A Small Victory

Copyrighted Vardo photos have been removed from posters of The Original Gypsy Fair.

Looks like our efforts with the New Zealand government is paying off. The removal of the copyrighted images is a great result for our cultural misappropriation campaign and protest against The Original Gypsy Fair (OGF). It’s a small but important step. The first time OGF have listened to our concerns.

My thanks for this team of activists. Frances Roberts Reilly for posting, tweeting and Facebooking the petitions, comments and blog updates. Phil Ford for his steady hand on the tiller, guiding us. And a kushti welcome to Cliff Harvey who’s a wordsmith and advocate here in New Zealand for Roma.” Just so you know, we’re all Roma/Gypsy folkie.

“Romanticising a lifestyle and the inevitable stereotyping that occurs, is in itself a form of discrimination. It is discriminatory because Romani have been systematically persecuted for their entire existence.” Cliff Harvey, Romani Advocacy.

We’ve a lot further to go. I’m grateful for your support.

Parruke Tute. Thank you.

“Stop immediately using the name Gypsy be it a registered business name or otherwise.” Bob Lovell Kamulo.

Author: pushapencil

Frances Roberts Reilly is a Romani poet, harpist and filmmaker born into a Welsh Romany/English family and now living in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. View all posts by pushapencil