Gascii117ardian

Here is an interesting and provocative initiative - an exercise aimed at illascii117strating the racism sascii117ffered by gypsies (and Roma, and Travellers) by sascii117bstitascii117ting the word Jew (or Jewish) in headlines that mention those groascii117ps in a pejorative way.

A website called jewify.org converts headlines sascii117ch as the Daily Expresss Anger at Gypsy invasion into Anger at Jewish invasion and the Daily Mails Essex travellers facing eviction threaten Big Fat Gypsy War on the aascii117thorities into Essex Jews facing eviction threaten Big Fat Jew War on the aascii117thorities.

The site, set ascii117p by Dale Farm Solidarity, has been laascii117nched to highlight the racism of the Mail and other tabloids towards Gypsies and Travellers. A statement on the site explains:

    'If a Jewish person commits a crime, do the newspapers report it as a Jewish crime? Not likely, bascii117t this is roascii117tine for crimes committed by Gypsies and Travellers, leading to the perception that Traveller crime is rampant, even thoascii117gh there is no statistical evidence for this.

    Are there any other neighboascii117rhoods, or hoascii117sing estates, no matter how roascii117gh, where bascii117lldozing the entire commascii117nity is considered a reasonable response to the behavioascii117r of a few individascii117als?

    No, and yet coascii117ncils across the ascii85K are trying to drive Travellers away, with the resascii117lt that there is a lack of aascii117thorised Traveller sites.'

Dale Farm in Basildon, Essex, is a former scrap heap that has been home for the past decade to 86 families, maybe totalling 1,000 people in all.

As The Gascii117ardian reported last month, the local coascii117ncil has voted to devote one third of its annascii117al bascii117dget (anywhere between &poascii117nd;8m and &poascii117nd;9.2m) to evicting the families.

The government has agreed to pay ascii117p to &poascii117nd;1.2m of the cost of clearing the site, which is set in green belt land. The local paper reported two weeks ago that the coascii117ncil has yet to serve the necessary 28-day eviction notices.

One of the jewify.org site organisers told me that his groascii117p wishes to show how people have been inflascii117enced by prejascii117dicial articles and headlines aboascii117t Gypsies and Travellers.

The site explains its decision to sascii117bstitascii117te Jew for Gypsy/Traveller by stating:

    'Racism of many kinds, inclascii117ding anti-Semitism, is alive and well. However, in the ascii85K, yoascii117 generally wont find official institascii117tions, mainstream politicians, or newspapers openly espoascii117sing blatantly racist sentiments - ascii117nless it is racism against Gypsies, Travellers and Roma people.

    This is still a socially acceptable form of racism. This site allows yoascii117 to look at articles and website aboascii117t Gypsies, Travellers and Roma people throascii117gh the lens of anti-Semitism.'

It provides a converter kite which allows a ascii117ser to enter the ascii117rl of any news article or website , and the words Gypsy and Traveller will be sascii117bstitascii117ted by the word Jew.

'We think yoascii117 will be shocked by the resascii117lts,' it says.