Volunteering in Calais with ‘Economic Migrants’

Back in August, I decided to volunteer for a charity that looks after refugees in Northern France called Care4Calais. My holiday plans for this year were scrapped. My holiday to Spain back in March long. I only just got funds refunded. The ongoing uncertainty from changes in government policy at the drop of a hat, suggested any travel this year should be local. I didn’t fancy a #Staycation and Calais was closer to my home city than most of England.

So here it was.

 

A little bit about me and my privilege:

Technically it wasn’t a holiday. Somehow it seemed so rewarding, providing a satisfaction I have yet to experience in any of my previous jobs. Anything from working in a stuffy government office somewhere, being stuck on a phone to angry consumer privilege venting itself. This was exactly the opposite of the Care4Calais experience – A positive and constructive retake on the system we live in.

I have written a more detailed account of my experience here, seemingly from very tinted rose coloured glasses. A lot more came out of the experience on a personal level that doesn’t warrant making the article about me.

I will say that the line; “The politics behind terminology like ‘Economic Migrants’ needs to be buried .. ( I originally wrote..) along with any c*nts that are happy to perpetuate it.”

I was honest with myself from the start. I was there to see behind the media spin and found out the truth of the situation for myself. Although having been keeping up with the charity since the clearing of the now famous Calais jungle, I have been following the Facebook group and knew a few people who had volunteered, I wasn’t shocked by anything I saw.

I knew that ‘casual racism’ had been the trend in British politics for a while now. Naturally, it has been growing openly acceptable since Brexit in less obvious ways than before, under the guise of the ‘you can’t even say this anymore/ethnic cleansing for white people‘ rhetoric that had been previously reserved for old age pensioners and skinheads. This activity arguably helped block any potentially civilised debate about Britain leaving the EU, which never even got past the gate.

I saw how the former ‘Oh here come the Politically correct brigade’ crowd had formed an alliance with the ’Britain used to be a Christian (white) country’ chorus line’, as a whole generation of Political first-timers tagged along, laughing at memes. All rallying to Nigel Farage’s battle cry of ‘Getting our country back’.

That battle was over but all it took was Nigel Farage pointing at refugees crammed in a dinghy on channel to get the old band (wagon) back together. All under the not even thinly veiled pretence of ‘Patriotism’.

So my natural inclination was to just be objective to whatever the British media report, on principle. and see where it leads me. Many of my suspicions were proven correct. Turns out the French government can be arseholes as the British. Although the local Police never displayed any particular negativity towards me as a visitor, I saw and heard evidence to the contrary.  

A fellow volunteer shared some stories shortly after I wrote my article, giving first-hand accounts from the mouths of the refugees themselves about how hard their lives have been. 

It shows up my article for the sugar-coated feel-good story it was and contradicts the optimistic worldview that I inevitably misled people with. It is important that people should absorb as many perspectives as possible in this situation to shatter the linear media narrative and challenge the evergrowing sphere of deflective propaganda we are being immersed in. 

When anyone has a perception of life that is shown to be significantly elevated above that of others. This can mean they never discover experiences they are not even aware of, often due a comfortable and easier lifestyle. Then I feel it is that person’s duty to challenge or question their perceptions of the community around them.

This is how checking your privilege works.

 

Below is a selection of mixed articles on the Calais refugee crisis:

Photos and interviews of refugees in Calais from a volunteer here

An article from a British tabloid newspaper publication here 

A revealing article from a fellow volunteer who was present at the same time here.

 

 

 

 

 

A WORD ON NOSTRADAMUS

There’s been a lot in the news recently about Nostradamus predictions describing the global Coronavirus epidemic we are now facing. Some examples are presented below but is there anything in it?

 

Nostradamus is famous for being carted out to justify every nutter’s Doomsday prophecy from here to Zion. The backstory is intriguing and won’t mean much outside of mystic or astrological circles but every now and then, it seems he is dug up by the news, at the faintest whiff of any global crisis. There is a surge of brief interest as new generations rediscover him.

It is likely he was as equally regarded and disregarded as much in his own time, as he is now.

I have been reading his stuff most of my life and like everyone should, I take it with a huge pinch of salt, or not at all. His writings are appealing to the primitive, superstitious parts of our human need to connect with our ancient, tribal subconscious that helped us survive as we evolved over millions of years.

