The prompt said, “Describe a person who has influenced your life.” For some reason Alice kept thinking about her piano teacher’s dog, a large setter named Clancy.

She aspired to play piano, but rarely practiced. It was hard to play with her mother calling out from the kitchen, “That was lovely, Alice — but isn’t it supposed to be allegro? Are you using the metronome?”

Her lesson was on Monday. While she waited, Clancy placed his head on her knee and stared at her, wagging his tail. You are wonderful, his eyes said.

She wrote: Clancy Walton taught me many things…

Alice’s mother had once attended high school, and this — in her own opinion at least — made her an expert on education. She wrote several letters to the editor unmasking the school board’s secret agenda to make all students into unemployed drones, and had even gone to the meeting where the new curricular standards were discussed to add her opinion.

“Kids do not need to know algebra,” she announced when it was her turn at the microphone. “I have never once used it in my adult life. Nor have I used trigonometry, scientific method, the Industrial Revolution, existentialism, transcendentalism, or participles.” She never actually got to explain what kids ought to learn, because by the time she had finished her catalogue of useless knowledge, her two minutes were up.

But Alice has to learn about the Industrial Revolution because it’s on the state proficiency exam. Once she found out that it didn’t involve riots or protests, she lost interest. Not that she’s a violent person, but what’s the point of calling something a revolution if it’s only about the invention of steam engines and the mechanization of the textile industry? Eventually Mr. Alston’s history class got to the part about labor unions and child labor laws, which was pretty violent, but by then Alice was too disillusioned to care.

She has thought about starting her own revolution, but isn’t sure where to begin. Putting up flyers announcing a sit-in seems to defeat the spontaneous quality of revolution. The revolution will begin at 2:45 in Room 208… Rebellions don’t have meeting times or faculty advisors. Besides, her fellow students aren’t interested in revolting. They might protest if lunch period were shortened, or if all hall passes were revoked, or if the administration actually decided to enforce the cell phone policy. But few of them care about overturning the foundations of society.

Alice doesn’t have a cell phone. Her mother read an article that said they give you brain cancer, and refuses to buy her one. The lack of this talisman sets Alice apart from her classmates. While Mr. Alston drones on about Luddites and Wobblies, they are all secretly texting under their desks or behind their book bags. She is doing her Latin homework.

She knows the real rules of school – not the ones forbidding saggy pants or electronic devices. The Real Rules: 1. Never volunteer an answer in class. Stare at the teacher until she gives the correct answer. 2. Never write anything down until the teacher tells you it will be on the test. 3. Never ask a question about the lesson; the answer is sure to involve more work for you. 4. If there’s something you don’t get, give it up; it’s better to appear lazy than stupid. 5. When you cheat on a test, make sure you get a couple wrong so it won’t look suspicious. 6. Plagiarism is the key to success.

It would be something, she thinks, if people would riot over books the way they fight their way into Best Buy when a new gaming system is released. It would be something if students would begin assaulting the teachers who don’t challenge them to think, instead of abusing the ones who take away their phones.

What if everyone looked down on people with small vocabularies (consisting mainly of words which, when spoken in class, will earn you a disciplinary action), instead of making fun of those who use words like ‘non-sequitur’ and ‘brevity’?

And thus were sown the seeds of Alice’s revolution…

There are only sixteen of us, if you believe the Myers-Briggsians. Or nine, if you’re a numerologist (not including 11 and 22). Or twelve, for those who subscribe to astrology. There are many other ways to count, but this writer is not familiar with all of them.

The sad sum of all this is that no matter how desperately we want to believe we’re unique, we’re not.

It has been said that there are three types of mathematicians: those who can count, and those who can’t. I am the third type. I can count, but I distrust the answer.

License plates, room numbers, book numbers, dates, tickets — all of these things are small peeks into the great infinity. Most of the time, though, I don’t understand how they add up, or what I ought to do about them. So far I have never based any major decisions on those random numerical occurrences, but it gives me something to think about when things aren’t going well.

Our house number reduces to the number seven, an auspicious number for mystics and hermits. Our last house was eight, the number of success. We were poor while living in that house. In our present home, we are far from mystical. Perhaps we are not obeying the vibrations the universe is sending out to us.

While not mystical myself, I have respect for things that don’t easily tally up. The basic physical laws of the universe could be summarized on a few index cards and neatly filed in a drawer. But there must be more cards out there waiting to be catalogued, more drawers waiting to be filled.

The universe must vibrate. There are infinite ways to count it.

Pre-text

On Wednesday 16^th September 2009 Eric Besson (the French immigration minister) announced on French National television that the “jungle”[1] would be closed by the end of the following week. He had previously announced to the press in April 2009 that all “jungles” and refugee encampments would be gone by the end of the year. Besson and the French authorities had also previously given a date at the end of June for the operation to commence, but alas it never came into fruition. Besson had also announced only weeks before the 16^th , that early in October the police would launch a test run for the real operation later in the year. Therefore the announcement on the 16^th was not immediately taken as gospel, however, early on Thursday 17^th there was a large police operation to clear the Ethiopian squat [2], and as the days went by and the town of Calais filled with journalists from around Europe, we began to increasingly realise that this was probably going to be it. As a result Calais Migrant Solidarity [3] put out an urgent callout for activists to come to Calais. Journalists were intent that Tuesday 22^nd of September would be the day, and they were right. We were as unsure as everyone else about what the operation would entail but we felt that this crime could not go ahead without dissent.

Arial shot of the Pashtun "jungle"

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I arrived at the Pashtun “jungle” late afternoon on the 21^st of September in anticipation of a full police lock down of the immediate surrounding area well in advance of the planned demolition the following day.

When I arrived the situation was as it had been for the last 36 hours. Media crews from all around Europe were walking around the “jungle” filming and photographing the Pashtun refugees and their less than aesthetically grand community.

This “jungle” was situated in the suburbs of Calais, about 1km from the centre, out towards the port, and right next to the infamous Rue des Gareenes where dozens of trucks are parked up at any given time, nearly

A house in the "jungle"

always with their doors wide open intentionally displaying  empty trailers with no place to hide. This is a renowned place for refugees to try and board lorries bound for the UK.

That sandy scrub land dotted with trees was home to multiple hundreds of Pashtun refugees who had built a small community out of scavenged material. Homes, a shop, a mosque and a rope swing were built from thrown away or donated wood, metal barriers, cardboard, plastic tarpaulin, carpets and rugs. Depending on the number of Pashtun refugees in Calais at any one time, some 10 or more people will share one of these homes. A single water point was situated at the entrance but this was as far as the amenities went as the local municipal council refused to pick up their garbage resulting in the place being royally littered, with one skip piled high, and of course sanitation was a la naturelle.

It is tempting for people from our aesthetically centered society to dismiss the “jungle” with adjectives such as “squalor” and nouns such as “huts” and “shacks”. It certainly was a horrible and degrading environment, but the choice of language chosen created an image in the media that was played on by Eric Besson, allowing him to charge that the “jungle” did no favors to the migrants and that eradicating it would be of no loss to them. Indeed the operation has been framed by Besson in the media as a humanitarian act.

