When I arrived at the north London pub 20 minutes late, my friend was midway through her latest romantic drama. She was having relationship troubles with her (live-in!) boyfriend of two weeks, and with every twist and turn in the story our noisy histrionics increased. Across from us, a group of about 30 people sat spread across several tables, quietly enjoying a twixtmas drink. After an abortive attempt to secure a drink through the app, I went to the bar.
As I arrived, two of the people from the tables across from us were also there, attempting to do the same. The staff behind the bar refused to serve them and when they argued back, the whole bar was shut. As I returned to the table, my friend was still in full flow. Over her shoulder, I saw the ominous hi-vis jackets of two Metropolitan police officers enter the pub and talk to the bar staff before approaching the group next to us. Before long another dozen or so arrived, demanding that they leave. Their crime? Being Travellers in a pub.
We protested over their eviction and ended up in a confrontation with the officers, before leaving with the group. Outside, shaken up and annoyed, we chatted to some of those who’d been ejected. “Don’t bother yourselves about it,” they told me. “It happens all the time.”
For people even tangentially connected or aware of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities (GRT), this incident is not particularly surprising. Nor is this week’s news that the Welsh secretary and Monmouth MP, David TC Davies, had distributed a leaflet encouraging people to air their views on the “establishment of a number of Gypsy Traveller sites in the county”.
The leaflets have come under sharp criticism – some have said they “border on racism” (for what it’s worth, I’d say they’re overtly racist), while others have rightly argued they are emblematic of the continued creation of a hostile environment for GRT people. The reality is these leaflets once again expose a complex system of oppression and persecution that aims to eradicate GRT people and culture. This country has a long history of propagating this kind of racism, and it has only increased in the past few years.
A 2017 BBC investigation found that less than a third of pitches needed by these communities had been built, with many local authorities leaving unspent funds allocated for the creation of such resources. In its 2019 election manifesto, the Conservative party promised to “crack down on unauthorised encampments” and did so with the passing of the public order legislation that criminalised trespass.
It is said that anti-GRT sentiment is the last acceptable form of bigotry. I know that if you ask any of my black, Muslim, or transgender friends, for example, they would quite rightly push back on this, but it does speak to a bigger truth. Any time I mention my Romany heritage online, even in passing, my mentions immediately fill up with slurs. In the real world, I have lost count of the number of times people, even those who would consider themselves nominally “of the left” have slipped in a slur or a trope into casual conversation (before immediately rowing back when I pull them up on it).
Indeed, a report by the Traveller movement found that 91% of GRT people had experienced discrimination, with 77% having been victims of hate speech or hate crimes. The survey also found that 40% of British parents would be “unhappy” with a close family member forming a relationship with a Traveller. A 2018 report found that 44% of people feel comfortable expressing anti-Gypsy sentiment, the highest number of respondents, with the second (22%) being happy to be openly Islamophobic.
Let’s be very clear: this is not just an issue with the Conservative party. Anti-GRT sentiment exists across the political spectrum – in 2021, Labour MP Charlotte Nichols had to apologise for her own set of leaflets which promised to deal with “Gypsy incursions”. In 2016, the shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, Jess Phillips, tweeted: “To my constituents, we have informed the council and the police about the traveller camp arriving on the Poolway”, apparently forgetting that those in the camp were also her constituents.
The media are also not without blame. From incendiary columns to bungled “investigations” into “traveller crime”, the collective impact of the centuries-old onslaught on GRT people is to continue to posit them as subhuman. As not worthy of safety, security or happiness. GRT people have some of the worst health outcomes across any group. The average life expectancy for GRT men and women is 50. There is poverty, deprivation and vast mental health issues. The collective attack on communities does nothing to deal with these problems – through isolation and prejudice it exacerbates them, while criminalising groups of people based on their ethnicity.
This leaflet row has fallen in the same week as Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day. It should act as a reminder that we must learn from the past and replace the campaign of hatred and denigration with a recognition of GRT people as human beings deserving of investment, of opportunity and of hope.
Ben Smoke is a commissioning editor at Huck
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