To actually pin down anything decent would probably require nothing short of PHDs in Astrology and History with a lifetime spent studying religious texts like the Bible and Torah. His coded predictions arrived in short verses of straight prose called quatrains. They were steeped in a tapestry of myths and codes designated to references anywhere between ancient civilisations and religious dogma. I have read several books on him over the years but I am far from an expert.  I am not sure anyone can be.

My advice is to read all his quatrains point-blank, in their original linear arrangement. Then try to decipher them. Taking aside the sensible notion that most of what he wrote was probably utter bollocks! Any narrative in Nostradmus’ coded rhetoric is as much random poetry than any form of recognised scientific formula. It is only in hindsight that some of his quatrains seem convincing but this is as much proven to chance or random probability, due to the rich tapestry of vague metaphors and myths he smothers his philosophical narratives in. Here are some popular themes that demonstrate my points and generally how and why it can be tricky understanding his ‘predictions.’

 

The Millenium

The concept of the millennium is one of the only ways to accurate place Nostradamus’ predictions in a timeframe. If we assume his quatrains can be read in a linear sequential order, then the only certain way to date them is between  Century X –Quatrains 72-74 when fairly clear references to the millennium are made:

“The year 1999 seventh month” and “ The year of the great seventh number accomplished… Not far from the great millennial age.”

The logic then is that every quatrain after this is obviously after the year 1999.

Gregorian or Julian calendar?

His predictions go up to a 7^th or 8^th millennium. Nostradamus was born 1503 an died in 1566 so his writings should align with the Julian calendar, before our Gregorian calendar introduced in 1582. There could be an argument that forecasts of any specific events could be delayed, due to a lapse of time accrued from historical anomalies over the centuries, from things like 29^th February on leap years and daylight savings time etc.

Prior to the Gregorian calendar, current dates in the Julian calendar ( named after Julius Ceasar) runs about 13 days behind today’s dates. So there is not a huge difference.

The very lucid and vague nature of his predictions tend to undermine any serious attempt at precise efforts in timekeeping. Nostradamus was an astrologer so it is likely his predictions align to astrological charts more than anything. The stars and planets in the cosmic order that make up the astrological calendar perhaps have their own ideas of timekeeping.

According to Kurt Allgeier [1999] in his book ‘The new prophecies of Nostradamus’, anyone who used Nostradamus to predict the end of the world is to be held suspiciously (P.77). Allgeier says that some mathematical measurements can be made in what is referred to as an earth year (25,827 calendar years. A world day lasts 77 years (P.87). The mere introduction of an astrologically based timetable, will put some positivist scientific minds at unease. Any general scientific-based rationale is probably at odds with the superstitious, shamanistic qualities of Nostradamus’ work anyway. Any intellectual fascination is confined to curiosity, with as much academic credibility as a Dr Who episode.

Again, pinches of salt.

New York

The city of New York is generally accepted as the target of his references to ‘The New City’.  When he gives the number ’45’, it is regarded by some as latitude marking the geographical location on a map. The Americas only recently discovered, so giving co-ordinates for a future New York city seem farfetched. It is also strange that precise numbers rarely come up in his 7000 odd year history of predictions.

If this IS true, then a reference to “Garden of the world near the new city,” (Quatrain X, 49) could be New Jersey as it is referred locally as the Garden State. This whole quatrain is however dated before the year 1999. There are a few ominous predictions around the ‘New City’ scattered through 10 centuries of quatrains.

The gruesome quatrains famously allocated to the September 11th disaster have appeared around the same turn of the millennium but depictions of fire from the sky or earth-shattering fire could be anything from missiles to earthquakes.

If you let them,  some quatrains can really play on your mind:

“Earth-shaking fire from the center of the Earth.
will cause the towers around the New City to shake”.

If like some, you accept this as a prediction of the September 11th attacks (Centre of the earth possibly being from middle east?) This quatrain is dated from Century 1, Quatrain 87 so it seems to contradict any linear time structure. New York went through name changes including New London and New Amsterdam, so maybe that is why there were no specific references. The term ‘New City’ is horrendously vague.

You may well question it without seeing the entire quatrain in context but … context is quite elusive in terms of Nostradamus. As my opening point about reading all quatrain verses in sequential order, as written.

 

WAR in Iraq

There are far too many references to WW2 to mention and Hitler, who was rumoured to be more than aware of Nostradamus. There are plenty of references easily deciphered as middle-eastern war. Leading many presumably in a fanatical western Christian mindset to assume a WW3 with Iran.

