I Hope The River Floods': Online Hate Speech Towards Gypsy, Roma And Traveller Communities
| Author | Naomi Thompson, David Woodger |
| Pages | 41-63 |
41
British Journal of Community Justice
©2020 Manchester Metropolitan University
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 16(1) 41–63
“I HOPE THE RIVER FLOODS”: ONLINE HATE SPEECH
TOWARDS GYPSY, ROMA AND TRAVELLER
COMMUNITIES
Naomi Thompson and David Woodger, Goldsmiths, University of London1
Abstract
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities experience hate and discrimination in a
range of public and private arenas. Online spaces are a relatively new outlet for hate against
GRT groups and fuel offline responses. This article outlines UK cases of online hate speech
reported to Report Racism GRT, a third-party reporting website for incidents p erpetrated
against GRT communities, from its inception in October 2016 to February 2018. Our analysis
found that online hate is primarily manifested through abuse on social media and is often
incited by the mainstream media. A key trigger for online hate is the arrival of ne w camps,
and a shortage of legitimate sites fuels the tensions. We consider the need to ease tensions
over site provision; the need for a more serious response to online hate s peech; and the
need to ensure that policy-makers and practitioners are aware of how they may be affected
by problematic and racist assumptions about GRT communities.
Keywords
Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT); hate speech; exclusion; discourse; racism; online
1 This work would not have been possible without our partners, Sherrie Smith and Josie O’Driscoll, at
GATE Herts who are the founders of Report Racism GRT and thus responsible for collating the data
we have analysed. It has been a privilege to work with them and we have learned much from them.
We are grateful for their permission to reproduce the data we analysed for them in academic papers
such as this one.
Thompson and Woodger
42
Introduction
Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT) are stigmatised in a range of public and private services
and systems, including hous ing and planning, education, health, s ocial care, crime and
policing, and the media (Drakakis-Smith, 2007; Bhopal, 2011; Allen, 2012; Smith and Ruston,
2013; Ivatts with Day, 2014). There is an inadequat e social policy response to address this
exclusion. The internet, particularly social media, is a relatively new outlet for hate and
discrimination against GRT (as well as other) groups (Richardson and O’Neill, 2012), and this
fuels offline responses in communities and services. Similarly, offline tensions fuel online
activity (the arrival of new camps, in particular). Tensions are exacerbated by insu fficient
authorised sites to meet the level of need. Media and policy discourses feed into each other
to exacerbate the stigmatising of GRT groups.
We begin this paper by exploring how structural racism and anti-GRT discourse legitimise
online hate speech against GRT communities. We consider the social policy implications of
pervasive anti-GRT discourse, particularl y in relation to site provision. We then outline the
findings of our analysis of the online hate speech aimed at GRT people. Onli ne hate speech
takes the form of slurs and insults about GRT people, the reinforcement of negative
stereotypes about them, and the inference or incitement of violence towards them. It is
often triggered by the arrival of, or media reporting on, new camps. We analysed data
collated by Gypsy and Traveller E mpowerment Hertfordshire (GATE Herts) through their
national third-party website for reporting h ate and discrimination against GRT people,
Report Racism GRT. We consider the implications of our findings, which include: the need
to ease tensions over site prov ision; the need for a more serious response to online hate
speech and media incitement of such; and the need to ensure that policy -makers and
practitioners are aware of how they may be affected b y the problematic assumptions
cultivated by racist anti-GRT discourse.
What do we mean by GRT?
In the UK, the umbrella term GRT is used to refer to several different groups, including
Romany English Gypsies, Irish Travell ers, Welsh Gypsies, Scottish Gypsies, New Travellers
(post-1960s), and Roma migrants from E urope, in addition to other, smaller travelling
groups, such as Showmen (Richardson and Ryder, 2012a). GRT people are not one
homogenous group but several different communities, with their own diverse histories and
cultures (Lally, 2015). The term GRT has faced some contestation among the communities
(Acton et al., 2014), but it is accepted and used by many members and activists, including
those we worked with for this research. In the UK, most GRT groups have a protected ethnic
status under the 2010 Equality Act (Lally, 2015). Whilst our analysis focuses on England, it
is worth noting that Roma are the largest minority ethnic group in Europe (Rostas and Ryder,
2012). Our argument, therefore, can be applied to wider Europe, where GRT grou ps also
face persistent exclusion (Tremlett, 2013; Lauritzen and Nodeland, 2018).
Hate crime and hate speech
In UK la w, a hate crime is a crime committed against someone b ecause of their race,
religion, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation. In a recent analysis of hate crime
statistics in England and Wales, Allen and Zayed (2019) look at figures from police-recorded
hate crime and the Crim e Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) (acknowledging some
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