Why are Britain’s Romani not at the forefront of International Romani Day action?

The 8^th April marks International Romani Day – a day that not only celebrates Romani culture but raises consciousness of the discrimination that penetrates the daily lives of Romani people across the globe. 

Who are the Romani people?

The Romani are Europe’s largest ethnic minority with an estimated population of 10 to 12 million. The exact origins of the Romani people are unknown but genetic and linguistic research suggests that their roots lie in Northern India. It is estimated that Romani people have been living in Europe around 1500 years but the first records of Romani in the UK were made over 500 years ago in Scotland. It is from these early records that the word ‘Gypsy’ originates, for the word ‘Egyptian’ was used to describe these new exotic strangers. 

Since their arrival in Europe, the Romani people have been met with extreme hostility and discrimination. They are arguably the most ostracised and marginalised ethnic minority in Europe and have been inexcusably deprived of their rights to education, health care, accommodation, employment and civic participation.  In spite of this, the Romani people have upheld a robust culture and identity that has survived not only attempts of forced assimilation but a Nazi extermination attempt. 

Romani in the UK:

There is an estimated 90,000 Romani people living in the UK who can be separated into three main groups: Romanichals (English Romani); Kale (Welsh Romani) and Roma (European Romani). British Romani are usually included under the blanket term ‘Gypsies and Travellers’ which encompasses a huge range of travelling communities, such as Irish Travellers and New Travellers.  While intermarriage, cultural similarities, and government policy have undoubtedly created bonds between Romani and other travelling communities, the Romani people remain a unique and distinct ethnic group with their own cultures, history, ancestry and languages. 

Romani people are considered one of the most socially excluded ethnic groups in the UK and faced with a great deal of discrimination, intolerance and misunderstanding. Given that the fascinating cultures and histories of the Romani people are mostly neglected by the British education system, the perception of the wider population is instead informed by antagonistic tabloid journalism and politicians and misleading documentaries, such as ‘Big Fat Gypsy Weddings’.  That said, there is a great deal of ignorance surrounding Romani communities in the UK and, thus, very little public concern towards their marginalisation. 

Their position as a ‘folk devil’, combined with the enormous barriers to education, has left Britain’s Romani population as politically weak. Not only are populist politicians hesitant to support the fight for Romani rights, but there is a lack of a united, organised, Romani voice. Consequently, campaigning and lobbying has mostly been left to activists, supporters and small Gypsy and Traveller organisations.

Whose Fight?

In recent years there has been an increase in Gypsy and Traveller led organisations and activism in the UK. One only needs to look at the backlash against Channel 4’s ‘Big Fat Gypsy Weddings’ to see that there is a multitude of Gypsies and Travellers who are willing to speak on behalf of their communities and challenge misconceptions and racism.  A growing amount of young Gypsies and Travellers are staying in education resulting in an emerging political voice, but still the fight for Romani rights is being led by non-Romani supporters.

It is indisputable that the political and civic organisation of Britain’s Romani population is not developed enough to stage strong and effective collective action and the support from experienced and politically aware outsiders is much needed. Nonetheless, the action organised for this year’s International Romani Day is unresponsive to the concerns of Britain’s Romani population and has instead been shaped by the perceived concerns of an outsider faction of Romani activism. 

Perhaps one of the most pressing issues for Romani in the UK is the recent antagonism surrounding the predicted influx of Bulgarian and Romanian Roma expected in 2014. This issue has captured the attention of all prominent political parties, not only in the UK, but across Europe. On top of this, it has received an enormous deal of attention from predominantly right leaning newspapers and it has become a contentious and heated area of concern for the British public. The ramifications for both the present and future Romani population of the UK are huge. Restrictions to employment, health care, housing and welfare are already being proposed which will have serious consequences for Roma migrants. What is more, the debate is fuelling a wave of intolerance, hatred and racism against Europe’s Romani population but in spite of this there has been no mention of this issue in the planned International Romani Day events.

