Microsoft releases new security patches

Microsoft released last week urgent security patches for all it's still supported operating systems, including Vista, the latest operating system from the Microsoft stable, and the one which was tauted as the most safe and secure operating system ever. If this is the most secure ever then g-d help the world of ICT.

Can we really trust the claims and security of Vista and other Windows operating systems? Probably not and the price tags also do not help. With Vista there is still the rumor that if you install/reinstall the OS more than three times you have to purchase a new license. Sorry, pardon me again? So, if I have a PC and install it on there and have to reinstall it and then also own, say a laptop and install it on there and then buy a new PC, say, without an OS or say an older version of Windows and want to install Vista on it it would not work because I would have to have a new license. No wonder Bill Gates is a Billionaire and the likes of you and me are not, dear reader.

Vista OS and IE7 (IE = Internet Explorer) both are “persona non grata” at all government departments and their computers in both UK and USA. Wonder why? I guess because there are too many problems that those IT departments have already discovered.

So much, therefore, for all this tauting of what a great OS this Vista was going to be, all singing and all dancing and no more problems: it was going to be the bee's knee's of operating systems, so they claimed.

Well, I, like the FBI, MI5 and others, shall stick with XP Pro on the Windows PC and in mys case Firefox as the browser instead of IE6.

As I am well aware, Vista is meant to replace XP Pro entirely so I am sure that we will be told in about a year or three that there will be no more support fo XP and we MUST therefore switch all to Vista. I, for my part, hopefully, will by then have migrated completely and entirely over to Linux with its various distros.

© M Veshengro Smith, April 2007

Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims

According to the Daily Mail (UK newspaper) of April 1, 2007 (in the hope that this was no April Fools) a government study has revealed that schools in the UK are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons (I must say here that most schools never really taught it properly anyway) to avoid offending Muslim pupils.

The study found that teachers are reluctant to cover the Holocaust and the Nazi atrocities against Gypsies and Jews, and other groups of people, for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include the denial of the Holocaust. Oh dear! Poor darlings. In many EU countries the denial of the Holocaust is a crime. Maybe it should be made thus in the UK.

In addition to this it would appear that schools are also afraid to teach about the 11th century Crusades because lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques about this subject.

I must say that I am having rather a hard time with this. I hate to admit this but I do.

Chris McGovern, History Education adviser to the to the former Tory government is right, in my opinion, when he said: “History is not a vehicle for promoting political correctness. Children must have access to knowledge of the controversial subjects, whether palatable or unpalatable.”

It is, and I have said this in a previous article already, high time that the British government and those of other EU countries stood up and said “Dosta!”, as we would say, that is to say; “Enough is enough!” and make is crystal clear to those who was to impose their views and laws onto other people in the countries where they have chose to live that this is not the way. If they are so eager to live under Sharia Law then what are they doing here in countries where there is another set of values in operation, be this in the EU, the USA, Canada or Australia/New Zealand? No one is forcing them to be here.

I am not saying that they mus assimilate, g-d forbid, and give up their beliefs and customs in the same way that we, the Rom, wish to be able to retain and maintain our Culture and Traditions and as I call for us, the Rom, to be allowed to live according to our ways and customs but without imposing that on the non-Romani society. The UK and the USA, for instance, are not Muslim countries. They have to come to understand that while they may not believe in the Holocaust or that the Holocaust has happened as it is being taught the Holocaust is nevertheless a fact of history and that not only Jews (which they seem to hate with a vengeance) were murdered by the Nazi extermination machinery but also other races, including and especially our Race, the Rom. (My apologies to all the Jews, but the Holocaust is not uniquely Jewish, however much their leadership may with to make it thus and neither were/are pogroms only something that has been/is committed against Jews; Gypsies too suffered many pogroms in the same way as Gypsies were part of the Holocaust – and no, we do not defile the memory of the Holocaust by wishing to be associated with it – and for the same reason as the Jews, namely that of Race).

The Crusades too are a fact and a part of history and must be according to the truth and if that offends some Muslims because, maybe, it shows, Saladin or whoever, in a less favorable light that he is portrayed by the local mosques then so be it and it is neither here nor there. The truth must be taught.

It is time for a resounding “Dosta!” from the governments and time to stop pandering to them out of fear; the fear of violent demonstrations, riots and attacks because they have been offended, like over the cartoons in the Danish newspapers. That is giving in to terror and then the governments might as well straight away surrender and let those people set up their laws and courts (some Muslim courts already exist in the UK). But when the Rom ask to be allowed to administer their own systems, even only in a small way, they they are told that this cannot be done. The Rom probably are too peaceful?

© M Veshengro Smith, April 2007

Lessons to learn from the Dutch 'Riots' of March 2007

It is time, I am afraid to say, that the governments of the European Union had the same kind of courage as the government of Australia and woke up to the fact that while equality is indeed the aim to go for one cannot give one group more rights than other ones.

Recently whites in Holland, as much as in the UK, perceive, rightly or wrongly (but rightly more like) that, for instance, Muslims are being treated with kid gloves in everything and are being pandered to their demands whether this is with regards to dress, e.g. the Hijab, the full face veil, etc. or as regards to Christian festivals such as Christmas where this is now being basically banned as far as mentioning the word Christmas goes by the pc crowd, the wearing of the symbol of the cross, etc., lest it offend someone.

My own community, the Rom, on the other hand, are never given any sort of a 'break' like that and there are many Rom in the UK, for instance, who begin to think like the BNP in these matters in that they too reckon that the Muslims, for example, are given preference above all other ethnic groups.

Personally I must say that I do not blame them one bit for thinking in such a way.

All our politicians, unless they want to see a backlash happen, must take a leaf or ten out of the book of the Australian government under John Howard and be prepared to tell those Muslims that demand Sharia law, et al, to, if they don't like living in a democratic and free country to hop it and leave to a country there there is Sharia law. Shouldn't be too difficult to find one.
I am sorry, but if in Rome then do as the Romans do. I doubt that we could not demand in Saudi Arabia, for instance, be treated different because we are not Muslims. The fact is that I know that we cannot demand to be treated differently. In this country they can chose not to drink alcohol; no one forces them to drink it. However, if a non-Muslim is in those Muslim countries he cannot – often not even in private in his own home – consume alcohol for it is illegal in those countries. So, there are no special rules in Saudi Arabia or Iran or such for non-Muslims. Why then should we make allowances in this country for them.

