Travellers

The anti-Roma racism of the child seizures - No further Action Required

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In this guest piece Damien Walshe, long term anti-racist activist, takes the opportunity to reflect on what happend in the last week when State authorities acted to take away blonde children from their Roma parents.

“Damned if they did something, damned if they did nothing”

A standard response (and the one trotted out by the Minister for Justice) is that it was best for the HSE/Gardai to err on the side of caution: “better be safe than sorry” has been the mantra. Okay, let’s have a look at that statement: What the danger was established in order to abduct the two Roma children from their families? Under the Child Care act children can be taken into care if a child has or is being assaulted, ill-treated, neglected or sexually abused, or whose health, development or welfare has been or is likely to be impaired or neglected. No one has remotely suggested this was the case for either child.

Irish Travellers - Apartheid, Irish Style.

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Solidarity is unity (as of a group or class) that produces or is based on community of interests, objectives, and standards.[1] It refers to the ties in a society that bind people together as one.

A good barometer of any society is how it treats people who are the most socially disadvantaged. In other words we are talking about people on the edge or on the bottom of this heap. In Ireland we have a pyramid structure which has 1% of individuals at the top owning 34% of the wealth. At the broad base of this triangle we have people who are treated appallingly, who are discriminated against, stigmatized and ultimately written-off before they reach the age of adulthood. People who are never given a chance; many Travellers find themselves here.

Travellers Rights

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Workers Solidarity Movement position paper on Travellers Rights as rewritten Oct 2008 National Conference

Fighting racism

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The Workers Solidarity Movement postion paper on Fighting Racism as ratified at November 2010 National Conference.  Note this paper is dated and where conflict exists the Anarchism, Oppression & Exploitation is a better reflection of our positions.

The history of Irish Travellers' struggle for civil rights and ethnic recognition

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Patricia McCarthy examines the history of Irish Travellers' struggle for civil rights and ethnic recognition. Their struggles have much in common with those of Indigenous people worldwide and with the struggles of Native Americans and Australian Aboriginals and also with the struggles of Gypsies, Travellers and nomads against racism and oppression.

Traveller Ethnicity: The end of the denial

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This evening, when Enda Kenny makes an announcement to the Dáil recognising the identity of Irish Travellers as a distinct ethnic group, it will be an historic moment for Irish society.  This recognition, which has been a very long time coming, marks the end of a campaign that has been fought for decades by Travellers to be recognised in their home country as an ethnic group.  So what’s being done today is formally ending the long denial of Traveller ethnicity that has taken place in the Irish state.

As the statement that from the Joint Oireachtas Committee admitted
“Travellers are, de facto, a separate ethnic group. This is not a gift to be bestowed upon them, but a fact the State ought to formally acknowledge….”

Struggles against racism - Traveller, migrant, and direct provision perspectives - #DABF 2016 audio

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From Trump in the US to Pegida in Europe, the recent resurgence of right-wing and fascist politics challenges all of us to develop stronger and stronger anti-racist social movements. From casual, everyday racism to state policies of border enforcement, racism comes in many forms in Ireland. What are the major issues faced by Travellers, by people living in Direct Provision, and by those fleeing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East? What can we do to advance the struggle against racism in all its forms?

In this panel we brought together a variety of activists from migrant, Traveller, and refugee solidarity networks to discuss experiences of challenging racism in everyday society and in state policy, and to share perspectives on developing solidarity in the struggle for survival, recognition, and respect.

Galway Travellers occupy city hall carpark to protest accommodation failures

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Our solidarity to Travellers in Galway who have occupied City Hall's carpark after the state has yet again failed to provide them with adequate housing.

Traveller and Homeless Families in Ireland: Dignity and Decent Housing for All!

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We built our cities and the houses of our cities. They are ours not to slave in but to master and to own.
 
Last night’s RTÉ programme, My Homeless Family, explored the lives of three homeless families living in emergency accommodation. They provided an insight into the appalling housing and living conditions faced by a large number of people at the moment.
 

A world to change in 2016

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We awake to news that more towns in Ireland are under water due to storm flooding. And that perhaps the sea ice at the north pole might melt due to temperatures rising above zero. The first story is given a lot more prominence in Irish media than the second but strangely at the same time another story is being celebrated. The start of yet more greenhouse gases being pumped out of their safe place far below the sea off the Irish shore to be processed and then released into the atmosphere via the Corrib refinery.

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