I AM MINE

by Samantha Rajasingham

a white skinned, black hair and clothed, Asian woman on a red background, looking at the viewer and wearing red lipstick; the style is a bit in the style of Alex Katz paintings, the eyes doing all the work at looking back at the viewer.

I am your nail technician, your straight A student,

your wildest dream, your exotic girlfriend, your

piano teacher, your lawyer, your doctor, your

nanny, your hairdresser, your Made in China,

your waitress, your receptionist, your

maths tutor, your babysitter,

your Instagram hero,

your voice of wisdom,

your liar, your thief,

your nurse, your writer,

your convenience store clerk,

your disease, your leader,

your toy, your master,

your victim of

foot binding,

your submissive,

your friend,

your enemy

your fantasy

your heresy

I am mine

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THE TORY RECORD ON GYPSIES, ROMA & TRAVELLERS MAKES FOR GRIM READING

Posted on November 29, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged andrew selous, antigypsyism, antisemitism, capitalism, conservative, discrimination, election, exploitation, featured, Gadje, ge2019, GRT, gypsy, hate speech, hatred, islamophobia, Labour, law, manifesto, Marc Willers, minorities, persecution, policies, Priti Patel, racism, Roma, Romani, Sinti, stereotypes, Tory.

by Jonathan Lee

A political party in the UK is defined by its members and its representatives. Regardless of the leader, the real character of a party is found in the policies it puts forward, and the things that its cabinet members, MPs, and local councillors do and say. In the Labour Party, the about turn the party took from being the neoliberal centre-right party of Tony Blair, to the democratic socialist party of Jeremy Corbyn was brought about by the will of its members. The elected politicians of the Labour Party do not always see eye-to-eye with their leader, but if you look at the collective things they say and do, and the policies they propose, there is a broad consensus on certain values which tell you the nature of the party as a whole. The same can be said of the Conservative Party. You can read more here if you want a ten year history of Conservative hate speech against Romani and Traveller people.

The following is a summary of Conservative policies which have affected Gypsies, Roma, & Travellers during the time the Conservatives have been in power.Continue Reading

ANTIGYPSYISM WILL NOT BE CURED BY NEOLIBERAL WISHFUL THINKING

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged antigypsyism, antisemitism, capitalism, discrimination, exploitation, featured, free market, Gadje, gypsy, hate speech, hatred, Hungary, islamophobia, Labour, marx, minorities, neoliberalism, persecution, racism, Roma, Romani, Sinti, stereotypes.

by Jonathan Lee

There is a mendacious yet persistent fantasy that Roma could be saved from the horrors of racism and discrimination if only they weren’t so poor. It is the conservative idea that the free market can cure racism, that racism is purely a product of economic disparity, and that if only Roma were more economically engaged, most of the nasty symptoms of antigypsyism would simply fall away. Continue Reading

IN DEFENCE OF STUDENT POLITICS

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged 1968, activism, anti-apartheid, climate change, criticism, featured, fossil free, higher education, Hogwarts, marketisation, medicine, mental health, nurses, NUS, palestine, politics, postgraduate, precarious labour, privilege, science, social work, solidarity, stereotypes, student activism, student debt, student politics, students, students' unions, teachers, trade unions, vietnam war, voting, working class.

By Bradley Allsop

The only way to make the word ‘politics’, that great indicator of all manner of corruption and trickery, more contemptible is to plonk the word ‘student’ in front of it. It almost feels like you‘re not pronouncing ‘student politics’ right if you do it without a sneer, or at least a shudder. Student politics has an image problem.

IS IT FINALLY TIME FOR AN ANTIGYPSYISM INQUIRY IN THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY?

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged Alan Mellins, antigypsyism, antisemitism, Ashkali, Community, conservatives, discrimination, featured, Gary STreeter, gypsy, hate speech, hatred, Irish Travellers, islamophobia, JAck Dromey, Joanna Dabrowska, Manush, media, Mike Bird, minorities, nick clegg, persecution, Philippa Roe, racism, Robert Fraser, Roma, Romani, Sandwell, Selous, Sinti, society, stereotypes, Tories, travellers, UKIP, unemployment, Yenish.

by Jonathan Lee

Content warning: hate speech, antigypsyism, inclusion of derogatory language.