This quatrain #86 is from Century X:

 “Like a griffin will come the King of Europe,
Accompanied by those of Aquilon:
He will lead a great troop of red ones and white ones,
And they will go against the King of Babylon.”

Clear cut references to Europe and ‘Aquilon’ translate as (North Wind) but even outside of Nostradamus speak, Babylon was obvious the ancient name for Iraq/Iran.

Annoyingly I sense bias from AllGeier as he interprets ‘Red and White Ones’ as Socialist or Communists and implies Russia but I don’t recall them having such a strong role in either Iraq wars. There was however a supposed coalition under George W Bush, post-September 11th.

Remember that the year 1999 was ‘established’ in Century X #72.

This quatrain was dated #86 of the same century. A margin of 14 quatrains.

There is no rigid formula of measuring the passing of time accurately in Nostradamus that but it at least gives a closer proximity to the year 2000. The fact Iraq has been invaded twice over 20 years doesn’t really clarify anything.

The reality is Europe or the West invading a country in the middle east was probably on the cards anyway. There is at least 57 years of peace after this according to AllGeier … before a 25 year war kicks off (P.181). So, swings and roundabouts.

Plague

The big one: 2019 is the year of the global Coronavirus epidemic and you saw the reference in the article above from ‘the week’ (quatrain #53 from Century II) citing “the great plague of the maritime city”. The fact that certain parties tried to force a link between a landlocked fishmarket in China’s Wuhan district and an actual seaside city proves the dominant role of superstition over lateral thought. However, could the ‘maritime city’ be a coded name for Venice?

When people think or act superstitious, the desperation to survive makes us instinctively tap into the collective consciousness of our ancient primordial ‘herd’ mentality as we try to control fate. This is the irrational danger that Nostradamus predictions incite. It is arguably the same reason why panic buyers, immersed in a society orientated around consumer ideology, have acted to secure some form of materialist safety over organic, biological threats as written in my prev blog

There is a quatrain within Nostradamus’ secret letter to Henry II that refers to plague overtaking 3 or 2 parts of the earth and cities shall be overgrown and perhaps uninhabitable. Allgeier interprets this quatrain as a ‘Nuclear winter’ (P.178). but the lines fit well with an ongoing, organic threat:

“Meanwhile, such a plague will arise that more than two thirds of the world will be removed. One will be unable to ascertain the true owners of fields and houses, and weeds growing in the streets of cities will rise higher than the knees. ..Its greatest cities will be depopulated and those who enter will fall under the vengeance of the wrath of God.”

Interesting lines that insinuate a plague but in the context of the letter it’s reads more like an ongoing campaign of war. It is also difficult to date.

There closest prediction to Coronavirus is a coincidental mention of a plague to Italy and Zaragosa (Region near Barcelona) in quatrain #75 from the 3rd century:

“Pau, Verona, Vicenza, Saragossa, From distant swords lands wet with blood: Very great plague will come with the great shell, Relief near, and the remedies very far”

More importantly, only 2 quatrains down in the same century (#77) the year 1727 is quoted.

Back in century II, quatrain #52 of the same century is credited as being about the Fire of London in 1666 because of the 2nd line:

“The blood of the just will commit a fault at London,

Burnt through lightning of twenty threes the six ( =1666).

The ancient lady will fall from her high place,

Several of the same sect will be killed.”

This quatrain appeared in linear sequence only 4 above the quatrain # 46 that was supposed to be about the millennium:

“After great trouble for humanity, a greater one is prepared

The Great Mover renews the ages:

Rain, blood, milk, famine, steel and plague,

Is the heavens fire seen, a long spark running.”

Geier translate the last line as: “In the sky can be seen fire running in long sparks”.

 Even though these lines come very early in quatrain order, the references to the ‘great mover renew the ages’ was interpreted by Geier as a potential second millennium ( P.149).

This idea of a reference to a (second) millenium doesn’t fit the sequential linear order of timekeeping. At least the years 1666 and 1727 are relatively closer. So can we assume quatrains in Century II appear clearly in sequential order? In Century X, quatrains #91 gives the year 1609 randomly. This is far past the 1999 pre-Millenium ‘benchmark’ quatrain # 72 that was mentioned earlier. So we are no closer in identifying a solid sequential linear timeline.

