Resistance, Rights and Racism: Gypsies and Travellers on the English Green Belt
The battle between Gypsies, Travellers and the settled community over how land can be used has moved to the Green Belt, observes Peter Kabachnik of the City University of New York. Writing in the Journal of Cultural Geography, Kabachnik notes that the current shortage of authorised caravan sites has led to one-third of the country’s nomadic population having no ‘legal place to live’. As a result, many travellers purchase, settle on and often get evicted from Green Belt land. He observes: “These choices make Gypsies highly visible, as the land they are asserting their right to is more