Scottish Gypsy Travellers: the last bastion of respectable racism? S32

Scottish Gypsy TravellersThe last bastion of respectable racism?

Until recently this was An Untold Story - Bobbin Mill – the Racial Experiment

The last bastion of respectable racism?SHAMUS MCPHEE - artist and activist. M.A. in Celtic Hispanic Studies from Aberdeen University, Aberdeen, and a postgraduate diploma in Translation from Warwick University. Founding member of the SGTLRC, member of the SGTA and STAR. Expert witness in the landmark case establishing the ethnic status of Scottish Gypsy Travellers. Has raised awareness and shown his paintings at the Appleby Fair, 2009; Brighton Arts Festival, 2003; 54th International Art Exhibition; – La Biennale di Venezia, 2011 Gypsyland, Tramway Glasgow 2013. He lives and works in Pitlochry and has appeared in a number of documentaries including Bobbin Mill - Sgeulachd Luchd-Siubhail The Travellers' Tale.Was born at Bobbin Mill, a Gypsy Traveller site in Perthshire . Still lives there today. Part of an assimilatory experiment carried out by the Scottish Executive from the mid-1950s. The encampment continues to act as site of resistance for Gypsy Travellers, and can be seen as symbolic of wider European Roma questions regarding social exclusion and the negotiation of cultural difference. His art draws upon his experience of growing up in the midst of the social injustice represented by the Bobbin Mill experiment.

The last bastion of respectable racism?Ken MacLennan - varied experience of social work, operational and strategic, since 70’s. Has worked for Housing, Social Work, Community Development and Chief Executive Services. Former member of ADSW Research Standing Committee, C0SLA’s Equality Officers Network, BASW’s Scotland’s Committee, ARAOP and a Scottish Executive Working Group on Sensory Impairment. Actively involved in race relations, equalities and human rights. Has spoken at International conferences - a Commonwealth Local Government Conference , a UNESCO European Coalition of Cities Against Racism Conference in Madrid, a Seminar at Oxford University and at a world conference on anthropology in London. Represented the SGTLRC on the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Civil Liberties and Human Rights Group. Petitioned the government seeking an apology for the mistreatment of this community . One of his major achievements was the legal recognition of the ethnic status of Scottish Gypsy Travellers.

Scottish Gypsy TravellersThe last bastion of respectable racism? Objectives:• To raise awareness;• To get you to question your own practice and

that of your colleagues; • To encourage you to be open and honest;• To challenge your own prejudices and

practices; and• To make a difference.

Scottish Gypsy Travellers The last bastion of respectable racism?

http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/gypsytravellers/GTA5_final.pdf

Scottish Gypsy TravellersThe last bastion of respectable racism?• Relevant?• Last bastion?• OK to discriminate?• Should be tolerated?• What are you prepared

to do?• What are others going

to do?

• Who is going to provide leadership?

• Who experience more discrimination?

• Still institutional racism?

• Who are Scottish Gypsy Travellers?

Scottish Gypsy Traveller or Sinti?

Scottish Gypsy Traveller or Sinti?


Who are our Scottish Gypsy Travellers?

• Right to self-identification

• Preferred terminology of SGTLRC

• Scottish Executive’s choice

• Culture and language• The Gypsy Research

Centre, Paris• 4 nomadic groups in UK• Origins traced to north

west India


Timeline of movement throughout Europe

1384 Prizren1362 Dubrovnik1373 Corfu1378 Rila Monastery

(Bulgaria)1382 Zagreb1384 Modon

1397 Nauplie (Greece)1407 Hildesheim

(Germany)1416 Brasov

(Transylvania)1501 Lithuania1505 Scotland1513 England


• Core family names: Williamson, Faa,

McPhee, Stewart, Robertson and McDonald

• Marriage out with culture uncommon

• Shared common ancestors

• Oppressed minority• The Mandla criteria -

characteristics set out by Lord Fraser in Mandla v Dowell & Lee (1983) 1 All ER 1062, House of Lords

CANT ROMANI GAELIC

pani pawni uisge

yak yok suil

yag yog gual/teine

yarra yorro ugh

jann jinn a thuigsinn

deek dick a shealtainn

gry gry each

Cain/kher kenna/ker taigh

manushi monishi boireannach

mang mong a bhruidhinn

jukkal jukkal cu

gani canni cearc

carrie cori bod

What they said

“The Commission believes that Scottish GypsyTravellers face some of the starkest prejudiceand discrimination of any social or ethnic groupin the country… The combined result ofthis prejudice and discrimination means thatmany Scottish Gypsy Travellers live on the marginsof Scottish Society, in circumstances that few othergroups would be expected to tolerate”(Equality and Human Rights Commission)

