Travellers

[A5 40 Page]

A ‘photo-essay’ describing the lives of what were once called New Age Travellers and the Free Festivals scene.

People looked at the various examples provided by gypsies here and in Europe; to nomadic people across the world. To try life outside the house in many different ways and to pick and select those means that make life comfortable, easy and meaningful. The ‘bender’, the Indian ‘tipi’, the Moroccan ‘yurt’, the Romany ‘bow top’, the western two-man tent, the truck and the double decker bus.
Many developed a sense of common purpose and identity. There was an acceptance that modern life was too fast, expensive and polluting to the environment. We had discovered Anarchy in action, and it worked! People began working out and managing relations within ‘our’ communities, without reference to Them.The temperature had been rising for some time. Assisted by the representation in the press and their invention of the ‘Peace Convoy’, a moral panic was created. The papers were full of the shock – horror that we have come to expect. The Sun’s – “Gun convoy hippies attack police” (No mention of gun in the article!). The News of the World contributed – “The Wild Bunch – Sex-mad junkie outlaws make the Hell’s Angels look like little Noddy”. These were headlines read my millions of people and made modern day `folk-devils’ out of essentially peaceful people.
The Criminal Justice Act at large criminalizes diversity and dissent and thus has implications for the wider population such as say Trade Union activity and local protests about services (the hospital, the by-pass, the local factory etc.). Fundamentally, many of its provisions are about land rights. What one can (and cannot) do on land. Which is of course, nearly always someone else’s.

‘Pageturner’ video at: https://youtu.be/F9IewIdGigg