Savvy Chavvy, a group of internet savvy Roma/Traveller youth in England won the UK Catalyst Award for projects using technology to benefit their community. Gordon Brown personally commended the group yesterday.
The young Roma/travellers chose to use the word chavvy, meaning youth in Romanes, in part because of the derogatory slang meaning the word has taken in recent years. The youth are reclaiming the word, much the way Lesbians and Gay men have reclaimed the term queer. It is the prerogative of an oppressed group to reclaim their words which have been used against them.
In response to a media question, youth from Savvy Chavvy stated that their site is a place where they can be themselves without being subjected to the racist epitaphs they are frequently subjected to.
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