Preventing cheap politics from sinking the planet… Alan discusses his pamphlet – a challenge to all who champion a visionary ‘New Deal’.
Preventing cheap politics from sinking the planet… Alan discusses his pamphlet – a challenge to all who champion a visionary ‘New Deal’.
This is a challenge to all of us who champion the case for a visionary Green New Deal. It insists on a timescale that cuts carbon emissions in half, within the current decade; demands radical shifts into a more ‘circular’ economics, putting back more than we take out; and a vision that runs beyond obsessions with individual technologies. Instead, Alan focuses on the ‘systems’ that tomorrow’s inclusive security must be built around.
“As ever, Alan brings a big picture vision wrapped up in glittering examples of what transformation means in practice. From communities, to cities to whole countries, there is no wrong place to start, no part of the economy that doesn’t need to be turned upside down and rethought.” Clive Lewis MP
Alan Simpson was MP for Nottingham South before leaving to work on climate issues. He was advisor on sustainable economics to John McDonnell when he was Shadow Chancellor. Alan still dreams of saving the planet!
This event was streamed live via Zoom on July 19 2021.
Magnum photographers discuss alternative approaches to communicating climate change
In this study of new photographic approaches to issues of climate change, Magnum photographers Sim Chi Yin, Cristina de Middel and Jonas Bendiksen speak to writer Georgina Collins about their practice. Alongside this, Toby Smith from the charity Climate Visuals shares strategies on revolutionizing how we communicate current environmental crises.
Jonas Bendiksen Bangladesh. Genduram in the Gaibandha district. 2010. Flooded village. The three villagers standing / sitting by jute on small ‘island’: Rafiqul Islam (sitting on jute, left), Mohammad Delwar Hoss
In the summer of 2019 unprecedented temperatures were experienced across Northern Europe, with at least 12 countries breaking national heat records. July 2019 was the hottest month on earth since temperature records began in 1880. This was, and is, indicative of the growing disaster the planet is facing in the form of climate change. World Weather Attribution found that there was an extremely low probability of these temperatures being reached (for instance in France less than about once every 1000 years) without climate change. Climate change made this extreme weather around 100 times more likely. Put in these terms, the summer of 2019 sounds apocalyptic- and in many ways it was. The European Forest Fire Information System found that in 2019 1,300 square miles of continental Europe were burned (15% more than the decades annual average), but the vast majority of the photography that we saw told a different story. Beach days, sunbathing and icecreams predominantly featured in photographs of the summer.
“It’s this cynicism that they hope photography can help overcome in order to build our collective investment in reducing environmental harm.”
The role and responsibility that photographers themselves have when photographing events related to the climate crisis has been subject to increased attention in recent years. Photography is a powerful visual medium that can be used to educate, raise awareness and inspire action, and as such there is a strong argument that this comes with an implicit responsibility about the representations of an issue being made to the public. Visual storytelling can shift public perception and behaviours, which in turn influences national and international responses to the crisis. Climate Visuals is a non-profit built around this relationship between photography and social action; focused on changing the type of imagery used in relation to the climate crisis, so that it is not just “illustrative but truly impactful and inspires change,” as project lead Toby Smith states. The group is founded in research in social science; they use evidence gathered from focus groups in Europe and the USA to examine the emotional responses to different photographic depictions of the climate crisis. Smith says they want to see a more compelling and diverse visual language around climate change: less “polar bears, factories and glaciers… all of which have the really neat trick of signifying climate change, but still producing a large amount of cynicism and inactivity”. It’s this cynicism that they hope photography can help overcome in order to build our collective investment in reducing environmental harm.Jonas Bendiksen China. Qinghai province. 2009. In the Yellow Rivers headwaters area. Just outside Hua Shi Xia, a settlement for resettled nomads. The pictured family were resettled from the surrounding area around (…)
Jonas Bendiksen Tajikstan. 2009. In the village of Shohi Safed by the Zerafshan river in the Zerafshan valley. Muholol “General” Ahmedov (73), picking currants from a tree. Next to him are two water irrigation pip (…)
Jonas Bendiksen China. Qinghai province. 2009. In the Yellow Rivers headwaters area, about 40m drive from Madoi town, towards Yushu. Sand dunes show the increasing desertification of the Tibetan plateau, with shal (…)
It is perhaps because the climate crisis has presented a new challenge to practitioners (how do you go about capturing an existential threat, moving at literally glacial speed, in a single frame?) that imagery has often felt reductive in the face of a challenge on the scale of the climate crisis. Magnum photographer Cristina de Middel, who covered the 2019 wildfires in Brazil, describes exactly this: “The drama and the destruction that was happening was hard to capture and express with just images of flames and burnt pieces of the jungle. The scale of everything was overwhelming and by framing that reality, and deciding which piece of it would become a picture, I was actually losing the magnitude of it”.Cristina de Middel The Xavante tribe is known to be aggressive and a warrior society. They call themselves “the invisibles”. Fire plays an important role in their traditions. They use if for hunting and also to keep (…)
Cristina de Middel The fazenda of Sidnei Hübner is just 800 acres, a small one for the area. In the beginning of Augusta fire burnt 2/3 of his area right after the corn harvest. The fire started at a some neighbours (…)
Cristina de Middel Entrance of the fazenda Flamboyant, a 800 acre propertu focused in corn and soy production. The owner, Sidnei Hübner arrived from the South 40 years ago looking for cheaper land to cultivate. In (…)
“I think it depends on what you expect photography to do or what you expect of the photographer,” says Sim Chi Yin in reference to the challenges posed by photographing the climate crisis. “I think this is a deeper question about whether photography and photographers are expected to be advocates and activists as well,” she continues. “There are things that may translate photographically into climate change and some things that don’t”. Sim has been working on her project Shifting Sands, documenting the social and environmental cost of the land reclamation industry in East and Southeast Asia. Previously taking an ‘infrastructural gaze’, shot at ground level, capturing the people and places affected, she has since adopted a birds-eye view, producing strikingly beautiful other-wordly landscape photography. It’s not uncommon to hear criticism of photography, particularly in the realm of editorial, for making terrible things look too beautiful. This is an all too familiar conundrum for Smith in his work at Climate Visuals: “I spend a lot of my time arguing with the media about social science but the other side is that I spend a lot of time arguing with social scientists about the subjective qualities of photography,” he says.NEWSROOMA Mirage of Luxury Built on SandSim Chi YinSim Chi Yin Singapore. Tuas. 2017. From “Shifting Sands”, 2017 – on-going. Land reclamation works are on-going at this area of Tuas, Singapore’s westernmost area where a new massive container port — the w (…)
Sim Chi Yin Tractors plough through piles of sand which have been deposited by sand barges at the Forest City development — a joint venture between a China developer with the state government and Sultan of Joh (…)
In essence, though accurate and impactful depictions of the climate crisis are the goal, the photos need to be published if you’re going to achieve that, and the pictures have to be good or that’s not going to happen. For Sim Chi Yin, the beauty of her Shifting Sands images were an entirely deliberate move away from the more ‘ditactic heavy-handed approach’ she once took; here, the aestheticization of a challenging topic is a strategy to encourage on-going engagement in a difficult conversation.Vietnam. Mekong River. 2017. Ha Thi Be, 67, poses for a portrait with the two young grandsons who lived with her in this ancestral home, Ha Duy Phuc, 11, and Ha Trung Kien, 4. The children have rar (…)