Instead, non-Romani activist have turned the focus away from the issues effecting Britain’s Romani population and have instead placed attention on the eviction of Dale Farm. While the Dale Farm Travellers have undoubtedly been treated unacceptably, is it appropriate to hijack a day meant for the celebration and defence of Romani culture with the struggles of an entirely different ethnic minority? While Irish Travellers and the Romani are faced with similar social exclusion and discrimination, they are ultimately two very separate and somewhat incomparable ethnic groups, especially in terms of heritage, history, size and distribution. It is unacceptable for non-Romani activists to make assumptions and decisions over the unity of these two separate minorities especially on the one day of the year where attention should be placed firmly on issues distinct to Europe’s Romani population. 

There is an increasing network of Gypsy and Traveller organisations that have the capacity to reach thousands of members of Britain’s Romani population. It is inexcusable that this network has not been used to establish what issues are important to Romani communities when it offers an indispensable platform for representation. Romani and non-Romani activists alike should be working together to assist and promote the community development and political voice of Britain’s Romani. Action without consensus and numbers is meaningless and is unlikely to be beneficial to the Romani people and will quickly transform International Romani Day into a farcical, unwelcomed, and futile event.  It is time for outsiders to drop the ‘Roma Nation Day’ rhetoric, swallow their pride and consider the shortcomings of their current approach. International Romani Day should bring a global Romani family together in consensus, not alienate them with elitism and ignorance. 

Beware the Bulgarian Invasion

I never thought anyone could knock Nick Griffin off my most hated politician spot until I realised Nigel Farage wasn’t just a nasty man in my nightmares, but actually existed. While Nick Griffin is essentially a big ball of lard, bigot and racist, the chances of the BNP pushing the Old Etonians out of Number 10 are relatively small. Farage, on the other hand, is not just a bigoted xenophobe but the living, breathing, human embodiment of the Daily Mail and this concerns me greatly. Like the Daily Mail, Farage and the UK Independence Party appeal to society’s most gullible. By gullible I mean the type of people who occasionally appear out of nowhere on your Facebook and Twitter timeline spouting some nonsense about how their friend’s, mum’s, cousin’s, friend’s, brother-in-law’s, sister’s daughter was banned from saying Christmas at school because it is offensive to Muslims.  Or “99% of people won’t have the balls to repost this, share if you agree!!!” Yeah, those people.

As a dual national Gypsy, I am often at the receiving end of these people’s ignorance and while I should perhaps pity them, I instead quite despise them. Indeed, it is not their fault that they are the product of the Great British education system which functions only to keep the plebs in their place, but it is their fault that their political standpoints are informed only by the Daily Mail and Facebook memes. Unwilling to exercise their ability to question everything, the gullible instead have become Nigel Farage’s wet dream, with their spongy little brains soaking up every last word he spits from his mouth.  

Worryingly polls are suggesting that UKIP are now firmly in third place after a disastrous few years for the Liberal Democrats. This does not come as a surprise for me for UKIP are a populist party. Research suggests that immigration is one of the public’s greatest concerns and where there is a concern there is a Nigel Farage perpetuating a myth. Farage aims to win the next election based solely on his immigration scaremongering which feeds directly into the hands of the gullible. High unemployment, cuts to services, lower pensions, higher retirement age – the people of Britain are angry, and rightly so. Yet, instead of making any logical assessment of Capitalist society, unscrupulous bankers, and corrupt politicians, the gullible instead look to the Daily Mail, Facebook, and Nigel Farage for answers. So Mr Farage, why are we all poorer, jobless and going nowhere? Because we are about to be invaded by handout hungry Bulgarians and Romanians. 

Forget double dip recessions, the reason you are in the dole queue is because of the previous Polish invasion. Lock up your daughters, draw the curtains, don’t leave the house after dark, there is a Polski Sklep on your street corner selling POLISH food!!! Don’t blame it on the bankers, it was the Polish who caused mass unemployment. Leave poor Thatcher out of it, it was the Polish who caused the social housing shortage, in fact they probably stole your children’s milk as well. I know this to be true because Nigel Farage, the Daily Mail, and Rachel Bull off Question Time told me so and now to make matters worse the Bulgarians and Romanians will soon be coming in their thousands to sponge off the state and steal our most sought after fruit picking jobs. Yet, this is no normal invasion, this invasion comes with an extra dose of terror – it’s a Gypsy invasion. 

