us and our children a home.

The new law, brought in by this government effectively resurrects, highlights and adapts ‘gypsy status, a centuries old planning definition that was rarely used and that has fallen foul of legal challenges in the past.
According to the new incarnation of ‘gypsy status’ that was passed into planning law last year, we will only be classed as Romany Gypsies and Irish, Scottish, English and other Travellers if we ‘travel’ for
work purposes.

This has been done by the government to allow councils to artificially reduce the number of Gypsies and Travellers in their area at the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen.

There is no cultural or ethnic dimension to ‘gypsy status’. Similar to the common racist refrain more often found on online comment threads about us – according to this government, if we don’t ‘travel’ then we can’t possibly be Gypsies and Travellers. Already councils are sending out researchers who are trying to get us to fill in forms with detailed and intrusive questions about our ‘travelling’ habits.

If we don’t have ‘gypsy status’ we may no longer develop and build a Gypsy and Traveller site and we may even lose our place on an existing public or private legal Traveller site.

The result will be that many Gypsies and Travellers will be forced back onto the road because they will be made homeless, or to ‘prove’ their ethnic identity and heritage to retain their homes. This will
be happening in a climate where ‘travelling’ has already been effectively criminalised. This will drive an exponential increase in unauthorized roadside camps and could create tensions and hostility between settled and nomadic groups.

We see this as a direct attack on our culture and heritage and on our children’s futures and their right to define who they are in their own terms. We see it as a racist attack in that it seeks to marginalise
us and deny us a righ1ul and legitimate place in this society.

So if you are a Gypsy or Traveller please sign this to help safeguard our future.

If you are a non-Gypsy or Traveller please sign this to help us safeguard our future and to bring down this racist law that belongs to a darker past.

The Romany word for ‘enough’ is ‘Dosta!’
The Gammon word for ‘enough’ is ‘Grīnta’

We have had enough of the racism against us that comes right from the top.
Dosta!
Grīnta !

Thank you

“Justice, Equality and Freedom is for all, or none at all”