Sim Chi Yin Vietnam. Phu Thuan B commune. 2017. Ms Lam Thi Kim Muoi, 43, poses for a portrait in her family’s ancestral house abandoned a year ago (2016) after riverbank erosion snapped part of it off into th (…)
There is, for obvious reasons, an excess of what might be referred to as ‘disaster photography’ in coverage of the climate crisis. The aesthetic properties of these images ‘sell’ but, according to Climate Visuals research, don’t create a meaningful, or – perhaps more accurately – an actionable, response in the viewer. The Global South has already suffered a disproportionate number of climate disasters, simply because populations and ecosystems in tropical, higher-latitude regions experience the worst effects of rising global temperatures. As a result, you’d be forgiven as a consumer of photography for thinking that climate change wasn’t affecting Western Europe. This echoes the experience of de Middel: “I think we are still in a stage where environmental issues are perceived as something exotic and distant, even if they are not. Despite the frequent vivid reminders of the seriousness of the situation, the threat sounds distant and that makes the sense of urgency very difficult to convey”. Many people don’t relate to these images beyond the shock and awe of the moment, because it doesn’t resonate with their own demographic construct. This in turn, has resulted in the othering of communities in the Global South as they are continually represented as victims, often by foreign Western photographers, as a way to capture the climate crisis in a way that’s seen as visually appealing. Rarely do we see the photography of practitioners with lived experience of climate disasters in the Global South, and rarely do Western photographers’ cameras turn to document the effect of climate change closer to home.ARTS & CULTUREBoa Noite PovoCristina de MiddelCristina de Middel and Bruno Morais From the project ‘Boa Noite Povo’. In 2017, when we moved to the Mata Atlántica jungle in Brazil, and started cohabiting with the frantic wildlife of the area, we decided to start exploring the exi (…)
Cristina de Middel and Bruno Morais From the project ‘Boa Noite Povo’. Boa Noite Povo is a mix of archival imagery, directed animal action, night photography and plastic intervention of ephemeral pieces that show the complexity of th (…)
This, at least in part, can be attributed to a general desire for simple narratives when taking on an issue as huge and amorphous as the climate crisis. And, in a parallel and more practical sense, the causes and impacts of climate change are more compelling and cinematic than, say, the solutions to the climate crisis. So, reaching Net Zero – achieving an overall balance between emissions produced and emissions taken out of the atmosphere – has the potential, in Smith’s own words, “to be a really boring photographic essay”. There is however, an “extremely powerful” way to communicate the issue, by combining images of disaster with images of solutions and action.NEWSROOMFuture Proofing Life on EarthJonas BendiksenJonas Bendiksen Bangladesh. Genduram in the Gaibandha district. 2010. Flooded village. The three villagers standing / sitting by jute on small ‘island’: Rafiqul Islam (sitting on jute, left), Mohammad Delwar Hoss (…)
But this in itself presents a challenge, and gets to the heart of the problem of documenting the climate crisis in photography; how can photographers tell more nuanced and innovative stories within their relatively narrow medium? Jonas Bendiksen, who documented Bangladeshi communities experiencing chronic flooding, says that “photography has a tendency to oversimplify; it’s not the easiest medium to formulate a complex thought process; it tends to rely on ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ and be less focused on the complexities of things”. He’s increasingly interested in the ‘grey zones’, for instance how photography of Western consumerism also provides an important perspective on the climate crisis, but is frustrated by limitations of the platforms that are available. There’s an increasing pressure, driven by social media, for single images or a couple of slides to have an impact, to be easily-digestible. Climate change, particularly its effect on the Global North, will not reveal itself so it can be fitted neatly onto social media feeds. The commodification of environmental images, which we could describe as the photograph-social media industrial complex, also leads to an oversaturation of images, resulting in just the apathy that the Climate Visuals is endeavouring to avoid.THEORY & PRACTICEMost People Were SilentSim Chi YinJonas Bendiksen Bangladesh. Padmapukur. 2009. On the ‘char’ (silt island) of Padmapukur, in the Ganges delta. Hurricane Aila destroyed the dikes, thus causing daily flooding of the communities. Most of the village (…)
Some are already looking to overcome these limiting factors, like de Middel. “As a communicator, I find it interesting to explore new ways of presenting issues whose narratives are already exhausted and who suffer from over-reporting,” she says, “I believe it is part of the job to keep the audience interested and curious to know more”. Sim Chi Yin says “I think it’s no longer enough just to make the pictures and put it through an editorial channel” — where it is consumed for a day, and then forgotten about. As Sim grew increasingly frustrated with the limits of single image photography, she experimented with exhibition installations, performance lectures, and for her Shifting Sands project, a VR installation that has yet to be completed due to lack of funding. She says, “I think we live in a different time, and this period of information and imagery-saturation needs different types of visual strategies for storytelling”.Sim Chi Yin Malaysia. 2017. From “Shifting Sands”, 2017- on-going. A family takes a walk and goes fishing in an area in southern Malaysia now covered with giant sand dunes. The Danga Bay area is earmarked for (…)License |
Smith makes it clear that it’s not just the photographers and content generators, who sit at the wide bottom of the ‘pyramid’ of the photography industry, who can play a role in shifting public perceptions of the climate crisis. It’s also the agency, distribution, and media companies who occupy the top of the pyramid and choose what is and isn’t seen by a wider audience. There needs to be the funding and interest to commission work that can take on the long story-arc of the climate crisis in all its complexity.
Photography is an enormously powerful way of communicating the challenges posed by the climate crisis, inspiring outrage, anger and fear. But it also has greater potential to engage people beyond these fleeting emotions – giving form to the sometimes abstract nature of the challenges facing us – moving people to hope and action. Visual storytelling can and should be a crucial tool for building a social mandate around tackling climate change, but as many have been forced to take stock and adjust to the new reality of the climate crisis, so too will the world of photography. NEWSROOM Photographing Australia’s Black SummerPaolo PellegrinCristina de Middel According to the government, 2019 was a normal year in terms of wildfires the state of Mato Grosso. Despite the 85% increase confirmed by the Brazilian National Space Research Institute. The number (…)
THE year is 1976. James Callaghan replaces Harold Wilson as prime minister, the Sex Pistols release Anarchy in the UK and the Cod Wars between the UK and Iceland over fishing rights in the North Atlantic are making waves.
Meanwhile, at a usually sleepy and serene Mid Wales beauty spot, hundreds of hippies take a diversion from Stonehenge and stage a festival in rural Radnorshire.
It’s 45 years ago this month and the Elan Valley Free Festival or Rhayader Fayre Free Festival brings a little excitement to the Powys countryside – with a newspaper article at the time renaming the Elan Valley the ‘Hippy Valley’ after around 300 people descended on the famous dams in early July.
The Summer of Love famously swept the whole of America in the summer of 1967 – around 100,000 people converged on San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighbourhood as the city embraced the anti-war movement, hippie music, hallucinogenic drugs and free love.
The movement took a while to officially reach UK shores, with the Second Summer of Love officially taking place in Britain in the late 1980s, with the rise of acid house music and unlicensed rave parties emerging in the summer of 1988 and stretching into the summer of 1989.
However, it seems only very few were present or even had knowledge of Powys’ own version of the Summer of Love 12 years earlier.
The B4574, also known today as National Cycle Route 81, reportedly became a haven for “goggle-eyed” tourists for a few weeks in July 1976, eager to catch a glimpse of the hoards of hippies apparently cavorting around mainly in the nude.
The summer of 1976 was a scorcher, with stories about heat waves and droughts littering the UK news cycle.