On the 1^st January 2014 the restrictions applied to the migration of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens within the EU will be lifted. Despite being members of the EU since 2007, and thus entitled to EU work permits for the past 6 years, UKIP and the Daily Mail have launched a scaremongering campaign about the perils of the Eastern European invasion. Indeed, immigration has always been used as a tactic to distract the masses from Government failure, but what is most worrying in this case is the demonization of the Roma which comes with it. It is not the average Bulgarian and Romanian citizen that is dominating the headlines, but instead the Roma who have been portrayed as organised gangs of child traffickers, pickpockets, pimps and beggars, or as lazy poverty stricken freeloaders desperate to get their parasitic hands on our welfare state. Such misrepresentations are profoundly damaging for the Roma, an already maligned group who will acquire the double deviancy of being both immigrants and gypsies. 

As a second generation Bulgarian Roma immigrant, I am perhaps more able than some to shed light on the true story behind Farage’s lies. My grandmother came to England in the late 1970s with the same romantic view of the UK that many Bulgarian’s have today. To her, England was a golden land full of opportunity, worlds away from the poverty and destitution of her Varna slum. England was a place of equality where her children would be educated, not segregated, and where they would have access to health care which meant they might live past middle age.  My grandmother left her whole world behind, it was not an easy choice to make but she did it to better the life of her family. The conditions for Europe’s Roma are abhorrent. For every visit I make to my family in Bulgaria, the deprivation still shocks me. In a so called developed country, there are neighbourhoods of thousands of impoverished people without homes, sanitation and running water, thus it comes as no surprise that they may be desperate for a better life. It is pure hate, bigotry and racism that have left the Roma so marginalised, yet instead of asking why the discrimination against them goes unchallenged, we instead have the likes of Farage and friends perpetuating the myths that keep them at the bottom. 

The overt and unrestrained discrimination towards Europe’s Roma should be Europe’s biggest shame. Instead they have been demonised and become merely a pawn in a political game, sacrificed by politicians desperate for power. Farage himself recognises the desperate situation for many in Bulgaria, stating “if I were Bulgarian I’d be packing my bags now, waiting to come to Britain”, yet it is not enough for Farage to acknowledge the desperate situation of Bulgaria’s Roma if he is unwilling to do anything about it. Whether an EU sceptic or not, surely Europe have a responsibility to address the marginalisation of their biggest ethnic minority. Segregation and media demonization will not make this ‘problem’ disappear, instead the Roma will remain ostracised and desperate to escape. Bulgaria’s Roma are unlikely to see an improvement in their socioeconomic status without intervention. While their life chances remain low, the UK will remain a desirable location.

Roma Memorial: Apology or Hypocrisy?

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, this week unveiled a memorial, in Berlin, for the Romani men, women and children who were murdered by Nazi Germany, during World War II. Almost 70 years since the liberation of Nazi extermination camps, this memorial is long overdue, yet this is hardly surprising when Germany only formally recognised the genocide of the Romani people in 1982. Perhaps it should be a time to celebrate, indeed it could be seen as a sign of progress in the fight for equality, but for me this memorial reflects hypocrisy rather than apology. 

Under the expansion of the European Union, and the protection of ‘human rights’ this alliance provides, it would be true to say that Europe’s Romani population are no longer facing the threat of genocide in the traditional sense of the word, yet behind the façade of equality legislation lies a genocide of another kind – a genocide of culture. 

While Merkel vowed her ‘sadness and shame’ at the extermination of an estimated 500,000 Romani people, it was perhaps convenient that she failed to remember the 10,000 Roma refugees who were deported back to Kosovo in 2010.  Roma children, born and raised in Germany, expelled to a land they did not know. Their parents, returning to a land they fled from, where they had once faced the threat of death; with no hope for employment, and no faith that anything had changed. 

