Day One – trade unionists for Calais – Saturday 13th February
On our first night in Calais there were nine of us who met up, included five NUT members. ‘We are Wakefield’ had been here since Thursday and had spent a day at the Grand Synthe camp in Dunkirk. They were searched as they went on to the camp, in case they were taking pallets or building materials, into the camp. This leaves the refugees with little chance to improve the conditions in the camp and are forced to live in tents and surrounded by mud in the freezing cold.
On Saturday morning a further five people arrived including two UCU members from Lambeth college, plus ten people came on a Eurostar including RMT members, PCS Westminster members and some DPAC activists. Birmingham Stand up to Racism also arrived with a delegation of 12 and by the evening our party was over 40. So many that eating a pizza together was a huge demand on the understanding but overstretched pizza restaurant, trying to feed couples out for a Valentine’s meal, alongside our large group.
All the members of our delegation spent some time in a warehouse, either Auberges de Migrants or Care for Calais and sometime in the camp. They brought with them thousands of pounds of donations and collections they had made through union branches or workplaces back in the UK.
A group of us met with a refuge Samir, who took us into a makeshift shack and treated us all to a cup of tea. We asked him about the current situation. Half of the camp has been threatened with demolition in just over a week. “Let them come and bulldoze us and kill us on our beds” he said. Moving into the containers where the refugees are palm printed and where they fear their ability to claim asylum will be jeopardised, is not an option they will willingly take. It is the only option being offered by the authorities.
This demolition would include the bulldozing of much of the community that has been established including school rooms, a library, theatre spaces, and the destruction of a level of freedom to come and go.
The people we meet are people who want to use their skills, their ability to speak languages, to meet with family members and friends in the UK. Our work as trade unionists for Calais is to hear their stories, offer them our solidarity and bring what we have seen and heard into our workplaces and trade union branches. This is part of the crucial job of countering the lies and denigrating language used by Cameron and sections of the media to describe human beings fleeing hardship.
If you would like to donate to the Trade Unionists 4 Calais trip you can do so here