I do not have a problem with Muslims or any other religion or group. I am of an ethnic minority myself, namely of the Romani People, but I cannot see why any country should kowtow to one group and be dictated to under the treat of terror.

The Gypsy and the Jew have lived in this country and elsewhere for centuries and have never ever demanded this or that and they have lived their culture and religion alongside the general (British) public while the Muslims, especially the more-or-less 'radicalized' ones, want to make the UK and other (EU) countries where they live into countries with Sharia law. I have yet to hear a Jew complain about Christmas and the symbols. They just generally ignore them and get on with their own faith. Shame others cannot do the same. The Hindus and Sikhs neither have such attitudes. Only the Muslims, it would appear, have this problem.

If the Muslims in the UK, Australia, etc. want to live under Sharia law then, like PM Howard told them, they have the freedom to leave the country and move to one which has the law they desire. But the truth is that they do not want to live under the version of Sharia that has been set up by other countries; they wish to impose their version of Sharia law on other people, especially those that they consider infidels. This does not compute.

© M V Smith, March 2007

International Roma Day – April 8

Everywhere on the Roma(ni) networks there is the talk about the International Roma Day (April 8) that is being celebrated. However, does it not, calling it the “International Roma Day” thereby, as far as I see, purposely, exclude Sinti and Cale?

If I am not mistaken it all started as the International Romani Day and in the last couple of years, like with the International Romani Union itself, who is but the inventor of the International Roma Day, the word Romani has been replaced by the word Roma. This was all done rather incremental and no one seems to have noticed and slowly but surely all those that think the big boys know better have begun calling themselves Roma even when they are Sinti (though the majority of them still resist) and the Romanichals and Cale. Many of the British Rom call themselves now Roma and it really makes me laugh, though at the same time I want to hit them with something heavy po shero, for the only Roma in the UK are those that have come over here in the last decades as asylum seekers from the former Yugoslavia, Romani and Bulgaria and the former Czechoslovakia.

As they have the now the International Roma Day and thereby exclude, on purpose until such a time that the Sinti and others bow down to the altar of “Roma”, the Sinti and others, maybe we should start an International Romani Day or should we do an International Gypsy Day, LOL.

It does appear, to me at least, as if the PTB amongst the Roma(ni) “leadership” who run with the EU and such places will remove all Romani references soon and will try to force media, etc. to adopt the term Roma when referring to Gypsies (and Travellers). Yes, they will make it inclusive of the Travellers, for they already have included the Irish Travellers in the Roma and soon others will be added officially too. Then the word Roma will become synonymous with today's usage of Gypsy in the government circles such as in the UK and with the stroke of the pen, as it has been done here, all those Roma, then, that do not travel, with traveling in trailers being outlawed – wait for it, it is sooner or later going to happen – will no longer qualify for recognition as an ethnic group.

© M Veshengro Smith, April 2007

BOOK REVIEW - Torn Away, Forever

Torn Away, Forever
Yvonne Slee
Australia
downloadable as a PDF from website
www.geocities.com/daveauss/


Reviewed by M Veshengro Smith

While this book may work as a piece of badly researched romantic fiction on the Gypsy People, presenting us still in an entirely silly image to the Gohja eyes and minds, it does not work as a piece of factual history/family history of a Sinti family, not even by the farthest stretch of imagination.

Already in the introduction of the book, the author, claiming to be a Sintizza from Germany, now living in Australia, describes Gypsy caravans that are supposed to have been in Germany and encountered by her Grandmother as a child, but her description, in fact, of such caravans are that of Romanichal vardos in England. No Gypsy caravan in Germany - the ones called by some people “Holzrotell” - do ever have carvings of vines and the like, nor have they ever had. While there may have been some kind of painting or the other, most decorations were in the form of color outlines of windows, doors, and the like. The description she gives of the wagons her grandmother supposedly encountered does not tally with Gypsy wagons in Germany of that time or later.

We then, after the introduction, get treated to an even more imaginary story in the form of August's story who, as a baby, basically, was taken away to be fostered by Germans, does, so it claims, know Romanes. Not only is it claimed that he understands the Chib; nay, he even, so it says, is able to rokker it, to speak it, though not all that fluent. Rather strange, one can only say. I presume the author would claim that this be due to the Race Memory of the Gypsy People. While I strongly believe in the Race Memory it does not make it feasible though for someone who was torn away from his family while being a less than a year old babe in arms and not have heard the language around him nor grown up with it to be able to understand and speak it. It is a shame that people cannot keep a straight story.

Who is the writer trying to con?

In the part of the story where she is talking about Elsa's childhood she is mentioning an incident where a fellow girl at the school cut off Elsa's plait and the story continues with the child, supposedly, having been suspended from school for four weeks. While suspensions may have happened in schools in England and in Australia they did not, in those days, happen in German schools. Research goes a very long way when one is trying to tell tales that are to be believed. This is nearly as bad as when in the film Rambo III Apache helicopters and Cobras were used instead of Mil 24 Soviet ones.

I personally am having problems understanding why someone would concoct such a story but concocted it certainly is, as far as I as can be seen, for this author knows a thing or two about how things are as regards to Germany and its Gypsies, after WWII and also before and also as to the school system and other ways. Maybe the write of the book did not think that someone with such knowledge would encounter her book.

I would just like to add that I would not appreciate any threats by the author or her husband as happened before because of imaginary “attacks” upon her person by this author and our esteemed Kako Tom Odley. There is a rule amongst Rom and that is to speak the truth amongst one another. I do not care if a Romani fortune teller is trying to con the Gohja with whatever story but... amongst Rom Tatchipen should rule.

© M V Smith, 2007

Abolition of Slavery Commemorated

London, England, March 26, 2007

For well over a week or so by now we are being bombarded, and I am sure this will be going on for the rest of the year, with commemorative programs on radio and television about Wilberforce and his fight to abolish slavery in the British Empire and the talk returns to the need for the British to apologize in their part in this dastardly trade and such. While we can all sympathize with that, I am sure, it is been basically negated that, in fact, had it not been for the Ashanti and such tribes, and for the Arabs in East Africa, the trade of Black African slaves may not even have happened to the Islands of the Caribbeans. There seems to be so much “White Man Guilt” that anyone bringing up the fact that the Blacks preyed upon each other and sold each other, especially the warrior tribes upon the pasturealists and such like, is being silenced. Obviously, amongst all this clamour of the Blacks demanding apologies and reparations from Britain the first slaves that were sent to the sugar and tobacco plantations of the Caribbeans and the New England Colonies are being forgotten, namely those that were referred to as “white slaves” but who were, in fact, Romanichals from the British Isles and Ireland. Byt the thousands they were rounded up, men, women and especially children, and in chains transported to the Caribbean islands and the colonies in the New World. Not a word is being mentioned about the Gypsy slaves. Why not? Because we are just, still to this very day, to government and church, dirty Gyppos and no more.

Other nations aside from Britain also shipped their unwanted Gypsy population to the colonies as slaves, namely Spain, Portugal and France. But also German Sinti arrived in the New World to be sold as slaves. Again, however, not a mention anywhere.

Then again, why should I be surprised. Is it not the same with the Holocaust where the powers that be want to have it as a uniquely Jewish even, colonial slavery cannot have been perpetrated upon any other than the African Blacks now, can it. The Gypsies defile the memory of this all by wishing to be associated with it; that is, I am sure, the reasoning of those that leave our memory out of it.

Am I being sarcastic? Probably, but then again, it is the truth after all. Again and again Gypsy Holocaust survivors and their decedents are being told that the Jews were sent to the camps because of their race while, and they say this even openly to the Gypsy, the Jews that is, it is said that the Gypsy only was sent to the camps because they were asocial. That despite all the proof in the records of the German Reich that show this bluntly and openly that the Gypsy People were treated even worse than the Jews in racial regards.

But I digressed.

The first slaves in the cane fields of the Caribbean Islands, folks, were not Blacks from Africa or elsewhere, but they were Gypsy, Romanichals, from the British Isles and Ireland and sent their in chains, not for any crime but simply for being Romani. But then, that was crime enough in those days.

Let us, while others commemorate the Blacks openly and publicly commemorate our Gypsy slaves.

© M V Smith, March 2007

PARAMISHI - The Eagle Who Believed He Was A Chicken

The Eagle Who Believed He Was A Chicken

One day a farmer went out hunting to look for any interesting birds that he could find and he saw an eagle chick and he took it home. He brought this baby eagle up to believe that it was a chicken. He placed the eagle amongst the chickens and fed him the same food as he fed the chickens. One day a naturalist came along and saw this eagle, which had by then grown to his full size, and said, “Why is that eagle there doing amongst the chickens? It is an eagle. It needs to fly and soar in the wide open spaces.” And the farmer said, “I taught him to believe that he is a chicken and he will not fly”. Then the naturalist said: “Can I just have a go and see whether I can get him to fly?” He took the eagle and he looked at the eagle and he said, “Eagle! You are the king of the birds with a wingspan of over six feet. Stretch out your wings and fly.” And the eagle looked this way and he looked that way and then he looked down at the chickens. He saw the chickens and the chicken food and he jumped down and he scratched around again with the chickens. The farmer said, “See! What did I tell you? I taught him to be a chicken. He believes he is a chicken and therefore he is a chicken”. The naturalist replied, “This is not right. Give me one more chance.” The farmer agreed. So early the next morning the naturalist took the eagle to a high mountain. The sun was just rising and every boulder sparkled and he looked at the eagle sternly with all his might and he repeated, “Eagle! You are the king of the birds with a wingspan of over six feet. Stretch out your wings and fly.” And the eagle looked this way and he looked that way, he looked down and then he looked up at o Kham, the Sun, and he stretched out his wings and flew away and never returned.

And the moral of this story is: Children of the Rom, of the Romane Chave, of the Sons of Rama; you have been made in the image of O Del and you are of proud warrior stock, but some people want you to believe that you are khanies, that you are chickens. Throw off your chains of slavery that bind you, stretch out your wings and fly.

© Veshengro, 2007

Romani Self-Help

or maybe better “Gypsy Self-Reliance”

Well, I am going to talk today about DIY, yes, you heard me right: do it yourself is the theme for today. I know that now everyone is going to think that I have gone bonkers but I don't think so for we are not going to be talking – at least not directly – about the making of furniture or other such tasks on the DIY scale. What I am primarily on about here today is about doing things for ourselves.

Yes! I did say “doing things for ourselves”, as in SELF-RELIANCE.

It really gets under my skin -when the Rom, and not only in Eastern Europe, complain about their living conditions when, especially in Eastern Europe Romani men appear to have more spare time on their hands than seems to be good for them. Some, it would appear are just too proud to work and rather send their women and especially chavies out to mang from the Gadje in the streets of the towns and cities, while they sit around in the coffee houses and tavernas drinking and playing dominoes or cards. At the same time their houses are all in a bad state of repair and there is litter and trash and garbage strewn everywhere.

Not only does this litter and garbage problem exist in the rural areas. Far from it. It is even more pronounced in the more urban areas, on and around housing estates occupied by Rom. There we can find garbage being, literally, thrown out of windows and it is a nigh “gar de loo” situation around the housing estates of the Rom for such matter too may find it self flying out of windows or raining down from balconies. There is also trash and garbage of all sorts piled high on balconies, in communal walkways and other common areas, as well as all around the blocks of flats. What a way to life is all I can say to that. No wonder, therefore, that some people want to have walls build around Romani settlements, and understandable even, when one sees those condition.

As a Rom of integrity, I must say, that I could not even think of visiting with those for I would be afraid of becoming ritually defiled.