Meanwhile in France, tens of thousands of Roma families have been deported to Romania and Bulgaria since 2009, however while the international community feigned condemnation, they appeared blind to the reality that the Romani people face extreme discrimination all over Europe. Sterilization, segregated education, forced evictions, absolute poverty, unemployment, third world living conditions, exclusion from political participation, forced assimilation – this is the reality for the Romani people, who are not only facing discrimination on a state level, but who are contending with neo-Nazi thought that is increasingly gripping European populations. 

Time and time again, we have politicians and commentators, from across Europe, referring to this deplorable situation as the ‘Roma Problem’, with the likes of François Hollande going as far as proposing forced deportations as a ‘Roma Solution’. It was not from within the Romani community that these inequalities were formed; antizignanism is the product of the non-Romani world, thus it is not a ‘Roma Problem’ but a ‘Racist European Problem’ for which there is only one solution: tolerance. Tolerance, however, is reserved only for the non-Romani, indeed it could be said that Europe are more interested in planning ‘the final solution of the Romani question’.

While genocide is no longer a policy employed by European governments, it is safe to say very little has changed for the Romani people post World War II.  Though antisemitism is still present, the situation for Jewish people has improved significantly. While there are still pockets of archaic attitudes towards Jewish people, such as their political exclusion in Bosnia and Herzegovina; the scale of the atrocities committed against them and the poignant images of their suffering that remain etched into our minds, have lingered as a reminder that this must never happen again. The Jewish population will never forget the Holocaust, yet the change of attitudes towards them has allowed a platform for which they have been able to rebuild their lives, and reinstate their position in society.

This, however, has not been the case for the Romani people. While the memorial opened in Berlin this week makes certain that the Porajmos cannot be airbrushed from the history books, it says very little about the commitment to prevent it happening again. Yes, there should be memorials for those who were murdered, but a water feature in Berlin means very little when Nazi attitudes towards the Romani people are still very much alive in Europe. Germany, and its war time allies, have a responsibility to learn from the horrors of the past and should be at the forefront of any initiatives promoting equality for the Romani people. 

No compensation has ever been rewarded to the survivors of the Porajmos, or to the families of those who were murdered. As a relative of Porajmos victims, I know all too well that no price can be put on the lives of those who were lost, and while justice can never fully be served, the sorrow could be eased if Germany were to compensate the victims through a financial and sincere commitment to exterminating antiziganism, rather than exterminating Romani culture. 

If I have children, I want them to go to school and read not a line in a text book about the Porajmos, but a chapter. It should not be some second thought, and the deaths of 500,000 Romani people should not have been in vain. Europe should have learnt from these atrocities, but instead have allowed Nazi attitudes to linger and thrive. Memorials are built so that we don’t forget, but it seems Europe do not wish to be reminded of their responsibilities. As for the Romani, how can we ever forget? We suffer the same as our forefathers and while they no longer kill us, they won’t let us live either. 

Na bister 500,000.

Channel 4 or the Jezza Kyle Gypsies: Who is the Real Big Fat Gypsy Threat?

It seems almost a lifetime ago that I first heard the words ‘Big Fat Gypsy Weddings’, yet it was just two years ago when Channel 4, and their Firecracker lackies, imposed a life sentence upon the Gypsy and Traveller communities. I remember the moment well; there I was flicking through Baba’s weekly Closer magazine when I stumbled upon an ‘article’ about the lavish wedding of a sixteen year old bride. Little did I know this was just the prequel to a television series that would dramatically change public perception, of the Gypsy and Traveller communities, for the worse. 

Winning an award for the ‘Most Groundbreaking Show’ at the 2010 (wait for it) Cultural Diversity Awards, the series has been monumental in achieving relentless bullying for Gypsy and Traveller children and new methods in which to ridicule an excluded minority (e.g. fancy dress, though apparently this is not comparable to ‘blacking’ yourself up). What is more, it has paved the way for the Moses of the Gypsy and Traveller world, non-Gypsy Thelma Madine, to spread the word of her people, whilst ensuring awareness that the Gypsy and Traveller people, of the UK and Ireland, are rich, misogynist arseholes. 