It is far more appropriate to refer to the “jungle” as a community with homes, for, no matter how much the refugees considered it to be a degrading place to exist, that is how ultimately  how most considered it. Perhaps this just demonstrates how little these people had to hold onto, but the “jungle” was a place where people could go to at the end of the day; a semi- secure place to sleep, a base from which to make friends and share stories about their horrendous journey [4]; a place to cook, share and pray 5 times a day.

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Pashtun friends on the eve of the eviction

The last night of the “jungle” was my first night in the “jungle”. I was shown by a friend to his home where I could leave my bag. His home was like the rest from the outside, but inside there were photographs taken of him, his friends and other Pashtun residents by either other passer bys or journalists. After being prompted to remove my shoes, I was welcomed in to the usual question of “where are you from?”….. “ahh UK, UK good, I go UK, I go London!”

Inshallah.

As the sun began to drop I took a walk around. There was a strange atmosphere of unease, correspondents from the BBC filmed pre-recorded stories describing the operation that was due to commence the following morning. Many of the refugees kept asking about what was going to happen to the jungle and to them because, of course, the refugees had never been informed in person by the authorities on what was going to be happening. They instead rely on journalists and activists for their information, but I too knew nothing about what would happen to the people once their homes were destroyed. Many Pashtuns had fled Calais in the previous 5 days for Paris, Dunkirk or Belgium, to escape the inevitable sweeping arrests, but with the intention on returning once the storm had calmed. A couple of hundred however remained, clueless, scared but ultimately almost resigned to whatever was going to be install for them.

My night in the jungle was one of the most memorable of my life. When I returned to the house some of the guys were making bread and dinner on an open fire. It wasn’t long before dinner, but before hand I spoke to a Pasthun poet from the Swat Valley and we exchange a few words about the beautify and culture of his incredible land – “Gilgit”, “Peshawar”, “Kyber”, “Kalasha” and of course “polo”.

The food, placed in the centre of the floor for everyone to eat from, was incredibly good. Over dinner a man with fluent English translated our conversations about life in Pakistan or Afghanistan, Pashtun culture, the Taliban, the American and British assault, and the apathetic and material culture and politics of Europe. Under a couple of small candles, I was treated to some songs by the Pashtun Poet, and they were (not so) treated some English songs back. I think the poignancy of the sound, the flicker of the candle light and the silence outside infected everyone. There a long silence, everyone just stared at the candle…. what could have going through their mind?

I took a photo and made copies of my contact details for all of them to pass around. Inshallah, if you get to London, call me. I was riddled with sadness at the prospect of the following day.

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I had just a couple of hours rest before getting up very early. There was however no sign of the police yet, but a small group was gathered round a camp fire. At about an hour before sunrise the broadcast media vans returned and slowly the camp fire became populated with Pashtuns and journalists snapping away.

Migrants gather behind banners as police arrive behind them

I had heard from a friend that a huge number of French CRS police were massed in near by Coquelle the previous evening. At about 7:10am I had a text message to say that this large convoy had left for Calais. Just before 8am the police arrived pulling up with their masses of vans and coaches to take the migrants away in. As this happened, the refugees weirdly were all bunched together behind the banners for which we had them the material to write their own messages. The media were snapping away furiously, and as the police arrived, one by one, almost like crashing dominoes some migrants began to wail with tears and pain, infecting others who followed suit.

The pain of the journey, the eviction, and the future

After all the physical and emotional pain that they had been through [4], Lord can only imagine what they felt at this time. Was this the end? Was their trip to hell not only wasted emotionally but also financially, as so many have given up and sold their lives back home to come here, spending in excess of 10,000 pounds.

As clueless as they were about the consequences of this operation, I had a gut feeling that this was it for them, and that I would never see any of them again. This, combined with the sheer vocal despair coming from refugees in their early teens pushed me into emotional breakdown. I wept as I hugged some of teary eyed friends for possibly the last time. Indeed, tears are easy to come by now writing this weeks after the events – such is the pain that I saw and was apart of on that morning.

500 police officers arrive evict the "jungle"

As a reported 500 policemen marched into the “jungle” in an orderly fashion, the migrants stood all together, still and paralyzed. The media rushed around, a few Calais Migrant Solidarity activists unfurled some banners and began chanting towards the coming brigade of inhumanity. A human chain was formed by CMS and other local humanitarian groups such as SALAM as the police slowly and calmly approached. Convinced that the operation was simply a cruel media PR stunt, the police were clearly trying to embody what Besson had decried would be a “dignified” operation.

Activists attempting to stop the eviction

However their polite façade would soon fall as a scuffles broke out. The police first tried to grab refugees from the pack but with little success as activists would block their path and grab them back. This tactic was semi-successful for a short period before the police concentrated their efforts on removing any unwanted barrier. Adrenaline, anger and tears coursed through my veins in a desperate, but quite frankly pitifully small display of resistance proportionate to the crime being committed. It was not long before I, like the rest, was being kicked and dragged along the floor head first before being held to the ground well away from the group of refugees. By now refugees were being taken by police officers one by one, some resisting, but most just walked, heads slumped, some in tears, towards another unknown chapter in a godforsaken story.

human pain, pure and simple

Bulldozers make light work of the homes

A 6year ghettoised community reduced a single pile

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Postscript

My blog post entitled “After the destruction” (to follow) describes the immediate days following this large eviction. In short, about ¼ to 1/3 of the Pashtun refugees taken were released from their detention centres in the following days.

When I arrived in Calais for the first time in early August 2009 and first started hearing the stories of the migrants I didn’t think things could get much worse for them [5], but it has. Destroying the “jungle” has gotten rid of one of the few things the migrants had. The EU has stripped these people of all of their rights, their voice and now their home. They now walk the streets. Where is the logic in this operation you may cry? It is a subtle one, and one that has not been reported, but is one that is to be found around the world, most popularly in Palestine… it’s called ethnic cleansing, but a subtle one. The police and the authorities across the EU make the refugees” lives hell, squeezing them tightly [6], so they simply give up, take the pitiful 2000 euro reward offered by the International Organisation for Migration and return back to Afghanistan and tell others that the “free west” doesn’t exist, so don’t bother trying.
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VERY GOOD FILM HERE: Jason Parkison has made this film shot during the destruction:
http://current.com/items/91014318_the-dignified-destruction-of-calais-refugee-jungle.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/sep/22/france-refugee-camp-jungle
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/sep/22/french-bulldoze-jungle-camp-calais

Notes

[1] In mainstream public media discourse the “jungle” refers to the Pashtun “jungle” in the suburbs of Calais. In Calais there are in fact several “jungles” and several squats in which migrants reside. “Jungles” refers to areas of scrub land that migrants have built homes from discarded or donated wood, plastic, carbboard, carpets etc. They are a thoroughily degrading place to live. In mainstream discourse however there only ever appears to be one “jungle” and that is the pashtun jungle which is the biggest, totalling between 300-500 pashtuns at a given time, and has the biggest reputation for links to mafia rings.

