This
posting is rather long and I apologise in advance for this, however I would ask that time is taken to read it, and I would appreciate comment and feedback on this issue. I am not asking for this on a personal basis (although I am relating a personal experience) but I feel strongly that this posting might well be highlighting a far reaching problem, that may have dire consequences not just for those from minority groups, but also for any defendant, appearing before a Magistrates Bench on any day, in any town in UK.
If you come from an Ethnic Minority group, you are more likely to be stopped by the Police, you are more likely to be arrested and appear in Court, and as a result you are more likely than non minority defendants to receive a custodial sentence. What is not always so readily publicised is that as a member of a minority group you are also far more likely to be the victim of crime. Minorities are greatly under represented within the Criminal Justice System. I became increasingly aware of the disproportionate numbers of those from minority groups within the prison population; I was also becoming aware that it appeared that the Travelling Community seemed to be sent to prison very readily. I wondered if this was due to the transient nature of our lifestyle. I wondered if with some understanding this might somehow in the fullness of time be improved.
With all of the above in mind and after much thought, I applied to become a Magistrate, I felt I had a great deal to offer, and was able to have an insight and understanding of many different aspects of life, due to my quite diverse life experiences.
I passed through each stage of the interview process; having always answered the questions asked of me as honestly as possible, I also passed the checks that are made to make sure I was of good character. It’s quite a long drawn out process but after all checks and interviews were complete I was duly appointed. The aim these days is for a diverse Bench and on face value that is exactly what you appear to get. The training included and afternoon on “Diversity” which to all present, seemed a little OTT, and on times PC gone crazy, but ok, at least the effort was there. All in all the training was impressive.
In September of 2007, I had cause to telephone the Police, my 13 year old daughter had contacted me from school during the lunch break absolutely petrified. She had been the victim of an ongoing bullying campaign that was particularly nasty; it had been going on for 2 years by this time. The gang involved were 2 years older than her, and had terrorised her to the point where her health and education were suffering (she had missed almost a years school before returning in the September). The school had consistently failed to take any action at all, even though 1 gang member had been prosecuted the September previous. My daughter had been subjected to beatings, she had been spat on, cigarettes had been stubbed out in her hair, she had been verbally abused threatened, and thrown into the traffic on a very busy road outside of her school amid a barrage of threats, racist abuse and foul language. On the day in Question 20th September 2007, my daughter had been told by a key member of this gang that she was going to be subject to a beating, possibly during the lunch break, failing that definitely on her way home. Neither the Head Teacher nor the head of year would make themselves available to speak to me, I told the school that in that case I would have to involve the Police.
The Police made it clear that they did not intend to intervene. A very rude and abrasive female officer informed that they were “not body guards”. I asked to speak to her Inspector and when he phoned me back he was equally unhelpful saying there was “Policy in place” which meant the school must deal with this, He could not tell any more about the Policy other than that he believed it existed. I explained that the school were refusing to assist, and therefore the Police must act, he refused saying there was nothing he could or would do. I requested that at the very least Harassment Orders be issued in the hope this would afford my daughter some protection, and if this failed further action could be taken, The Inspector refused saying he could not do that. I explained yes he could I had recently read the Law in relation to this, he jibed at me and asked if I read it on the internet? I explained that I was in fact a Magistrate and had this information from my “Bench Book” so it was most definitely accurate. I also brought to his attention past failings on the part of his Officers, these were personal matters in reference to my disabled son who had been attacked more than one occassion, blunders by his officers meant the perpetrators had escaped prosecution. My daughter had been sexually assaulted at her place of work ( McDonalds), refusal by Officers to collect CCTV footage meant that her assailant escaped . On one occassion an Officer had made mocking comments, and later lied by denying them when I asked his Inspector to intervene. These "personal" experiences were conveniently recorded as matters that had arisen in Court, I had apparently stated that I had heard the Police "fibbing" in Court all the time. This remark was not made, and indeed could be proven to have been very highly unlikely to have been made in my capacity as a Magistrate, but the personal incidents to which I refered would be a matter of record.
I was very angry, and told him that I would contact the Police HQ the following day and speak to the Chief Constable.
The Following day after contact with the Chief Constables Office I had a phone call from a Detective Superintendent. He was equally unhelpful, making various excuses as to just why Harassment warnings could not be issued, The gang in question were motivated by a certain family within the locality, and I was questioning as to why this family appeared untouchable, No mention was made in relation to Police Informants by me, but I was immediately subjected to a rant as to how they were not informants. One excuse was that “these people do not respond to the law”, ( I will leave the reader to muse and draw their own conclusion on this comment ) . The top and tail of it was that he was adamant that Harassment Warnings could not be issued in these circumstances, I was equally adamant that they could, and forcibly telling him that I had read the criteria in a Bench book, and that they could be, and should be and that I would not accept his refusal, I told him it was my intention to revert back to the Chief Constable.
Shortly afterwards a Sergeant phoned he called to our home, took a statement from my daughter, and miracle of miracles the Harassment Orders were Issued that evening. The Orders were issued on the gang leader, her sister and the mother.
Small incidents continued, and were reported, and then I was told by a neighbour of this family that the Harassment Orders were withdrawn. I tried on numerous occasions to contact the Inspector (who had by now been promoted to Detective Inspector). Although messages were left, he never returned my calls.
On 19th October 2007, my daughter went out early evening with some friends, she was due home by 8.30, when she had not returned by 10 my husband telephoned me ( I was away due to Gipsy Kings Tour), we were unsure what to do, and decided to give it another hour and see what transpired my husband called me back at 10.45, my daughter had just returned, in a highly distressed state, a drunken adult male from this family had held her against her will, for part of the time he had his fist in her face issuing threats, only releasing her when the male with him started to get windy about it all, the Police were notified immediately and promised to call the following day.( At the time of writing this, 27th February 2008, and despite reminders the Police still have not called in relation to this).