The gathered masses had initially been left in peace, mixing happily with locals, but things soon took an ugly turn when the water board (now Welsh Water, who manage the Elan Valley estate) complained that the festivalgoers were polluting the water courses. Water from the reservoirs has long provided a public supply to the Midlands area and the water board eventually won a High Court order to evict the new settlers. After the hippies initially refused to budge, a 400-strong army of police officers swarmed the site early one morning and roused the visitors from their teepees and wigwams and forced them to leave.
Police arrive on the scene at Pont Ar Elan in July 1976. Picture by Janet Thompson
They were eventually moved on and allegedly the festival carried on at Pont-rhyd-y-groes just a little further west into Ceredigion.
Now, 45 years on, the Elan Links: People, Nature & Water Facebook page are asking any locals for their memories, recollections and pictures from the event.
“It’s 45 years since the great hippie invasion of Elan Valley. Does anyone remember it?,” read a post on the page from Thursday, July 1.
“Please get in touch if you have any stories or photographs you would like to share so we can create an archive of this momentous event. Email stephanie.kruse@elanvalley.org.uk or phone 01587 811527.”
A poster promoting the 1976 Elan Valley Free Festival. Picture by Janet Thompson
A dive into the archives will lead you to some wonderful photos from the event, taken by Janet Thompson, who was one of the festivalgoers.
Retro Rhayader featured a collection from the festival on its page back in 2014, under an album titled ‘Hippy Days, Elan Valley July 1976’.
“In July 1976 Rhayader and the Elan Valley saw 100s of Hippies visit the area, after arriving from Stonehenge for a music festival,” reveals a caption.
From 1974 to 1984 the Stonehenge Free Festival was held at the famous prehistoric monument in Wiltshire during the month of June, culminating with the summer solstice on or near June 21.
A newspaper clipping reporting on the event. Picture by Janet Thompson
Accounts of the Powys festival a week or so later that year tend to be haphazard – perhaps something to do with the substances allegedly circling.
“The festival was to be the next one after the henge and was due to run for the whole of July,” remembers photographer Janet, from quotes published on the ukrockfestivals.com website, under the heading ‘Elan Valley Free Festival’ page.
“I hitched down there on July 7th. On the 13th at 6.30am 400 coppers had encircled the site and woke everyone up and evicted us, it was a bit of a shock, most people were still in bed.
“I think they had bussed in coppers from all over Wales. Everyone got themselves together and moved off ‘up the road’ to another site at Pont-rhyd-y-groes.”
A picture from the 1976 Elan Valley Free Festival. Picture by Janet Thompson
Although the likes of Dexys Midnight Runners, The Raincoats, Joe Strummer, Wishbone Ash and Jimmy Page appeared at the Stonehenge Free Festival over the years, Janet can only recall a band named Solar Ben playing in the Elan Valley. They had a flautist called Michael Wilding – whose mother was none other than legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor.
On the same website but under the ‘Rhayader Fayre Free Festival’, a festivalgoer known only as Alan remembers: “We arrived in Rhayader direct from Stonehenge in a couple of trucks. There was a river running through the site, and we camped on both sides of it, the river being crossed by a couple of scaffold planks laid out at various points.
“The river was cordoned off, so drinking water, washing and swimming took place in different parts, the toilets were marked by green flags up the side of the hills surrounding the site.
“There was about 200 people there maximum and it was during the very hot summer.
“The vibes there were great, everyone was very friendly, not one sign of trouble, either with the hippies camping, or from the locals who were frequent visitors.
“As I was doing first aid there, I did ask (and received) help from the police to get a couple of people to the hospital in Aberystwyth as they were suffering badly with sunburn. I left the day before the bust.”
Another person who was present 45 summers ago was Paul Fraser. In his vivid memories from that period, posted on his Itchy Monkey Press blog, he recalls a site meeting at Stonehenge, at which it had been decided to move the festival to Mid Wales.
A picture from the 1976 Elan Valley Free Festival. Picture by Janet Thompson
“I hitched up there, coming out of Rhayader, on the mountain road to [the] Elan Valley I got picked up by some people in a Mini Minor,” recalls Paul.
“We came over the top of this hill, the valley lay spread out below us and there it was, the massive Yellow Tipi, surrounded by smaller tipis, tents and a festival.
“That festival got [shut down, people got] evicted, the land belonged to the water board. We were going to make a tipi. We went to Cheap Charlies in Newtown and bought some army marquee walls for canvas, we went up in the forestry and bought some poles off some guys with chainsaws. We were skinning the bark off the poles when several busloads of police turned up and evicted us.
“The unity that had brought the festival from Stonehenge carried through. A site about 10 miles away had been scouted and the whole festival moved down there, to Pont-rhyd-y-groes.”
Posted in.|Taggedkillthebill, law, protest, traveller|Comments Off on My pictures of events that day: GRT Travellers Protest [Kill the Bill], London. 7th July 2021
The Drive 2 Survive rally kicked off with an explosive start in Parliament Square last week as campaigners warned of a ‘summer of discontent’ against the new racist police bill which will “wipe out” Gypsy and Traveller and other nomadic cultures by criminalising trespass with the intent to reside in a vehicle.
(All photos above (c) Hugh Powell)
Over 500 people came to the rally on 7th July, 2021, at Parliament Square, London to demonstrate against the police bill in front of the heart of British Government. Every GRT community and nomadic community was there to make history, including Romany Gypsy, Kale, Scottish Travellers, Irish Travellers, Showmen, New Travellers, Van Dwellers and livaboard itinerant Boaters.
(All photographs above (c) Hugh Powell)
The crow cheered rousing speeches from politicians, campaigners, lawyers and representatives of anti-racist groups including Black Lives Matter and Stand Up To Racism.
(All photographs above (c) Hugh Powell)
The new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill was voted through in Parliament last week and looks set to be passed through the House of Lords and become law by the Autumn. The bill doesn’t only contain an attack on GRT communities, it also gives the Government and the police new powers to restrict peaceful protests, include a ten-year sentencing tariff for damaging a statue, increases the powers of police to stop and search with no evidence and introduces more secure institutions for young people.
(All photographs above (c) Mike Doherty)
The rally started when John Doe set off with his horse and cart from Stable Way Traveller site in nearby Shepherds Bush and drove to Parliament Square. Main Drive 2 Survive organisers Sherrie Smith and Jake Bowers were already at Parliament Square starting to set up the rally which was set to kick off at 1pm.
VIDEO: Watch the Drive 2 Survive interview with John Doe:
John Doe sets off for the rally from Stable Way Traveller site (c) Hugh Powell
Jake Bowers kicked off the speakers and introduced Drive 2 Survive as the crowds began to arrive. “Let me give you a warning Priti Patel,” he said. “We will not be walking into the history books. If you come for us and you come for our homes and you come for our culture – we are coming for you.”
Jake Bowers (c) Ludovic
Jake Bowers was then followed by 26 speakers. They were (in order):
Andy Slaughter MP for Hammersmith and co-chair All Party Parliamentary Group for GRT.
“There are 250 different groups opposing this bill from Friends of the Earth to XR to Liberty,” said Andy Slaughter. “Your fight is their fight.”
Andy Slaughter (c) Ludovic
Billy Welch, Shera Rom and the Romany Gypsy representative of the Appleby Horse Fair organising group.
“I am a Romany Gypsy and I am extremely proud of that fact,” said Billy Welch. “I come from a nomadic people and I have travelled all my life. We have got to realise how dangerous these laws will be. Just by being somewhere I can be arrested, put in prison, my home and my vehicles can be confiscated from me and my wife and family left on the side of the road.”
VIDEO: Watch Drive 2 Survive interview with Billy Welch:
Billy Welch (c) Ludovic
Bell Ribeiro Addy MP for Streatham.