[2] Before the eviction process started on the 22nd of september there was a number of squats and “jungles” dotted in and around calais, each of which tended to correspond to an ethnic group, language or region. There was a Pashtun “jungle”, an Hazara “jungle”, a Vietnamese “jungle”, an Iranian “jungle”, reportedly a Kurdish “jungle”, a Sudanese “jungle”, an Arabic speaking squat, an Eritrean squat and an Ethiopian squat.

[3] Calais Migrant Solidarity is a network of activists primarily from France, Belgium and England who have had a continual presence in Calais since June 2009. They work concentrates on filling the gaps left by what the humanitarian agencies working Calais can’t do. CMS therefore concentrate their efforts on migrant security from the police, trying to document and communicate all acts of aggression and oppression against migrants from the police, resist evictions, visit those in detention, provide some aid, and since the evictions CMS has been working on trying to create a solution to their homelessness.

[4] Please see my blog post entitled “A tale of migration to the free world” for an account of the journey from Pashtun territories in NW Pakistan and Afghanistan to Western Europe.

[5] My blog post “A tale of migration to the free world” is a constructed generic tale of the journey based on conversations with refugees in calais.

[6] See the blog posts “A tale of migration to the free world” and “life after eviction” for details about repression of migrants.

This piece describes a generic journey that (mostly) young males from Afghanistan & NW Pakistan experience on their way to claiming asylum in the EU, and invariably Britain. The details of this blog piece have been taken from second-hand, research, listening to the stories that migrants in Calais have told me, as well as my own first-hand experience.

**THIS BLOG PIECE IS BEING CONTINUALLY UPDATED FOLLOWING ONGOING DISCUSSIONS WITH MIGRANTS**

***NON OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY OWN***

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“The Free World” – a favourite phrase of the Western elite, nearly always said in juxtaposed reference to places like Afghanistan. This well worn narrative goes that people apparently subservient to the “barbaric” and “backward” Islamic cultures of Asia need “modernizing” “liberating” and the people given the “freedom” they so crave, with simply only one model of the world apt enough for the job. The West of course has regarded itself the end point of the human developmental trajectory for centuries, particularly since the age of discovery in the 15/16^th century, when explorers first discovered the mass variety of human cultures in the far flung corners of the globe, that to their eyes were clearly inferior, which provided impetus for social Darwinism in the late 19^th Century, un-coincidentally, as Europe was amidst its grand colonizing project.

How ironic then that it is Afghans, who have been at the forefront of “post-colonial” foreign imperialism in the forms of Russian and Western grand modernization plans since the 1970s, that are probably spearheading the experience of thoroughly undignified inhumane rough living within the EU at the beginning of the 21^st Century. Since the 1990s, significant numbers of Afghans have been traversing the EU in search of a safe haven from a seemingly perpetual state of war. The EU is currently the focus of several different migratory routes from Africa, but the flow from the Asian East is now currently almost monopolized by Hazara, Tajik, and particularly Pashtun refugees from Afghanistan and the NW frontier provinces in Pakistan.

The journey they face is little short of a hideous crime and should bluntly rip through our moral conscience. This blog piece tries to describe a generic journey from Afghanistan and NW Pakistan to Britain through the EU – a place that is constructed by NATO as a model for civilized society. The evidence for this blog is based on my time spent working and talking with migrants in Calais, and should therefore before regarded as just a snap shot of some of the stories that are forged along this truly treacherous path.

During the age of discovery Western explorers left their lands on extraordinary journeys and travelled far and wide before reporting back on their discoveries, often, but not always, describing with a cultural sense of dismay and disgust. The following blog piece may just offer a small idea of the contents of an Afghan travelogue to the land of his’ or her’s “liberators” in 2009.

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I will start however with just a quick history of Afghanistan to highlight the horrors that these refugees have been through before they have even left their homes, and to provide some context and reasoning for the numbers arriving in the EU.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan has of course only been a geographically definable place since 1919 when it achieved independence from a period of British intervention, and today it is fair to say that largely there is still no such thing as an Afghan, as like with a lot of colonial nation state building, lines are drawn around culturally and linguistically diverse groups that have been created historically through harsh deserts and rugged mountain landscapes that disable easy, regular communication that would otherwise erode such wide cultural distinctions. As such, Afghanistan contains Tajiks, Uzbeks, Aikmans, Turkmen, Hazara, and Pashtuns, but these groups spread across all the neighboring regions of the central “stans”, including Pashtuns who spread into NW Pakistan territory, following their division under the Durrand line drawn by British rule in India in 1893.

Following a series of early coups, the period between 1933 to 1973 was relatively stable and Afghanistan became one of the premier highlights along the beaten overland ‘hippy trail’ between Istanbul and Kathmandu for 20^th century western backpackers. In 1973 however, Afghanistan became a republic following a bloodless coup, but the president, Mohammed Damond Khan came immediately under attack from the communist leaning People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan who gained power in 1978, to the displeasure of the conservative Islamic rural regions. The coup occurred during a period when the wider region was rapidly becoming the focal point of US foreign policy – with the Iranian revolution and the Egyptian/Israeli peace agreement – and as such Afghanistan became seen as a key battle in the cold war. Concerned at the swing to the left in Afghanistan, Jimmy Carter – the then US president – started covertly funding those rural conservative clans which were already organizing limited armed resistance against the new communist regime. While these clans were disparate, during the cold war they faced what they believed as a common enemy, and collectively became known as the Mujahdeen.

Soviet troops in Afghanistan

As expected,in response, 100,000 soviet troops entered Afghanistan in December 1987 after a request to occupy, pacify and solidify communist rule in Afghanistan. However, determined guerilla warfare launched primarily by the Mujaheedeen – under financial backing from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, Egypt, the UK and of course the US – led to a full withdrawal of the then crumbling Soviet empire between 1987 and 1989. In the decade long bitter conflict an estimated 1 million Afghans were killed, 5 million fled to neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, and another 2 million became internally displaced peoples.

Afghan Refugees in the 90s

The human catastrophe in Afghanistan was of course far from over. As soon as the soviet forces withdrew, the Mujahedeen pushed forward to overthrow the regime, achieving that goal in April 1992. At the end of this second civil war, Afghanistan lay in ruins, with the economy completely dependent on Soviet aid, which was rapidly beginning to dry up.

The third civil war from 1992-1996 was first a violent strugg

Kabul in ruins

le between the disparate Mujahedden war lording factions which no longer were united against a common enemy, so turned on each other in a struggle for power. In 1994, fed up with corrupt power hungry squabbling war lords, a new movement came into fruition in the South of Afghanistan thanks to financial help from elements operating in Pakistan. This new movement called “The Taliban” (the students); forged on a brand of radical Sunnni Islam; it took control of Kabul in September 1996 and instigating their strict code of controversial sharia law over Afghanistan.

