Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Refugees in Calais. Why we say NO BORDERS!

Guido | 26.06.2009 23:44 | Migration | Terror War | World

A few years ago that nice Mr Sarkozy (then French home secretary) was desperate to impress that even nicer Mr Blair. So to capitulate to Mr Blair and his masters in the British tabloid media, he closed the Red Cross Sangatte refugee camp near Calais. Prior to its demolition Sangatte was a place where vulnerable refugees fleeing places like Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan could get food, healthcare and a bed for the night. By a staggering coincidence Great Britain has had rather a lot of influence in the fortunes of Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan. So some people might suggest that we have a slight responsibility with regard to helping these people? Now (post Sangatte) they have to sleep under bridges and in dangerous camps where they are regularly attacked by the Police and local racists. Fortunately they are being fed each day by a number of unpaid volunteers from the Calais based 'Salam' charity who are doing an amazing job.

Hundreds queue on a Calais industrial estate.
Hundreds queue on a Calais industrial estate.

For drinkable water...
For drinkable water...

...and a healthy meal.
...and a healthy meal.

Only possible due to the hard work of the Salam charity.
Only possible due to the hard work of the Salam charity.

Do people really choose to live like this?
Do people really choose to live like this?

Or could it be that the corporate media are lying bastards? I wonder...
Or could it be that the corporate media are lying bastards? I wonder...


Since my last visit here in 2007 very little has changed. Then the majority of destitute refugees were Iraqis. Now they are Afghans. Then the people collecting their evening meal parcels numbered about 450. Now they are at least 700. But the ritual remains the same.

They sleep rough. They get attacked by cops and racists. They try to board lorries heading for Britain and most of the time they get caught.

We spent an hour talking to some new arrivals from Afghanistan.

Sayeed was forced to leave his friends and family when a local militia handed him a death sentence because his brother (whom had offended them) had already left the country. He misses his family and speaks to them whenever he can beg enough money to buy credit for another person's mobile. If he returns his family will be put in extreme danger so his exile is permanent for the time being. He blames the instability and lawlessness of Afghanistan for his predicament:

“They have had eight years to make a country worth living for the Afghan people and still it gets worse every day.”

His best friend Omid has joined him on this journey. His motive for being here is less urgent. He wishes to join members of his family in Birmingham and get an education. He also complains about the situation in Afghanistan pointing out that despite his language skills (which are very impressive) he has been out of work for over a year. Unemployment is one of the main reasons that Afghans are fleeing in their droves to try and make a living for themselves and their families.

Sayeed and Omid have arrived after a six month perilous journey that has taken them through Iran, Turkey, Italy and Greece. They are far from happy to discover that many of the Afghans that they have met in Calais have been in this dump for over a year.

They both have a very rose-tinted view of Britain as a country where work is easy to find and human rights are respected more than anywhere else!?!

I suppose work is easy to find if you are a disgraced former banker moving from a eight figure salary to a seven figure pension pot...

And human rights are respected more than Afghanistan unless you are a Brazilian getting an underground train from Stockwell. Or an Evening Standard seller walking home from work during the G20...

I wish Sayeed and Omid all the luck in the world. They are going to need it.

Guido
- e-mail: guidoreports@riseup.net

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech