I'm familiar with the community channel Tony, and I have seen all the current Gypsy themed programmes. Many are excellent, some, not so much.
Our ways and Voices is about Irish Travellers.
Romani people left India for Europe about 1000 years ago, around 600 years ago they arrived in the UK.
People thought we came from Egypt and called us 'Egyptians' which eventually got shortened to 'Gypsies'.
The Gypsies never managed to get a foothold in Ireland because it was already occupied by an indigenous group of travelling people.
These people are now recognised as an ethnic Group in their own right. They are the Irish Travellers. (Note the upper case 'T').
Irish Travellers are often mistakenly referred to as Gypsies or Irish Gypsies.
Born on The Straw is an excellent documentary film featuring Ryalla Duffy and her family. (I think you watched it on DVD at my place once). Ryalla is a good friend of ours and we see her often.
I am Roma is about Romani people in Europe.
There is a lot of confusion about the relationship between the Roma and the Gypsies.
600 years ago, we were the same people, but those of us who settled in the UK were isolated from the rest of the Romani people. Our culture, traditions and language changed subtly over the years, and we became known as Gypsies.
At the moment we have a lot of Roma migrants in the UK and I am often asked to represent them at APPG working sessions and other meetings. I attend these but spend most of my time explaining that the Roma are a migrant population while the Gypsies, having been here for 600 years, are, to all intents and purposes, indigenous. Therefore, our needs are different.
The Roma have it rough here in the UK, but it pales into insignificance when compared to the inequalities, privations and cruelties they suffer in their own countries, much like the Gypsy people in this country suffered until very recently.
Just to clear up another misconception, immigrants from Romania are Romanians, not Roma, unless of course they happen to be Roma from Romania.
It's interesting to note that when I am on holiday in Europe, I recognise Romani people when I see them. They on the other hand only recognise me as one of their own if I speak to them. (We still share the remains of a common language).
Mrs Red and I are the UK representatives for the European Roma and Travellers forum. (ETRF) We are next due to meet in Strasbourg in September.
Notice that the word 'Gypsy' is missing from the ETRF. Roma people don't like it, they see it as an insult, which I suppose it was initially. I have to explain that we in the UK are proud of it.
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