Over the past two years, the Gypsy and Traveller communities have expressed their outrage at the misrepresentation of their culture. Indeed, despite following the lives of less than 1% of the Gypsy and Traveller population of the UK, Channel 4 have insisted that their documentaries have “portrayed the community in a positive light and had a positive impact on their [Gypsy and Traveller’s]  lives” and that they “feel confident that nobody has been misrepresented in any way.” 

One may expect that a series which has caused so much controversy and upset, and which has generated such backlash and complaints, would expect to be condemned by official bodies such as Ofcom. Indeed, it does appear that Channel 4 have breached many conditions of the Ofcom Broadcasting code, for example:

1.29 People under eighteen must not be caused unnecessary distress or anxiety by their involvement in programmes or by the broadcast of those programmes

2.2 Factual programmes or items or portrayals of factual matters must not materially mislead the audience.

7.6 When a programme is edited, contributions should be represented fairly.

Yet, the white, British, middle class cog’s of the Ofcom machine, deemed that Big Fat Gypsy Weddings was not in breach of the Broadcasting Code. Indeed, it seems very reasonable for a bunch of desk jockeys, whose only contact with Gypsy culture was most likely posing for a photograph with Esmeralda at Disney World Florida, should judge whether a documentary about a handful of Irish Travellers is representative of all Gypsy and Traveller communities. Surely, this is a question that only the Gypsy and Traveller communities can answer. 

It came to me as a surprise, when I discovered in August that Big Fat Gypsy Weddings was to come to an end in 2013. Perhaps I was arrogant to think that this may be the result of the relentless campaigning of the Gypsy and Traveller people, that perhaps I had played some part in its overdue demise. Indeed, as expected the Goliath Channel 4 cited "creative reasons" for the cancellation of the show, and once again defended their exploitative, racist and money grabbing ways. Yet as the story goes, there was one battle that Goliath could not win.  Last week, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the poster campaign that accompanied the TV shows “depicted a child in a sexualised way and reinforced negative stereotypes.” 

For many this was a time to celebrate, at last the Gypsy and Traveller communities had been listened to, yet for me I saw it as insult. How can we celebrate the condemnation of a poster? It was not a poster that encouraged the bullying of our children. It was not a poster that moulded new stereotypes of our people. It was not a poster that misrepresented our culture with such vulgarities. These were posters of scowling boys, and over-made teenage girls. Without the series they were advertising, I believe they would have done little if any damage to our reputation. The only thing we have to celebrate is that sometimes we are listened to the second time around, as in fact the ASA originally decided not to investigate the poster campaign. 

With the Big Fat Gypsy Weddings era coming to an end, what can we say it has really achieved? Apart from aforementioned discrimination and stereotypes, I would suggest it has been very damaging to the communities themselves. It has served to divide us into two camps: those who wish to sell out our cultures for their fifteen minutes of fame, and those who condemn them. 

We cannot lay the blame exclusively with Channel 4 and Firecracker. Exploitative as they may be, they did not hold a gun to the heads of those participating in the documentaries; they made a choice to appear on the show. Those of us from more traditional Romani backgrounds, like myself, would never consider parading our culture in front of money grabbing television producers. Through centuries of discrimination at the hands of the non-Romani population, we have grown to distrust those outside our cultural walls, thus leading us to become very secretive and sheltered about our culture. Indeed, I doubt these producers would at all be interested in the traditional Romani lifestyle anyway. 

The Big Fat Gypsy Weddings series appears to have attracted a certain strand of the Gypsy and Traveller communities- specifically Irish Travellers.  This is somewhat contradicting, as Irish Travellers have no ethnic connection to the Romani (Gypsy) people whatsoever. Indeed, the series seems to reinforce the views of the general public, that the Romani and Irish Travelling communities are not distinct from one another. This is an issue that has repeatedly angered the Romani people. There is a deeply engrained feeling amongst us, that often the Romani people are blamed for the ‘ills’ and ‘wrongdoings’ of the Irish Traveller communities.