This situation exists while the men do nothing all day and are idle. No, they say, however, the rubbish is not our responsibility. The municipality does not send refuse collection. Sorry folks, but if you do not pay for it then you cannot expect such services. Alas, but they do, for too long have they lived under communism where they got everything provided. They also claim that they could not possibly be able to pick up the litter and garbage themselves and dispose of it because to touch the litter would marime.

While they claim it to be marime for them to go and pick up the litter from around their houses and neighborhood and to dispose of it in a proper manner no qualms seems to be had when they send their women and children out to scavenge on the refuse tips and landfill sites, even for food for the chavies. Give me a break! Laziness is all that it is. They are so accustomed to sitting on their butts doing nothing that they just do not want it any other way and all manner of excuses are found rather than to do things.

Oh, you think I am having a got at the Roma again because I am Sinto. I am having a go at the “no can do” attitude of all the Rom per se, and I include in that Sinti as well as Kale (Cale) and others, and not just the Roma. I even include the Romanichals in this; those that, for instance, in the UK, have begun to behave, as and when still po drom ap i reisa like the Irish Trailer Trash in that they leave garbage strewn around the site where they camped and even body waste.

Unfortunately, it must be said that this malaise is not only one of the E. European Rom. Some Sinti, so it would appear, can also keep up with those in the East with rubbish piling on the balcony of their apartments simply because they are too lazy to take it to the refuse chute in their block and with dirt and filthy linen all over the apartments. I must say I personally have seen the apartments of Rom in Germany many years back and have been unable to believe my eyes what I saw in some of those places and the vermin that was running about. It is such as those that give the entire Romani People a bad name, as being dirty and lazy.

Yes, I do know that one could find nigh on the same situations with the so-called “Trailer Trash” in the USA. But they are Gadje and we are Rom. No comparison there, is there now. We have rules and taboos but may no longer seem to remember those. Well, they do but only when it suits them, like to say that they cannot move the garbage because they would become marime or magerdo from doing so. Now that is bull dust and we all do know that.

Another favorite is complaining about the fact that, and I am getting sick and tired of that, as victims and People persecuted by the Nazis, our People (with that they mean themselves) have not received any reparation payments for the atrocities of the Holocaust from the German and other culpable governments, as did the Jews. OK, so Germany refuses to acknowledge its guilt properly and pay lova. Let me ask you a question: Do you really want blood money? Do you want money that is tainted by the blood of our Martyrs? They cannot pay us for our losses, ever; and certainly not with the paltry sums they have paid to the one or two which were in the region of, I believe, 1,000 Euro or such derisory amount.

Same as when the “German” Sinti demand that the German government build a memorial to the Gypsies lost in the Holocaust. Why? Could we not do such ourselves?
“Oh, no”, they say, “they owe us and they did build one for the Jews, so we demand one too.” Why demand one (or anything for that matter) from the German government? The Sinti and Roma in the Netherlands got together, raised money, petitioned the municipality for a location and set there own, small but very nice, memorial to the Sinti and Roma from the Netherlands murdered by the black legions.

It seems that a great many Rom just love to demand from the Gadje and the governments “because they owe us”. They OWE us kek.

Same as someone translated the proverp “Nay avlom ke tumende o maro te mangel, me avlom ke tumende te man pative te den” into “I did not come to you to beg for bread but I came to you to demand respect”. Duh? Demand what? We cannot DEMAND respect. We, just like others, have to earn it. Stop demanding and start doing things for yourself. The proverb, in fact, does nowhere mention “demanding respect”. It talks of trust. In other words it states “I came to you so you would trust me”. That, at least, is the way I would understand it.

It really does seem to be well beyond the capacity of a great majority of the Rom to think and to do things for themselves and those that set out to do things alone on behalf of the People get shot down and blacklisted. We are a strange People indeed. Always do you ask for others to do things for us and mostly the others that you demand to do things for us are invariably Gadje. Have you no pride whatsoever in yourself and in the People? Obviously not! It is time you got off their behinds and did things for themselves. “Ourselves Alone” is the old meaning of the Irish word “Sin Fein” (pronounced “Shin Fein”) (and which is also the name of the Republican Party of Ulster/Ireland) and the same also does and must apply to the Gypsy People – “amare kethane kolkoro” (ourselves together alone). We can never be really free as a People as long as we keep wanting and demanding handouts in whatever shape or form. Have some pride, People! Do you want the Gadje to continuously do things for us and fund projects for us and then have them go home and say that the stereotype of the lazy, good for nothing, Gypsy is true? Those that behave as described, from among all of our groups, do indeed aid and abet that stereotypical image that the Gadje behold of us. This is, however, exactly what the majority of especially Eastern European Rom seen to want. Their behavior is living proof to that fact.

It has been said that the Gypsy can turn his hand to anything and make money from other people's discards. This may be true for the Romanichals and such but does not appear to hold any water when it comes to the Rom from Eastern Europe. Not all of them, I know; the great majority, however, or so it would appear. Also the Romanichals never were afraid to touch scrap and even other discards from which to produce stuff for sale. Looks like the majority of eastern European Roma never have had such an ability or they simply have had it too good with handouts under communism.

We must move over to a “can do” attitude and finally do things for ourselves instead of demanding that the Gadje do it for us, and relying on outsiders. Are we infants who cannot do things for ourselves? Many of ours, Roma and Sinti alike, sure behave like that. No wonder the Gadje treat the Romani People like children, like minors, like children who have no say in things and who can do nothing for themselves and have to have everything done for them.

© M Veshengro Smith, February 2007

UK plans to put X-ray cameras on lampposts

Airport-style x-ray cameras, which can see through clothes, could be installed on street lampposts in a bid to combat terrorism, it was claimed on January 29, 2007.

The measure was, apparently, suggested in a memo sent to one of Tony Blair's working groups at the Cabinet Office, so the Sun “newspaper” has reported.

This move comes amid growing concern about Britain's "surveillance society" and I think one can only ask “What next?”.

The Home Office memo, to the Prime Minister's working group on security, crime and justice, reportedly said: "Street furniture could routinely house detection systems that would indicate the likely presence of a gun, for example.'”

The Government is increasingly finding new ways of using “street furniture” for security.

“Architectural security improvements have been designed carefully on the basis of specific architectural advice to improve security measures in a widespread way,” the Cabinet Office admitted last week.