The Taliban

Following the Taliban rise to power, the fourth civil war was engaged almost immediately following the birth of the Northern Alliance who were to attempt to rid Afghanistan of the radical Islamic rule of the Taliban, and to bring power to the ethnic groups in the North. They were however largely unsuccessful (until the US arrived), only igniting the Taliban to brutally ravage their territories, pushing many into neighboring countries.

Americans & Co arrive

Five years later, on September 11^th 2001, two airplanes crashed into the twin towers, and the Bush & Blair’s War of Terror was born. The first target was Afghanistan with objectives to destroy the al-Qaeda network, find Bin-laden and to overthrow the Taliban regime that was apparently harbouring al-Qaeda terrorist training camps. This initial operation had a classically ironic name – “Operation Enduring Freedom” and took little over a month for the Northern Alliance, NATO and the US to capture Kabul on 13^th November 2001.

Just one of the many dead

Since then Afghanistan has been subjected to western attempts at national state building; bringing “democracy”, “prosperity” and “human rights” to the Afghan people. The bloodshed continues with thousands of civilians and foreign troops being killed every year as the coalition forces struggle to contain the spread of the Taliban insurgency which has now spread into Pakistan, bringing horrific violence to Waziristan and the Swat valley, as the Pakistan government and the US lay siege to mountain villages, while the Taliban murder those who do not join in their fight.

As a result hapless civilians, primarily Pashtuns are in a no-win situation, and are forced to seek sanctuary in another land – the land which they have heard is the land of peace, prosperity, human rights and freedom.

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The route to safety is a long trecherous and indefinate path

The decision to leave these Pashtun areas is not taken lightly. If leaving your family and community behind to perhaps never see them ever again is not hard enough, then also consider the dear financial costs. I have been told varying figures from a numerous refugees in Calais and England, but depending on the length and route of the journey, on average refugees are paying around £10,000 to complete the journey to England. To raise this amount of money family homes and land are sold in anticipation that one day remittances can be sent back, or loans are taken en route from people smuggling agents in their home land by their families and forwarded on. Debt is then accumulated as the journey goes on, and what must be stressed and kept in mind is that the journey is originally unimaginable in terms of length and difficulty, and as such the level of debt is not foreseen. Being massively in debt then puts further necessity on refugees establishing themselves in the EU with a job, as failure to pay will not be forgotten and unfortunately the age old adage “we know where you live” applies.

This money is raised because people do not have passports to travel “legally” to EU countries such as Britain to claim asylum. The absurdity is that the British government says that “genuine” asylum seekers can claim asylum in Britain, but to do so they have to be in Britain, which is not only illegal, unless you have a passport and legitimate visa, which they are not allowed to have, but the British government actively tries to stop them getting in, making their journey even more risky and costly. So Pashtun refugees are forced to make the following horrendous journey because of their “illegal” status, and it is people smugglers who are the recipients of the cash and the primary means of facilitating their dreams of a safe place to live.

Inside and underneath the truck is the way in

People smugglers will either fix up or find trucks to take refugees through countries or across borders, or smugglers will provide boats, or other forms of help such as closing lorry doors. The most common way to get from Afghanistan all the way across to Western Europe (over 3,500km as the crow flies) is by hiding underneath lorries, clinging on the underside and balancing on the wheel fixings. On this Asian route, boats are also frequently used on the Turkish – Greek crossing despite the fact that nearly all migrants can’t swim and the boats are always incredibly cheap,

Stuffed boats from Northern African shores

flimsy and rammed full, and of course they always travel at night by being simply pointed in the general direction and left to their own divisive (African boats leaving North African shores frequently have fatal consequences for all those on board). Walking is also unfortunately not an uncommon method of transport – many refugees have told me they walked from Italy into France, over the Alps, leaving in groups, brushing the boundaries of hypothermia; some even being left behind en route.

Graphic showing the number of migrant deaths http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/images/mapFortressEuropeEng.png

It should be clearly stated that the age range making the following journey is enormous. Toddlers have been found making this trip with their mother and father, and it is certainly not uncommon to see young boys around 12 years old making this journey alone or with fellow brothers. The most common age found among Pashtun and Afghan refugees is however probably about 16 to 20.

Young children stuffed into migrant buses following release from Greek detention

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As far as I know, the first couple of countries – Iran and Turkey – are not particularly tricky to get smuggled through – a discreet transfer of monetary value seems to do the trick. The next stop however is the European Union – otherwise known as “Fortress Europe”, and the first port of call is Greece. Some get smuggled in on or underneath trucks; others will take flimsy boats that only sail at night from Turkey, which are crammed full of women, men and children to the Island of Lesvos.

13 year long migrant camp in Patra

If you’re lucky your will get smuggled right through Greece, if your unlucky…well, then you won’t. Welcome to Greece. You will either reside in a pretty squalor secret migrant camps in port cities like Patra, where you face a fascist police force. One refugee, in a recent Guardian film showed a mug shot of himself with a black eye and broken nose after the Greek police paid him a visit [1]. Alternatively, or most likely, in addition, you will end up

Pagani detention centre on Lesvos

in a Greek migrant concentration camp such as Pagani centre on the Island of Lesvos. No borders activists in Greece have revealed numbers of up to 150, including women and children, stuffed into a single prison room, with people hanging out of the bars for fresh air, with little access to clean water and sanitary facilities [2]. Conditions are so bad that children will go on hunger strike, riot and burn mattresses. However, at the end of October 2009 the Greek authorities announced the indefinite closure of Pangani, and while refugees will be simply taken to other detention centre, this is a

One of the many migrant revolts at Pagani

small victory for human rights activists and migrant revolt. In July of this year the Greek authorities set a president in the EU by removing the 13 year long migrant camp in the port city of Patra, causing hundreds of migrants to riot in the streets, which was then copied by the French in Calais in September 2009 [3].

Greece is such a hell hole that some refugees have told me in Calais that they would rather get deported back to their respective war zone, than Greece. The reason refugees keep being deported back to Greece is two-fold: (1) The Dublin Convention states that refugees must claim asylum in the first EU country they arrived in; (2) The same convention created the Eurodac identity system, whereby refugees have their finger prints stored on a centralized database, which, when being picked up by the police in the EU, it registers that person as present in a particular country. For refugees from Afgh

Migrants riot in patra after their camp was flattened

anistan and NW Pakistan, Greece is nearly always the first EU country they arrive in, but Greece has a very simple policy of a next to 0% asylum rate and brutal repression, forcing refugees further West. However, many refugees have finger prints in Greece and under Eurodac, other EU countries can then deport them back to Greece.

So, Greece is not the introduction to the EU that these refugees probably imagined, but, once released from prison they are given a 30 day people and told to leave. Rejected from Greece, refugees then head West towards Italy and sleep rough in the port city of Patra trying to get through the border. For those that get through, life in Italy is not made much easier, although it appears that for those who manage to get in, Italy seems to have a policy of beating you out of the country as soon as possible. Fascism, racism and violence is rife throughout the bonds of Italian society – a group of African migrants were massacred in Southern Italy earlier this year and I have met one Iranian migrant in Calais who has a deep scare across the side of his face where is was a slashed with a knife.