On October 23rd 2007, I was in London the Detective Inspector phoned ( mobile phone) I asked about the Harassment warnings, he told me they might be removed, the reason he gave was that the family concerned “objected to having them issued against them” I was astounded, The Inspector assured me he would speak to me about this on my return home, I informed him about my daughter being detained and threatened a few days before, he assured me he would follow this up.
As I had heard no more on either the status of the harassment Warnings, or what was to be done in relation to my daughter being detained against her will and threatened, I began to make calls to chase matters up This began on 7th November 2007, my daughter had again been threatened at school, and I was getting worried once more for her safety. I was assured by a Sergeant, that he had left a message for the Inspector to contact me urgently, I got no response so over the next week I left several messages, but still got no response. on 20th November 2007, and by now totally fed up. I was pondering on the position;
were this gang, led by this family untouchables?..they most certainly appeared to be.
If they were not untouchables as the Police assured me they were not, then why was my daughter not being protected by the law? ..if they were not untouchables….then was it then the case that my daughter was “fair game”? ……what could make my child fair game ? She seemed average enough..dressed like all the other kids…liked all the same music….There was only one thing that set my child apart…her accent and/or her origins.
I contacted the Office of the Chief Constable, I spoke to the Assistant Chiefs P.A, she told me she would leave a message and someone would get right back to me, nothing happened and I phoned again the following day (21st) she was surprised I had received no contact and told me she would get another message across there and then, The following day there was still no response, I tried to speak to the PA again on the Friday (23rd) but she was not in her office.
On 23rd November 2007, a letter of complaint was sent to the Bench about my conduct during telephone conversations, on 20th and 21st September 2007, these conversations were with the original female officer , 2 Sergants (with whom I never spoke) and the Inspector on 20th September, and with the Superintendent on 21st September 2007. It was felt that my conduct was one of expressing prejudice against the Police by my comments, thus meaning I could not be impartial if sitting in Court, and also that I abused my position, by telling Officers that I knew it was indeed Harassment because I was a Magistrate and I had seen the relevant criteria for Harassment in my Bench book. So, throughout the remainder of September, the whole of October, and the most part of November, some 2 months and 2 days in total, nobody felt inspired to complain, yet now on 23rd November, 3 days after I had again began to ask questions and direct them via the Chief Constables Office, suddenly I was a threat to the Justice system!
The complaint had come from The Inspector ( now Detective Inspector), The Superintendent, the first Officer I spoke to, who had been rude to me and 2 Sergeants, both of whom were named, who claimed to have been concerned by my conduct when they spoke to me , I knew without doubt that I had not spoken to these 2, the Police log later proved that I had not !
I was told I could not sit in Court until this matter resolved, I was also told there would be a hearing before a Panel of Lord Chancellors Advisory Committee for the area, I was allowed to take some one with me for moral support, and asked what days I would be available, I said that the person I wanted to go with me could go any day at all , except for a Wednesday. A hearing date was set for 30th January 2008 ..a Wednesday..apologies were made for the fact it was a Wednesday . This date was arranged in early/mid December; it seemed that it must be a Wednesday, as some “key” people needed it to be a Wednesday. To say I was beginning to feel “stitched up” is an understatement!
The Inspector and Superintendent submitted Statements, both of which were utter fabrications of the truth. The Superintendent claimed that I had phoned him, when in fact he had phoned me, a small point maybe, but important, as he is a Professional Officer who should be used to recording facts accurately. The tone of his statement was one of me using my position as a Magistrate to gain favour, which was totally wrong, I was phoning as a mother, I was stating I was also a Magistrate to try to make him listen to me, because I was correct, it was harassment, and he could and should take action, which of course he was forced to do. So clearly I was correct, I should not have had to go to such lengths of phoning the Chief Constable and quoting the law to get the help my daughter was entitled to ..”by law”.
I had attended the hearing alone, I had no choice, I was shocked that after hearing evidence from the Inspector,which took about 20 minutes at most, a break was decided upon while we waited for the Superintendent to arrive from the Police Station. The Panel were made up of 3 Magistrates who were from another Bench and whom I did not know . My disabled son was ill on that day, and I was keen to get this hearing over with to return home, the panel were aware of this, but a fiasco then took place that I found both incredulous and insulting. We had not been there long before this enforced break while we waited for the Superintendent, the inspector had left and we were stood out on a landing where coffee, and biscuits were ordered and delivered, on arrival it was decided that toast would be better having ordered the toast there was concern over whether this would be white or brown toast. There was great joviality and silliness, which I found somewhat misplaced as they were there to decide on my integrity.
The Superintendent gave a wonderful performance which was a greatly enhanced version of his original statement, and it was accepted with enthusiasm. I had written(faxed) to the Chief Constables PA on 24th January 2008 to ask if the conversations I had with the various officers would have been recorded, and also to clarify that I spoke to their office and they had the Superintendent to call me. I got no reply) On the day of the hearing (30th), his account had been nicely tailored , he now stated that he phoned me as the Chief Constables Office had asked him to, and nobody on the Panel batted an eyelid. His evidence was peppered with lies and innuendo that led me to believe that he was very subtly drawing attention to my ethnic background, and was claiming that I had told him that I was frequently racially abused within the community, and that I had sworn, I had told him about the vile racist abuse my child had been subjected to and the foul names she had been called. I was not swearing at him, I was outlining what my daughter, a child was going through.By making it sound as if I was claiming to be racially abused and name called, he was effectively making me appear an outcast in the community that as a Magistrate I was to serve!
His evidence was twisted and distorted and accepted without question by the Panel.Even though some of his claims could be proven wrong as a matter of official records.
When I had my chance to speak I pointed out that 3 of the complaining Officers had neither made statements against me or attended on that day, The Secretary to the Panel had said that he had contacted all 3 officers on several occasions asking for statements but none had responded in anyway. I had told how the 2 Sergeants mentioned had not even spoken to me, therefore the complaint against me if not proven to be false was at least exaggerated. The claim that they had spoken to me was a lie! The Polices own log proved it.
