From: "Heather Glaisyer" <heather-AT-teknopunx.co.uk> Subject: Irish Travellers... Date: Fri, 4 Oct 2002 00:04:20 +0100 Anyone know anything about the "dibs"? (unsure of spelling) I knew one well once, never found out much about them though. H ----- Original Message ----- From: "ninetyone andy" <andy_91_2000-AT-yahoo.co.uk> To: "Old Goat" <olgoat-AT-nebi.com>; "Dave Coull" <coull2-AT-btinternet.com>; "anarchy list" <anarchy-list-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu> Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 10:59 AM Subject: Re: Irish Travellers... There are a lot of travellers and 'settled' travellers in our bit of West London, Irish and Roma, and there's a thriving 'black' economy. If I look at our college student list, I can see some of the local family surnames. The abusive name given is 'Pikeys'. In fact my college is known as a 'pikey college', and the aspirant middle-classes won't come here. So traveller racism actually seems to outweigh Black/Asian racism here. An old student of mine is part way through a Phd which is looking at the patterns of migration [I think]. I could ask her for some serious references if needed. --- Old Goat <olgoat-AT-nebi.com> wrote: > Thanks, Dave. Somehow I had a feeling you'd come > through on this. > > old goat > withdraw consent > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Dave Coull > Subject: Re: Irish Travellers... > > > > > Carp asked > > > > Do you know anything about a group called > > the "Irish Travellers?" > > I'm not an expert on the Irish Travellers, but I do > know > a fair bit about the Travellers here in Scotland, > and > I believe the Travellers in both countries have > close > links and similar origins.Here in Scotland, your > actual > Roma gypsies are virtually unknown. Travellers here > are mostly the descendants of dispossessed clans. > That > is, centuries ago they possessed clan lands, but > they were > on the losing side in some war, were dispossessed of > their > lands, and subsequently became nomadic. So you get > Travellers > called, for instance, Stewart (the Appin Stewarts > were dispossessed > because of their part in Jacobite uprisings). One of > the people > very active in the same anti-poll-tax group as me > was a Traveller > called Henry Stewart. You also get names like Black > and White. > In fact, the Travellers used these two names > interchangeably > - Black means as much, or as little, as White. > (By the way, > the singer/TV game presenter Cilla Black - a > natural redhead > - was originally called Cilla White.) At one > time it was illegal > to have the name "MacGregor". So if you were called > MacGregor, > you might change your name to something more > acceptable. > But if you spoke only Gaelic and knew very few words > of English, > what would you change your name to? The answer is, > either > Black or White. > > Travellers in Scotland get called, or used to get > called, > "Tinks" or "Tinkies". This comes from "tinker" but > is far more derogatory. In my class at our village > school > there was a lad from a Traveller family called > Wullie White. > They were settled in our village by that time, > having given > up the nomadic lifestyle. Wullie's grandmother, > Betsy White, > wrote a book about her life, growing up as one of a > Traveller > family on the road, called "The Yellow On The > Broom". > You can probably find this book on the web. > > > > From what little I do know they are gadji > "gypsies" with a lot > > of familial ties who follow a (semi)nomadic > lifestyle and run > > various scams on the "straight world." > > > That's certainly not the whole story, but there's a > lot of truth > in what Goat says. > > > > AFAIK, they are a tiny minority in Eire > > > They are a tiny minority in Scotland too. > > A good source for stuff on the Irish Travellers > would be > the Irish anarchist grouping, Workers Solidarity > Movement. > I know for a fact that the WSM have published > stuff > about the Irish Travellers in the past. The WSM's > archive > of articles they have published in their magazine, > or > in pamphlets, in the past, is available on their web > site. > > http://www.more.at/anarchism > > > Dave Coull > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com
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