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.
Rant &Rave 