I told the Panel that I only kept repeating the fact I was a magistrate in order to make them listen to me, to prove I knew there was Law in place to protect my daughter. It was claimed that I was trying to gain some advantage…..to this day I cannot see how, asking for a child to be afforded protection from the law, and using the knowledge I had gained in my position as a Magistrate was gaining advantage? I was only asking for what any citizen is entitled to, how can asking for what is rightfully yours be in any way be gaining advantage?
I told the panel how I was not prejudiced against the Police, I saw the Police as I did any other organisation, with both good and bad within its ranks, this is a realistic view point surely?. I had only the month before given up my own time to see 2 senior officers from a neighbouring force, in order to try and help the Police understand the needs of the Gypsy and Travelling people. Far from harbouring prejudice I am keen to break down barriers and get people talking.
I made it clear that I found it abhorrent that the Police should try and have me removed from the Bench for my conduct in a personal matter, but also how I found it equally abhorrent that any Magistrate who airs concern about the Police should be subject to such an assault.
The Panel agreed with the Police, and have recommended The Lord Chancellor should remove me from my position. They failed to see that I was acting as the mother of a terrified child, and went on to say that in regard to the Police they feel that I am incapable of recognising my own prejudices! I was outraged by this comment, from 3 people who had met me for a limited time in difficult circumstances. If anything on the day I feel the Panel failed to be impartial, indeed I would go so far as to say that I felt that it mattered not a jot what I said, the Police had made a complaint and that was that.
Taking all of this into account, if any Magistrate who speaks out or airs concern about the Police should be ousted, how diverse is the Bench? All the PC diversity training in the world is useless in this environment. Magistrates sit in three’s for the purpose of balance and fairness. To my mind each case should be taken on merit and ALL of the evidence, and of course the evidence should be questioned thoroughly, a person’s liberty can depend upon it. If the Police want compliant Magistrates, and that’s certainly how it appears to me, then the integrity of the Bench and Justice itself is in jeopardy. And where in Gods name does this leave a Defendant? Doesn’t he or she have the right to expect to be in front of a Bench with a balanced and realistic outlook?. In this climate surely there would be hardly any need for a Court at all. It would be more or less a fore gone conclusion that if you stand accused by the Police, then you must be guilty, a frightening prospect.
I have been falsely accused by the Police, and the Panel, all of whom are experienced Magistrates, either failed to see, or refused to see the truth of the matter and the flaws in the complaint made against me, a worrying state of affairs to say the least, Thankfully it was my integrity alone that was at stake and not my liberty and my ability to earn a living.
The Coat of arms in the Court room bears the words ;
Dieu et mon droit(God and my right)
Honi soit qui mal y pense('Evil to him who evil thinks')
I'll second that !
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
How Balanced Are The Scales of Justice in UK Courts
Friday, February 15, 2008
Dick Jones's Blog
I’m going to try the patience of my longer-term readers by posting now a slightly revised version of that account so as to provide a context for the pictures.
First of all, a poem that I wrote shortly after the funeral of Ellen Collins, a woman of extraordinary wisdom & judgement. Sadly, I can find no photos of her, although I can remember her posing with great dignity & grace for several shots amongst her collection of Crown Derby china.
BEBEE ELLEN’S MERRIPEN
Sometimes they stand in twos
and threes at the edge
of the road, arms folded,
eyes unfocussed, expecting nothing
but more of the same. Dogs bark
staccato over the pulse of generators.
Washing flickers between the vans,
random semaphore, and clocks
run slow. Sun rises over the warehouse,
sets behind the chain link fence.
But on Sunday old Aunt Helen died.
Inside her trailer mourners fidget,
watched by the gold-haloed faces
of her best Crown Derby plates.
No-one speaks but half-words form
in the gas fire’s popping, in the wind
around the broken door. Holding flowers
and a card he cannot read, brush-headed
Johnny, the boxer hero, racks tears
into a cushion. Sister Lizzie
glances sideways, gnaws a fingernail.
Traffic raises curtains in the rain
and Georgie stands where his mother
used to sit at night with her roll-ups
and her pint of tea. Arms folded
and his eyes unfocussed, he dreams
awake, pondering atavistic visions
of the fires of Little Egypt,
of the briar and the gorse,
of slower tides than these
that pull us all from history
and into the new lands.
*AUNT ELLEN’S DEATH in Anglo-Romani, the dialect of Britain's Gypsies.
...
THE YATELEY GYPSIES
My interest in Gypsies has its origins in pure romance. Many years ago I picked up a book called The Wind on the Heath in a second-hand bookshop. It was an anthology of historical writings about Gypsies & within a few pages I was entirely seduced. The depiction of a raffish, swarthy, inscrutable people living not within but at the edge of society, sleeping out under the stars, poaching in the greenwood, speaking an exotic tongue represented a heady vision of freedom & self-determination & breathed new life into the fading utopian dreams of the early ‘70s.
When, eventually, I put the books aside, took courage & encountered the real thing by walking onto an illegal site at Yately a few miles from my home in Farnham, Surrey, the trappings of myth fell away. Well, maybe not entirely: the raffishness, the inscrutability, the aura of authentic difference from the (largely inhospitable) host population remained a distinctive feature always. But the loud, raucous, demanding, suspicious, sometimes confrontational persona became for a while the reality. There were many times when – mistaken for a policeman, a council official, a bailiff, or simply seen as an intrusive stranger – I had to stand my ground & deal with bitterness, confusion & anger.
I gained some credibility with the Gypsies simply by being in a position to articulate publicly their argument in the ongoing debate concerning the status of the local unofficial Gypsy site. They wanted the site granted official recognition but residents were anxious to see the back of the settlers, citing the usual objections of plummeting house prices, rubbish left at roadsides, barking dogs & tales of thefts or incidents of violence that always seemed to have happened to some one else who knew someone else who was the victim.
So I wrote a series of letters to the two local newspapers, both widely circulated, signing them as from the families on the site. With something like 80% illiteracy amongst adult Gypsies at that time this was a service that made some sense. My letters provoked fury in various forms ranging from the barely literate to the eloquently inhumane. Whilst a few murmurs of support crept onto the letters page now & then, accompanied occasionally by moderate, entirely reasonable pleas for consideration of the needs of local housedwellers, the overall effect of providing a voice for the Gypsies was to poke a stick deep into the wasps’ nest. Through many of those extreme responses I had my first encounters with the ugliness & brute ignorance that underpins so much of attitudes towards Gypsies.