So, in other words, we must assume that all lampposts, benches, litter bins (where there are any), and probably even walls, etc. could have “security implements” embedded.

Apparently both the Cabinet Office and the Home Office refused to comment on the memo. Surprise, not.

Whether the “X-ray” they are talking about is actual “X-ray” but more like so-called “back scatter”, of the same kind that is being used on airports and even on many of the mainline railroad stations in the UK nowadays.

People who walk about with open eyes can see the devices that are already found on lampposts, from rather sophisticated and concealed CCTV surveillance cameras, microphones, and other gadgets attached. All that is left to ask is, as I already did “what next?”.

M V Smith, January 30, 2007

What is Germany up to?

Germany wants to change term of presidency of EU

by M Veshengro Smith January 16, 2007

Germany, which today has taken over the rotating presidency of the European Union, besides “urging” (I see there more than urging) all member states to adopt the European Constitution in the next couple of years, tries to change the length of time of the presidency of the EU that is held by individual countries from the current six months to a much longer period. The reason given for this desire is that not enough can be achieved in six months and one would need a longer timespan to make a real impact.

Is that the really the true reason? The desire to be able to archive more for the good of the EU?

As someone who is rather viewing Germany with different eyes and a healthy suspicion I would say we are headed again for something else with Germany and I would like to issue here a “severe weather warning”. For very good reason the EU presidency was laid out in such a way of a six-monthly rotating term, namely in order to prevent any one country being able to go too far in what they want to archive and put upon the EU, in the same way as the Swiss president only serves for one year, thereby avoiding crony-ism and such like and the accumulation of power in someone's – or in the case of the EU, some country's – hands.

What is Germany's true intention, I ask, and this makes my hackles stand up in concern. I fear Germany has never given up the ideas and ambitions of the Third Reich after the defeat through the Allied Powers in WWII. All that has been done was to put things into hibernation. Now it seems the time has come for them to reanimate them and for this they need a longer EU presidency.

With the Constitution the rotating presidency will be, so I understand, done away with altogether and there will be an elected president (by whom, I would like to ask, for I doubt that we all get a shot at electing this all-European president) and a all-European government (in the end).

We must be ever vigilant, Gypsies and all Anti-Fascists, to the rise of the new Nazis (which are but the young guard of the old Nazis) in Europe, and especially we will have to watch Germany. We cannot and must not trust the government of that nation that cause two world wars and the destruction of over a million of our Gypsy People, and countless others.

© M V Smith, January 2007

Happy New Year

“No Cold calling!” Areas. What to do?

More and more “no cold calling” areas appear all over the place here in the UK (and I assume other places are no different) making the obtaining of jobs, the “calling” (or manging, as the Sinti in Germany call it) a difficult undertaking but...

In the age of the personal computer, be this desktop or laptop/notebook and so-called desktop publishing (DTP) and mobile phones the fact of “No Cold Calling” areas does not need to stop and/or deter us from pursuing our business, say, as knife grinder. This may be different for those of us that actually wish to sell goods, such as pegs, wooden flowers, and such. But, maybe, it is time to sell those latter crafts via a different channel and outlet.

No one stops anyone, generally, from leafleting an area so, instead of knocking at doors, that is to say “cold calling”, all that is needed is a flyer or small brochure put thru the door, or even just a business card. Those too can be produced cheaply by means of desktop publishing. Should the recipient of such a flyer or brochure then be interested in the service(s) offered, then, hopefully, he/she will call and, as it is then “by arrangement” the business transaction is not one of “cold calling” and therefore no law has been breached and also no hawker's license is required.

As a final word I would like to say one important thing and that is that, in order to be able to continue plying our trade of whatever kind we must be honest in our dealings. Yes, honest even, if some would say, with the Gohja. We must remember that they ARE our customers and without their custom we could not follow our trades. Quality work given will result in more calls with the people calling you, the tradesman and no need for “cold calling” which may be illegal somewhere. Shamming does not make for great customer relations when people find out that has been done. Many of us, I am sure, know the tales of the churimengro who fakes just because a pair of garden shears that he has been given to sharpen by the owner is still sharp by using a bit of emery cloth to just make the edge (and blade shiny) as if it had been sharpened. No pair of shears is that sharp that a few strokes, done correctly, with a fine mill bastard file could not improve upon it. So, remember, “don't sham” and people will call you instead of you having to go out and find work.

© M Veshengro Smith, December 2006

N.B. The International Gypsy Union is prepared to advise and assist any Romani-Gypsy who would like to have such flyers and brochures designed and printed for his or her business. Please contact us via the website at http://gypsyunion.tripod.com.

Please note that you can also advertise your business on the blogs and websites and in the newsletters and magazines produced by us. Please contact the editor via the email link provided.

Surveillance State UK

by M V Smith

The citizens of the United Kingdom, the always supposed mother of democracy and freedom – well, the people of America in the 1760's would think differently for sure and because they thought differently they had a revolution – are, it is said, the western world's most observed people. Government surveillance cameras are all over the place and there is something like one camera for every 14 people or something like that and each one of us, so it is said, is being observed by cameras several hundred times during the day.

Now the police demand that the government go further still and that CCTV cameras be all fitted with sensitive microphones so that they can record conversations in open spaces between “possible terrorist suspects”. Oh, sure, it is all in order to fight terrorism. What terrorism? The concocted terrorism? The fake terror that we are being presented with?

“But”, say the sheeple, “those cameras make us feel safer because the police monitors them and can be on site immediately when something happens”. Yeah, right, like in one town not far from where I live where even microphones are already on some cameras in the city center a market stall was broken into right next, well nearly, one of those cameras, with a racket made by the burglars smashing their way into the said market stall. Did the police come out? No, obviously not and did anyone see anything on the camera? While the operator heard the noise he kept the camera trained into an alleyway observing, as it appeared, a homeless man siting there drinking.

What it is all about it so that they can completely control the British people and I am convinced that the UK is being used by the Powers That Be as a stalking horse to see how those things will work in the real world before they will be, no doubt, be, to begin with, introduced throughout the European Union countries.