After a Hope Not Hate survey revealed the not-so-shocking discovery that two thirds of Conservative Party Members are islamophobes, pressure has been mounting for the Tories to launch a party inquiry into Islamophobia. In a time when Jeremy Corbyn’s hummus eating habits spur fresh cries of antisemitism, it is encouraging to see that the ‘Nasty Party’ are not immune from scrutiny for the widespread racism amongst their members. Though the survey results were damning, the response from the media has been somewhat subdued. Can you imagine the backlash if a survey found that two thirds of Labour Party members believed antisemitic conspiracy theories? Or if 43% said they would prefer the UK was not led by a Jew (as Conservatives members indicated at the possibility of a Muslim Prime Minister)? The next Tory leader will inherit this scandal and may not be able to brush it off so easily.

Now that the lid has been blown off the rampant islamophobia within the Conservative Party, it’s high time other widely held racist beliefs in the party ranks were examined; not least, antigypsyism.Continue Reading

HOW IS A GYPSY SUPPOSED TO LOOK?

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged amazon, artistic, arts, big fat gypsy wedding, bigotry, carmen, chocolat, cultural appreciation, cultural appropriation, culture, disney esmeralda, esmeralda, Europe, featured, film, free spirit, Gypsies, gypsy, Gypsy fashion, Gypsy lord, heritage, jennifer lee, literature, media, orientalist, photography, play, plot, plot device, race, Roma, Roma communities, Romany, Romany Gypsy, society, stereotypes, sub culture, travellers, western film, western literature, wuthering heights, ZEKE.

by Jonathan Lee

I am probably not the image most people have in their mind when they think of a Gypsy.

My mother is of mostly Irish-American stock – which gives me a few ginger wisps in my beard, and a smattering of freckles across my nose and cheeks. My hair is dark brown, not black. I don’t wear a lolo diklo (red scarf) around my neck, or a staddi kali (black trilby hat) on my head. Most of the time I wear jeans and t-shirt, I rarely ever dance on tables, and I have no piercings or tattoos. I live in an apartment in the centre of a European capital with a woman whom I am not married to, and I travel only about 20 minutes maximum by foot every day to go to work.

If I ask you to close your eyes and picture a Gypsy in your mind’s eye you probably see someone with bangles and gold hoop earrings, floral patterned clothing, long hair, and dark flashing eyes. They may or may not have a tambourine, and may or may not be wearing a turban with a little gem in the centre holding it up. Maybe you see a fortune teller, or a travelling metalsmith? Perhaps a musician? If you are European, more likely you also see a beggar, a thief, a criminal.Continue Reading

AN OPEN LETTER TO STEVE DOWNES, EDP.

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged accommodation, advice, anon street team, barriers, charities, City, Community, crisis, Eastern Daily Press, edp, exclusion, featured, foodcycle, grassroots, Haymarket, homeless, homelessness, hot meals, housing pressure, isolation, mental health, mental illness, norfolk, norwich, Norwich City Council, norwich foodcycle, Norwich Soup Movement, poverty, private landlords, rough sleepers, Shelter, social exclusion, soup kitchens, stereotypes, steve downes, stigma, The People's Picnic, unemployment, vulnerable, zero hour contracts.

by Eli Lambe

No, Soup Kitchens are not making Norwich’s “Homelessness problem” worse. It might seem that way to you, if you’re used to brushing the vulnerable off and not having to see the reality of more and more people’s lives. The easy solution – and the one that your newspaper and the local police like to peddle – is to force rough sleepers and vulnerable people out to the fringes of the city, where they’re cut off from their community and support and, most importantly it seems, you don’t have to see them.

What makes you think that your walking past the Haymarket every so often qualifies you to write about the lives of the people in the queue?Continue Reading

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO ANTIGYPSYISM

Posted on December 29, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged accidental racism, accidental racist, Alliance Against Antigypsyism, antigypsyism, antisemitism, Ashkali, Balkan Egyptians, beginners guide, black, campervan, chakras, Community, costume, discrimination, Europe, european commission, European Parliament, featured, gypsy, halloween, hate speech, hatred, health services, infant mortality, Irish Travellers, islamophobia, life expectancy, Manush, middle ages, minorities, persecution, rabbit hole, racism, Roma, Romani, safe housing, segregation, Sinti, social acceptance, society, stereotypes, travellers, unemployment, Yenish.

by Jonathan Lee

Content warning: article explores discrimination, racism, hate speech and antigypsyism and includes derogatory language.

Don’t say gypo or gypped. Pikey or tinker. Don’t put up ‘No Travellers’ signs.

If you are not Romani, never wear Gypsy-themed costumes at Hallowe’en. And don’t call yourself Gypsy because you think you’re free spirited. Or because you’ve been to India, or believe in chakras, or live in a campervan or something. These things are racist towards Romani people and Irish Travellers. It’s called antigypsyism.

This is the specific form of racism directed against Roma, Sinti, Travellers, Manush, Balkan Egyptians, Ashkali, Yenish and others who are stigmatized as ‘gypsies’ in the public imagination.

Unfortunately, there is a lot more to it than a few nasty words and some garishly tacky costumes. In order to fight this phenomenon in our society, you need to understand how deep the rabbit hole really goes.Continue Reading

FIND THE DOMINATION IN THE NARRATIVE

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged advertising, adverts, antisocial behaviour, Cold Blood, dominant narrative, doodle, homophobia, mainstream, plot device, queerness, rant, reinforced stereotypes, stereotypes, television, transphobia, TV, tv criticism, victim playing, working class sterotypes.

by Eli Lambe

CW: victim blaming, transphobia, homophobia, rape

Sitting in my mum’s living room, vaguely paying attention to what she had loaded up ‘on-demand’, I started to get antsy and agitated. The programme, a gritty ITV crime-drama called “Cold Blood” kept jumping out at me with its thinly veiled victim blaming, transphobia and homophobia. Because it was being played ‘on-demand’, the same few ads kept popping up. This, along with a summer of conversations that continually went nowhere, prompted the following rant/doodle/mess…

SKEPTA, CHANCE THE RAPPER AND RAP’S DIY REVOLUTION

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged anarchist, anti-establishment, BBK, Chance the Rapper, Chicago, Chiraq, Coloring Book, critics, DIY, gang, Gil Scott Heron, Grime, hip hop, independent, Konnichiwa, london, MC, music, music industry, politics, progressive, radical, rap, release, revolution, Rick Ross, Saul Williams, stereotypes.

by Mike Vinti

The last week or so has seen the release of two of the most anticipated projects in recent musical history; Skepta’s fourth album Konnichiwa and Chance the Rapper’s third mixtape Coloring Book.

With both MCs having made a name for themselves over the past couple of years as being pioneers in their respective fields of rap music, the release of their full length efforts has served to cement their reputations and effectively crown them as kings of their respective sides of the Atlantic. However, while both projects are excellent musically speaking, what’s most interesting about the hype surrounding both Chance and Skepta is that they’re both totally independent artists.Continue Reading

stereotypes

I AM MINE

by Samantha Rajasingham

THE TORY RECORD ON GYPSIES, ROMA & TRAVELLERS MAKES FOR GRIM READING

ANTIGYPSYISM WILL NOT BE CURED BY NEOLIBERAL WISHFUL THINKING

IS IT FINALLY TIME FOR AN ANTIGYPSYISM INQUIRY IN THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY?

HOW IS A GYPSY SUPPOSED TO LOOK?

FIND THE DOMINATION IN THE NARRATIVE

SKEPTA, CHANCE THE RAPPER AND RAP’S DIY REVOLUTION

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