Gradually the implacable reserve & suspicion of the Gypsies with whom I was liasing melted away &, as I became more involved in the mass of practical issues that resulted from illegal encampment, friendships formed. Working principally with three or four leaders (never acknowledged as such by the others, never officially accepted as such by the men themselves), I obtained legal representation & we set about prosecuting Hampshire County Council for non-implementation of the Caravan Sites Act. The least we were able to achieve in the early days was the entanglement of the Council in so much procedural red tape that actions to evict were constantly delayed & postponed. The most we achieved in the long term (& it took several years) was the provision of an official site for all the families in a decent area away from housing, sewage plants & the motorway.
During the 10 years in which I was involved with Gypsy families in Surrey & Hampshire I experienced again & again their generosity, their dark humour, their resourcefulness, their optimism, their powerful allegiance to family & their deep, self-defining pride in their ethnicity. When I moved from Surrey I lost touch with the families. But I have many abiding memories of good times & bad - of warm caravans on winter heathland, across which blew the very winds that introduced me to the Romany dream years before; of pouring rain & ankle-deep mud through which bailiff’s Landrovers slithered, towing out the very same caravans… Of the following:
• Trips up to London with men in battered hats & Luton ‘traveller’ boots to talk with Saville Row-suited barristers in Lincolns Inn Fields.
• Striking deals with the property company that bought the land on which, at one time, the families were encamped - £100.00 per family to move off voluntarily, each family represented by how ever many caravans they owned (& Fuzzy Eastwood borrowing four tourers from his family in Berkshire & driving each one out in quick succession without being recognised by the paymaster at the gate.)
• The one tap in the centre of the Napley Road site from which all the families had to draw brackish, brown water & the local doctor (who was angry about the proximity of Gypsies to his five-bedroom house) unable to deduce why so many babies & young children were brought to him with gastric complaints.
• Eating jellied eels with Johnny Stevens, Georgie Collins & Bluey Bagley on the Derby Day hillside where, traditionally, Gypsies from all over Britain traditionally gather; listening to them speaking Anglo-Romani – the poggado-jib, or ‘broken tongue’ - & understanding virtually every word.
• Turning up one morning to a piece of rough ground at the bottom of a slope in Farnborough where the families had moved days before just ahead of eviction & being shown 12 variously charred car tyres that had been rolled flaming down the slope during the night.
• Watching 70-year-old Joby Cooper step-dancing inside a circle of wildly cheering, ecstatically drunk Gypsy men & boys at Misty Collins’ wedding.
• Arguing with a local Tory MP about obligations to beleaguered Gypsy families with nowhere to go as he posed for regional television cameras & being told (off camera) that since they weren’t householders & weren’t in rented accommodation they had no vote & thus fell outside his sphere of interest.
• Standing by an outside fire one autumn evening listening to 98-year-old Nofella Smith, Bui & Georgie Smith’s grandmother, reciting without pause for recollection & barely drawing breath, the names & interrelationships of all her ancestors back five generations.
• Taking photographs of Georgie Collins, Young Joby Cooper, Old Joby Cooper & his wife Esther, Johnny Stevens, Bui & Georgie Smith, Jackie Louder, Caleb & Mary Wenman on the opening day of the new official site; watching the breezy jubilation of the County Council officials, so proud of the results of their relentless & unsparing work for the Gypsy families; looking back at the impassive faces of the Gypsy men & women, displaying no gratitude to these fly-by-night local dignitaries, expressing if anything a quiet satisfaction at the successful culmination of 8 years of dogged, stubborn battle…
• Then of walking around the trailers, all drawn up onto their own hard-won pitches to say goodbye to the families on the eve of my move from Surrey to Hertfordshire.
Latest News From Beluarus.
This idea is manifest on everyday needs and challenges. In 2007 there were some serious discrepancies in Belarusian human rights policy. If we try to explore some problematic cases, we can conclude that sometimes it’s physically impossible to deliver to Belarusian government propositions and ideas from Belarusian citizens. At the same time, some proposition from Belarusian citizens, which are delivered to authority come out so distorted and baffling that nobody can benefit from it. Due to specific human reasons, finally it’s leading only to misunderstanding and can’t lead to mutual dialogue between authority and Belarusian citizens. The biggest problem is lack of dialogue among these two sides. Due to barriers and obstacles all attempts are doomed to failure.
Lack of meaningful interaction with authority leads to difficulties, which impact negatively on all layers of Belarusian society. Internal policy like a foreign policy, must be based on essential conclusions. Information is accessible in modern society and all people, who are interested in it, are allowed to use it. Sometime problems are rooted in how people implement this information. A lot depends on personal perceptions.
As a good example of successful work, is European Roma and travelers Forum. This forum enables Roma people to raise their voices and to be heard. Roma people themselves came up with this idea and Roma people are final recipient of this work. Roma participate in the discussions and Europe takes into account their hopes and expectations.
The roundtable in my opinion can solve a lot of problems. At first, all information from national minorities and religions can be delivered directly to Belarusian authority without any kind of distortions. Roundtables already exist in different countries and are quite successful. Representatives from national minorities and religions are in position to share their relevant ideas with authority. At the same time, it helps to reinforce intercultural dialogue between different people within society. My proposition is to create permanent roundtable under the Belarusian society from representatives from national minorities and religions to enhance cooperation and to solve same problems.
People have a right to be heard.
Belarusian Roma Lawyers Group
Minsk
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Hello in Holland !
Would the 2 students who emailed me from Holland last week get in touch. I would be delighted to help you, but I have lost your email address.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Happy Christmas ~ And A Sad Farewell To A Much Loved & Cherished Friend.
