We want to be respected. We want to be protected

The Hidden World of Irish Travellers: the subtitle gives Eamon Dillon's book Gypsy Empire an air of mystery and intrigue not untypical of the way racialised groups are written about and viewed by the outside eye.

The title is not accidental. The author conflates Gypsy and Traveller so as to capitalise on the negative stereotypes of both. It indicates just how much cultural collateral our community is considered to hold by these outside “experts” in books, documentaries and films.

This phenomenon of “investigative” journalism – for which read exploitative and voyeuristic – echoes the otherness, strangeness, wildness and barbarity of the dominant representations of Travellers in the settled world.

Travellers and Gypsies are two distinct ethnic groups. To clarify this would damage sales of the book. The title is a pernicious marketing ploy: thieves, criminals, the wheelers and dealers, the boxers, the fraudsters, denizens of a criminal empire.

Naked insult
The cover of the book has familiar images from the tabloid lens. Images that ignite all the ambiguous, unproven myths about Traveller culture. Men stripped to the waist, a picture of stolen goods and, of course, a view of an overcrowded site with scantily clad young women. The criminality referred to in the book is accurate; it narrates episodes of gratuitous violence that are already in the public domain by way of court records.

Representations are central to the maintenance of any oppressive system. Representations of Travellers in this context express, wittingly or unwittingly, racist values. Those values are not abstract: they contribute to the oppression, and degradation, of the Traveller community.

Traveller emasculation – by settled masculinity and voyeurism – is not generating news. It generates unequal power relations and subordination.

The book contains detailed accounts of violent deaths, criminal escapades and robberies that the Traveller community and Traveller organisations have consistently condemned.

In his introduction Dillon states that women are "weak and are ignored" in this chaos. This is offensive: many Traveller women, old and young, have a powerful influence within the family and the wider community, evident in the number of Traveller women involved in Traveller politics. This is the real fabric and glue that hold our community together. A small number of male criminals don't get to dictate to or destroy our families.

Alienation
It is well documented that poverty, systemic racism and inequality can trigger antisocial behaviour. The American civil-rights movement was not merely about buses but also about dignity and identity – "go deep down the archives of history". Being disrespected and humiliated, and experiencing a sense of alienation have repercussions for our community. In the context of Travellers and deprivation, the way these forces affect each other is usually a result of Government failure to implement long-agreed policies.

For much of our history our community has been silent. This has been a strategy for Travellers, a form of protection that allowed us to get on with the business of living in a quiet way in a context that was so often hostile and racist. This silence was in effect no more than the whisper of internalised oppression. It is hard to criticise when the alternative is to see our voices used in the service of books such as Dillon’s. This strategy might have left our story untold or our needs without articulation, but it ensured we were not tempted by the false fame accorded by a fleeting notoriety.

Being named in a book of this nature because of your macho exploits just adds to the notoriety sought by a handful of criminals who indulge a settled journalist with their antics. Dillon is invited not only to write about the feuding and fighting but also to watch. This ends up being an unwitting collusion with criminality in the quest for a supposed authenticity. It blurs the lines of journalistic ethics. Showing off, or giving the “settled fein soft chat”, sadly affects my whole community in the current hostile context for Travellers.

There is a cost to Dillon’s search for the sensational and to the collusion with this of some Travellers. Dillon’s occasional patronising and condescending remarks about most of them being decent does not swing the pendulum of balance and fairness.

This book will influence public debate but contributes no solution in terms of addressing internal community issues. The opportunities for Traveller men to engage with education and employment are very narrow. The Traveller suicide rate is six times the rate of the general population, accounting for 11 per cent of all Traveller deaths.

Unfortunately this book will increase hostility towards our community. It will fuel fear within the community. Recent history demonstrates that the State is influenced by populist anti-Traveller sentiment. Punishment is by way of withdrawing already meagre resources from the community and from Traveller organisations.

The Pavee Point Mediation Service was established in 1999. There is particular value in cultivating alternatives to confrontation. The service was effective in building the capacity of Travellers, through training and other supports, to deal with conflict more effectively. Funding for the mediation service was ended by the Department of Justice in 2010.

Attacks on Travellers
Gypsy Empire does not document the wider picture of what happens to our community. Although antisocial behaviour is an issue, so are the wider attacks on Travellers by the settled community.

In early February 2013, in the northwest of Ireland, a house that was bought by the local authority for a family of 13 was burned to the ground. It was gutted, believed to have been firebombed because a Traveller family was due to move in.

In the same week a judge made outrageous statements to a Traveller woman. The gratuitous denigration that our community experiences when public officials or middle Ireland attack Travellers is rarely documented.

During a recent chat, a young Traveller who was studying for his Leaving Certificate remarked to me that his favourite subject was history. He showed me an essay about the civil-rights movement in the context of 30 years of Traveller activism, and aptly quoted Jesse Jackson: “We want to be respected. We want to be protected.”

Rosaleen McDonagh is a Traveller. She is studying for a PhD at Northumbria University and working with Graeae Theatre Company