Friday September 24th 2021
Hope for the Brexit country
Why so many cross the English Channel
At least 16,000 people made the dangerous journey across the English Channel to Great Britain this year – with hopes for a safe life without racism and with better job opportunities. But on the other bank the propaganda against them is seething.
Sahel actually wanted to be in England a long time ago, but there are still around 40 kilometers separating it from British soil. He has already tried twice to get from the northern French port city of Calais to Dover in the UK, both times in vain. Only this morning, the 27-year-old Afghan says, he should have been sitting in a rubber dinghy to Great Britain. But the police discovered the migrants on the beach, took the boat away from them and sent them back.
And so it went for Sahel again to the outskirts of Calais, where individual tents stand in neglected fields between bushes, in front of them laundry on the line and numerous people queuing for food and water. Many of them are very young, they say they are 16 or 17 years old. They come from Eritrea, Iran or Afghanistan and they all want to go to Great Britain. The British coast can be clearly seen from the beaches in Calais, but the journey is life-threatening without legal means of passage.
Time and again, the French coast guard rescues migrants who are in distress from small boats in the English Channel, which often creates thunderous waves due to strong winds. By the end of last month alone, there were almost 16,000 this year, significantly more than in previous years, as Véronique Magnin of the Sea Prefecture for the English Channel and the North Sea says. A French police duo on patrol describes how many hide at night in the confusing dunes east of the port. The area is monitored 24 hours a day by police, helicopters and drones. Nevertheless, people repeatedly managed to evade tight controls. The policewoman points to the dunes to explain. The view is not more than a few meters here.
Due to Brexit, the Dublin Agreement was overturned
Sahel also wanted to start from the dunes before his group was discovered. Now the Afghan is waiting for a new boat. But not everyone wants to cross the sea in small boats. “This is only for people with money,” says Robel from Eritrea. The cost would be 2500 euros for a ten-meter-long boat on which 35 to 50 people would be seated. He himself wanted to take the ferry over there. Just how, he doesn’t know. Sahel had also tried the ferry, was hidden in a truck, when detection dogs discovered him. The trained journalist has high hopes in Great Britain. He is convinced that there is no racism there, but better job opportunities. And he doesn’t have to learn a new language, doesn’t have to start all over again like here in France or in Germany. Because Great Britain is no longer part of the European Union, once it has arrived, it does not face the threat of being sent back to Bulgaria or Romania in accordance with the Dublin Agreement. Another plus, thinks Sahel.
Hassan, who fled Eritrea via Italy, says that because of the EU regulations in France he couldn’t get any papers anyway. For Sharouz, the ideas are vague. England is simply better for Iranians like him, he says. Then he points to his friend and asks him to open his mouth. The Croatian police knocked out the missing front teeth. But the promised land, from which people promise a better, safer life, is doing everything to prevent this. “Take Back Control of our Borders” is one of the promises with which the conservative British government has made Brexit palatable to its supporters. A promise that she now has to keep after leaving the EU.
It was not planned that day after day people set course for the coast in rubber dinghies unannounced. One of those places where boats keep coming is the sleepy town of Folkestone. A long pebble beach with uniform, colorful beach houses, where English residents do their morning yoga or stow their chairs for an after-work drink. If you ask Bridget Chapman of the Kent Refugee Action Network about a meeting place in her hometown, she suggests meeting at the Folkestone Museum. Chapman is intrigued by a 1914 painting showing an arrival scene on the Folkestone coast shortly after German troops invaded Belgium at the beginning of World War I. At that time, a quarter of a million people arrived within a few weeks – a total of 16,000 in a single day. “The government and the media are always talking about record numbers these days,” says Chapman. “I go crazy when I hear that.”
Artificial waves threatened as a deterrent
At least 16,311 people have already crossed the canal in boats this year, according to the British news agency PA. Near the coast they are usually collected by the coast guard, on land they apply for asylum. Since at this point in the year there are already almost 8,000 more than in 2020, the British government represents this as an increase. However, the fact is: Overall, according to official figures, the number of asylum applications in the first half of the year even fell by four percent year-on-year. More people arrive by boat – but less hidden on trucks or trains.
Interior Minister and Brexit hardliner Priti Patel speaks of a burden on the asylum system. She would like to send the fully packed boats back to France, although this would not be possible under international law. She also made more money for the French police and fantasized about producing artificial waves in the English Channel as a deterrent.
On the coast of Folkestone it becomes clear that the propaganda is leaving its mark. A 54-year-old man from Folkestone asks: “They are safe in France. Why do they come here? Britain is probably too generous.” He speaks of young men sitting on the beach filming themselves or rioting in the supermarket. The man is not a Brexiteer, has even voted against, and says: “We shot ourselves in the leg with that.” The Englishman does not find many friendly words for those arriving. “But I’ve never sat with one of them, we can only see the disadvantages.” He could imagine thinking differently when he heard that someone had lost his brother or had fled Afghanistan from the Taliban. “Then I would open my arms.”