This is a very mixed post. Firstly I would like to wish everyone who reads my blog, new friends and old a very happy and peaceful Christmas. This is such a special time, this year we have 2 new little grandaughters Emily & Megan celebrating their very first Christmas, they are both a little bit young yet to understand, but I'm sure by next year they will both be enjoying the magic and excitement. Belle is 4 years old now, and really excited, I bet she will be up very early in the morning to see if Santa has appreciated her " good behaviour" :-). Little Charlotte was visiting us yesterday all better now after her treatment for Leukaemia, busily ripping open her Christamas cards. By next Christmas we will ahve another little grandaughter, my grandson Matthew will be visiting on 27th, he will no doubt be feeling very out numbered by all these girls ;-)
A little while ago I posted about my cousin Franks wife who was terminally ill. Sadly Sissy died in the early hours of Christmas Eve. She was just 36 years old and the mother of 11 children, including 1 year old twins.
Sissy passed peacefully in her sleep, having hugged and kissed all of her very much loved children goodnight. I cannot even begin to tell you how saddened I am to be making this post at all, but more so at this time of year. I am sure that you will all hope and pray her husband and children can some how find some peace and comfort.... but how I really do not know.
Sissy seems to have known that last evening was her last, she told the children she may not be with them for Christmas, as she maybe had a " very important birthday party to attend"..and this was said shortly after she told the younger one why presents were exchanged at Christmas, because it was the birthday of Baby Jesus and the three wise men gave him gifts.
If in some heavenly place there is a party for the baby Jesus, all I can say is it will be a rip roarer with Sissy there ;-).
Sissy passed on the night before full moon, a very important night, and my beliefs are that tonight her spirit will make it's journey to the spirit world. and she will have the "Silver Goddess" to light her path.
The picture above depicts very well a place I visit in dreams. I woke early this morning and half awake and half asleep I felt certain it is a place of peace where Sissy rests. There will be some of you reading this who will wonder what I am speaking of, others will know full well, one of the ones who knows is Frank, so he will know what I'm saying. Estrella also knows and to her I say the water is flashing with darting silver fish, all is well in that world.
Mi Kamel tu Sissy mi doori doori bitti phena..kushti ratti xx
Dream well phena, for we are what we dream
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Gypsy Children To Hand Petitions to Gordon Brown
On 20th November 3 Gypsy children will presenting their petitions the Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Please click on the link below to hear the children talk about their petitions.
Many thanks to Journalist Robert Leslie and the BBC for kindly consenting to my adding thier article to my blog
I am sure you will all wish to join me in wishing latcho drom and kushti baxt to Blue, Johnny and Libby.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2007/11/07/romany_petition_feature.shtml
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Gipsy Kings & Reines Anglaises
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Last month I travelled to Manchester and then to London to see Gipsy Kings on a mini UK tour.
Manchester was spoiled only by over zealous security, who dispite being invited backstage to chat with my friends, a bully of a rascist security man thought he would try to intimidate my friend Marguerite and I and bear in mind we are 2 ladies in our 50's well we were not frightened of him, then I had my camera taken off me even though I had been given permission to take photographs, What a wonderful impression of Britain this gave!. But the concert was FABULOUS, and I hurt myself badly dancing with a really lovely Portugese family.
Le mois dernier j'ai voyagé à Manchester et alors à Londres pour voir les rois gitans en mini excursion BRITANNIQUE. Manchester était seulement près une sécurité ardente corrompue d'excédent, que le dispite étant invité à l'arrière plan à causer avec mes amis, un despote d'un homme de sécurité de rascist a pensée qu'il essayerait d'intimider mon marguerite des prés d'ami et I et nous considérer sont 2 dames en nos années 50 bien nous non effrayés de lui, alors j'a eu mon appareil-photo m'a enlevé quoique j'aie été donné la permission de prendre des photographies, quelle impression merveilleuse de la Grande-Bretagne ceci a donnée !. Mais le concert était FABULEUX, et je me suis blessé dansant mal avec une famille vraiment belle de Portugese
Gipsy Kings are wonderful ambassadors for the Gypsy people. They came from humble beginnings, and they have not allowed fame to change them one little bit. They sing of dancing and family and they do so with joy, they sing of the struggle of our people and they do so with such passion, they sing about being Gypsies and they do so with pride. What always impresses me with thier concerts is the diversity of the audience, so many nationalities gathered. They may not realise it but they do so much to promote inter-culturism, which is what is needed in the world today. And when you look around there are the very young and the very old all enjoying the wonderful night of music and friendship.
Gipsy Kings sont les ambassadeurs merveilleux pour les personnes gitanes. Elles sont venues des commencements humbles, et qu'elles le démuni a permis la renommée les changent un peu de bit. Ils chantent de danser et la famille et eux font avec joie, elles chantent de la lutte de nos personnes et elles font ainsi avec tant de passion, elles chantent au sujet d'être des bohémiens et elles font ainsi avec fierté. Ce qui m'impressionne toujours avec des concerts thier est la diversité des assistances, ainsi beaucoup de nationalités recueillies. Elles ne peuvent pas le réalisent mais elles font tellement pour favoriser inter-culturism, qui est ce qui est nécessaire dans le monde aujourd'hui. Et quand vous regardez autour il y a très le jeune et très le vieux tout appréciant la nuit merveilleuse de la musique et de l'amitié.
Gipsy Kings were at The Royal Albert Hall last years as well and when I sit there watching them I often wonder is there an unseen member of the audience? The Royal Albert Hall was built in memory of Prince Albert the much loved husband of Queen Victoria, who had a great love for the Gypsy people, there are sevreal recorded instances of her kindness to them. When she was a young girl in 1836 she visited a gypsy camp near where she was staying for Christmas and persuaded her mother to send food, blankets and fuel: and she recorded in her diary
"their being assisted makes me quite merry and happy today, for yesterday night when I was safe and happy at home in that cold night and today when it snowed so and everything looked white, I felt unhappy and grieved to think that our poor gypsy friends should perish and shiver from want".
