#refugeeswelcome
When did we become the celebrators of chaos?
Hope lies in a pile of ashes as human beings sleep amongst the rubble of what used to be called ‘home’. Meanwhile, the world’s elite cheer at this weeks three-part special of our scheduled two minutes of hate.
I woke up yesterday morning to hear the valiant white noise of victory being trumpeted out of the media machine - the refugee camp in Calais is finally clear.
Images of Calais Prefect Fabienne Buccio celebrating emphatically flashed across my screen. The “mission was accomplished”, and at last, there are “no more migrants in the camp,” she declared.
Her grin beaming wide from cheek to cheek. Like she’d cleared the level in a video game after staying up all night button bashing and hoping for the best. This is no game, but the strategy is definitely something akin to that.
The long running narrative packaged and pummelled about refugees is one that breeds fear, xenophobia and racism. Having volunteered and visited the jungle twice in the last few months, I know first hand how toxic the atmosphere towards them can be. Even as volunteers, we were warned to be careful who we told about the work we were doing in Calais. Fascist groups operate in the town and were more than happy to welcome us with tear gas if and when the opportunity presented itself.
Once again all we’ve shown are our feeble attempts to escape from rather than engage with the issue. Our attention drawn again to the fireworks of a single flashpoint rather than the quiet stream of complex geopolitical issues surrounding migration.
Tasty soundbites pedal easier than subtle nuances.
On one hand we are seeing rising levels of xenophobia and hate crimes. On the other the highest level of displacement on record. I wonder if there is a correlation.
The jungle has come to represent the latest failure of Europe to find a real solution to the migrant crisis. By some crazy button bashing logic, closing the camp is being painted as a big step in solving the migrant crisis. But let’s be honest. Police officers duping kids out of camp with the mirage of buses waiting to take them to shelter and security is not a win. It’s a deeply profound loss.
There’s a calculated proxy war happening in the reporting and presentation of this issue everywhere you look. From the vague political language used to cover up uncomfortable truths, to the varied range of numbers and stats being reported. Human lives are swept and stuffed under the carpet through euphemism and distortion.
800 journalists from around the world are in Calais. Imagine if one of them was left to sleep on the streets last night. How different would the reaction be if all those migrants were white and the officials in charge were brown?
Some outlets report 4,404 asylum seekers as being shipped elsewhere within France and 1,200 children as being ‘registered’ into ‘temporary centres’. But what does this really mean? We can’t get rid of these people, so we’re going to place them for some vague amount of time inside a big shipping container?
If we look closely at the statistics, the population was reported to around 8,100 pre-demolition (and 10,000+ before that). That’s at least 2,496 missing human beings. 2,496 missing stories. Where do you think they are? Walking around Calais hiding in bushes in a game of cat and mouse with the CRS?
Behind the homogenised mass of numbers are stories of people like Mohammed. He fled Afghanistan because the Taliban threatened to kill him unless he agreed to help suicide bombers into an army base where he worked. Or Afridi, an entrepreneur I met from Pakistan who offered me chai after I fixed the roof of his makeshift shop.
The headlines tell us loud and clear that the war is over, the battle is won, the migrants are gone. Our two minute dose of hate is over. But what’s the plan for the hundreds more still migrating and arriving each week? Going even deeper, why does the camp exist in the first place and why do they continue to keep manifesting across the continent?
The jungle has actually been around in some form for 20 years. That’s an awful long time to be button bashing. Yes the jungle should be demolished. It’s no way to live for the lorry drivers or the migrants. But this issue isn’t over. The headlines, unfortunately, will go on.
Claims of the mission being accomplished sound as legit as Trudeau’s proclamation of being a feminist right now. Speaking of which. Why is it even called a mission? Is that supposed to make it seem more noble and heroic somehow?
What do you think makes Shamsher, a 13 year old who has a legal right to come to the UK so desperate to risk his life that he is willing to fling himself onto a big piece of metal hurtling at 60mph along a highway? What else would you do if you were stuck living in limbo with no control over any aspect of your life?
I don’t care who you are or where you’re from. Leaving vulnerable children to sleep rough on the streets is not cause for celebration but for deep introspection. This is “an emergency situation” and one which are responsible for. As Britons, we excuse ourselves by processing them on French soil to keep them out of mind and out of sight. Then spend millions on a big wall to keep the problem called Muhammad far away.
But in the words of Malcolm X, our chickens will come home to roost. The jungle might be gone, but the crisis has not been solved yet. I guess its the “NGO’s problem” again now.
Capitalism’s favourite annual orgy approaches and that brings with it promise of a glittery new John Lewis ad.
- For those who are moved and compelled to act. I encourage you to support the work of Help Refugees. This post is not associated by them in any way, but I know first hand how great their work is in this area.