Ustiben report
ETHNIC-CLEANSING VOTE
THREATENS UK GYPSIES

A UK council voted last night (24 Jan) to carry out
what is seen by many as a policy of ethnic-cleansing
against Romanies and Travellers.
Basildon district's key development committee,
after a fierce four-hour debate, decided by four votes
to one, with one abstention, to bulldoze the homes
of some 1,000 Travellers living in the area.
Outside the meeting, pregnant mothers and
children stood in sub-zero temperatures to hold a
candle-lit vigil, hoping against the odds that the decision
might go the other way.
But cold-hearts prevailed as chairwoman Mrs S
Buckley, wife of Basildon's Tory leader, three times
put to the vote first the destruction of Dale Farm, and
then the smaller Hovefields and Five Acre Farm
communities. All in the name of preserving the
so-called greenbelt.
"This is ethnic-cleansing" Dale Farm spokesman
Richard Sheridan told the meeting after the last
count. "You have turned down every reasonable
alternative and only want to get rid of us at all
costs."
However, a new Labour Party member of the
committee Sultan Nandanwar said he he was against
the eviction operations. In his view it was unwise to
proceed in this way while a judicial review of council
policy was pending.
Joe Jones, of National Gypsy and Traveller Affairs,
said people around the world had now heard of Dale
Farm. It had become an issue no longer about
planning rules but about humanity and human rights.
He said the costs of eviction, both for the
Travellers and the council, were now far too high.
"I ask you to search your hearts and re-consider,"
Jones ended.
Dale Farm resident Nora Gore, whose plea made
a strong emotional impact on all those whose minds
allowed, said as a diabetic since the age of nine she
depended on constant medical supervision. In
addition her father was chronically ill with heart disease.
"If you put us out on the road," she asked, "how are
we to survive? This is a death sentence."
Spokesperson for the women of Dale Farm
Kathleen McCarthy said no fewer than eight women
were currently pregnant and, as it happened, all
expecting their babies in March. Many small
children were growing up in the security of their
own community, but once again Basildon council had
cast a dark cloud over their future.
"Why are ye picking on us?" asked Mrs
McCarthy. "What have we ever done to you to
deserve extermination?"
But when it came to voting time what was
described as the biggest decision ever
to come before the committee was resolved by
a quick show of hands.
Pleas to await the outcome of a proposal
by UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott
to re-accommodate families at Pitsea were brushed
aside as irrelevant.
Grattan Puxon, of the new UK Forum, linked to
the European Roma and Travellers Forum in Strasbourg,
said the decision to evict contravened the latest Council
of Europe recommendations on two vital points. The CE
said no evictions should take place without an
injunction from a judge and only when an acceptable
alternative was being provided.
"You have chosen to ignore these recommendations
and in effect declared war on a section of your own
residents," said Puxon. "Worse than that this has all
the hallmarks of a racial conflict because you seem
unable to bury your prejudices."
A protest letter outlining the position of the
ERTF from Kay Beard, UK Association of Gypsy Women
and UK delegate to Strasbourg, was circulated at the
meeting.

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World
PETITION AGAINST ETHNIC CLEANSING
To be presented to Basildon Council on Roma Nation Day
8 April, 2006.

We, the undersigned, condemn all acts of ethnic-cleansing
and forceful removal being perpetuated against Roma and
Travellers.

But in particular we wish to draw attention
to the courageous stand being made by the residents of
Dale Farm who, despite a vote by Basildon Council to destroy
their homes, continue in the name of Travellers everywhere,
their non-violent campaign to save their community
from the bulldozer.

We call for common sense, reason and tolerance: leave
Dale Farm alone.

To add your name just CLICK on Dale.farm @ ntlworld.com