The frayed edges of reality

Published by Herman

April 28, 2024 | Leave your thoughts

In our society, in our governments control seems the ultimate goal. Is everything in control? Did we set the right boundaries? Did we reach a higher Gross Domestic Product?

Or are there some frayed edges?

Some random people from Europe stepped out of their comfort zone and made a walk. We were those random people. We walked to the controlled borders. This month (April 2024) we visited the controlled borders in Dunkerque, France, for 2 days. After this walk I want to share my feelings and experiences with you. Was everything in control?

The enemy

When we arrived, the first thing we saw were construction workers, building large fences. Was it to protect our borders? Could the enemy be hiding behind these fences? With mixed feelings we passed these fences, but were stopped by big roadblocks. We parked our cars and continued on foot. The tension rose. Could the enemy be hiding behind these roadblocks?

We passed the roadblocks and met some people. We kindly asked them why those roadblocks were here. They said the roadblocks were placed by the police early in the morning. We asked why? To block the aid organizations. Wait… the aid organizations? Yes, they brought us food, drinks and medicine every day. We asked, is that the enemy? Oh no, that’s us! You? Yes, they think. But we are nice people, come to our house. By the way, my name is Sultan.

We followed Sultan and his friends into the dunes of Dunkerque, also called the jungle of Dunkerque. And it’s really a jungle. Everywhere plastic, burned tents, shoes, broken shopping carts. We arrived at the village of Sultan, a place in the Dunes with a dozen tents. We met the villagers, mostly from Afghanistan. One came via Sweden, the other via the Balkan route. One had lived here for three days, another for two months and another for more than a year. What they all had in common was that they had tried to live in the EU but had been denied in one way or the other in a European country. Their fingerprint was registered, so trying in another European country was pointless. So their only hope lies in the United Kingdom. As we talk our phone beeps. A news message ‘British parliament approves controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda’. Did we say ‘their only hope’?

Just in between. The UK has already spent £240 million on it; the number of additional Asylum applications Rwanda can handle is probably only a few hundred per year. Very unlikely to have a deterrent effect. Behind that. People didn’t want to go there – it is far away, they lack networks and of course also certain possibilities they have in Europe, there is political repression and poverty etc. – and that should be respected.

After a nice get-together, sharing some food and music we decided to go further into the jungle. After a short walk we arrived at another village with dozens of different tents. All the people stood outside packed and ready. An awkward moment for a visitor to arrive just as they want to leave. To leave with a smuggler on the way to the UK. How? Hidden in a truck, train, or boat? We don’t know. People will do anything to pursue their dreams. We walk further, passing a bridge, made of shopping carts. We need courage to cross this shaky bridge. We realized that these people on the move have so much courage on their way.

The next point on our walk is some kind of shopping center. Several tents with cans of drinks, cigarettes, kebabs and soup. Even in this circumstance people do business to serve society and make some money to pay for clothes, food or the smuggler.

In the evening, after we went home for our overnight stay, we were honored with a visit from a very nice guy from Utopia56. He told us about the organization, the distribution and work at the borders. We decided to go to the beach at night with part of the team and observe the situation as Pullbacks – bringing back people to France by force – are frequent. In the place we were, it seemed very quiet. Except for the Frontex plan and drone that kept following us.

Second day

During breakfast the next morning, we were woken up by the news of at least five deaths in a migrant boat disaster between France and the UK. Terrible news, especially now that we’re here.
We went again to the jungle of Dunkerque. We visited the people we met yesterday. They were very surprised that there were Europeans who did not forget them. We also met some other people, like a Sudanese boy, who left his parents in Egypt while he traveled to the UK. We met a journalist who was investigating the death of Vietnamese people on the move last year. One of our team members tried to help an Iraqi find a telephone number for necessary dental care – without success. In between some villages in the jungle, in silent no man’s land we’ve seen a guy praying alone. A prayer for hope perhaps? It proves that you can pray anywhere, even in no man’s land.

During our visit to the jungle we met a guy from Maison Sésame. He invited us to come to their place.

In the afternoon we visited their place. Maison Sésame is a welcoming home for families, women, children and vulnerable people in exile and stranded on the French-British border. The association offers a safe stop on the migration route, both physically and psychologically, for the exiles it hosts.

We were overwhelmed by the love that these people (mostly volunteers) pass on to the people on the move. A lady who voluntarily makes her house available to these people. So amazing.

Closing

Prefigurative action
Sharing Tender, Love and Care

During the meeting, two members of the team had a good conversation. Why are we all doing this? Do we help these people really with our tender, love and care? Or do they experience us as tourists who come to see a horror show? In that case, the smugglers do a better job. The smugglers help them make their dreams come true, right? Food for thought for us. After these days we went home, with our privileged passports. We could easily go to our home country, passing many other countries. The people on the move stayed, waiting for a dangerous trip to the UK.

The closing question is, do we have control? We can only conclude that we are out of control after our walk. It was a walk of shame, hopefully we de-shamed ourselves and some people on the move. We are ashamed that these people are driven into the jungle by our government. We are ashamed that we cannot offer more to these people than tender love and care. Maybe people see us as tourists. For us sharing care, love and tenderness with the people on the move is a form of prefigurative action. A longing for what it could be like when people see each other. A desire that this may take more shape in our Europe. As long as the fringes of our society remain, we will take prefigurative actions.

And the people on the move? To feel in some sort of control is still their only support on their dangerous move.

Are our governments in control? They spend millions to border control, but don’t succeed. They are out of control and create frayed edges of reality. Why not invest all this money in the people? As one volunteer we met said: “Why don’t we place 5 or 10 families in villages that are emptying out. Then hopefully schools and shops in those villages can remain open” That would be a great investment in the people on the move and to our countries.

Please stop investing in borders, but invest in people. Then the government will be in control.

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