Human Rights as a Perspective on Entitlements:The Debate over ‘Gypsy Fairs’ in England

This article focuses on the annual Gypsy fair in Horsmonden, Kent. It charts the development of the fair and evaluates an attitudinal survey of village residents undertaken by the Gypsy Council, following moves by the local authorities to close the fair down. Unlike previous campaigns by Romani groups, which were cast in the discourse of ethnic exceptionalism, the campaign for Horsmonden represents a move towards the use of the human rights approach and the issue of non-discrimination by Romani activists. Instead of arguing for the continuation of a past privilege, the campaigners at Horsmonden defended the fair by claiming the right to freedom of assembly, based on the democratic support of the community where the fair was based. The use of an attitudinal survey to examine the opinions of non-Gypsies was novel; although sociological surveys have been used in Romani studies, in the past they generally entailed questionnaires aimed at Gypsies themselves, not at members of the community at large. The results of the survey showed that a majority of the villagers surveyed supported the continuation of the fair, in opposition to the local council decision to close the fair down. The general benefit and positive attitudes to the fair suggest that the refusal to allow permission for the fair grows out of racial prejudice and is not based on the general concerns expressed by the local community with regard to the fair.