It is good that the crass and inhuman comments made by the prime minister David Cameron and his foreign secretary Phillip Hammond about the “swarm” of migrants “marauding” towards Calais have been exposed for the political posturing that they were. Nasty political posturing too, trying to score points at the expense of some of the most desperate people on this earth.
The media coverage and political rhetoric and scaremongering has been effective in creating anger about what’s been going on in Calais, but the reality, compared to other countries around Europe, is that the mass movement of refugees has barely touched the UK. The overwhelming majority of migrants who have landed in Europe actually don’t want to come to Britain where, as Theresa May unhelpfully pointed out, “the streets are not paved with gold”. And even if they were, that is not what this crisis is all about. They are not travelling halfway round the world in order to get the £30-odd quid they can get in refugee benefits, far less than they get in other countries like France. Most of them are not “economic migrants” either, but so what if they were?
We are being presented with a narrative that we are about to be swamped by migrants and the government does nothing to explain the reality. What is happening in Calais, where people are living in utter squalor in filthy refugee camps is a terrible indictment of the west’s attitude to these poor people who have lost everything. The red tops show us pictures of men, running to get in lorries. In the Mediterranean, hundreds of people have been drowning to escape the murderers of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. They are human beings. They might have different coloured skin, but they are the victims of failed states that we, in the west, have allowed to happen and in the case of Iraq almost encouraged to happen.
Some decent-hearted folk horrified by what’s happening in Calais decided to set up a Just Giving page to raise £1000 to, and I quote from their page, “To provide food, clothing and shelter to refugees. because basic human rights are our shared responsibility.” Hear, hear, I say to that. £1000 is a big ask given what the public mood is probably like, given the attitude of powerful politicians and influential newspapers, but I can report tonight that CalAid has exceeded achieved 4019% of the target. Yes, that’s right 4019%; a total to date of £41,508.
Now I was, and I wasn’t, surprised by this. I have seen some ugly comments directed towards the migrants in Calais, often linked with headlines from the likes of – surprise, surprise! – the Mail and Express who regard these people as slightly below vermin, but I have also seen a lot of sympathy. I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer size of the monies so far collected but it just goes to show that the truth behind what is really going on around the world is understood by far more people than politicians give them credit for. The prime minister’s response to the situation in Calais was to send more barbed wire and sniffer dogs and the rest of the government’s response has been “Nothing to do with me, guv”, as if it’s a minor local difficulty.
Politicians, including before the general election Labour, tried to make capital out of immigration. Ukip and the Tories were in a running battle to see who could be the nastiest to foreigners. Well, maybe there are no votes in supporting the migrants of Calais, but that needn’t be the case forever. If people can cut through the media hype and the politicians’ slogans, the reality of the migrants is very different from how some imagine it to be.
CalAid shows there is a decent level of understanding among some members of the public about what is happening all round the Middle East and parts of Africa, not to mention in Calais itself.
Cameron and his cronies think it’s all right to refer to desperate refugees in such ugly terms – Hammond even suggests these poor people threaten our standard of living – but I don’t think we’re a nation without a heart. And I support CalAid without any qualifications at all.