Indeed, it is not unc­­ommon for the Romani people to play the ‘blame game’. When faced with accusations (for example, fly tipping) it is often the case that Romani people will use the defence of “it wasn’t us, it was the Irish Traveller’s”, and this has been the case throughout the Big Fat Gypsy Weddings series. An idea has been promoted by our community that we are somewhat more moral and respectable than the Irish Travellers; more traditional, tasteful and ‘classy’. We have played on the nostalgic, romantic notions of the traditional Romani Gypsy as a means to defend ourselves against the tacky and ostentatious portrayal of our culture seen in Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.

I am guilty of this myself; I am eager not to be associated with the vulgar displays of wealth and materialism that this programme has exposed. I am angered by the disregard and ignorance of reality that these Travellers have shown with their garish, flashy attitudes. It plays into the media’s deceptive hands, especially the likes of the Daily Mail, who thrive from exposing the Gypsy and Traveller populations as prosperous, pilfering, fraudsters, with lavish homes in Rathkeale or extravagant mansions in Romania. 

In reality, the Gypsy and Traveller communities are amongst society’s poorest, indeed just next week I will be visiting my family in the Roma slums of Bulgaria, where a house with four walls, sanitation and running water is considered a luxury rather than a right. There are no flamboyant weddings here, with dresses worth more than a 2 bedroom house. There are children who are not refusing education, but who are denied education; parents who are forced to beg to feed their children; young men and woman selling their bodies to earn a living; and certainly no rampant materialistic displays of wealth.

Yet, the blame game is not a helpful game, nor a fair one. Indeed, the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain have been most vocal in their disapproval of the Big Fat Gypsy Weddings series, and were pivotal in overturning the ASA’s original ruling on the poster campaign. It is perhaps time for this culture of blame to come to an end, and is it can no longer be ignored that the cultural similarities between the Romani and Irish Traveller communities form an unbreakable bond that must be utilised to fight back against these misrepresentations and stereotypes of our cultures. 

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings was not representative of the Irish Traveller or Romani communities; instead it was our very own version of the Jeremy Kyle Show. Sadly these types of programmes attract a certain kind of person – the attention seekers, the fame hungry, the show offs - yet they are the easiest people to exploit. It is unfortunate that despite the repercussions of these shows, there are still people queuing up for their fifteen minutes of fame. This leaves the rest of us to pick up the pieces, to defend ourselves against their blatant disregard for the sanctity of our cultures, thus perhaps it is not the bigotry that has arisen from Big fat Gypsy Weddings that has been most detrimental to our lives, but the fact there are people from within our communities that are willing to screw us all for their fifteen minutes. I know who I’m more scared of.

Thelma's Gypsy Lies

Back in February, I made a promise to myself that I would never watch Channel 4 again. I was to stage a one man boycott against the channel that had chosen ratings over human beings, the channel that appeared to have the sole aim of promoting derogatory ethnic stereotypes of the Romany and Irish Traveller communities. Big Fat Gypsy Weddings – it had become the bane of my existence. So sick I was of people asking me if “oi’d grab that”, that I wrote an open letter to Channel 4 to highlight the inaccuracies of their ‘documentary’.

For those of you who know me, you’ll remember ‘that letter’ and the absolute media bombardment that followed. I got those five minutes of fame I had never wanted, yet something quite spectacular happened – it seemed I had actually rattled the cage of Channel 4, indeed Nick Hornby replied with his own open letter addressed to yours truly. For a brief moment I was hopeful that the reign of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings was finally over but alas, it soon became clear that a teenage Gypsy could never take on the Goliath Channel 4.

Almost five months have passed since that weird and wonderful part of my life, and here I am again, sat here the morning after Channel 4’s new ‘documentary’ Thelma’s Gypsy Girls, feeling even more disgusted with the portrayal of my culture.  Yes, I admit it, I cracked – last night I watched Channel 4. After witnessing the reaction to the ‘Pikey Apprentice’ unfold on Twitter, I had to see it for myself, and what I saw was yet again another outrageous, fictional, and covertly racist documentary from Channel 4.