“An attack on one is an attack on all of us,” said Bell Ribeiro Addy MP. “The UN have said the GRT community across Europe are one of the most persecuted groups in the world. And this country likes to wax lyrical about how other countries treat their minority groups, but instead of defending this community this government is persecuting them more with this bill. The government has got an eighty-seat majority, but the early protests against the bill slowed it down. We have to understand that this fight will not be won in (the Houses of Parliament), it will be won out here on the streets.”
Bell Ribeiro Addy (c) Ludovic
Alison Hulmes from the GRT Social Work Association.
“I’m a Welsh Gypsy, I’m a Kale, that’s my tribe,” said Alison Hulmes. “Our culture and our history our ethnicity will not be erased by this government because of this racist bill. We will continue to gel the rom because that’s what we do. We will refuse to be herded into cul-de-sacs, estates and sites that should be condemned because they are unfit for human inhabitation. We will refuse to allow you (points at the Houses of Parliament) to rip our homes from under us, to criminalise us, and to take our children into state care.”
Alison Hulmes with Drive 2 Survive co-chair Sherrie Smith in red top (c) Ludovic
Lou No from Fixed Abode Travellers Collective.
“I generally tend to live on squatted land and in abandoned buildings, if trespass had been criminalised when I first started living on the road 20 years ago I wonder what my charge sheet would look like now?” said Lou. Would I have spent time in prison? Would I still be able to work as a key worker supporting the vulnerable? Would I still be on the road? The land we squatted was always disused and neglected, waiting for the property developers to get planning to build more houses. We made it our home, clearing rubbish, growing gardens and putting on events. Then we would get evicted (and) often replaced by one solitary caravan for the security guard to reside in keeping the land safe from the likes of us.”
Lou (c) Ludovic
Sam Grant from Human Rights campaign group Liberty.
“Liberty is proud to stand with you against this legislation,” said Sam Grant. “If this bill is passed as it currently stands, it will dramatically re-shape civil liberties in this country and will push the balance of power further in favour of the Government and the Police. Not only does this bill hand police more say about where, when and how people can protest. But for the Traveller community it not just a crackdown on rights it represents an existential threat.”
Sam Grant (c) Ludovic
Howard Beckett from the union UNITE.
“We cannot look at this piece of legislation in isolation,” said Howard Beckett. “We cannot look at this legislation in isolation of the Trade Union Act, or the Home Office ‘refugee go home’ vans, or the Windrush scandal, or deporting refugees in the middle of the night. All of these things taken together are a racist endeavour on behalf of the establishment. We have a responsibility to stand up for our rights as generations have stood up for them before us. We have a responsibility to pass those rights on.”
Howard Beckett (c) Ludovic
Ruth Sullivan from Traveller Pride
“The current Tory Government has form about trying to frame rights of various minoritised groups as a debate and a thing they can legislate out of existence,” said Ruth Sullivan. “We have seen this. We have seen this with this government with immigrants, our Trans siblings and the narrative they have written about the Traveller community (…) Remember that Pride was a protest.”
Ruth Sullivan (c) Ludovic
Delia Mattis from Kill the Bill campaign.
“For hundreds of years under-represented communities have used protest as a way to have our voices heard,” said Delia Mattis. “For hundreds of years organised workers have use protest as a way to make their demands clear. For hundreds of years the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community have had your traditions. This racist Government have no right to try and take your rights away from you and we will not let them. We will continue to protest. One part of the bill the government say they are going to measure the decibels of protests. Have you ever heard such s***? This Government is a disgrace.”
Delia Mattis (c) Ludo
Virgil Bitu, Roma and Human Rights activist and Drive to Survive.
“I am here today to stand with my brothers and sisters against the fascist legislation,” said Virgil Bitu. “I consider this bill fascist because this is how the fascist regimes start in the beginning – they took away peoples political and civil rights and rights of expression and assembly and they abused the most vulnerable groups. I am here to stand against the bill today before it’s not too late.”
Virgil Bitu (c) Ludovic
Nicu Ion, Newcastle Labour Councillor – the first ever Roma elected as a councillor.
“I came to day to show solidarity,” said Cllr Nicu Ion. “And not only my solidarity but that of my community (…) The racists are back and they come in the form of Priti Patel, Boris Johnson and the Tory Government. Trying to ban the traditional lifestyle of a community, trying to ban the right to protest and trying to ban our political freedoms and we will not sit quiet and do whatever they want. We are here today to say we are many, we are powerful and we are not going to be silent.”
Nicu Ion (c) Ludovic
Thomas McCarthy, Irish Traveller/Pavee traditional singer and campaigner.
“Travelling is in our DNA. It’s is as simple as that,” said Thomas McCarthy, who then launched into a song – ‘I’m a rambling man.’
VIDEO: Watch Thomas McCarthy sing ‘I’m a rambling man from the Drive 2 Survive stage (video by Ludovic)
Anne McLaughlin Scottish National Party MP for Glasgow North East.
“Greetings from Scotland,” said Anne McLaughlin MP. “You have got our support. One of the reasons we are fighting this bill is because of the impact on Travelling communities. We are absolutely disgusted with what they are trying to do and we are absolutely disgusted about some of the things they have said about Travellers. In Scotland it’s a very different approach,” said Anne McLaughlin, adding that the SNP Government’s approach was about improving the lives of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. “This bill will do nothing but damage the lives of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and I am so sorry that this is happening to you.”
Anne McLaughlin (c) Ludovic
John Lloyd from campaign group The People’s Assembly.
“You know what the Tories hate? They hate people who are different,” said John Lloyd. “They hate people who live differently. They hate people who look differently. They hate people who worship a different god. Who come from a different country and don’t have the money and the power that they have. But that is precisely what unites us. No matter what we look like no matter how we live. No matter where we come from, none of us have wealth and none of us have power unless we stand together. Because that’s all that ordinary people have ever had. Their numbers and their organisation.”
John Lloyd (c) Ludovic
David Landau from the Jewish Socialist Group.
“The Jewish Socialist Group comes from what is known as the Bundist group of Jewish thought and action,” said David Landau. “We did not seek to form a nation state or control territory, drawing borders around us (…) But the Holocaust changed all that. The Bundist slogan is ‘we are here’ and this was the slogan of the first Roma Congress 50 years ago and this was repeated at this year’s Jubilee Roma Congress. We are in a dangerous period. The far right is gaining ground across Europe and Roma are one of the primary targets of the far right.”
David Landau (c) Ludovic
Luke Wenman from Socialist GRT.
“This bill does nothing to address the needs of our community,” said Luke Wenman. “It does nothing to address the fact that we die 12 years younger than the rest of the population, it does nothing to address the fact that we have been put into prisons for decades. It does nothing to address the fact that they are criminalising a form of homelessness. If you want to solve homelessness provide people with somewhere to live. It’s as simple as that. This bill criminalises the 20% of our community who are still nomadic.”
Luke Wenman (c) Ludovic
Marvina Newton from campaign group Black Lives Matter.
“Can I just say that I stand in solidarity with my brothers and sisters,” said Marvina Newton. “I stand here with my sister (looks at Sherrie Smith) and I fell your pain and I will stay silent no longer. This is not the oppression Olympics, they come for one, they come for all. We stand united in everything we do. We don’t have time for any of this fighting each other. They try to make us come and fight each other but they didn’t know that instead we find family with each other (…) We are protesting this bill to live. We are protesting this bill to survive.”
Marvina Newton (c) Ludovic
Marian Mahoney from London Gypsies and Travellers.