Gipsy Kings étaient chez l'Albert royal Hall des dernières années aussi bien et quand je m'assieds là les observant je se demandent souvent est là un membre invisible des assistances ? L'Albert royal Hall a été construit dans la mémoire de prince albert que le beaucoup a aimé le mari de la Reine Victoria, qui a eu un grand amour pour les personnes gitanes, là sont des exemples enregistrés sevreal de sa bonté à elles. Quand elle était une jeune fille en 1836 elle a visité un camp gitan près où elle restait pour Noël et persuadé sa mère pour envoyer la nourriture, les couvertures et le carburant : et elle a enregistré en son journal intime
"leur être des marques aidées j'aujourd'hui tout à fait joyeux et heureux, pour la nuit d'hier quand j'étais sûr et heureux à la maison dans cette nuit froide et aujourd'hui quand il a neigé ainsi et tout a semblé blanc, je s'est sentie que malheureux et affligé pour penser que nos pauvres amis gitans devraient périr et trembler de voulez".
Queen Victoria's life seemed to intermingle with the Gypsy people even before she was born,When Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent, was stationed at Malta, he heard a Gypsy prophesy that a daughter of his would someday be a great queen. Hearing the call of destiny, he rushed his pregnant wife across the English Channel during a winter storm in order that England's next great queen might be born on English soil. Eight months after his daughter's birth, the Duke of Kent was dead. He died from complications of a head cold. Queen Victoria also loved to have her fortune told and is remembered with great affection by the Gypsy people for proclaiming Palm Reading a legal career amongst the Gypsy groups.
La vie de la Reine Victoria a semblé mélanger avec les personnes gitanes égales avant qu'elle soit née, quand le père de Victoria, duc de Kent, a été posté à Malte, il ait entendu un bohémien prédire qu'une fille à lui serait un jour une grande reine. Entendant l'appel du destin, il a précipité son épouse enceinte à travers la Manche pendant un hiver donnent l' assaut à pour que la prochaine grande reine de l'Angleterre pourrait être soutenue sur le sol anglais. Pendant huit mois après la naissance de sa fille, le duc de Kent était mort. Il est mort des complications d'un froid de tête. La Reine Victoria a également aimé faire dire sa fortune et est rappelée avec grande affection par les personnes gitanes pour proclamer la paume lisant une carrière légale parmi les groupes gitans.
Queen Victoria also had a great love for Gypsy music, and often had Gypsy musicians to play for her when visiting Wales she had Edward Wood to play his harp for her, I believe he later became her official harpist. There is a story in my family of an ancestor busking on the street in London as a young boy, he was with several other young Gypsy boys. It is said that Queen Victoria who was passing in a Carriage stopped to hear them play and threw a large numver of coins to them.
This is why I wonder , when Gypsy Kings play at Royal Albert Hall, if she is not there in spirit. I am sure this great Queen would have loved to see these Gypsy boys playing in the Hall built as a tribute to her husband.I am also sure that given the history Nicholas Reyes singing Un Amore would have touched her heart.
La Reine Victoria a également eu un grand amour pour la musique gitane, et a souvent eu les musiciens gitans à jouer pour elle en visitant le Pays de Gales qu'elle a eu le bois d'Edouard pour jouer son harpe pour elle, je croient qu'il plus tard est devenu son harpist officiel. Il y a une histoire dans ma famille d'un ancêtre busking sur la rue à Londres en tant que jeune garçon, il était avec plusieurs autres jeunes garçons gitans. On lui dit que la Reine Victoria qui passait dans un chariot a cessé de les entendre jouer et a jeté un grand numver des pièces de monnaie à elles. C'est pourquoi je me demande, quand les rois gitans jouent chez Albert royal Hall, si elle n'est pas là dans l'esprit. Je suis sûr que cette grande reine aurait a aimé voir ces garçons gitans jouer dans le Hall construit comme hommage à son husband.I AM également sûr que donné l'histoire Nicholas Reyes le chant d'un Amore aurait touché son coeur
Sunday, October 14, 2007
A Message from Frankie Boy
The Silent Valley at The Mountains of Mourne
The Mountains of Mourne
I am sat here wanting to say thank you all for the emails and posting on Pesha's blog. I can't tell you just how much comfort it has brought us as a family at a very hard and very emotionelle time.
I asked Pesha to say thank you and she suggested I say so myself and she was good enough to give me her details so I can do this.
I am a man of words I love to write poems and tell stories but right now words seem to have left me. I don't know of a word that can say what I feel. I want to tell you about my wife. Some may say this is an obituary and that might be right. Not many get to read they own obituary but Sissy has always been different to the rest and I know when she is gone I won't be able to do this
I have knowen Sissy since we was kids growing up our paths would cross afew times a year at fairs mostly and I used to think she was a little pest I was her brothers friend and she would always be following us. I got to think a bit different though when she started to blossom into a bit of a looker, then the tables turned and I was following her about and she were telling me to get lost. But she never did mean it she was playing hard to get she would be hard pushed to find a better looking moosh than me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So we got married and thats why I put those photos up of the mountains of Mourne in Eire thats where we went for our honeymoon and we have been back many times since, it's a special place for Sissy and me and when times have got hard and we have been tested that is where we head off to to catch our breath and remember what we are all about.
If you know my girl you will know she is a little lady as pretty as a picture and as firey as hell itself Sissy have got a short fuse and a big heart. She works hard keeping our home spotless and our children fed and well dressed and she is always full of fun and devilment.
People see us arguing and her giving me what for or ripping me up with that sharp tongue of hers and many have said I deserve a medal. But for all of that I know the loving wife I have and when the children are all in bed and we can sit for a bit together I know just why I married her. Whenever I am troubled, my girl knows and she is there by my side and if anyone should give me trouble then they got her to deal with
We have been through a lot together good times and bad times but all that has done is make us stronger. Couple of years back we lost a little baby girl, she was born too soon and was taken back I thought then this is the worst thing that can ever happen but then I could not know about this.