Thelma Madine, who dubs herself ‘the Gypsy dressmaker of choice’ (she’s not), is ‘risking everything’ to become fairy Godmother to poor, oppressed, illiterate, Gypsy girls. Acknowledging that her new found ‘z list’ celebrity status is down entirely to the Irish Traveller community,  Thelma wants to change the life of Gypsy and Traveller girls forever by teaching them the valuable skills of  dress making. This is a scheme that Thelma has had in the pipeline for some time, indeed she told of me of her plans over a year ago, just before she blocked me on Twitter for questioning her integrity (that hurt, Thelma babes, that really hurt).

Thelma’s plan to employ and train ten Romany and Irish Traveller girls is in fact highly commendable. She insists she wants to give back to the community that ‘made her’ and seems quite aware of the barriers to education and employment, faced by the Romany and Irish Traveller communities, stating:

“Hopefully with this we could educate other people about them - if they’ve been good here, if they’ve turned up every day….well it shows they are reliable doesn’t it.”

“If they do turn up every day they’ll be able to walk out of here and get a job…well maybe not with their attitude”

What’s that Thelma? Oh, that’s just one of the insults against the girls that you’re ‘risking everything’ for, that is casually thrown around in episode one of the Thelma show. Indeed when breaking the news to staff, she delivers the good news that they are employing ten new girls and ‘the bad news is that they are all travellers’.  When one member of staff questions why this is bad news, Thelma replies ‘you come back to me and say that in three months when they’ve been here’.

It came as a surprise to me that Thelma should think so little of the Romany and Irish Traveller girls she will be investing so much time and effort into. Indeed, throughout the documentary it became very clear to me that Thelma has little respect or knowledge about the communities that she believes are so besotted with her. Her first outrageous claim is that any woman who chooses to stay at home, rather than work, will never feel good about themselves. In fact, these woman are instead controlled by men, they are oppressed, they have no voice, and they need saving by her fairy dust. It seems to me that Thelma’s opinions are shrouded with ethnocentrism,  as she cannot seem to comprehend the idea that Romany and Irish Traveller women take on the role as the ‘homemaker’ through their own freewill.

Indeed, ethnocentrism is a problem faced by many minority cultures, as the Western World with all its education, liberation and democracy, is of course the one true culture that all must follow and abide by (starting to sound a bit like religious extremism here!!!). If there is one thing that the media don’t want you to know, it is that behind closed doors, it is the Romany and Irish Traveller women who are ruling the roost. Certainly in my own experience, women are at the heart of the family and Romany boys are brought up to respect women, and to provide for women. This does not mean we view women as weak and incapable, but as the people who take on the hardest job of all – motherhood.

Women are the most valuable asset to the Romany people, as without them our culture would not have survived thousands of years of discrimination, a Nazi extermination, and attempts of forced assimilation. I have no doubts that our culture would be dead, if we had chosen to send our children, at the tender age of 2 weeks old, into state run institutions which serve only to promote the values of the white middle class. For that, I am thankful to every Romany woman, yet I see it not as a sacrifice made to please their husbands, but as the most commendable, unselfish and natural job a woman could ever take.

Yet, there are Romany and Irish Traveller woman who do chose to enter the world of education and employment, and in my experience it is something that is not so uncommon anymore. Within my own family I have an aunty who is a social worker, a sister, cousin and aunty who are hairdressers, a cousin who has ambitions to become a professional dancer, and a grandmother who is a business owner. Thelma Madine believes her scheme is a once in a lifetime opportunity, something that has never been offered before. She is of the opinion that ‘no one gives Travellers a chance’, yet this is misplaced arrogance. In fact, there are a number of academic scholarships, internships, and courses aimed at young Romany and Irish Traveller people, offered by much more prestigious organisations than a Scouser’s dress shop.

For a woman who claims to be firmly on ‘team Gypsy’, it was somewhat shocking to hear her slanderous statement that the Romany and Irish Traveller communities are all ‘racist’. According to Thelma, the communities ‘look down’ on those who cannot speak English, pointing to anecdotal evidence that the children of her Romany and Irish Traveller customers  have discriminated against her staff, half of whom were born outside the UK.  This discrimination consisted of, wait for it….. “Why can’t you speak English?”