“We don’t want to trespass, but there is nowhere for us to go,” said Marian Mahoney. “Councils are letting us down, they are not making sites or stopping places available for our culture. Putting Gypsies and Travellers under this new law is wrong. We should not be under this law. We are an ethnic minority. We are not criminals. I have no criminal record I don’t want a criminal record and neither do our children or our grandchildren or our generations to come because we will not stop.”
Marian Mahoney (c) Ludovic
Zack Polanski London Assembly Member Green Party.
“I am a Green Party London Assembly Member and Chair of the Environment Committee, but I am not here to say that politics will get us out of here,” said Zack Polanski. “We know that politicians have exacerbated the climate crisis. We know that politicians of successive generations have not listened to the voices of Jewish people, Black people, to the GRT community, to so many vulnerable communities. We are going to have to do this ourselves. We are going to have to be loud, we are going to have to be clear and we are going to have to stand in solidarity.”
Zack Polanski (c) Ludovic
Wolfgang Douglas from the Free Albert campaign.
Wolfgang raised the plight of his father Albert Douglas, a Romany Gypsy businessman who has been detained and tortured in the United Arab Emirates for a crime he didn’t commit. He urged the crowd to check out the #freealbert campaign. “Our Government does nothing to support him or protect him, said Wolfgang Douglas. Why? The answer to this I fear is the oldest crime on earth. I have conversed with MP’s, diplomats and various influential people in that building the Houses of Parliament, the answer is an awkward one for them and one that I have lived with for my entire life. As soon as the dirty word is used, all the support, all the emotion, all the enthusiasm stops. ‘Gypsy’ – the word that closes all doors, stops all discussions and brings debates to an abrupt and awkward halt every single time.”
Wolfgang Douglas (c) Ludovic
Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, civil rights campaigner and top lawyer.
“I stand here today in solidarity with all my Gypsy, Roma and Traveller brothers and sisters,” said Shami Chakrabarti. “There has been a little bit of nonsense, in Parliament and in the press, about this slogan – what’s this slogan?” (The crowd shouts back ‘Kill the Bill!’). “Let me make it clear to anyone who is in doubt about what that slogan means. This is not about targeting police officers for abuse or violence. A bill is a piece of legislation that is introduced into Parliament, and in this case it is one of the most odious and racist pieces of legislation in a long line of such nonsense in recent times.”
Shami Chakrabarti (c) Ludovic
Joe Brown Chair of the Traveller Movement.
“The Irish worked it out long ago what they were trying to do and we had a slogan which was united we stand, divided we fall,” said Joe Brown. “And we must let them know that we stand united forever.”
Joe Brown (c) Ludovic
Wayland Bennings from campaign group Stand Up To Racism
“I am so proud to stand today with the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities and I want to say this – we want to kill that bill,” said Wayland Bennings. “What is this bill about? It is about enabling racism against the Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities and are we going to stand for it? (Crowd shouts no!). And when we talk about racism. The key element to defeating it is unity. And its not the first time they tried to do this. And the truth is, if they come to try and take away our rights there is only one way you keep your rights – and that is to fight for them.”
Wayland Bennings (c) Hugh Powell
Zara Sultana Labour MP for Coventry South
“We are here today to show we are proud and defiant in our resolute opposition to this authoritarian police bill and I am here in unwavering solidarity with the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the face of this new attack,” said Zara Sultana MP. “And that what this is, it is a racist political attack by the Conservative Government and we have to stand up against it.”
Zara Sultanah (c) Ludovic
Flo Bristol Van-Dweller and activist.
Flo spoke about the police violence at the 2nd Bristol Kill the Bill protest and then a a song and got the crowd to join in:
“We are the people, the places that we see
If we have nowhere to go, who will we be?
Please protect my home, please protect my right to roam
Lay down your arms and walk with me”
Flo (c) Ludovic
Steve Kennedy criminal barrister and Drive 2 Survive organiser
“The Brexit scam, the Covid scam, the hostile environment, our divided nation, are all political devices deployed by the Tories to deploy fear and control the people whilst they rob the nation blind of all its assets,” said Steve Kennedy. “The GRT road is an open road and everyone is welcome to travel with us.”
Steve Kennedy (c) Hugh Powell
The rally then ended peacefully at 3pm as the organisers vowed to continue the campaign against the police bill into the summer with their new allies and supporters.
Speaking to the Travellers’ Times after the rally Drive 2 Survive co-Chair Sherrie Smith said that she the rally had been a success.
“It was an amazing day and a great start to the Drive2 Survive campaign to beat this racist and unjust bill,” said Sherrie Smith. “Because of the nature of the bill, because that is contains attacks on civil liberties, Drive 2 Survive has managed to forge alliances with many other communities and campaigns as we head into a summer of discontent to bring this bill – and if it is passed – this new law down.”
“One moment will always stick in my mind, and that was when we had a representative from all the different GRT ethnic groups and cultures up on stage alongside Marvina Newton from Black Lives Matters. Together we are powerful. Friendships and alliances were made at the rally that will last this Government out. Together we are powerful and that’s important because, as many of the speakers said, the battle against the new law will be won on the streets as well as in Parliament and in the courts.”
Sherrie Smith added that Drive 2 Survive had a number of plans in the pipeline, including a ‘Travellers got Talent’ competition at Appleby Horse Fair, followed by films and talks to further raise awareness among GRT communities about the new laws coming in. There will also be a Drive 2 Survive online event to mark the International Roma and Sinti Holocaust Day on August 2nd.
“We are also planning localised actions that people can take part in because not everyone who wanted to come to the rally could make it to London, or where worried about travelling long distances during Covid,” said Sherrie Smith. “More details will be released soon from the Drive 2 Survive core team, so watch this space and follow our website.”
The Drive 2 Survive rally kicked off with an explosive start in Parliament Square last week as campaigners warned of a ‘summer of discontent’ against the new racist police bill which will “wipe out” Gypsy and Traveller and other nomadic cultures by criminalising trespass with the intent to reside in a vehicle.
Over 500 people came to the rally on 7th July, 2021, at Parliament Square, London to demonstrate against the police bill in front of the heart of British Government. Every GRT community and nomadic community was there to make history, including Romany Gypsy, Kale, Scottish Travellers, Irish Travellers, Showmen, New Travellers, Van Dwellers and livaboard itinerant Boaters.
The crow cheered rousing speeches from politicians, campaigners, lawyers and representatives of anti-racist groups including Black Lives Matter and Stand Up To Racism.
The new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill was voted through in Parliament last week and looks set to be passed through the House of Lords and become law by the Autumn. The bill doesn’t only contain an attack on GRT communities, it also gives the Government and the police new powers to restrict peaceful protests, include a ten-year sentencing tariff for damaging a statue, increases the powers of police to stop and search with no evidence and introduces more secure institutions for young people.
The rally started when John Doe set off with his horse and cart from Stable Way Traveller site in nearby Shepherds Bush and drove to Parliament Square. Main Drive 2 Survive organisers Sherrie Smith and Jake Bowers were already at Parliament Square starting to set up the rally which was set to kick off at 1pm.
Hugh Powell As John Doe sets off from Stable Way with his horse and cart, people start arriving at Parliament Square: Tyler Hatwell (front) founder of Traveller Pride with Jerry Cash from Gypsies And Travellers Essex Jake Bowers kicked off the speakers and introduced Drive 2 Survive as the crowds began to arrive. “Let me give you a warning Priti Patel,” he said. “We will not be walking into the history books. If you come for us and you come for our homes and you come for our culture – we are coming for you.”