Talk also is about of them wanting to have CCTV cameras at all official Gypsy Caravan Sites in order to make it safer for the residents and so they can keep an eye on any racists wanting to attack the sites. Right! Sure! It is all for the best of the people. The microphones on such cameras as well, I guess. And why is it, so it can be seen from drawings, that such cameras, same as the points of the fences that are being built around the sites, pointing to the inside and not to the outside? Attacks on the sites would come from the outside and not the inside.

In addition to that now motorcars shall be fitted with a kind of “black box” that will be used for charging drivers by the mile and according which roads they drive and where and when. This also will mean that, if you use the motorcar, the govt will know at any time day or night where you or your vehicle is at any given time.

The more I personally see of this the more I am being reminded of George Orwell's book “1984” and also of the TV series from the 1960's “The Prisoner” and other similar sci-fi (well, they were then but no longer) films and TV programs. Who could have thought then that this could once all become reality and that in fact the government would inflict that on all citizens (or better “subjects of Her Majesty”, as it still really is in the UK) who have not committed any crimes whatsoever. It would appear that everyone; man woman or child, is being regarded by the PTB as a criminal until proven otherwise and then the surveillance still will continue – just to make sure. Welcome to the Fourth Reich. In fact Hitler and Stalin are nothing in surveillance compared with the so-called free and democratic governments such as the UK and others.

Wake up, people, wake up!

© M V Smith & O NEVO DROM

Dangerous Dreamers

“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible”, writes T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in the Introductory Chapter of his book “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”.

And how right he is.

Those of us who dream our dream during the day with open eyes are indeed dangerous in the eyes of those in power for our dreams often are the dreams of freedom for our People.

Let us therefore dream our dreams by day and act upon them and ignore the dreams of the night.

© M V Smith, November 2006

European Roma and Traveller Forum - The Government of all Gypsy People?

London, November 20, 2006

by M Veshengro Smith

On Sunday November 19, 2006 on Rokker Radio, with Jake Bowers, Cliff Cordona, the British representative(?) to the ERTF, stated that “the Gypsy People (of the world) now have our own proper government (in the European Roma & Traveller Forum)”. We do? Honest? Is that really the case? I would like to ask who elected them?
Who, of the grassroots of the Romani People cast the votes for any those members on that forum and for the president, Mr. Rudko Kawczynski. I am also sure that I am not the only one who would like to ask that very question.

The truth is that none of the grassroots Roma, Sinti and Cale in Europe have cast their votes for any of them and the majority of them have never even as much heard of the likes of Rudko Kawczynski, Miranda Volusranta, etc. and the ERTF.

However, it would be the likes of those people who play at parliaments and even Gypsy world government are the very same who, with others, would and indeed do accuse the International Gypsy Union as being an undemocratic organization because of the fact that the International Gypsy Union's presidium, the Trishul, who are three founder members that are the executive for life.
The IGU, however, does not claim to represent the Gypsies of the World. All the IGU does is represent its members, even though at the same time the IGU fights for the whole of the Romani People, even though they may not indeed all be members or the organization.

How can any organization, however, make the claim to be the GOVERNMENT OF ALL GYPSY PEOPLE especially as there have been no elections to any kind of GYPSY WORLD GOVERNMENT? Either I have missed something with regards to this worldwide election of a Government of ALL Gypsy People or those people are NOT a government of the Gypsy People... dosta!

Think on.. and think well...

© M Veshengro Smith/IGU, November 2006

Making Gypsies into Soap

This is apparently a quote by the Bulgarian presidential candidate Volen Siderov of the Ataka party and if the polls are to be believed this right-wing Nazi has the Bulgarian people, in the main, behind him. Other slogans by this Nazi politician include “Bulgaria for Bulgarians” and “Stop the Gypsy Terror!”. Do those slogans sound familiar? Indeed they do and they are straight out of the book of Messrs Hitler and Himmler.

If this is anything to go by then one can only advise the Romani in Bulgaria to flee to the “free” European Union countries once Bulgaria becomes part of the E.U., as it is due to do at the beginning of 2007. However, to all intents and purposes, according to all the good rules of the E.U. that country should not ever be accepted into the family of “free” European nations; at least not until such a day that no longer there is such blatant discrimination of Gypsy People in that country and also no notion of any kind of genocide again the Romani People. This cannot be allowed to be in Europe of the 21st century. However, it does appear to be rather obvious, yet again, that to the European Union and its politicians, despite all their rhetoric, the Romani-Gypsy mean nothing and are really less than animals, for were we regarded as animals there would be better laws for our protection than there are for us now.

While the current Minister of Health of the Republic of Bulgaria want to sterilize Romani women to limit the birth rate amongst the Gypsy People of Bulgaria, which is nothing but genocide by the back door, presidential candidate Volen Siderov is going to the whole hog and advocated the rendering down of the Romani People into soap.

And where, I ask, is the outcry of the free democratic Europe and world? Nowhere! All is quiet. Surprise – NOT! As I said already, despite all of the European Union's rhetoric about human rights and all that jazz, and all the overtures towards the Romani leaders, Gypsies are seen as less valuable than cattle and other farm animals to those politicians in Brussels.

© M V Smith, October 2006

NAZIS RISING & THE RACIAL-EQUALITY FARCE WITHIN THE EUROPEAN UNION

October 2006

This ‘Open’ Letter is sent initially and directly to the Executive Secretary at the Secretariat of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), but is intended to be considered, heeded and acted upon by all persons of Power & Influence throughout Europe.

Did they mean it when they said: “NEVER AGAIN!”?

OPEN YOUR EYES, SEE, THEN OPEN YOUR HEARTS!

Despite the horrific memories and the stench of death that still linger over post-Hitler Europe, even after the passing of so many years, like a cloud drawn from a scene of Dante's "INFERNO", and notwithstanding the hypocritical calls demanding a "Change to a more just, equal and tolerant society.", within Europe and the world at large, set formally within the United Nations Charter and reiterated, and elaborated, by subsequent Conventions and agreements, pen racism and direct hostility toward some ethnic minority groups are still tolerated and even ‘openly fostered’ by most European countries that are Member States, (or about to become members), of the European Union?

