Dale Farm Solidarity Gathering

CALL FOR DALE FARM SOLIDARITY PROTEST GATHERING:

Basildon Council are meeting 7.30pm Thurs 30th June 2011 to discuss 'TRAVELLER CLEARANCE'

- This is a very serious meeting.
- The council is all set to agree to proceed with the £18Million eviction at Dale Farm.

PLEASE JOIN US TO DEMONSTRATE YOUR RESISTANCE TO THIS INJUSTICE

Where: The Basildon Centre, St Martin's Square, Basildon, SS14 1DL
When: Thurs, 30th June - 6.30pm arrival

Don't wait until the bulldozers arrive at Dale Farm.
Take action now before we are forced to resist brutal evictions.
Please join us. We need to show solidarity NOW.

* Dale Farm Solidarity: is a diverse group of people who believe that forcibly evicting the residents of Dale Farm - when they have nowhere else to go - is a violation of human rights and a brutal and unnecessary act of ethnic cleansing. Members of Dale Farm Solidarity are from all over the the world, and are working to support the Dale Farm community in avoiding eviction. Ultimately, if eviction is pursued, Dale Farm Solidarity plans to set up a protest camp to resist eviction.

* Spending £18Million on evictions is criminal:
Instead of spending £18million on evictions, Basildon council could be spending £18million positively on local services, on community integration projects, on overcoming endemic racism, and on overcoming historic council failures to find Travellers and Gypsies secure and decent places to live. We have a housing and financial crisis in this country - wilful destruction of well-maintained homes is a criminal use of public finances.

* Beware the 'green belt' argument: To justify this eviction the council says that Dale Farm is built illegally on 'green belt' land. However, permission to build on green belt land is often granted locally. Many local councillors have themselves built on what was 'green belt' land. Indeed, under previous regulations, for a while, Travellers were allowed to build homes legally on the Dale Farm site. What is more accurate, but legally compromising for the current council to admit, is that the council stopped granting permission to build on the site, because the local community is vociferously opposed to the presence of Travellers. This is a story which is repeated all over the country and the outcome is that Travellers and Gypsies have nowhere to live which offers any community security. This is a security they long for, and without this security their children's education is curtailed and their healthcare is seriously undermined.

The 'green belt' argument has been used in this case as a convenient legal justification, but in fact when Dale Farm residents purchased the land it was not beautiful green belt - it was a concreted scrap yard. The council says the Dale Farm residents must obey planning law, but how can people obey 'the law' when the law is applied differently to different members of the community, and when ultimately the law does not allow Travellers or Gypsies to live anywhere?

Contact email: savedalefarm@gmail.com