The little pest that kept hanging round , well I saw her grow in to a beautiful vibrant funny young lady
I saw that beautiful girl become the reason why the birds sang and eventually she became my girl
Then my beautiful girl became my beutifuk wife, and in turn my beautiful wife became the mother of our children and just when I thought I knew every side to her, motherhood brought a hole new wonderful amazing gentleness that left me in awe of her. The plan was that we grow old together we watch our children have children of their own. It was not to be. When I told me father that Sissy was going to be taken from me he said to me Frankie I'm not surprised, that one is so full of spark and energy she could not possibly go the 3 score years and ten she was destined to burn out long before
I have been asked why Sonny put the letters S & C in the picture he drew of his mother That is because I call her my crystal and I call her this because she is clear and bright and has many facets to her and each one is dazzling and full of sparkle and throws lightness and brightness around it.
I just do not know how I will live on without my darling and I dread the day I wake up to a still and empty space, but I know as well that I have been blessed
My girl, the devoted mother has made a memory book for each of our children and each one is personal to each child.
Sissy is home again with us but we are told her time is days and weeks not months she is just 36 years old.
I never went much to school but a did for a while and a school master said to me Frankie you are a clever bloke you should come to school and get quailfied the world is your oyster
That bit baffled me all my life the world was my oyster he said which is kushti enough but I never found out how to open the dam thing.
But see I never needed to because my world is in the home with my wife and my children and to all that will say well the Sissy can be a one, all I can say is as our time in this world draws to a close suddenly that oyster has opened up to me and I see that inside there was a wonderful and beautiful pearl growing within it.
My Girl My Pearl my Crystal and my one true love
You will never be gone from me I will hold you in my heart and each heartbeat with be an embrace for you
My life now will be making sure that the part of you that lives on, our precious children want for nothing, rest assured Sissy they will never want for love
Thank you everyone for your kind words they are priceless
Thanks Shay for letting me have my say on the blog
Ashlen Devlesa
Frankie
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Miracle Needed!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Pesha / Shay on Rokker Radio, The BBC Radio Program For Gypsies and Travellors
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/networks/three/aod.shtml?three/rokker_radio
Monday, September 10, 2007
"Jaisalmer Ayo! Gateway of the Gypsies"
Romani (Gypsy) Culture on the Internet.
Professor Steve Balkin of Roosevelt University, Chicago USA has compliled, This amazing web page of Romani Culture. There is so much here, I'm sure it will keep you all busy and fascinated for hours. Steve has added me to his "Friends on the Internet" section...thank you for that Steve ..I'm honoured.
If any of you know of any good Romani music or videos please pass the links on to Steve so he can add them to his web page . You can email Steve on sbalkin@roosevelt.edu
here's the link to Steves collection ...enjoy
http://faculty.roosevelt.edu/Balkin/roma.htm
Ashlen Devlesa !
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Just To Say...Thank You..I'm Fine
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Life of a Romanychall' . my Romany stories'
Roma Democratic Development Association
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Acts of Kindness & Love
I want to post the following to you. I get many emails from people who read this blog and it's always lovely to hear from everyone.
This past few days I have been feeling very sorry for myself, I have not been in good health and I have allowed myself to become quite miserable, between not feeling so good and family problems...well you all know how it can be.
The Roma people have so many problems as a race, and it can become very hard on the emotions sometimes when you hear of the hardships, poverty and misery many of our people live in.
A few days ago I posted the work of Anna Kari and the article by Nicolas Kalinin. both do such a good job.
Today I have recieved 2 emails one I told you all that I was expecting an article from Erik Shapiro, well that came today, and also an email from Ilanna Mandel, both of these people are total strangers to me, but both have shown such compassion for our people. I find myself very emotional and humbled by this most human quality that can make so much
difference...kindness..
When I was feeling down a few days ago, a friend Sergio posted saying there were still good things in the world..and yes Thank you Sergio..you were absolutely right!
I will post the emails for you all to read, and hopefully some of you can be of some help to either Ilanna or Erik
I would like to thank Ilanna And Erik for their kindness and for taking the trouble to contact me and allowing me to put their details on this blog
Nais tuke! thank you both & Shalom!
Pesha
Hello from Los Angeles
Hello Pesha;
Thank you for your wonderful blog. I am a writer and artist who lives in Los Angeles (although I am Canadian). I am always astounded by the fact that people in N. America know little to nothing about the Roma, their heritage, their history, or their contributions to our world by way of literature, art, music, dance and other areas of life.
I have been involved with the issue of the lead poisoned camps in Kosovo. It is a sad and disturbing story of how the Roma are so often neglected and used as scapegoats in Europe.
I am interested in meeting other artists who would like to form a network together to raise greater awareness of who the Roma are. I am not Roma myself, but rather Russian-Jewish.
hope others will contact me. I have this idea to create a huge online art auction - paintings, sculptures, photography to raise funds for the Roma in Kosovo - if it can help.
Kindly
Ilanna Mandel
ilanna@sbcglobal.net
Ilanna Mandel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
STOLPERSTEINE
From Erik Shapiro
Stolpersteine – or “stumbling stones” – are metal plaques embedded in the pavement in front of where Nazi victims used to live. The idea began with an artist named Gunter Demnig, who placed fifty of these stones in Berlin in 1996. Since then, the number of stolpersteine has expanded significantly.
I was recently in Berlin and became quite moved by these stones and their implicit message. The stumbling is not physical; people don’t trip on the stones. But in my view, you inadvertently stumble across them on your way to somewhere, and they give reason to pause, honor, remember, and commit to be diligent about what genocidal atrocities might be happening now [like in the Darfur region of Sudan].
Most of what I knew before sitting down to write this notice about stumbling stones came from an article in ExBerliner Magazine which implies that they are only in Berlin and only for Jewish victims.
My impulse was to broaden the discourse by sponsoring stones for non-Jewish victims. For me, it is a matter of solidarity, and also to not feel so isolated. On a tangential note, the monument to the deportation in Paris is inclusive of all victims of the Nazis, and so to me a much more profound experience than those memorials devoted to only one group. Inside are inscribed quotes, such as this one:
“But the day that people will have understood who you were, they will bite the earth with sadness and remorse, they will water it with their tears, and they will build temples to you.” Vercors
I e-mailed the organization which coordinates placing the stones [stolpersteine@gdw-berlin.de], and they replied that they would place stones for any victim of the Nazis, but needed the information to do so. They can send me a document with information on people from Berlin who were deported and murdered for being gay, but said they had no available documentation for Roma victims of the Nazis.