Then they arrive in France. There is a quick stop in a park in Paris, known as ‘little kabul’, before onto Calais. From 1999 until 2002, when the first mass waves of over land refugees were arriving in Calais from Afghanistan, the Red Cross ran a humanitarian centre in Sangatte which provided basic shelter and hot food. In 2002, under pressure from the British government that believed that Sangatte was creating a magnetic pull for ‘illegal immigration’ into Britain, Nicholas Sarkozy, the then interior minister, ordered the closure of Sangatte and its subsequent demolition, citing reasons of “national embarrassment” of the sites existence. Of course, refugees kept coming, as having a camp bed and some hot food in a Calais warehouse is surprisingly not very high up the list of reasons why refugees and migrants from Africa, Middle East and Central Asia risk their lives to come.

UK Border agency

Calais is a small town in North Eastern France and is the principle border crossing between Britain and mainland Europe. Britain did not sign the Shengen agreement however, so people cannot pass freely, but instead come up against what is probably the most heavily policed border in the EU. Since the crushing of Sangatte a series of financial deals have been struck between the French and the British to strengthen the border, and as a result the number of asylum seekers managing to get into Britain has plummeted.

This, combined with the closure of humanitarian provisions, has created a humanitarian crisis in Calais. Before September 22^nd there were at least 8 squalor refugee camps – known as “jungles” – and squats in and around Calais, each one of which were home to a specific ethinic, nationality or language group. The numbers in Calais naturally fluctuate but over the past few years there have consistently been around 300-500 refugees in Calais at given time, from Eretrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Egypt, Lybia, Palestine, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, but around 80% tend to be from Afghanistan or North West Pakistan.

Pashtun "jungle" in Calais

A house in the "jungle"

“Jungles” consist of scrub land with small modest homes built from discarded or donated wood, plastic, carpet, cardboard and metal. Although most of homes tended to be waterproof, the sanitary conditions were appalling and the municipal council in Calais refused to collect any of their household waste, leaving it to pile up for the rats to consume. The largest “jungle” was the Pashtun “jungle” which was home to about 80% of the refugees in Calais at any given time; it was riddled with scabies, and only had one single ground well water pipe for the several hundred inhabitants.

Evening dinner queue provided by Salam association in Calais

Hospitalised by the police

However, although the living conditions in Calais were seriously degrading, and the lunch and dinner handout provided by a couple of local French charities tends to be quite meager, the refugees’s biggest concern in Calais is their treatment at the hands of the police. There are quite a lot of police in Calais and in the evening and very early morning the CRS elite forces drive around in vans harassing the migrants in their camps and squats, in the local park, under bridges and on the streets. The level of repression is shocking and has reached inhumane proportions. Refugees complain that their mobile phones get taken or smashed, that tear gas has been put in their drinking water, that they get woken up very early in the morning by the police spraying tear gas into their homes before photographing them and hitting anyone who does not comply. The CRS will come and knock down some of their homes and then walk off, or they may arrive and steel their blankets, sleeping bags, clothes and food [4].

The police constantly arrest refugees for not having the correct documentation and raid squats and camps nightly, but the arrests are deployed principally as a tactic to grind refugees down. On one occasion, for 5 nights in a row the CRS arrested all the Iranian migrants from under the bridges in Calais, only to take them to a police station 3 kilometers out of town, before telling them to walk back. In short, all the refugees in Calais fear and despise the police throughout the EU. It is a simple policy of making their lives miserable so they eventually give up, return home and report back on their miserable time in the EU.

PLEASE SEE THESE EXCELLENT FILMS ABOUT CALAIS

http://current.com/items/88967594_after-sangatte-europes-untold-refugee-crisis.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/aug/03/calais-jungle

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/jul/30/eritrean-asylum-seeker-naga

Pashtun homes flattened

This was the situation in Calais before 22nd September. Things have now however changed for the worse, as from late september, through into the first couple of weeks in October, the French authorities proceeded to destroy all but one of the refugee camps and squats in Calais. This was simply a PR stunt as the refugees do not disappear, but are simply homeless [5]. In Calais, the police are currently intent on not letting refugees build new jungles; and as such they constantly put knifes through or burn the plastic sheets or tents that are given to refugees, and have fences off some of the bridges which they used for just limited shelter.

Afghans found inside tanker full of flour

All the refugees in Calais are desperately trying to make it across the Anglo-Franco border. The most popular method of trying to get through the border is still in or underneath trucks, but waiting for them is a border regime of trained sniffer dogs, co2 probes, heat scanners, and a small army of people whose job it is, is to smash people’s dream of a better life and return them to a crushing life of misery. Other methods include boats, but migrants can rarely swim, or trains, which involve a 20minute 250km/ph journey beyond most people’s imagination, such is the level of danger. It is common to see people walking around Calais with broken ankles, wrists and arms having fallen from trucks, and reports of people suffocating inside trucks or getting mashed under trains are sadly to be found.

In short, the Anglo-Franco border, despite the claims to the contrary from the right-wing press, is one of the tightest in the world. Many refugees in Calais have been there for more than 8 months, trying a couple of times a week in some cases. Every time they are caught, processed and dumped back on the streets. It has become a degrading and demoralising ritual.

Cigarete lighter used to try and remove finger prints

The big fear is still however being put in a detention centre and removed, usually not Afghanistan, but to one of the countries in which a particular refugee will have finger prints. Removal to Greece is frequent due to the number of refugees who have been there and been finger printed. On arrival in Greece the refugees simply start the same process again and start heading West. Refugees are so desperate not to get taken back, that some will use cigarette litters to try and burn off or disfigure their finger prints.

In Calais i have met people who are on their 5th trip to Calais, and i know a man from Eritrea who has been playing the Dublin Convention football game – which involves just being kicked around Europe, refused at each turn – for 7 years. This one particular individual was a complete mess; drinking heavily and every other word was “fuck”… “fuck France… fuck England… fuck Greece…fuck the police…. fuck everyone”

Does this sound like the “free world” to you?

NOTES

[1] The link to the online guardian film is: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/aug/03/calais-jungle

[2] No Borders in Lesvos can be found at: http://lesvos09.antira.info/

[3] A personal account of the evictions and destruction in Calais can befound in my post: “Tear and fears: The Eviction of the Pashtun jungle”

[4] For documentation of police abuse of migrants in Calais, please see calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com

[5] Please see both of the blog piece on the desturction and the aftermath

TOUS ET TOUTES A CALAIS ET FOLKESTONE LE 28 NOVEMBRE !

PASSONS LA MANCHE !

L’Etat s’enfonce !

