Crossing Borders: Calais, Syria, Around Britain and Into Adulthood
Borders!
What are they good for?
Absolutely nothing!
(Particularly if you're trying to flee an armed conflict to a more stable country where you might be able to rebuild your life.)
As promised, after sending out July's missive, I hopped straight on my bike and hot-pedalled it down to Dover to catch a ferry to Calais. My purpose: to teach English with migrants from Sudan, Afghanistan, Eritrea and many other troubled places. And to find out exactly what was going on there in the name of British border control.
As a frequent traveller, I tend to take border crossing for granted. When I caught the train to Austria last year, the passport check was nothing more than a brief (and irritating) nap-interruption. As a British citizen, with blond hair and the Queen's English, I almost even got a smile from a border guard in Israel. And, of course, nobody so much as glanced at my passport as I cycled through border control in Dover.
People escaping the civil wars in Libya, Syria and Sudan, or bomb-wrecked Iraq and Afghanistan, have no such ease. If they manage to survive kidnap, slavery and torture, if they manage to survive the Sahara and the Mediterranean, then the lucky few face the border. And, make no mistake, what is easy for me, for us, is an intricate and sometimes deadly battle zone for them.
In 2009, the French agreed a deal to keep British border control - and therefore the "immigration problem" - in Calais, in exchange for an extra £15 million investment in sophisticated technology to capture the stowaways. This does not deter migrants from crossing, it only leads to increasingly dangerous efforts to evade capture: see the recent suffocation of an Indian man in a container from Zeebrugge.
"It's a game," one migrant tells me. "The Italians will give papers to anyone. They don't care. As long as you leave Italy and go to Calais. If you get caught and sent back to Italy, the police let you go and say 'Better luck next time!'"
Calais is one of the major crossing points from the continent to Britain. There are up to 1,500 migrants currently sleeping rough in Calais, hoping for their chance to cross. Since the Red Cross were shut down in Calais in 2003, there is nowhere reliable for these people to wash, to cook or even to sleep. Camps and squats pop up wherever they must, until the police shut them down with tear gas and pepper spray. Like a vast game of Whack-a-Mole. But these people have survived US and UK bombing campaigns, suffocation in containers, the underside of Albanian trains - they can survive without a regular place to shower.
Why do they suffer these indignities? Why, specifically, do they suffer these indignities to come to the UK? Why not stay in Italy, if they can get their asylum papers there?
Dozens of migrants gave me dozens of reasons for why the UK was their first choice:
"There is no work in Italy."
"Italy is very racist."
"I do not speak Italian."
"I love Birmingham!"
"I went to university in Hayes for six years."
"I have family in Glasgow."
"The UK army destroyed my country, so now I come to live in England."
"I used to work in a corner shop on Edgware Road."
All valid reasons. It seems reasonable that any person should want to live in a place where they can work, where they have friends and a community, where they can communicate with other people.
But, for me, it's even more basic. Why shouldn't these people, like all humanity on earth, be allowed to take their chances and their own free choices to make the best of life? If they believe that Italy is a bad choice, then what right does anyone have to refuse them their freedom to move somewhere else? What right has anyone to say: "You're in Italy, aren't you? You should be grateful!" Particularly when their home town lies in ruins and their family are all dead or in prison. I'd like to meet the disgruntled British passport-holder who is grateful for such a mercy.
You can read more on my blog, where I ask: Why do we need borders?
Above all, though, I'd recommend you go to Calais and see what is being done in your name for yourself. A good place to start is the waste ground behind Calais town hall at 6pm, where you can meet migrants waiting in a queue of 800 for what could be their only hot meal of the day. If you're interested in going deeper, you can get in touch with Calais Migrant Solidarity, who are always looking for people willing to help out.
Bike books and giveaway!
Phew. On to something more fluffy... If you're wondering where your copy of my book about cycling around Britain is, then - patience! I sent the manuscript (which I thought was almost finished) to a manuscript assessment service called, appropriately, TLC. If you're an avid writer, then you might be interested in reading what I thought of it on my blog. For the rest of you: I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait while I completely re-write the entire thing. The essential piece of feedback was: "Be more ambitious." The critic wanted something more distinctive from the book, that would make it stand out from the pulp that fills our bookshelves (I mean that in the most respectful way, of course - we are all pulp for the worms, in the end).
So, with thanks to the excellent Save the Cat! books, here is the book's new logline:
"Facing a long lonely summer after the break up of a tempestuous relationship, a directionless young man then loses his beloved nan and decides to cycle around Britain, guided by her memory; but as he tackles the external hardships of the lonely road, he must learn some universal internal lessons before arriving home to confront the realities he fled."
What do you think? Hit "Reply" and tell me. Is this a book you'd devour in one sitting? Is this a film you'd not snooze through? Is this a sandwich you'd gobble up in one mouthful?
Free books!
(Like free beer, but without the hangover)
The first five people to reply saying something useful will get a free paperback (a physical object, not the ebook!) copy of my mini-book on cycle touring, How to Cycle Four Thousand Miles When You HATE Lycra. If your email service doesn't work with hitting "Reply", send your email to: ds_charles@hotmail.com
Can't wait!
Things that aren't about me!
The Borderland
Ahead of September's referendum on Scottish independence, my friend Sarah Saey travelled along the border to find out what independence might mean for the people who live there. Her project, words and photographs in collaboration with photographer Jo Metson Scott, is called The Borderland.
You can read one of the stories on Accent Magazine:
"The following morning we returned to meet Glen, a young, quiet man with tattoos covering his neck. He invited us inside his cottage, which was unlit except for the fluorescent bulbs inside the twelve glass tanks that housed his reptile collection, made up of several snakes and a bearded dragon lizard. A large St George’s Cross hung on the wall. Glen didn’t say very much, only welcomed us in and went straight for his coat and shotgun..."
I love this story. You will be able to read the full series of stories, and feast your eyes upon the gorgeous photography, on the project website: www.theborderland.co.uk - coming soon!
LONDON, September 4th: Syria Film & Food Fundraiser
Location: Sanford Housing Cooperative, New Cross, London SE14 6NB
Date and Time: September 4th at 19:00
What: Food, a thought-provoking film and a stimulating discussion on the situation for Syrian children, surviving the civil war. Raising money for the production of a children’s magazine. The content of the magazine will be written and edited entirely by Syrian refugee children living in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon and aims to give an outlet to their creativity and provide a source of entertainment. The charity is called Syrian Eyes and is a project in collaboration with the activist group Syria Peace & Justice.
At last - something funny!
Please watch this: The Mark Thomas Comedy Product Special on the Asylum and Immigration Bill. It's from ages ago, but is still entirely relevant. And funny. (As long as you're happy with being some kind of wop, spik, itai, frog, dago, dane, bastard, pornstar, paddy mick cocktail.)
The beginning reminds me of that great bit in Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle where he does a joke about immigration and I laughed. I couldn't find an illegal link to that clip, so here's a different illegal clip to a different bit of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle where he does a joke about UKIP. I also laughed, but perhaps not quite as much.
I only mention this because I am very excited that Stew is coming to New Cross soon (shh - don't tell anyone!).
Thanks for reading. If you found this mail interesting, please like / tweet / forward to your friends, using the buttons below if you're as lazy as I am.
Speak soon,
David