Infonight and film Dale Farm

Aankondiging, gepost door: Joe's Garage op 18/11/2011 11:11:41

Waar: Joe's Garage, Pretoriusstraat 43, Amsterdam, Netherlands (GPS lat: 52.355621 lon: 4.924909)
Wanneer: 20/11/2011 - 20:00

A group of people will talk about their experiences on the travellers site Dale Farm in the UK, resisting the eviction plan that had been a threat to them for many years. The eviction took place one month ago. There will be footage of the eviction as an extension of their talk. It´s a BBC-documentary made by a a trusted filmmaker who spent a lot of time at Dale Farm for many years.


Dale Farm, in Crays Hill, Essex, is the UK’s largest Travellers’ community, consisting of nearly a hundred separate properties, lying well outside the village and made up of extended family plots or yards. A number of Gypsies and Travellers have lived at Dale Farm legally since the 1960s. Over the years, more families came to join them after councils began shutting down public sites and Travellers were forced to look for permanent places to settle. But the land the newcomers bought at Dale Farm is protected greenbelt, making development on it illegal. After a five-year court battle with the council, bailiffs have been appointed to evict nearly 90 families from the unauthorised plots.

Caving in to racial prejudice, Basildon District Council has set aside 8 million pounds to demolish the homes in the back 52 plots. According to the Commission on Racial Equality, 90% of traveller planning applications are initially rejected compared to 20% overall. Families were originally given until midnight August 31 to abandon their homes or face a forced eviction, but they have remained at Dale Farm, as most have no where else to go. The community has said they’ll leave peacefully if alternative sites can be found, but Basildon council have refused to do so. They view the destruction of half this community as ethnic cleansing.

The Travellers say planning laws are biased against them, and that they have nowhere else to go. “There are some really sick people here who can’t go back on the road,” McCarthy says. “Without an address you can’t get doctors, our kids can’t go to school. The camps we used to pull in to have been closed and barricaded up. Travelling life is finished for Travellers.”

Although they remain as a defined ethnic group, with their own cultural practices and languages, around two-thirds of Britain’s Gypsy and Traveller population now lives in housing. The problem of unauthorised sites is also small, with the vast majority of those who live in caravans doing so on legal developments owned by Gypsies themselves, or privately rented.

Just one square mile of land would be enough to provide all Gypsy and Traveller families in the UK with a place to stay, according to a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, but there is a shortage of authorised pitches. The government, however, has cut of funding for new sites.

For more info look at http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/letdalefarmlive

Every sunday from 20:00, film night or info night at Joe's Garage, nice, warm and cozy cinema! free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe@squat.net
Complete program: http://www.joesgarage.nl/

Tags: Joe's Garage

Global IMC Network www.indymedia.org Afrika Ambazonia Canarias Estrecho / Madiaq Kenya South Africa Canada London, Ontario Maritimes Quebec Oost Azië Japan Manila QC Saint-Petersburg Europa Abruzzo Alacant Antwerpen Athens Austria Barcelona Belarus Belgium Bristol Brussels Bulgaria Calabrië Cyprus Emilia-Romagna Estrecho / Madiaq Euskal Herria Galiza Duitsland grenoble Hungary Ireland Istanbul Italy La Plana Liege liguria Lille Linksunten Lombardia London Madrid Malta Marseille Nantes Napoli Netherlands Northern England Norway Nottingham Oost-Vlaanderen Paris/Île-de-France Piemonte Poland Portugal Roma Roemenië Russia Scotland Sverige Switzerland Torun Toscana Ukraine UK-GB Latijns Amerika Argentina Bolivia Chiapas Chile Sur Braszilië Sucre Colombia Ecuador Mexico Peru Puerto Rico Qollasuyu Rosario santiago Uruguay Valparaiso Venezuela Oceanië Aotearoa Manila Melbourne Perth QC Sydney Zuid-Azië India Verenigde Staten Arizona Atlanta Austin Baltimore Big Muddy Binghamton Buffalo Charlottesville Chicago Cleveland Colorado Columbus DC Hawaii Houston Hudson Mohawk LA Madison Michigan Milwaukee Minneapolis/St. Paul New Mexico New Orleans NYC Philadelphia Pittsburgh Portland Richmond Rochester Rogue Valley San Diego San Francisco Bay Area Santa Cruz, CA Sarasota Seattle Urbana-Champaign Worcester West Azië Beirut Israel Palestine Process FBI/Legal Updates Mailing Lists Process & IMC Docs Projecten Print Radio Video Regio's United States Topics Biotech