En 2002, Sarkozy fermait un hangar ; en 2009, Besson s’attaque à des terrains vagues !
Le 22 septembre, Besson a joué les gros bras à Calais. Dans la lignée de Sarkozy, le ministre de l’identité nationale et de l’immigration peut affirmer qu’il fait ce qu’il dit.
Mais qu’a-t-il fait ? Il a envoyé des centaines de flics rafler sur des terrains vagues (les jungles) des réfugiés, pour la plupart, ayant fui les guerres faites par les puissances occidentales en Afghanistan, en Irak… Nul besoin d’être médium pour savoir que la situation ne changera pas. Les réfugiés veulent toujours, dans leur grande majorité,
vivre en Grande Bretagne : ils veulent franchir la frontière !
Ce qu’il a fait c’est agresser physiquement des gens (les réfugiés, les militants venus les soutenir…), créer un climat de terreur. Mais…les réfugiés ne vont pas s’évaporer. Pour l’instant, certains se cachent ou bien sont allés sur d’autres endroits de la côte et même dans d’autres villes en France : Paris, Angers… D’autres se sont déplacés
en Belgique ou en Hollande. Mais beaucoup d’entre eux errent à nouveau dans les rues de Calais, pourchassés quotidiennement par les CRS qui détruisent leurs tentes, leurs couvertures et leurs affaires personnelles.
Ce qu’il a fait, ce n’est que de la gesticulation médiatique pour dire que l’Etat est là.
Besson la justifie par la chasse aux passeurs. Sans doute des personnes profitent de la situation créée par l’Etat et la Communauté Européenne.
Le meilleur moyen pour lutter contre le trafic d’êtres humains est de faire en sorte que les conditions matérielles de ce trafic n’existent plus ; autrement dit, en fermant les frontières les Etats de la Communauté Européenne créent ces conditions au grand profit des passeurs.
Besson est un menteur. On le savait, mais là ça dépasse l’entendement.
Pourquoi bon nombre de réfugiés ne veulent-ils pas demander l’asile politique en France ? Si ils le demandent, ils risquent fortement d’être expulsés vers un des pays de la sphère des accords de Dublin. En clair,ils seraient reconduits vers le pays les ayant contrôlés pour la première fois et en l’occurrence bien souvent la Grèce !
La Communauté Européenne, les Etats y adhérant renforcent les armes pour la chasse aux immigrés ! Le 2 septembre 2009 les gouvernements français et britannique ont ouvert à Folkestone (Grande Bretagne), dans les locaux de la police du Kent, le Centre Conjoint de Renseignement Généraux concernant l’immigration. Ces missions sont d’ « améliorer les
échanges de renseignements opérationnels, réaliser des analyses de réseaux et permettre d’aboutir à des enquêtes judiciaires conjointes ou parallèles. »
Lors du sommet franco-britannique sur l’immigration du 6 juillet 2009, il a été décidé que ces deux autorités agiront pour, entre autres,« renforcer le rôle opérationnel de Frontex [agence européenne de lutte contre l'immigration clandestine]…, notamment par le développement de
la coopération de Frontex avec les Etats tiers, la mise en place de retours par voie aérienne conjoints au niveau européen et la mise à disposition de ressources appropriées. ». Les charters européens sont donc en gestation depuis au moins le 6 juillet 2009 et ils veulent les développer !

On ne pourra jamais empêcher des personnes de vouloir vivre où elles le souhaitent. On ne pourra jamais empêcher des gens de vouloir immigrer.
Affirmer le contraire, c’est assumer qu’il y ait des trafics d’êtres humains, qu’il y ait des gens qui se noient lorsqu’ils essayent de traverser des océans clandestinement…
Justifier la fermeture des frontières afin de protéger nos droits sociaux est là aussi un mensonge. En France les frontières sont officiellement fermées depuis 1974. Cela n’a pas empêché les différents gouvernements ayant sévi depuis de s’attaquer à nos acquis sociaux.
Cette justification sert à fabriquer des boucs émissaires et alimente l’idéologie raciste pour satisfaire les courants réactionnaires. Fermer les frontières, s’attaquer aux acquis sociaux sont les deux faces d’une même politique renforçant la misère !
La seule réponse réaliste pour résoudre la question des demandeurs d’asile, des réfugiés et des sans papiers, en particulier dans le Calaisis, est d’ouvrir les frontières et de laisser les gens s’installer où ils le souhaitent, quelles qu’en soient les raisons.
Il importe que nous retournions à Calais pour dire à Besson, Hortefeux, Sarkozy que leurs matraques, leurs flics ne nous arrêteront pas. Que toutes personnes doit pouvoir circuler et s’installer librement ; que toutes personnes doit être accueillie dignement. Qu’il y en a marre qu’il y ait toujours assez de fric pour réprimer, tabasser, expulser,
mais qu’il y en a jamais pour le respect de la dignité !

SAMEDI 28 NOVEMBRE A 10 H RASSEMBLEMENT DEVANT LA MAIRIE DE CALAIS NOUS PASSERONS LA FRONTIERE EN PRENANT LE FERRY A 12 H 25 POUR SE RASSEMBLER A 15H A LA GARE DE FOLKESTONE ET ENSUITE REJOINDRE LE CENTRE CONJOINT DE RENSEIGNEMENT GENERAUX
NOUS RENCONTRERONS CEUX ET CELLES QUI ONT EU LA CHANCE DE LA FRANCHIR
ET TOUS CEUX ET CELLES QUI LES SOUTIENNENT
Pendant la traversée, à l’aller et au retour, nous pourrons débattre des suites de la mobilisation internationale contre les politiques européennes anti-migrations Tous les participants sont invités à rester la nuit à Calais pour une
nuit d’errance avec les migrants ou pour des patrouilles de surveillance de la police.
soupe café et thé toute la nuit au local…
Chacun est responsable de ses réservations de ferry
un numéro ou mail contact pour les réservations et paiements suivra dans les prochains jours.
Essayez de vous organiser en co-voiturage.
Pour les piétons, une liaison train Douvres-Folkestone (12mn de trajet,deux départs par heure)

SOLIDARITE INTERNATIONALE
DISPARITION DES CAMPS DE RETENTION
NON A FRONTEX ET AUX CHARTERS DE LA HONTE
LIBERTE DE CIRCULATION ET D’INSTALLATION
OUVERTURE DES FRONTIERES
DES PAPIERS POUR TOUS ET TOUTES
NI QUOTA NI IMMIGRATION CHOISIE
PASSONS LA MANCHE
passonslamanche@free.fr

La fermeture de cette zone située proche du port de Calais, où se regroupait plusieurs centaines d’immigrés (pour la plupart d’origine afghane ou irakienne) en attente de passer au Royaume-Uni, fait l’objet d’un important battage médiatique dans la presse française.

La décision du ministre de l’Immigration Eric Besson, de fermer ce lieu, est beaucoup critiquée. Les associations de bénévoles, n’ont pas caché leur inquiétude quant au sort réservé à ces migrants clandestins. Pour les membres de ces associations, cette décision risque d’aggraver encore un peu plus leur situation, déjà très précaire. Certains ont demandé le droit d’asile mais d’autres seront renvoyés dans leur pays.

