Scottish Gypsy Travellers: the last bastion of respectable racism?

1. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The 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.

6. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
http://www.unison-
scotland.org.uk/gypsytravellers/GTA5_final.pd
f

7. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The 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?

8. Scottish Gypsy Traveller or
Sinti?

9. Scottish Gypsy Traveller or
Sinti?

10. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
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

11. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
Timeline of movement throughout Europe
1384 Prizren
1362 Dubrovnik
1373 Corfu
1378 Rila Monastery
(Bulgaria)
1382 Zagreb
1384 Modon
1397 Nauplie (Greece)
1407 Hildesheim
(Germany)
1416 Brasov
(Transylvania)
1501 Lithuania
1505 Scotland
1513 England

12. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
• 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

13. 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

14. What they said
“The Commission believes that Scottish Gypsy
Travellers face some of the starkest prejudice
and discrimination of any social or ethnic group
in the country… The combined result of
this prejudice and discrimination means that
many Scottish Gypsy Travellers live on the margins
of Scottish Society, in circumstances that few other
groups would be expected to tolerate”
(Equality and Human Rights Commission)

15. 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”

16. 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

17. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
• 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)

18. 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

19. Upper or Lower ?
Do you write ‘Gypsy Traveller’ or ‘gypsy
traveller’?
Do you know of any other ethnic
minority group where lower case is used by the
media and public bodies when writing about
them?
(The Scottish Parliament, Gypsy Travellers and Public Sector Policies, Legal Definitions p 2, 4
December 2001 RN 01/114 and EHRC

20. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
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

21. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
The Role of the Regulatory
Bodies
• Equality and Human Rights
Commission
• Scottish Social Services
Council
• Care Inspectorate
• Audit Scotland
• Children’s Commissioner

22. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
• “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.”

23. 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 The
Scottish Parliament, 2001

24. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
“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

25. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
• 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 …”

26. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
• 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!

27. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?
“Each person must be part of
society, without giving up his identity,
values or traditions. And each person
must recognise the validity of each
other’s beliefs and religions...differences
can be wonderful in adding colour and
spice to our lives... the more colour
there is, the more beautiful the world
becomes.”
(Ernest Levy, Holocaust survivor and cantor)

28. Scottish Gypsy Travellers
The last bastion of respectable racism?