Extracts from Scottish Parliament debate on Improving the Lives of Gypsy Travellers - Jan 14
Wednesday, 15 January 2020 10:27
Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con):...We need to look
at other things that take place. Gypsy Travellers have become
actively involved in holocaust memorial day. We must
remember that they were persecuted, too. That shows us where there
was prejudice in history... Mary Fee (West Scotland) (Lab):...Alex
Rowley spoke of the importance of collaboration with local
authorities, COSLA and key stakeholders in taking forward the
improvements that we want to see. Fulton...Request free trial
(Mid Scotland and
Fife) (Con):...We need to look at other things that take
place. Gypsy Travellers have become actively involved
in holocaust memorial day. We must remember
that they were persecuted, too. That shows us where there was
prejudice in history...
(West Scotland)
(Lab):... spoke of the importance of
collaboration with local authorities, COSLA and key stakeholders in
taking forward the improvements that we want to see. rightly reminded us of some
of the statistics in the social attitudes survey and spoke of the
Conservative Government’s criminalisation of Gypsy Travellers. I
was particularly pleased to hear Jamie Greene’s speech, in which he
spoke of his respect for the Gypsy Traveller community and his
commitment to call out discrimination against that community. That
point was also made by , who
also—importantly—reminded us of the persecution of the Roma and
Gypsy Traveller community during the holocaust. We need to keep reminding
people of the appalling mass persecution of Gypsies and Roma during
the holocaust...
(South Scotland) (Con):...I
particularly welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to
supporting—again, excuse my pronunciation—the Dikh he na Bister,
which means “look and don’t forget” and is the annual Roma genocide
memorial event. It is incredibly important that we do not let that
slip away, and that we make sure that we understand how much the
Roma community suffered during the holocaust...
The Minister for Older People and Equalities
():..., , , , John Finnie, , and all spoke eloquently about the
effects of discrimination and words of intolerance. We all know
where those things lead. That is why, this year, we sponsored a
group of young people to travel to Auschwitz for the commemoration
of the Roma holocaust. In partnership with Romano Lav,
we brought 94-year old Raymond Gurême, a Roma gypsy survivor of
the holocaust, to Scotland to inspire our
young activists and remind us what happens when ordinary people do
nothing...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
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