Then, poking around on the Internet in preparation for writing this notice . . .
[for example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/franzlife/36326850/in/set-72157594489669795/ Wikepedia also has considerable information on stolpersteine.]
. . . I learned that the discourse is already broad, and that there are some stolpersteine placed for non-Jewish victims [Roma, gay people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and political dissidents] and also many stolpersteine placed outside Berlin, and now even outside of Germany [in Austria, Netherlands, and Italy].
But that’s not a reason for me to stop. It is just all the more reason to keep going. If anyone can send me the necessary information for a Roma victim of the Nazis in Berlin [at least name and former address, also birthdate, date of deportation, place where murdered if available], I would like to start on my part by sponsoring a stolpersteine in Berlin for one Roma victim. Please write to me at marketplacer@msn.com. I will only be able to afford one stone for now, so that will be the first eligible one I receive. I urge interested readers also to write the coordination center at the e-mail address above to see about sponsoring stolpersteine yourself. The cost is about 95 Euros each.
Pesha mentioned to me that permanent addresses for Roma people might be difficult to document, because of the years of persecution that kept them moving, and asked if stolpersteine could be placed at traditional Roma stopping places [achen tan].
I said I did not know. But in my Internet poking around [the Wikepedia entry] I learned that stolpersteine were placed at a homeless shelter to honor and remember gay victims who were taken away and murdered, so there is precedent for stolpersteine at other than the permanent addresses of individuals.
According to the Wikepedia entry, Gunter Demnig had placed over 9,000 stolpersteine as of October 2006. It might be that he has documentation of where the stones were placed, and for who. His homepage is http://www.stolpersteine.com/. I don’t read or write German, but someone reading this who does might write to him, ask him about any present stolpersteine for Roma victims, and also please cheer him on for inventing and tirelessly following up on this worthwhile idea.
Thanks,
Erik Shapiro
Na Bister!~ Never Forget!~N'oubliez jamais!
Overnight on 1st-2nd August 1944 at Auschwitz-Birkenau the entire Roma Gypsy camp was destroyed four thousand Roma men women and children were gassed and cremated, this unimaginable atrocity is now called Zigeunernacht meaning night of the Gypsies.
It is now over 60 years, and I have frequently be come embroiled in heated argument as to how this period in history should be remembered. I know my stance is seen by many as extreme and intransient, but I make no apology for this. To place this horror as an "Historic event" that we should learn by is to my mind is the true danger. After all it could never happen today ! ..could it?
Those in Society who feel that we should never "forget", but that would should "forgive" in my eyes pose a far greater danger than the shaven headed right wing thugs, or the White clad cross burning fanatics.
I do not aim my lack of forgiveness at the German people, it is aimed at all people, at mankind as a whole. The Holocaust was not an example of the German people of the day against the Roma or the Jews or the Gays or the handicapped. It was an example of mans inhumanity to his fellow man. A need to dominate a need for supremacy, and sadly a trait that lies deep within the "blueprint", and a trait that may never be evolved away.
Forgiveness is the sure and certain path to acceptance..oh we may not accept as such..but we accept it happened "historically"..and we don't learn/understand the Genocide of the 2nd World was was only one of many both before ;
The Armenian Holocaust, Stalins policies in Ukrain,the Spanish policy of forced labour of the native peoples throughout the Carribean,South and Central America, US Clearing operations against the Indigenous peoples of North America
Hitler took many lessons from "history" from which to perfect his own Holocaust.
..and since;
Katanga, Biafra, Bangaladesh IndoChina,Paraguay, Guetemala, Indonesia, Rwanda , Bosnia..ect..ect..What was that about it could never happen today?..could it?
It has happened..it does happen ..it will happen.
How can Genocide ever be forgiven, what was taken from us we will never know. This Genocide had a devastating effect on the Roma, so many were taken from a comparably small race . How any mother can look at the picture below of children and say it is time to forgive is beyond my comprehension. Who comforted these little ones while they suffered, I can only think the older ones took on the role and comforted the younger ones, but the older ones are just children themselves. how can some mothers darling, some fathers pride and joy be brutalised in this way, and a right thinking society even feeling it a remote possibilty to even consider forgiveness?
The Roma kept very few written records the Generations gone before were remembered and kept alive in memory by word of mouth. Those murdered in the death camps were not only killed but they were obliterated from living memory ..for all time.
Mothers, fathers, Aunts Uncles Grandparents brothers and sisters, literally gone up in smoke with not a soul to mourn their passing or light a candle for them, or speak their name in rememberance.
There is an old Roma saying (curse)
" Te bisterdon tumare anava "~ "may your names be forgotton"
How those words seem to mock these days.
When we think of those poor people we must wonder who might they have been those little children, and the children that were never born. Maybe another Django Reinhardt? another Mother Teresa ? think of all the wonderful music the Roma have brought the world,The Roma proudly say "We sing no War songs" yet when war rages all around we are all too often the innocent casulaties
Below is a picture of an unknow Roma woman at Auschwitz ..it is a picture of what "might of been"
On the Tombstone of some people I care about very much the inscription reads
"Loves last gift...Rememberance..."
Na Bister! ..Never Forget !
Monday, August 20, 2007
News From Belarus
This morning I recieved an email from Nicolas Kalinin, I have posted information from Nicolas before. Nicolas is a National Minority expert,he is also a member of The Roma Lawyer Group, A Delegate in The European Roma Travellers Forum and A Delegate in The Forum Of European Roma Young People.
Nicolas kindly sent me this article he has written and has also kindly said I may publish it, so I am doing so.
Nais Tuke Nicolas phral for sharing your thoughts with us
Dza Devlesa
Modern Belarusian delusions
Belarus is country with blue lakes, small rivers, pine forests