Jake Bowers was then followed by 26 speakers. They were (in order):
Andy Slaughter MP for Hammersmith and co-chair All Party Parliamentary Group for GRT.
“There are 250 different groups opposing this bill from Friends of the Earth to XR to Liberty,” said Andy Slaughter. “Your fight is their fight.”
“I am a Romany Gypsy and I am extremely proud of that fact,” said Billy Welch. “I come from a nomadic people and I have travelled all my life. We have got to realise how dangerous these laws will be. Just by being somewhere I can be arrested, put in prison, my home and my vehicles can be confiscated from me and my wife and family left on the side of the road.”
Billy Welch “An attack on one is an attack on all of us,” said Bell Ribeiro Addy MP. “The UN have said the GRT community across Europe are one of the most persecuted groups in the world. And this country likes to wax lyrical about how other countries treat their minority groups, but instead of defending this community this government is persecuting them more with this bill. The government has got an eighty-seat majority, but the early protests against the bill slowed it down. We have to understand that this fight will not be won in (the Houses of Parliament), it will be won out here on the streets.”Ludo Bell Ribeiro Addy (c) Ludovic Alison Hulmes from the GRT Social Work Association.
“I’m a Welsh Gypsy, I’m a Kale, that’s my tribe,” said Alison Hulmes. “Our culture and our history our ethnicity will not be erased by this government because of this racist bill. We will continue to gel the rom because that’s what we do. We will refuse to be herded into cul-de-sacs, estates and sites that should be condemned because they are unfit for human inhabitation. We will refuse to allow you (points at the Houses of Parliament) to rip our homes from under us, to criminalise us, and to take our children into state care.”
Alison Hulmes with Drive 2 Survive co-chair Sherrie Smith in red top (c) Ludovic Lou from No Fixed Abode Travellers (NFATs) collective.
“I generally tend to live on squatted land and on land attached to abandoned buildings, if trespass had been criminalised when I first started living on the road 20 years ago I wonder what my charge sheet would look like now?” said Lou. Would I have spent time in prison? Would I still be able to work as a key worker supporting the vulnerable? Would I still be on the road? The land we squatted was always disused and neglected, waiting for the property developers to get planning to build more houses. We made it our home, clearing rubbish, growing gardens and putting on events. Then we would get evicted (and) often replaced by one solitary caravan for the security guard to reside in keeping the land safe from the likes of us.” Sam Grant from Human Rights campaign group Liberty.
“Liberty is proud to stand with you against this legislation,” said Sam Grant. “If this bill is passed as it currently stands, it will dramatically re-shape civil liberties in this country and will push the balance of power further in favour of the Government and the Police. Not only does this bill hand police more say about where, when and how people can protest. But for the Traveller community it not just a crackdown on rights it represents an existential threat.” Howard Beckett from the union UNITE.
“We cannot look at this piece of legislation in isolation,” said Howard Beckett. “We cannot look at this legislation in isolation of the Trade Union Act, or the Home Office ‘refugee go home’ vans, or the Windrush scandal, or deporting refugees in the middle of the night. All of these things taken together are a racist endeavour on behalf of the establishment. We have a responsibility to stand up for our rights as generations have stood up for them before us. We have a responsibility to pass those rights on.”
Ruth Sullivan from Traveller Pride
“The current Tory Government has form about trying to frame rights of various minoritised groups as a debate and a thing they can legislate out of existence,” said Ruth Sullivan. “We have seen this. We have seen this with this government with immigrants, our Trans siblings and the narrative they have written about the Traveller community (…) Remember that Pride was a protest.”
Delia Mattis from Kill the Bill campaign.
“For hundreds of years under-represented communities have used protest as a way to have our voices heard,” said Delia Mattis. “For hundreds of years organised workers have use protest as a way to make their demands clear. For hundreds of years the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community have had your traditions. This racist Government have no right to try and take your rights away from you and we will not let them. We will continue to protest. One part of the bill the government say they are going to measure the decibels of protests. Have you ever heard such s***? This Government is a disgrace.”
Virgil Bitu, Roma and Human Rights activist and Drive to Survive.
“I am here today to stand with my brothers and sisters against the fascist legislation,” said Virgil Bitu. “I consider this bill fascist because this is how the fascist regimes start in the beginning – they took away peoples political and civil rights and rights of expression and assembly and they abused the most vulnerable groups. I am here to stand against the bill today before it’s not too late.”
Nicu Ion, Newcastle Labour Councillor – the first ever Roma elected as a councillor.
“I came to day to show solidarity,” said Cllr Nicu Ion. “And not only my solidarity but that of my community (…) The racists are back and they come in the form of Priti Patel, Boris Johnson and the Tory Government. Trying to ban the traditional lifestyle of a community, trying to ban the right to protest and trying to ban our political freedoms and we will not sit quiet and do whatever they want. We are here today to say we are many, we are powerful and we are not going to be silent.”
Thomas McCarthy, Irish Traveller/Pavee traditional singer and campaigner.
“Travelling is in our DNA. It’s is as simple as that,” said Thomas McCarthy, who then launched into a song – ‘I’m a rambling man.’
Anne McLaughlin Scottish National Party MP for Glasgow North East.
“Greetings from Scotland,” said Anne McLaughlin MP. “You have got our support. One of the reasons we are fighting this bill is because of the impact on Travelling communities. We are absolutely disgusted with what they are trying to do and we are absolutely disgusted about some of the things they have said about Travellers. In Scotland it’s a very different approach,” said Anne McLaughlin, adding that the SNP Government’s approach was about improving the lives of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. “This bill will do nothing but damage the lives of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and I am so sorry that this is happening to you.”
John Lloyd from campaign group The People’s Assembly.
“You know what the Tories hate? They hate people who are different,” said John Lloyd. “They hate people who live differently. They hate people who look differently. They hate people who worship a different god. Who come from a different country and don’t have the money and the power that they have. But that is precisely what unites us. No matter what we look like no matter how we live. No matter where we come from, none of us have wealth and none of us have power unless we stand together. Because that’s all that ordinary people have ever had. Their numbers and their organisation.”
David Landau from the Jewish Socialist Group.
“The Jewish Socialist Group comes from what is known as the Bundist group of Jewish thought and action,” said David Landau. “We did not seek to form a nation state or control territory, drawing borders around us (…) But the Holocaust changed all that. The Bundist slogan is ‘we are here’ and this was the slogan of the first Roma Congress 50 years ago and this was repeated at this year’s Jubilee Roma Congress. We are in a dangerous period. The far right is gaining ground across Europe and Roma are one of the primary targets of the far right.”
Luke Wenman from Socialist GRT.
“This bill does nothing to address the needs of our community,” said Luke Wenman. “It does nothing to address the fact that we die 12 years younger than the rest of the population, it does nothing to address the fact that we have been put into prisons for decades. It does nothing to address the fact that they are criminalising a form of homelessness. If you want to solve homelessness provide people with somewhere to live. It’s as simple as that. This bill criminalises the 20% of our community who are still nomadic.”
Marvina Newton from campaign group Black Lives Matter.
“Can I just say that I stand in solidarity with my brothers and sisters,” said Marvina Newton. “I stand here with my sister (looks at Sherrie Smith) and I fell your pain and I will stay silent no longer. This is not the oppression Olympics, they come for one, they come for all. We stand united in everything we do. We don’t have time for any of this fighting each other. They try to make us come and fight each other but they didn’t know that instead we find family with each other (…) We are protesting this bill to live. We are protesting this bill to survive.”
Marian Mahoney from London Gypsies and Travellers.