Forgive me if I’m wrong, but unless this is the comment of a child raised by skinhead neo Nazis, then surely this questioning is nothing more than the bluntly phrased questions of a child discovering the uniqueness of British society? While Thelma is quick to brand these children racist, she seems to ignore the fact that her own, eight year old, daughter Katrina is guilty of this exact behaviour. Indeed, whilst reminiscing of the day she was first asked to make a Gypsy dress, little Katrina tells her mother that she ‘should have just said no’. It appears to me that Katrina doesn’t rate the Romany and Irish Traveller communities highly, an attitude inherited from her mother.

It would be foolish to suggest that racism isn’t present within the Romany and Irish Traveller communities, as intolerance to difference is found amongst all walks of life, yet to brand two entire communities racist seems slanderous. It is not Romany and Irish Travellers who are marching through towns displaying the emblems of the EDL and BNP, instead that would be mainly white, ethnically British people. It seems almost ironic to suggest that right wing nationalism has a place within the Romany community - an ethnic minority without a homeland.

As a second generation immigrant, I find it ironic that Thelma suggests that I hate people who cannot speak English, after all I speak mainly Bulgarian at home and my Grandmother’s attempt at the English language is somewhat inventive and comical. Excluding a few sanctimonious ‘Gypsy Kings’, I have never been ‘looked down’ upon by my fellow Romany and Irish Travellers. In reality, the majority are either interested to learn more about my Bulgarian ancestry, or not bothered by my ‘foreignness’ at all.  

So what exactly is Thelma’s angle? She claims to be doing this to give back to the Romany and Irish Traveller communities, yet her words suggest something entirely different. Could it be, as I predicted over a year ago, that her sudden passion to give back is fuelled purely by money? Thelma’s own daughter, Tracey, was seen warning her mother that she had taken too much on and seemed perplexed as to why she would want to put her comfortable life ‘on the line’.

Indeed Thelma was keen to show off her luxurious, five bedroom house, complete with indoor swimming pool. Parading to the cameras, her ‘bling’ and expensive furniture, Thelma claimed she loved everything about Gypsy style.  Yet, her garish furnishings seemed a world away from the reality of my trailer, let alone the homes of my family situated in Bulgaria’s Gypsy Ghettos.  As Thelma dropped Katrina off  at her private preparatory school , I couldn’t help but think that if Thelma had just said no as her daughter had suggested, darling little Katrina wouldn’t be skipping off to school, straw hat in hand.

According to Thelma, she has put every single penny she has into this project, yet this money is not being spent on her ten new Romany and Irish Traveller staff, but on the refurbishment of her new premises. Thelma has made it clear that these positions stand only for six months, thus it seems somewhat perturbing to invest over £30,000 pounds on a temporary training course. It appears that the transfer to her new premises was planned off the back of her Big Fat Gypsy Weddings success which has surely increased interest and demand for her unique designs.

Thelma openly stated that her passion to help the Romany and Irish Traveller communities had put her £36,000 over budget. It’s quite ironic that Thelma mocks her ten new employees for being school ‘drop outs’ as Thelma, herself, quite clearly needs to head back to school and resit GCSE Maths. Despite her supposed debts, I’m positive it won’t have a detrimental effect on her comfortable lifestyle as I am sure she has been compensated generously for her appearance on Channel 4’s latest ‘documentary’. What is more, I’m certain she can squeeze another book out of her new project, in between counting the thousands of pounds she charges for her creations.

I am willing to throw my hands up and apologise if I have misjudged fairy godmother Madine, yet I am positive that she most definitely is not on the side of the Romany and Irish Traveller communities. The project itself could have provided a new and exciting opportunity for the girls who were picked, but due to Thelma’s longing for money and fame, these girls have been paraded in front of the cameras as an excuse to induce humiliating, degrading and abusive comments over social networks and the media. If Thelma’s heart was truly in the right place, she would have had the decency to conduct her training away from the public eye. Instead all Thelma has proven, is that she is the most dangerous ‘spokesperson’ for the Romany and Irish Traveller communities, and one of the biggest threats to our fight for equality.