De nombreux articles parus dans les quotidiens Libération, Le Monde ou encore dans l’hebdomadaire Le Nouvel Observateur, rappellent que la fermeture du centre voisin de Sangatte (décidée en 2002 par Nicolas Sarkozy, alors ministre de l’Intérieur) n’avait pas empêché les migrants de revenir. La nécessité de trouver des solutions pérennes de gestion des flux migratoires est donc plus que jamais au cœur du débat. Pour Libération, l’afflux constant de sans papiers un peu partout en Europe est la preuve qu’une politique migratoire volontariste à l’échelle européenne doit être mise en place le plus rapidement possible.

En attendant un éventuel futur accord des 27 sur le sujet, le problème de ces réfugiés demeure. Plusieurs journaux dénoncent l’absence d’une vraie politique derrière cette « opération de nettoyage ». Le Nouvel Observateur rapporte une déclaration du Haut commissariat de l’ONU pour les réfugiés (HCR), pour qui « la fermeture de la jungle ne résout pas les problèmes des personnes concernées». Le ministre justifie son action en arguant que le démantèlement de la « jungle » permet au contraire de « casser le principal outil des filières clandestines dans la région ». Il a d’ailleurs annoncé qu’il y aurait d’autres démantèlements de ce type prochainement.

Charles Dubré

Nono : Car je veux déjà que l’année finisse.

En 2009 c’est le revival 20’s, les afghans de gare de l’est remettent à la mode la galle.

En 2009 la jungle ce n’était plus Tarzan et Cheeta mais Oslof et les associations.

En 2009 les gens ont travaillé plus pour sauver leurs jobs.

En 2009 on a remis le chômage central.

En 2009 la liberté d’expression s’est réduite sur Internet.

En 2009 on a abandonné toutes réflexions construites pour l’information (presqu’) en temps réel de Twitter.

En 2009 il fallait n’avoir que le bac pour se présenter à l’EPAD.

En 2009 les étudiants sont descendus dans la rue mais que dans les bons quartiers.

En 2009 il fallait réseauter socialement avec des cons qu’on déteste sur… les réseaux sociaux.

En 2009 les agriculteurs n’étaient pas contents contre l’Europe… comme l’année dernière.

En 2009 Mickael Jackson est devenu Christique.

En 2009 on a perdu la plupart des stars 80’s.

En 2009 un noir c’est fait élire au pays du KKK.

En 2009 aucun beur ne s’est fait élire au pays du fromage.

En 2009, il y’a eu un génocide au Gabon ?

En 2009 il existait des prostituées male de 40 ans en Thaïlande.

En 2009 on a cri(s)é.

En 2009 on se tuait à la tâche… surtout à France Telecom.

En 2009 personne ne peut t’expliquer clairement Clearstream.

En 2009 l’album de Carla Bruni comme si de rien n’était ne s’est pas vendu…comme si de rien n’était.

En 2009 L’otage franco-colombienne était humainement pire que ses propres tortionnaires.
En 2009 les auvergnats sont la cible d’attaque raciste.

En 2009 le mot anglais mood était très proche de mode.

Pablo :

En 2009 il fallait être cinéaste pour se faire pardonner sa pédophilie.

En 2009 le FN a lu des livres paru 4 ans plus tôt.

En 2009 on n’a pas parlé de “canicule”.

En 2009 on n’a pas non plus parlé des tentes Quechua.

En 2009 les anglais ont découvert que les matons racistes existaient… surtout dans les camps de rétention de demandeurs d’asile.

En 2009 des femmes ont été lapidées par des barbares.

En 2009 des noirs ont reçu une injection létale par d’autres barbares.

En 2009 quelques chanceux ont toutefois pu y échapper grâce à leur physionomie.

En 2009 tous les barbares n’avaient donc pas la même efficacité.

En 2009 des gens ont regretté Jacques Chirac, même des gauchistes.

En 2009 les bus n’avaient toujours pas d’air bag.

En 2009 les bus volants ont connu des turbulences.

En 2009 des rafales ont fait des étincelles.

En 2009 Marie Trintignant n’a pas ressuscité, pas plus que Noir Désir.

En 2009 la ligue 2 était plus intéressante que la ligue 1.

En 2009 l’affaire clearstream n’a fait peur à personne.

En 2009 le FMI a été harcelé sexuellement.

En 2009 Ségolène avait mauvaise haleine.

En 2009 la presse a perdu des lecteurs.

Nono :

En 2009, Sarkozy cassait le mur de berlin…en 1989.

En 2009, on aimait toujours les artistes, pas les majors.

En 2009, le grand politologue et scientifique Bigard nous apprenait que le 11 Septembre était un complot en se basant sur les propos des grands philosophes Cotillard et Kasovitz.

En 2009, Claude Lévi-Strauss est mort deux fois le même jour, une fois physiquement, l’autre fois quand BHL lui a rendu hommage

Si vous voulez rajouter votre pierre à l’édifice, marquez vos phrase en commentaire, sur twitter ou tatouez-le vous sur le bras.

We crossed all England in a day
Hitchin lifts along the way.
On arrival at the docks in France
We knew we didn’t have a chance.
‘Gettin to Paris is gonna be easy
With only twenty quid, believe me!’
The trucks ain’t movin and neither are we,
We’re stuck in this dive next to the sea.
For fuck’s sake, it’s for charity!
Look at my t-shirt, drivers- look at me!
We’re desperate to get to the Eiffel Tower
But really us English don’t have the power.
The French wave their arms and shrug their shoulders-
They don’t give a shit and nobody told us!
Our cardboard signs are getting droopy,
I’m so damn tired I’m goin loopy,
Find me some beer and a place to sleep,
At least this trip has been pretty cheap.
Be thankful for mercies, however small.
Now there’s the problem, convincing us all
To keep thinking positive and not give in,
Persuade each other that we could still win.
But we know that’s crap as we sit in the cold,
Something we’ll laugh at (a lot) when we’re old.
I’m sick of the sight of Calais, my friend-
Only Scott Adams knows when this will end.
Face it guys, we’re staying here.
Don’t all rush at once to cheer.
We left our luck in the back of a truck,
And frankly now I don’t give a fuck.

She didn’t remember inventing them. They were just there, in the blue darkness. The invisible one talked, the other was silent. She named them Pan and Xan.
“They’re demons,” she said.
Her mother told her father, “They’re just imaginary friends.”
“If a demon gets inside you, it makes you evil,” her brother said.
They weren’t inside her. They lurked. At night Pan whispered to her, teaching her their strange language. When she went down the dark hallway, she could see Xan waiting for her at the stairs.
An adult now, she still sees Xan’s shadow. Pan whispers, we’re always here.

The weather has turned in the last few days – by day the winds are chilling and by night the first frosts creep in. In Calais, since the camps nicknamed the ‘Jungle’ have been destroyed, large numbers of those waiting to seek asylum in the UK are being forced to sleep on the streets, without shelter or blankets. Finding this far beyond the realms of reason, groups from Bristol are gathering blankets, warm clothes and other essentials to respond to this urgent humanitarian crisis.