“We don’t want to trespass, but there is nowhere for us to go,” said Marian Mahoney. “Councils are letting us down, they are not making sites or stopping places available for our culture. Putting Gypsies and Travellers under this new law is wrong. We should not be under this law. We are an ethnic minority. We are not criminals. I have no criminal record I don’t want a criminal record and neither do our children or our grandchildren or our generations to come because we will not stop.”
Zack Polanski London Assembly Member Green Party.
“I am a Green Party London Assembly Member and Chair of the Environment Committee, but I am not here to say that politics will get us out of here,” said Zack Polanski. “We know that politicians have exacerbated the climate crisis. We know that politicians of successive generations have not listened to the voices of Jewish people, Black people, to the GRT community, to so many vulnerable communities. We are going to have to do this ourselves. We are going to have to be loud, we are going to have to be clear and we are going to have to stand in solidarity.”
Wolfgang Douglas from the Free Albert campaign.
Wolfgang raised the plight of his father Albert Douglas, a Romany Gypsy businessman who has been detained and tortured in the United Arab Emirates for a crime he didn’t commit. He urged the crowd to check out the #freealbert campaign. “Our Government does nothing to support him or protect him, said Wolfgang Douglas. Why? The answer to this I fear is the oldest crime on earth. I have conversed with MP’s, diplomats and various influential people in that building the Houses of Parliament, the answer is an awkward one for them and one that I have lived with for my entire life. As soon as the dirty word is used, all the support, all the emotion, all the enthusiasm stops. ‘Gypsy’ – the word that closes all doors, stops all discussions and brings debates to an abrupt and awkward halt every single time.”
Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, civil rights campaigner and top lawyer.
“I stand here today in solidarity with all my Gypsy, Roma and Traveller brothers and sisters,” said Shami Chakrabarti. “There has been a little bit of nonsense, in Parliament and in the press, about this slogan – what’s this slogan?” (The crowd shouts back ‘Kill the Bill!’). “Let me make it clear to anyone who is in doubt about what that slogan means. This is not about targeting police officers for abuse or violence. A bill is a piece of legislation that is introduced into Parliament, and in this case it is one of the most odious and racist pieces of legislation in a long line of such nonsense in recent times.”
Joe Brown Chair of the Traveller Movement.
“The Irish worked it out long ago what they were trying to do and we had a slogan which was united we stand, divided we fall,” said Joe Brown. “And we must let them know that we stand united forever.”
Wayland Bennings from campaign group Stand Up To Racism
“I am so proud to stand today with the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities and I want to say this – we want to kill that bill,” said Wayland Bennings. “What is this bill about? It is about enabling racism against the Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities and are we going to stand for it? (Crowd shouts no!). And when we talk about racism. The key element to defeating it is unity. And its not the first time they tried to do this. And the truth is, if they come to try and take away our rights there is only one way you keep your rights – and that is to fight for them.”
Zara Sultana Labour MP for Coventry South
“We are here today to show we are proud and defiant in our resolute opposition to this authoritarian police bill and I am here in unwavering solidarity with the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the face of this new attack,” said Zara Sultana MP. “And that what this is, it is a racist political attack by the Conservative Government and we have to stand up against it.”
Flo Bristol Van-Dweller and activist.
Flo spoke about the police violence at the 2nd Bristol Kill the Bill protest and then a a song and got the crowd to join in:
“We are the people, the places that we see
If we have nowhere to go, who will we be?
Please protect my home, please protect my right to roam
Lay down your arms and walk with me”
Steve Kennedy criminal defence lawyer
“The Brexit scam, the Covid scam, the hostile environment, our divided nation, are all political devices deployed by the Tories to deploy fear and control the people whilst they rob the nation blind of all its assets,” said Steve Kennedy. “The GRT road is an open road and everyone is welcome to travel with us.”
The rally then ended peacefully at 3pm as the organisers vowed to continue the campaign against the police bill into the summer with their new allies and supporters.
Speaking to the Travellers’ Times after the rally Drive 2 Survive co-Chair Sherrie Smith said that she the rally had been a success.“It was an amazing day and a great start to the Drive2 Survive campaign to beat this racist and unjust bill,” said Sherrie Smith. “Because of the nature of the bill, because that is contains attacks on civil liberties, Drive 2 Survive has managed to forge alliances with many other communities and campaigns as we head into a summer of discontent to bring this bill – and if it is passed – this new law down.”
“One moment will always stick in my mind, and that was when we had a representative from all the different GRT ethnic groups and cultures up on stage alongside Marvina Newton from Black Lives Matters. Together we are powerful. Friendships and alliances were made at the rally that will last this Government out. Together we are grassroots and we are powerful and that’s important because, as many of the speakers said, the battle against the new law will be won on the streets as well as in Parliament and in the courts.” Sherrie Smith added that Drive to Survive had a number of plans in the pipeline, including a ‘Applebys got Talent’, a Romani Kris , a photography competition which will be exhibited at Appleby Horse Fair, followed by films and talks to further raise awareness among GRT communities about the new laws and the effect it will have on our cultures going forward. There will also be a Drive 2 Survive online event to mark the International Roma and Sinti Holocaust Day on August 2nd.
“We are also planning a weekend of localised actions this summer, so people can do something for themselves, if they can’t make Cumbria or London and It will kick off on Friday,” said Sherrie Smith. “We want to show the best of our people, and show what we stand to lose. The Government who are pushing this new law through don’t seem to know or care. More details will be released soon from the Drive 2 Survive core team, so watch this space and follow our website.” www.drive2survive.org.uk
Romany Gypsy John Doe brought his horse and trolley all the way from Dorset to join the Drive 2 Survive Rally on July 7th. In this video he explains why.
Nice to see photographer Tash (@tashuk) namechecked from the platform at today’s #KillTheBill @Drive2Survive3 rally and to chat with him later. He has a fantastic archive of traveller/festival/protest images … well worth checking. RonF
Posted in.|Taggeddemo, killthebill, photographer, Tash, travellers|Comments Off on Nice to see photographer Tash (@tashuk) namechecked from the platform at today’s #KillTheBil
Scuffles as travellers’ ‘Kill The Bill’ demo ends in clashes with police in London Travellers, gypsies, and squatters gathered in London on Wednesday (July 7) to protest against a new government bill which, if passed, will criminalise trespass with the intention to reside. The Kill the Bill protest turned into scuffles after one protester was arrested for unknown reasons on Whitehall which led to demonstrators trying to block the road. If the new bill passes, roadside camps could result in the seizure of vehicles, larger fines and the potential for prison time, affecting the lives of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, as well as people sleeping rough. Urban Pictures
If it becomes law, residing on land without permission would be a criminal offence, threatening a way of life for communities across the UK by Harriet Grant
Guardian, Mon 5 Jul 2021 14.45 BST
“Iam worried that not everyone knows what is coming,” says Amy, sitting in the truck she has turned into a cosy home for her and her two children. “If this bill is passed it will mean the end of our culture. The end of our way of life.”
Amy, who wanted to be known by her first name, lives with her two sons on a small Travellers’ site down a quiet country lane in the west of England, along the edges of an ancient forest.
Despite the wheels on everyone’s homes, there is a feeling of permanence here. Amy’s neighbours are busy gardening in the sunshine, tyres are filled with plants, wood is stacked in piles ready to be made into more planters. In every corner, life is blooming.
But for Amy, and many others, this way of life is under threat. Gypsies and Travellers are preparing to rally as the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill gets a step closer to being passed into law. If passed, section 4 of the bill, which has its third reading in the Commons this week, will make “residing or intending to reside on land without the permission of the owner or occupier” a new criminal offence.