As a principle officer, serving as Media-rep. for both the INTERNATIONAL GYPSY UNION, and the INTERNATIONAL ROMANI GUILD, I beg, (A claim that all Gypsy are, supposedly guilty of?), to direct your attention toward the ongoing maltreatment of the Romani minority throughout Europe.

Let none among you, particularly the influential politicians and leaders of E.U. Member States dare to claim; "But we, in my country, do not treat the "Gypsy", the Romani People, unfairly or with any racial antagonism!"... Should you dare make such claim, then I can only respond by saying..... "You lie!".

I/we, as Gypsy, find it most peculiar that, whilst an important, and fundamental, requirement for any country aspiring to membership, or already sharing membership status, of the European Union is the encouragement and enforcement of equality and justice to all citizens, regardless of their race or ethnicity, the Romani (Gypsy) appear to have been made an exception to this requirement?

I'll not attempt to fill page after page with case-notes and citations that affirm the guilt of each and every European Union Member-state. You know who they are and what they've done, yet the E.U. as a collective group, have done little or nothing, (Other than to waffle on with a load of hypocritical conferences, seminars, etc?), to put right this unholy injustice toward the "Gypsy".

The obvious cases; Greece, Italy, Spain, the UK with their "Gypsy Clearance" projects in preparation for the Olympic Games, without due and proper re-location of the Romani affected, are many and well publicised, (Although little heeded?), whilst the coerced, (Illegal), sterilization of Romani females in countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, etc. are also well-documented, (Yet little remarked?).

Any Romani, be they Roma or Sinti in countries such as Germany, France, Austria, the UK, etc. can show instance of the blatant breach of their human rights?

Member states, "under consideration" (?), for EU Membership. such as Bulgaria, are, quite openly, falling far short of the requirements for E. U. membership, certainly so far as their attitudes and policies toward the Romani are concerned... this is clearly instanced in the recent call for a change in the law, by the Bulgarian Health Minister, Radoslav Gaydarski, which would severely limit the birth rate among the Romani population of Bulgaria, tantamount to genocide. The Minister even went so far as to call for a meeting between Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, intended to address the issue of the high, (proportionally), Romani birth rate, along with the neo-natal situation that leads to Bulgaria having about the highest infant-mortality rate in the whole of Europe. A major concern appearing to be the fear, among ethnic Bulgarians, that the Rom will eventually form the largest ethnic group in that country?

I have insufficient time, ink or paper, to list the instances of arson attacks and other physical assaults, (even torture and murder), made against the Gypsy, the Romani, throughout the various countries that form the European Union. One related fact is clear and beyond dispute; Nazism and neo-fascism are accelerating so as to become firmly established (Yet again), in Germany, Austria and throughout much of Europe?

The call has often been made: "Never Again!", in reference to any repeat of the Unholy Slaughter, of Romani, along with Jews and others...

On behalf of us all; I would make the plea to you and others of influence:

Please! Give that call substance?

In the words of a fellow Rom, MEP for Barcelona;

"May you enjoy the dreams you deserve!"


Tom Odley (Romanichal)
Media Officer, for the International Gypsy Union & the International Romani Gui

NB.
The International Gypsy Union is a non-profit organization aiming to represent the voices and the views of individual and groups of Romany (Gypsy), in Europe and throughout the world. Unlike other, so-called, “Romani-representative organizations”, the I.G.U. does not accept funds from Gohja (Non-Rom) bodies or from any government; therefore we are able to avoid detrimental influences from non-Romani sources. We welcome input from individual Gypsy and Romani groups that are unfettered by Gohja control. Our overriding aim is to have, for them, a world-wide society wherein they, The Romani Chave, may live in reasonable peace and enjoy fair and equal treatment, free from the racism and hatred presently offered to them and which has, for so many hundreds of years, been the lot of the Romani Fohki.

International Gypsy Union….

Two-tier ethnic protection laws

So at least it would appear from where I am standing as a Gypsy, a Romani.

by M Veshengro Smith

Whenever a Jewish grave or a Muslim grave is attacked or the premises of Jews or Muslims this is immediately investigated and prosecuted as a “racially-motivated attack/crime” but when Gypsy graves are being sought out and destroyed then the powers that be decide that it probably will not be a racially-motivated attack but some yobs who just went to destroy graves, even if only the Gypsy grave or graves are targeted and graves to the left and right of Gohja remain untouched, or it investigated with view of someone having had a grievance towards the family the grave of whose loved one has been attacked. To me this is double standards, but it would appear that that is exactly what is being done in the UK and other EU member states. The official recognition of Romani-Gypsies in the UK as an ethnic group is not worth the very paper it is written upon. Local authorities already go around interpreting the law as it suits them and changing ethnicity to lifestyle whereby any Gypsy who happens to have settled down, whether in house or on an official or private caravan site, is no longer regarded as ethnic Gypsy and only those that still travel are – and in that case all those Irish Trailer Trash that travel and the New Agers* and the like. When we then consider that, theoretically, traveling with trailer and stationing trailer anywhere as we used to do is now against the law (and one can go to jail for that theoretically and lose one's trailer and even one's children into care) the traveling Gypsy will soon also be a thing of the past in the UK (and elsewhere) and, voila, no more ethnic Gypsies and therefore no more protection needed. Ethnic cleansing in a new way. But I, yet again, digressed.

As to the law, however, there is definitely a two-tier system in place. It could already be seen well enough a couple of years back with the now notorious “Firle Bonfire” incident that just could not be prosecuted as a race-hate crime because it actually said “Pikeys” on the float. Now, with the grave(s) the police (and other authorities) refuse to see it and handle it as a “racially-motivated attack”. They would not hesitate one nanosecond to investigate and prosecute would the grave be that of a Black person, an Asian, a Jew, or a Muslim. But it seems, yet again, that when it concerns the dirty Gyppos they still have the same attitude; it must be someone with a grudge or such, but cannot possibly be seen as a “racially-motivated attack”. It still goes to prove, again, that British justice (now there is a joke) is still the best that money can buy.

Now it would appear that, because dogs are considered 'unclean' in Islam search dogs will no longer be used by Police when mosques (or Muslim homes) are being searched for guns or explosives. Amazingly, however, despite the fact that dogs are also seen as mokadi (unclean) in the Romani-Gypsy Culture when requested Police nevertheless insists that they take dogs into houses and/or caravans of Romani People as aid in searching. I have put a poster up at my door here at home informing everyone that this is a Romani Household and would they please not introduce dogs or cats into this house to which, as I mentioned it to them, high-ranking police officers have told me that that would not make one iota of a difference to them should they want to conduct a search of my home with dogs. Again one law for some and another law for the Gyppo. Surprise – NOT!

Even though I do not like the fact but I can understand why many Romanichals, many Nidis, in the UK, in the issue of Muslims and especially the radical/radicalized ones very much side with the Nazi groupings such as the BNP, for example. While this is, in my view, entirely the wrong approach and the Nazis will fall upon us in the same way after the have finished with the Muslims, rest assured of that, I can, as I said, understand why our Fohki do that.

It is amazing that the political will is there to make concessions to the Muslims because the regard dogs as 'unclean' the same concessions just cannot, it would appear, be made to the ethnic group that has been in the British Isles for much longer than those Muslims and also regards dogs as 'unclean' and therefore not to be introduced into a home, namely that of the Romani-Gypsy.

Dosta penauas!

© Veshengro, October 2006

Bulgaria considers legalized genocide on Gypsies

by M Veshengro Smith

Bulgaria's Health Ministry is considering a law aimed to curb the high birth rate among minority groups, particularly the Gypsy People.

Minister Radoslav Gaydarski told journalists that if the birth rate among the Roma Gypsies is not limited, the mortality rate in Bulgaria will remain among the highest in Europe, as many of these children do not survive until adult.

The statement of the Health Minister is utter baloney. While it is true that child mortality amongst Romani children in Bulgaria (and not only in Bulgaria but even in Western nations) is higher than the national average this has nothing whatsoever to do with the number of children but everything with atrocious living conditions for the Gypsy People, especially in countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, but it is not much better even in the West, are forced to live in. An improvement of such conditions and the child mortality would soon drop.
The truth of the matter, however, is that Bulgaria is worried that the Roma will in the next couple of years outnumber the “ethnic” Bulgarian non-Romani and it is for that reason the intended legal genocide of our People that is being considered.

Despite the fact that Bulgaria is due to join the family of European nations known as the European Union by the beginning of 2007 and such very ideas as legal genocide of an ethnic group should prevent such accession to be possible no one in the EU seems to even acknowledge this happening. Rather conveniently, we can only say, for the reason to push for those nations, e.g. Bulgaria, Romania, etc. to join the EU in such a rush is in order to open the labor market there so that western European countries can relocate their business into those countries and then make even more profit.

That all the world is silent yet again does not surprise me as a Gypsy. This is nor the first time that the world stands by and lets it happen, especially to Gypsies. We are, in their eyes, still nothing better than “dirty Gyppos”, despite the fact that many well known artists, entertainers, musicians, engineers, and even politicians are of Romani descent.

The International Gypsy Union and the International Romani Guild are currently preparing a protest letter to the Bulgarian government which will be copied to the EU, the UN and other bodies in the hope that maybe, just maybe, someone actually will do something about it. Also planned is a campaign of email protests by individuals and the text for that is also in preparation as of this moment.

We must stop this blatant attempt of destroying the Romani People by limiting their number of offspring while, at the same time, certain parties in Bulgaria are encouraging the “ethnic” Bulgarians to produce more children. We have seen all this some 65 or so years ago. The world still has learned nothing.

But it is time we, the Romani People, stood up and be counted and let those people know that they can no longer get away with such barbaric acts.

© Veshengro, October 2006

Pandering to the Radical Muslims

A Recipe for Disaster

by M Veshengro Smith

Country after country seems to be caving in and is pandering to the whims of the radical Muslims in case they might get upset by this, that or the other, like recently when the “Deutsche Oper” opera house in Berlin pulled all performances that were planned for the Mozart opera “Idomeneo”, which contains a scene that depicts the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad, from its autumn schedule because of security fears.

It is therefore, I am afraid, no wonder that the various Nazi groupings and parties are gaining ground in Germany, and soon elsewhere, of that we can be certain.

No country, so it would appear, of the so-called free West seems to be willing to stand up to the demands, intimidations and threats of such radicalized Muslim fanatics and extremists who also often call for Islamic Law to apply in the countries where Muslims live, including the UK, and others, and basically declare areas in cities where Muslims happen to, maybe, be the majority to “Muslim areas” bar one, and that is Australia. The Australian Prime Minister John Howard (Liberal Party) did not mince his words when he told Muslims in Australia that Australia was a predominately Christian country with tolerance for other religions and that the Muslims have the choice to live in Australia under Australian law or, if they wish to live under Islamic law then they were free to leave the country. He also added, so it is understood that, should any radical Muslims wish to see it differently they would be stripped of the Australian citizenship where appropriate and sent back to their Muslim country of origin. Good on you, mate! That way any kind of Nazis are stopped in their tracks because the home government is prepared to act, as it should do.

It is a real shame that other countries and their governments do not have the same open approach and firm stand against such elements. Britain and Germany, for example, do not have the backbone to do the same. Both, however, very quickly put the Gypsy in his place with “we cannot have special dispensation to them people” that is to say, our People, the Gypsy, when it comes to some relaxation to the planning laws (as this refers generally only to planning laws) with respect to retrospective planning applications for our own sites and settlements, or for planning applications and granting same even when it is done the correct way, e.g. before moving onto a piece of land, as “we cannot have one law for them Gyppos and one for the rest of the population”. But, apparently, when it comes to blackmail by Muslim radicals and hate-mongering clerics then that is an altogether different story. Each and every time those people say they are offended the freedom of the rest of the population is curtailed. However, no one acts when Gypsies are racially abused, their gravestones smashed and graves vandalized, etc. May o Del help those countries that thus surrender their freedoms to such blackmail.

© Veshengro, September 2006