Travelling, Rambling

I used to be homophobic. I think this was largely due to a naivety in myself. I didn’t knowingly know any gay people so they were an unknown to me. I knew a few people who were camp and I suspected of gayness. But nobody who just said it proudly. I remember with a degree of fondness how on the second week of my social work course having to suppress a childish giggle when our lecturer told us matter of factly that he was bisexual.

I’ve come a long way since then and posted a few weeks ago about how infuriating I find people’s attitudes to sexuality. So I consider myself a pretty open minded person whose attitude could be summed up in the motto ‘live and let live’.

Then we come to travellers.

And I cannot deny in this case I am prejudiced. It’s an uncomfortable feeling for me because I genuinely don’t want to be that kind of person. I’ve spent much of the last couple of days ruminating on this to try and get to the bottom of it.

I’ve come to the point where I realise I don’t hate the travellers. I don’t really hate anyone. Even when people do horrific things I can understand that there are forces beyond their control that lead them there so its not hate. Its not that I want them to live a conventional life like us squares. I’m irritated that there seems to be a fundamental hypocrisy in the arguments put forward by those who advocate on their behalf.

There have been a lot of vocal accusations from some people suggesting that the site clearance at Dale farm is ‘ethnic cleansing’. Now let’s take a moment to look at this because if you use words like that then you have to defend them. Ethnic cleansing refers to the systematic murder of one group of people by another in power. No trial, no judicial process. We want the land you live on so we will murder you to get it.

Now let’s look at what has happened in Basildon. Planning permission was given for some homes and then another group of families decided they would live there as well. The authorities told them they couldn’t and following that we have had several years of legal argument to remove them. They have been to the highest court in the land and it has found against them. To compare this with ethnic cleansing is obscene.

The fact is that in law they are on that land illegally and have to leave it. This is the thing that causes me most annoyance; the feeling that somehow they do not have to abide by the law of the land. They have had their day in court and lost. They think they are being prejudiced against…well quite honestly tough luck. If I build something illegally then it will be torn down. Why does that law apply to me and not to the travellers ?

The hypocrisy for me comes in terms of the argument that on one hand travellers’ advocates will tell us that they want to make a valid contribution to society. In that case settle in permanent accommodation then, get jobs, pay tax. That’s how the rest of us contribute. But the argument comes back. Settling down would mean death to us, we can’t be restricted like that.

Well make your minds up. You either wish to be part of our society or you don’t. British society is not a nomadic one where we all move around. There are traveller sites around the country. I realise they are not always where the travellers want them. Well I’d like to live closer to my daughter’s school but I can’t, so that’s life unfortunately. Why do we have to bend all the time to accommodate this lifestyle choice? Especially at a time when we are being asked to bend so far anyway. Job losses, pay freezes, higher fuel bills and all set to get worse as the cuts begin to bite.

My final point comes from a respected peer of mine who said that 18 million or whatever the final cost to evict the squatters is a high price to pay. Well, having had time to consider it, this is a daft argument. The reason the cost is so high is because the squatters are refusing to obey the law of the land they live in. If they obeyed the law the cost would be lower. Are we saying we shouldn’t evict them because it will cost too much? That’s not a great precedent to set. The rule of law has to be enforced whatever the cost. I say that for the travellers just as I say it for the police pursuing News international executives.

So to sum up I don’t hate travellers. I dislike their hypocrisy, I loathe the professional protesters rushing to stick their beaks in and push the costs of this sorry operation up and I’m disappointed in myself that, for all my rationalisation, it is at heart a prejudice that is driving my uncharitable thoughts.

Our JFK Moment

I posted something similar to this on my defunct blog probably on the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. There's little more to say about it really. This is the definitive 'you know where you were' moment of my generation in the way JFK's assasination was for my parent's generation. Mine is too tedious to relay but I remember every detail of it.