Amy started a podcast entitled “I choose the road” in an attempt to sound the alarm. “I started to think about how I could get the news out there to other Travellers about what was happening. People might not know their homes could be taken away and they could even go to prison.”
Amy and her neighbours aren’t on the land legally, but “the owners tolerate us for now. I don’t know what will happen once the bill passes, though”. None of the Travellers interviewed by the Guardian wanted to include their full name for fear of being traceable by the authorities.
Across the UK many Travellers live like this, finding fields where they will be quietly tolerated, in breach of planning and housing regulations. Others move much more frequently, having to find somewhere new every few days.
Amy took to the road in the 90’s, after getting involved in a Travellers’ road protest in Ireland as a teenager and living largely in vehicles ever since. “We are known as ‘New Travellers’. We don’t have ethnic heritage but I’ve done this for many years … [The name] allows us to claim our identity without stepping on other people’s.”
For Amy and her neighbour, Jess, living this way is a commitment to an alternative way of life, outside the structures of capitalism.
“It’s about a simpler life,” says Amy, “a life closer to nature where you can hear the rain on the roof, where you don’t need as much money so you can be with your children more. And it’s about community, because living on a Traveller site and raising children here is like living in an old-fashioned village.”
Jess is pottering around outside her van, which is surrounded by the detritus of a creative life. It’s filled with fabric and craft materials and hula-hoops lie all around it. The Traveller community has deep connections to the creative side of British festivals and she hopes to be back on the scene this summer. For now, she is ready to fight for her way of life against the police bill.
“I grew up on a council estate in Wales and I moved to town when I left home and thought ‘oh yes, this is just as bad as I thought it would be’, just depressing and lonely. I realise now what I was searching for was community,” says Jess, who did not want to give her surname.
If this bill passes, she says, “we will be the last generation. I will just keep moving … until they take my vehicle, I don’t have other options in my back pocket. I feel fucking petrified and also angry. People worry about Travellers turning up in their area, but where is the common land? You are taking away my animal freedom to be on this planet. It’s wiping out a culture.”
In the south of England, another Jess lives in converted horsebox and rides a large motorbike. Lately, she has been spending time on Facebook, sharing her story of decades on the road and encouraging others to tell their stories. “Travellers don’t like to draw attention to themselves, but I believe this is a time when it’s urgent to share our stories, our culture and history.”
Jess chose this way of life to be closer to nature. “I don’t even like to sit in the van … it’s just so I can be as close to nature as possible. The doors are always open, I’m always outside. There is a real push towards cultural homogeneity, through the media you are told – think this way, judge people like this. People don’t understand why I would choose this life, but for me it’s sanity. A simple lifestyle close to the earth that doesn’t tax resources and is sustainable on a small income. ”
Today she is parked up at the top of the South Downs, her truck doors wide open. Like Amy, she took to the road in the 90s, as protest camps and rave culture brought people on to the road.
“When I was younger I had a breakdown and pieced my health back together in Ireland and that is where I met people living on the road, including a world of horse-drawn vehicles. It was eye-opening, I thought, ‘oh my God I don’t have to go home, I can live camping’.
“I worked in agriculture, from farm to farm both here and in Europe. Being outside working was good for my mental health. I had choices and I chose it all.”
Jess can’t say where she has been parked recently because it’s barely legal. Many Travellers are on edge, worried constantly about being tracked down and fined by local authorities.
“During lockdown they left us alone’ says Jess. “But before that I was parking my truck all over Brighton or out in the South Downs. I recently got about three section 77s (a legal order to remove a vehicle) stuck on my windscreen. They say ‘you are believed to be residing in a vehicle on the side of the highway and you need to move in the shortest time practicable’.”
“As it stands right now, it is a civil offence – I can move my truck to another place and they mostly leave you alone. You stay a few nights somewhere, take fines in your stride, it’s a hazard of the lifestyle.”
The law will bring a major hardening, from civil to criminal offence. “If this law is enforced they could immediately arrest me, stick me in a police car, take me to the station and destroy my truck.”
Travellers aren’t welcome on the campsites that ordinary holidaymakers might visit. “There are legalities around living on a campsite, they are expensive and they don’t like our vehicles. The special sites set up by councils are full.”
Jess is a confident woman and feels she can speak up if others are too worried to. “Tell me why I shouldn’t live this way? I look after my parents – I work, I pay tax, why do I have to live in a bloody house?”
In Bristol, Luke saw Jess’s message and thought the time had come to speak up. He is part of a group of Travellers who move around the south-west, currently awaiting eviction from a site they broke into and looking at where they can hide next.
“What are we supposed to do? Squatting is gone, soon this will go – just all means of subsistence are being criminalised. You can’t just be.”
Luke is a full-time carer for young people with disabilities, but doesn’t want to live in an ordinary house. “Nomadism is for me. I like sitting round the campfire, I like digging holes, chopping wood. I need community – I was on my own for a very very long time and – when I got into squatting it was like getting into a warm bath, I don’t really want to give up that communal element.”
He is very concerned about the possible further powers that would allow police to seize vehicles on the spot. “If that happens, I’ll just go back to sleeping in a tent in the wood.”
Earlier this month the high court ruled that local authorities can no longer issue blanket injunctions against “persons unknown” to stop Gypsies and Travellers stopping on local land. In recent years the injunctions were widely used to prevent people stopping even if they were new to the area. Campaigners and lawyers plan to use human rights laws to push back against the bill.
For Luke the constant pressure to move on and stay out of sight is stressful. “The whole time we are keeping an eye on where we can go next. Then on the day we move it’s stressful wondering will it happen, how long will we have there.”
He says his life deserves respect. “There is attention on van lifers, young yuppies and that’s fine. But there are some of us who are not photogenic or erudite who have not got other choices. We are out here living in dilapidated caravans and helping each other out. I would like it to be a matter of record that we existed, some of us who clawed our way out of the filth to get here and even that is being taken away from us.”
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An ongoing diary of stuff, allsorts, and things wot happen ……
I am a photographer with a special interest to document the lives of travelling people and those attending Festivals, Stonehenge etc, what the press often describe as ‘New Age Travellers’ and many social concerns.
With my photography, I have tried to say something of the wide variety of people engaged in ‘Alternatives’, and youths’ many sub-cultures and to present a more positive view.
I have photographed many free and commercial events and have, in recent years, extended my work to include dance parties (’rave culture’), gay-rights events, environmental direct actions, and protest against the Criminal Justice Act and more recently, issues surrounding the Global Capitalism.
Further, police surveillance has recently become a very important subject for me!
In recognition of this work, received a ‘Winston’ from Privacy International, at the 1998 ‘Big Brother’ Awards. The citation reads: “Alan Lodge is a photographer who has spent more than a decade raising awareness of front-line police surveillance activities, particularly the endemic practice of photographing demonstrators and activists”.
I am based in Nottingham, UK.
Quotes & Thoughts
“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ But, conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
“In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance.
In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock!!”
Harry Lime [Orsen Wells] The Third Man 1949
“Civilization will not attain to its perfection, until the last stone from the last church, falls on the last priest.”
Emile Zola
“….I have an important message to deliver to all the cute people all over the world.
If you’re out there and you’re not cute, maybe you’re beautiful, I just want to tell you somethin’- there’s more of us ugly mother-fuckers than you are, hey-y, so watch out now…”
Frank Zappa
Police arrive on the scene at Pont Ar Elan in July 1976. Picture by Janet Thompson
A newspaper clipping reporting on the event. Picture by Janet Thompson