Jungle - Destroyed

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS, CLOSE TO HOME?

Children as young as ten are sleeping under bridges. If found taking shelter or sleeping out, peoples’ few possessions are removed, their blankets sprayed with chemicals and their temporary refuges destroyed or evicted. These are people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Eritrea and other zones of conflict, whose situation the UK and other western governments have been instrumental in worsening. French immigration policy, voiced by minister Eric Besson, has chosen however to ignore its complicity in these broader issues, calling (like the UK Border Agency) for stricter border controls and the use of state power to break up any signs of their existence.

BLANKET APPEAL, YOU CAN HELP!

We don’t think that this is acceptable. Thousands of people attempting to move across Europe to seek asylum or a new life are stranded as a result. The associations and charities of Calais cannot cope with such a humanitarian catastrophe, and as an act of solidarity we would like to collectively respond by transporting aid there from Bristol. If you would like to join us in expressing your indignation or support, please help us collect for the two ‘convoys’ which will leave Bristol on November the 6th and November the 26th.

We welcome:
blankets
sleeping bags
warm clothes (especially winter jackets and waterproofs)
rocket stoves , camping gas stoves
mens shoes
tents
tarpaulin
rope
tools

Collection points until 26th November will be:

* the Welcome Centre drop-in, Newton Street, Easton: Wednesdays 10.00 – 12.00 and Thursdays 10.00 – 16.00
* Kebele Social Centre, Robertson Rd, Easton: Saturday 11:00 – 14:00 and Sunday 18:00 – 21:00

Thank you.

* If you would prefer to give a donation then please make cheques payable to Bristol No Borders, c/o Kebele, 14 Robertson Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 6HB or make a bank transfer to Sort code 089299, Account number 65330812, quoting reference 51771 to ensure it comes to the right account. THANKS

28th October

I´m in a hospital waiting room in Segovia, waiting. Waiting to have a small incision made in my armpit. While waiting I read the Calais 9 zine that E made. I´m happy to read some of my own words in there. It´s very well put together and brings up lots of bubbles of emotion. Tears come at times, but I blink them back, conscious of the neon lights and the other waiting waiters in the waiting room.

Three quotes in the zine get me thinking about privilege:

• “In ‘So you think you’re an Anti-racist?’ Gorski describes racism as “an institutional structure that provides access and opportunity to some at the expense of others.” This means that anyone who has a passport is complicit in maintaining and justifying the border regime. “White people are privileged by racism; even if we aren’t consciously contributing to it.  Since we reap the benefits, we also hold the responsibility to challenge the system that benefits us.””
• “White privilege: “an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was meant to remain oblivious.”"
• “In the context of Calais, my privilege is less like a package and more like a huge white elephant, one which is painful, oppressive and unjust, and one which must be acknowledged to be deconstructed.”

When I came to this hospital, they asked for my passport. When I used the internet earlier, they asked for my passport. When I booked into a Pensión last night, driven by fatigue and cold and worries about my tent being seen, I was asked for my passport. I don´t have the words in Spanish to ask why a passport should be necessary for internet access, medical treatment and a place to lay my head. I´m just left thinking of all my friends who don´t have one and are constantly denied such luxuries.

I can relate to the white elephant analogy. A memeory of the time I waited in the ferry queue on my bike while Afghan friends passed by the other side of a 20ft white metal fence, smiling and waving their goodbyes, draws sharply into focus. It wasn´t just white railings between us; that elephant was there too. I was embarrassed. Embarrassed to be on that side of the fence, exposing my privilege for all the world to see; and yes, if I´m honest, embarrassed also under the gaze of  the passport control and the motorists - my co-priviliged fellow travellers – to be waving at these illegals who are not a part of our gang.

I think that´s what I hate about tourists: privilege flaunters. But now I am one too. Staying in a Pensión, taking walks around this beautiful place with bars called “La Colonial” and all it´s national identity. The beautiful ancient walls and castles designed to keep people out, statues and memorials glorifying conquerors and the invasion of other lands. But yes, they are pretty.

I have just had word that some of our Iranian friends, including at least three of the four hunger strikers, have made it to England. This is great news, except two of them – Benjamin and Ali – are in a detention centre. I imagine them hiding in a lorry and the joy they must have felt when they knew they had made it. I wonder how they are feeling now. I know just a little of what they have each gone through in order to make this journey and it´s more than anyone should experience.

Some recent stuff about Calais:

• Calais 9 zine
• Activist Trauma Support booklet
• No Mercy blog

An excellent new Zine about the fucking awful situation in Calais and the resistance to the repression can be found here: calais-94 or here

Extract :

Rasheed. This is the second time Rasheed has tried to move to England, his account makes sobering reading, yet despite this, he continues to smile, happy to talk about his experiences, in the hope that it will improve life for others. Eight hours after I did this interview I watched as the CRS arrested Rasheed for a second day in a row under the bridges. He was released after a couple of hours, a lucky escape as today the first charter flight containing 40 Afghans in the joint operation between UK and France has left from Paris, despite protests from many groups…

“In 2003 I went to England from my home of Afghanistan. I lived in Portsmouth for three and a half years, and then I was deported to Azerbaijan and then Kabul. I left after 4 months to begin my journey back to England. I went to Pakistan, then Iran, through Turkey then Greece. I spent one and a half years in Patras; it is very difficult to cross there with the navy. Then I made it to Albania, but then I was taken back to Greece. I left again, to Macedonia, then Serbia. I spent two and a half months in prison in Serbia. Then I went to Hungary and Austria but on the Swiss border I was caught and spent 1 month in detention there. I went back to Austria and spent another month and a half in a detention centre in Salzburg. I went to Hungary, then back to Austria, then Italy, and finally France. I have been in Calais for 10 days. I want to go back to England because everywhere else there is trouble. ‘Asylum’ in Italy and France means nothing; you have no shelter, no work. In Calais I am arrested all the time, and then released after 1-2 hours. This morning I was arrested.I am afraid to return to Afghanistan.

The Taliban and America are at battle. If you work with the Taliban, America says you are Al Qaida. If you work with America, the
Taliban say why, you are Muslim? America has some control in Kabul, but in the provinces the Taliban rule. It is very dangerous, at night time the Taliban come. They rule the border with Pakistan, where drug smugglers rule. This is 1,400 kilometres long. If I go back I am in danger. The Taliban sent me a letter before I left accusing me of working with America because I wouldn’t help them. In my province there are many CID (Criminal Intelligence Department) agents, everyone hears your words. They come at night. There is no work for me. I am an artist, a designer, but I cannot work in Kabul. I have spent 2 years travelling now, my mind isn’t working anymore. I have lost all my family; I spent all my money trying to get to England, so if I am deported I am in trouble. I like no borders because it means no detention, no deportation, no finger prints.”