Day Seven – trade unionists 4 Calais – Friday 19th February
This was the final day for many of our delegation. The most amazing and surprising thing about the visit is the number of friends people have made in the camp. It was not a visit where we just went and had something to give – it was a mutual exchange of friendship, human stories, and cups of hot sweet tea.
The group in the end included over 60 trade unionists and activists, of which 30 were teachers. We were really grateful to the wonderful Ecole Laique Des Dunes (school) for accommodating us and making us feel welcome. The adult room was where there was most demand. Turning up with no schedule, no lesson plans, no green pens, no drop-ins or observations, many said they had taught their best lessons and felt that this work reminded them of why they went into teaching.
Teachers and students alike turn up at the school looking for English or French classes and quickly groups form around tables, assessment are made of levels and two hours slip by. You have to force people to take a break and they want to know what time you are starting again, often they are waiting for you the next day. During our lunch break, we took some paints and wallpaper, and painted a banner to hold an impromptu protest outside the school. ‘Save our School’ is a small part of the wider urgent need to try and stop the demolition of 50% of the camp.
This school that has taken months to build and is a beautiful warm and safe corner, so much in demand, could be bulldozed early next week. There is a legal challenge that will be heard by a judge on Tuesday. The authorities say that there are only 3,000 people in the camp but reliable estimates put the number at 45000 to 6,000.
Teachers who have been in Calais over half term will be returning to work but we have a protest called by Stand up to racism, on Monday in Downing Street and there will be a dedicated bunch of teachers there on the demo, with a real passion to save the camp. This is not because we agree that people should be living in a muddy industrial estate with few facilities. The alternatives are shipping containers like a prison camp, with no social spaces or being shipped off to respite centres, with little hope of gaining asylum. There is not enough room for all of the people displaced even if they did agree to the alternatives.
Refugees will end up coming back to Calais because they have friends and relatives in the UK and want to join them. The solution must be for the UK to agree to take these refugees in. Many of us will be back to help when we can, but we will all go back to our trade unions, raise the issue, contact politicians and urge them to meet the basic human rights of people fleeing war violence, instability and poverty.
One teacher wrote of her experience: “Thanks for all your messages of encouragement but the reason I’m writing this is to let everyone know what is happening at Calais camp in the hope that you will spread the word and do something to help. Teaching continued with our classes more in demand each day to the point there was no more room in the classroom. I’ve never worked with people so keen to learn – a pleasure to teach and we had a lot of fun too, against the background of desperation when you hear people’s stories.
One person I worked with (an accountant from Khartoum who got on the wrong side of the government and had to flee for his life) had spent 3 years getting here, and having tried to make a go of it in several countries on the way (he claims to have been beaten up in 8 different countries) he decided to join his brother in London, only to realise after 3 months in Calais that this was the end of the road – the only way to get any further is to risk death jumping on a ferry or a train, and now in his forties he says he is beyond all that. Like many people I spoke to, he has no idea what to do now and is just existing in limbo.
What comes across very clearly is that so many people in the camp are escaping situations that have been caused or exacerbated by western foreign policy – Iraqis, Afghans and Syrians.
The camp is a shitty place to live – it’s partly built on a dump where slabs of exposed asbestos have been found – it’s literally freezing cold and very muddy with big pools of filthy water around. There are portaloos but not enough and you really don’t want to use them after about 10 am as they get progressively filthier during the day. We had a chance to have a better look around and discovered all kinds of social spaces and services that have sprung up – an Eritrean church, another school, vaccination centre, a youth centre, an arts centre, shops, restaurants, clubs and even a “hotel”.
These places are a testimony to the resourcefulness of the residents and the commitment of some very dedicated volunteers. They make the camp that little bit easier to survive in, as there is an opportunity to get out of your tent and spend time with other people. Shamefully it is many of these spaces that are due to be bulldozed by the French authorities in the very near future, along with a large area of the tents. It is not clear what people are supposed to do when their homes are destroyed – there are some containers (with no windows) that have been provided by the French authorities but they resemble a prison camp, there are not enough of them and apparently they are not for the children.
I imagine many residents will end up sleeping on the streets of Calais where they are vulnerable to increasing hostility and attacks from racists, who have already been attacking the camp at night. The adult school where we worked, the children’s school next door, a meeting space and climbing frame, all built by a volunteer, are all due to be flattened. It worries me what effect this will have on the people who worked so hard to build them and those who have been using them. It’s difficult to know what to do about all of this.
The camp is awful but while people have nowhere else to go it is better than a flattened camp, so we have to stop the bulldozers. There is a demonstration outside Downing St on Monday 22nd at 6pm against the evictions. In the long term people can’t stay there indefinitely. The camp is no place for children, and there is a petition going around to sign. It is no good for adults either and this point needs to be made to MPs also.
There is not a huge number of people in Calais – probably about 4,000 to 6,000 – they could easily be accommodated in the UK, and should be, given the part the UK played in creating the conditions for their situation. Please tell people about what is happening. If you have time you could write to your MP asking for people to be allowed in. Raise the issue with your trade union. Care4Calais and other organisations are still trying to raise money to continue their work, if you can donate. I will definitely be going back to help in the school when I have more time and there is plenty of work in the warehouse etc for others to do if you interested.