Many articles have recently written about Nostradamus interpreting a huge plague in the year 2020 but we know his predictions are rarely that specific. Also, talk of ‘plague’ is not really anything new, having been a strong theme since Biblical times. The paragraphs that do reflect a heavy plague were either in a personal letter to King Henry II or scattered around quatrains from Century I-II. Without accurate dating, they might as well refer to The Black Death in the 16^th century.

More importantly, there are no obvious quatrains indicating a global killer plague past the established 1999 timeframe.

However, in his 2011 book specifically about the ongoing theme of the antichrist in Nostradamus’ writings, Mario Reading seem to interpret  ‘A worldwide epidemic’ in quatrain #62 from century II. For some reason he dates passages from Century II as the year 2000 AD and beyond. So he dates the quatrain below (#62 from Century II) with the year 2062:

Mabus ( code for antichrist). Though dead, returns

Both man and beast suffer terribly,

Then, all of a sudden vengeance arrives

Much blood, thirst, hunger, when the comet passes.”

Reading gives a summary interpretation as a “ virus though defeated flares up again” earth population vastly decreased because of it ( [2011] P. 282-285).  The dating given by Reading [2011] means it is about 59 later than our current Coronavirus situation. However, this quatrain is century II, so quite how the author made this conclusion on subject matter is hard to fathom. It is possible he made a literal interpretation on date i.e. century II #62 = 2062 A.D. That would contradict other interpretations of a linear timeline.

Below is quatrain #19 from century II. It is also fitting to our current global epidemic state but then again, plagues and war are not exclusive to our time :

“Newcomers, place built without defense, Place occupied then uninhabitable: Meadows, houses, fields, towns to take at pleasure, Famine, plague, war, extensive land arable.”

Inconsistencies in timing and ridiculously vague prose in quatrain verses, scattered around history is the bulk of the reason why Nostradamus isn’t taken very seriously. The added nature of religious and superstitious dogma makes it irrationally compatible with any post-Platonic basis of scientific thought.

SO when you see a newspaper plucking a seemingly transparent and precise Nostradamus prediction, from centuries of vague and poetic text, it is usually edited or presented out of context. Which is what most newspapers do in our current time anyway.

Some have argued that Nostradamus’ work needs to be cross-referenced with biblical sources .. presumably Revelations for his apocalypse prophecies but accurately pinpointing exact historical facts in the bible is a hard enough job in itself.  This is why those that are most likely to feel passionate about finite answers in Nostradamus, tend to have zealous/religious interests.

Either way, British tabloid newspaper have even less credibility.

 

Now, just for a laugh: Brexit?

At the end of his quatrains of Century X ( established as post-2000) there are some interesting lines that Brexiteers might find interesting:

 

99 – 100: “The end of wolf, lion, ox and ass,
Timid deer they will be with mastiffs…

..The great empire will be for England,
The all-powerful one for more than three hundred years:
Great forces to pass by sea and land,
The Lusitanians will not be satisfied thereby.”

(Lusitanians are Indo-European people living in the west of the Iberian Peninsula prior the conquest by the Roman Republic.)

Mario Reading [2011] seems to interpret a quatrain from century  X/66  as England and Scotland falling out over the EU in 2066.

“The chief of London through the realm of America,

 the Isle of Scotland will be tried by frost,

King and Reb will face an Antichrist so false,

That he will place them in the conflict all together.”

 

This does not bode well for those hard Brexiteers wanting a quick exit.

Once again, any interpretation is as good as any other. In many ways, Nostradamus was Postmodern ahead of his time, where iconic metaphors were used as coded signs and signifiers in their own self -referential networks of meaning. One that only he could sem to understand. Assuming any of it was meant to be understood, literal or symbolically. According to Nostradamus book writer Nostradamus merely believed history repeated itself and thus projected known past events into the future. (Radford [2017]) . This may explain the constant futuristic relevance in so many of the quatrains from Century II and the flitting of solid dates amongst the years.

 

Who knows? . . .  (Nostradamus, probably )

 

If you are curious then you can find his complete quatrains in linear, sequential format by numerical century here.

 

 

My sources: ( apart from Nostradamus)

Reading, Mario [2011] ‘Nostradamus & The Third Antichrist; , Watkins Publishing, London

Allgeier, Kurt [1999] ‘The New Prophecies of Nostradamus’. GIE publishing, Germany

Further reading:

I would also highly recommend reading ‘The Stars Down to Earth’ by Theodor .W. Adorno [2001]

Available online here: http://basis-frankfurt.de/sites/default/files/pictures/adorno.pdf