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- Fear and Uncertainty as Dale Farm Travellers Face Eviction, August 30, 2011
- Dale Farm Eviction: Report Claims Council May Be Acting Unlawfully, June 13, 2011
- Dale Farm May Be Saved By New European Plans, May 30, 2011
- MPs Want Dale Farm Eviction Called Off, April 26, 2011
- Dale Farm: NO PASARAN!
- Dale Farm Legal Challenge to £13 Million Eviction Operation, March 15, 2011
- Council of Europe Visit Raises Dale Farm Spirit, February 16, 2011
- MP Seeks Dale Farm Talks as Eviction Plan Falters, December 28, 2010
- Dale Farm: Labour Party Oppose Forced Eviction, December 8, 2010
- Dale Farm May Be Winning Battle For Commonsense, November 11, 2010
- Dale Farm: Judgment Reserved on Homeless, October 24, 2010
- Dale Farm Prepares to Meet Constant Eviction, October 5, 2010
- Travellers Under Pressure to Abandon Community Living, September 20, 2010
- UK Gypsy Homes Bulldozed as UN Deadline Approaches, June 30, 2010
- The Dale Farm Eviction May be a Criminal Conspiracy, June 27, 2010
- Cameron Tested by Dale Farm Proposal, May 14, 2010
- UN Backs Call to Halt Big UK Gypsy Eviction, April 14, 2010
- Travellers' Genocide Protest Upsets Basildon Council Head, October 30, 2009
- UK: Then They Came For the Gypsies, October 25, 2009
- Dale Farm Eviction Contract Attracts Notorious Bailiffs, July 19, 2009
- Lords Won't Hear Dale Farm Appeal, May 14, 2009
- UN Backs the Dale Farm Travellers in Their Fight Against Eviction, April 29, 2009
- Dale Farm Travellers Face Eviction After UK Appeals Court Ruling, January 22, 2009
- Dale Farm Travellers Face Racism and Prejudice as Court Mulls Appeal, December 19, 2008
- Dale Farm Community Center Faces Demolition as Eviction Threat Resurfaces, September 26, 2008
- Britain's High Court Lifts the Threat of Eviction from the Dale Farm Travellers, May 13, 2008
- Defiant Travellers Open Community Center as Britain's High Court Prepares to Rule on Their Eviction, May 5, 2008
- Dale Farm Eviction Crisis Reaches the British High Court, February 14, 2008
- Dale Farm Travellers Win Key Concession as Eviction Deadline Approaches, December 11, 2007
- Success for Traveler Advocacy in UK As Eviction Threat Lifts at Dale Farm, July 9, 2007
- AP Peace Fellow Defends Traveler Rights, Arouses British Ire, June 12, 2007
- Urban Sprawl Trumps Minority Housing Rights in UK as Dale Farm Travelers Again Face Eviction, March 2, 2007
- Traveler Evictions in the UK Are ‘Hazardous to Environment and Children’s Health’ Claim Advocates, November 1, 2006
- Travelers Face Eviction Despite Intervention, July 29, 2005
- Showdown Looms as Advocates Seek to Avert Violent Eviction of 600 Travelers in the UK, July 13, 2005
- English Gypsy Women Warn of Possible “Deaths” from Forcible Evictions, and Appeal for International Mediation, April 8, 2005
- Roma Evictions Erupt Across Europe as New ‘Decade’ Seeks to End Discrimination January 31, 2005
- Dictionary.com Removes Offensive Gypsy Definition in Response to Grassroots Campaign, September 22, 2004
- New Funding Grants $8,000 to International Roma Women’s Network, June 1, 2004
- Roma: Roma Women Activists Challange European Governments Over Health Crisis, September 11, 2003
- The International Roma Women's Network is Launched, March 8, 2003
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Dictionary.com Removes Offensive Gypsy Definition in Response to Grassroots Campaign, September 22, 2004
**********
AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin - Number 22, September 22, 2004
**********An offensive, racist definition of “gypsy” listed on one of the most popular online dictionaries has been removed, thanks to an international campaign by Roma rights groups and the Advocacy Project’s “Friends of Roma” initiative.
After an online petition elicited hundreds of responses from outraged human rights advocates around the world, Dictionary.com removed a definition which included “one of a vagabond race… living by theft, fortune telling, horsejockeying, tinkering, etc.”
Many signatories saw this issue as much more than an outdated definition. “It never ceases to amaze me,” wrote one petition signer. “Any such comments regarding any other ethnic group would result in lawsuits and human rights groups out for blood but the stereotypes and slurs regarding our people remain intact.” Another said, “British newspapers are currently being sued for using this kind of language about ‘Gypsies’ - it is very outdated. Today, it's just plain racist.”
The campaign attracted the attention of several prominent international Roma rights groups and the media. The Czech edition of the BBC picked up the story and ran article about it on the front page of their web site. Romea.cz, a prominent Roma web site, also featured the campaign.
The 207 signatories included the Roma Information Project (RIP), an AP partner, and members of The National Association of Gypsy Women (UK), the American Romani Alliance, the international All Gypsies Group, as well as the Honorable Ian F. Hancock, of the University of Texas' Romani Archives and Documentation Center.
Dictionary.com did not respond to initial requests from the Advocacy Project and other signatories to remove the definition, but after AP presented the petition and publicity to them in August, a representative of Lexico Group, Dictionary.com’s owner, eventually replied to AP.
The representative said that Dictionary.com had removed the offensive entry and thanked AP for pointing out the oversight. She said that Dictionary.com did not intend to offend any minority but had simply automatically uploaded computerized dictionary databases, some of which are rather outdated. In this case, the definition dated from an electronic database, created in 1998, of Webster’s Dictionary’s 1913 edition.
The petition drive was the first campaign initiated by AP’s “Friends of Roma” outreach group, a listserv for individuals and organizations concerned about Roma issues.
“This accomplishment was an example of ALL of us working together. Rom of many different nations and clans, with our non-Rom friends, all standing together to be counted,” cheered an organizer of the All Gypsies Group.
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