The Mandla Criteria

“The conditions which appear to me to be essential are these: (1) a long shared history of which the group is conscious as distinguishing it from other groups, and the memory of which it keeps alive; (2) a cultural tradition of its own, including family and social customs and manners, often but not necessarily associated with religious observance”

The Mandla Criteria

Other relevant conditions; (3) either a common geographical origin, or descent from a small number of common ancestors; (4) a common language, not necessarily peculiar to that the group; (5) a common literature peculiar to the group; (6) a common religion different from that of the neighbouring groups or from the general community surrounding it; (7) being a minority or being an oppressed or a dominant group within a larger community, for example a conquered people (say, the inhabitants of England shortly after the Norman conquest) and their conquerors might both be ethnic groups


• 2008 - MacLennan v Gypsy Traveller Education and Information Project (S/132721/07)

• 5 November 2010 “….Scottish Gypsy Travellers are a distinct racial group as determined by case-law and are therefore covered by the measures in the Act relating to race.””

(Lynne Featherstone MP Minister for Equalities)

A Highland MP’s View

• 1956 (House of Commons Hansard 6 June) “… the nomadic people who live in this quarry under such distressing conditions are tinkers. They are among the oldest of all the races which make up the Caithness population. They have been there for centuries longer than my own family, and no one quite knows who they are. They may be of gipsy origin or they may be an outcast clan, which is quite feasible. But the sad thing is that for centuries they have been regarded as an inferior people … There is still a disposition among many people to regard them as inferior, and to deny them rights to which they are entitled.” (Sir David Robertson)

http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=1844

Upper or Lower ?

Do you write ‘Gypsy Traveller’ or ‘gypsytraveller’? Do you know of any other ethnicminority group where lower case is used by the media and public bodies when writing aboutthem?(The Scottish Parliament, Gypsy Travellers and Public Sector Policies, Legal Definitions p 2, 4December 2001 RN 01/114 and EHRC


What you can do!• Get the terminology right• Use upper case• Raise awareness• Challenge the myths• Comply with the law• Challenge others who are

non compliant

• Acquaint yourself with the law and your legal obligations

• Whistle blow• Contribute to SNAP• Adhere to your codes of

ethics and codes of conduct and tackle discriminatory practices

• Learn about your own communities


The Role of the Regulatory Bodies

• Equality and Human Rights Commission

• Scottish Social Services Council

• Care Inspectorate• Audit Scotland• Children’s Commissioner


• “the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin”, which “can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantages minority ethnic people.”

Equal Opportunities Committee Inquiry in to Gypsy Travellers

• “ … For the first time the discrimination faced by many Gypsy /Travellers on a daily basis was clearly acknowledged and condemned. The Report represents the first serious attempt in Scotland to detail the issues affecting Gypsy/ Travellers in Scotland and sends a clear message to public agencies and others that discriminatory policies and practices towards Gypsy /Travellers will no longer be acceptable.”

Report on Gypsy Traveller Civic Participation Event SP Paper 448 TheScottish Parliament, 2001


“Twelve years on from the first Scottish Parliament inquiry into Gypsy/Traveller life, and it is galling to see that the appalling situation of many Gypsy/Travellers is little changed. We are staggered to find ourselves hearing the same issues and making the same recommendations that were heard and made in the 2001 inquiry...”

Equal Opportunities Committee, 2013


• BASW, 2010• Amnesty International Motion,

2010• Freedom of Information

requests• Equal Opportunities

Committee Inquiries• Academic research• Codes of Practice (SSSC 2009)

• Standards of professional conduct and practice for social workers includes: promoting equal opportunities, respecting diversity and different cultures and values, “using established processes and procedures to challenge and report …discriminatory or exploitive behaviour and practice”.

• The Code makes it very clear that social service workers “…must not discriminate unlawfully or unjustifiably against service users …”


• Recognition of ethnic minority status of this community and other Gypsy Traveller communities

• Inclusion in equality strategies with specific actions to be undertaken – actions not words and actions that will make a difference

• Adequate training. This would include comprehensive training in equalities and human rights legislation

• Providing culturally appropriate services

• Social workers should be more proactive in calling for action to protect the rights of these communities and provide some leadership

• Ensuring that social services are compliant with human rights and equality legislation

• “A human rights approach needs to be further developed in social work theory and practice alongside existing approaches that promote equality practice (Cemlyn et al., 2009)” (Turbett, 2010) p 122.

• Make a difference! Speak out!


“Each person must be part ofsociety, without giving up his identity,values or traditions. And each personmust recognise the validity of eachother’s beliefs and religions...differencescan be wonderful in adding colour andspice to our lives... the more colourthere is, the more beautiful the worldbecomes.” (Ernest Levy, Holocaust survivor and cantor)


Presentations & Public Speaking

Scottish Gypsy Travellers: the last bastion of respectable racism? S32