Calais and the shantytown on its doorstep

April 20, 2016 11:46 AM

Once a centre of industry as well as a prosperous port, the city is now synonymous with the misery of migrants, and its residents are not enjoying their notoriety.
posted by Kitteh (7 comments total)

Remember the good old days when it used to be known as the place people took the ferry to in order to load up their cars with booze.
posted by srboisvert at 12:44 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

It still is. Absolutely rammed.
posted by cromagnon at 12:53 PM on April 20, 2016

They're mostly refugees. Even those that are 'migrants' come from countries systematically wrecked by imperialism.

500 died the other day in a barely reported boat sinking.

These are among the worst crimes of capitalism, and part of what the EU now specialises in ideologically legitimating. Vote Lexit.
posted by colie at 1:41 PM on April 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

Excellent reportage, thanks for the post. A couple of sample paragraphs:

Above, helicopters crisscross the skies. There are flashing lights, wailing sirens, men running, chased by security guards. I’m not blaming Eurotunnel, the company is just protecting its traffic; I wouldn’t know where to start dishing out blame in this situation: the French government, which is failing to do what needs to be done; Britain, which takes what it wants from Europe and leaves us to sort out the mess; or President George W Bush, who by invading Iraq set the Middle East ablaze. I haven’t forgotten that my subject is the people of Calais, not the migrants – Marguerite Bonnefille would surely remind me of my duty here – but I had to set the scene to show why in Calais, it’s hard to think of anything else.

[. . .]

And yet, Kader told me, this social centre was where he’d read his first Tintin comics as a boy, this is where his mother comes for her aerobics class every week – it’s not nothing, and what’s more, it’s all there is. The last stores in this part of town have closed. The only thing to move in has been the unemployment agency, where the jobless sign on once a week: that way, no one needs to move, not even to go into town, and as a result, no one does, except when they’re looking for a fight on Saturday night. It’s a nice detail but not much to go on, and I’ve got to say, Marguerite, I never saw anyone fellating a German shepherd.

I have no idea whether Carrère really got a long letter from "Marguerite Bonnefille" or if it's a literary device, but if the latter, it's a good one, allowing the author to present a certain local viewpoint in human form. I really like this kind of writing, where the reporter is constantly aware, and constantly reminds you, of their own limited knowledge and inability to discover what's "really" going on, while still doing the best they can to make you see and feel what's going on.
posted by languagehat at 2:56 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Any moment now Patton's army will land in Calais and prove that Normandy was just a diversionary raid.
posted by humanfont at 7:46 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I watched the start of Children Of Men last night - the parts showing caged refugees, heavily armed boarder guards, diggers destroying makeshift camps, strong anti-refugee propaganda. In 10 years that's gone from "chilling look at a possible future dystopia" to "holy shit this is actually happening right now".
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:50 AM on April 21, 2016 [4 favorites]

Yes the EU is now funding internment camps in Turkey. They are putting people fleeing IS into concentration camps. It is happening.
posted by colie at 4:34 AM on April 21, 2016