 BY MATHIEU BERENHOLC WITH HELP FROM LAUREEN LANGENDORFF, ILLUSTRATIONS BY LAURA PARK
Calais is the closest point in France to the United Kingdom. Besides that distinction, it’s basically sort of a shithole. And besides that distinction, Calais is also where thousands of refugees to France from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Somalia congregate in a massive, sprawling camp of improvised shelters. The refugees and the press alike call this provisional home “the jungle.” It’s a filthy place that sits in a grimy forest between a chemical factory and the harbor. It’s an ideal base from which to plan an illegal emigration to England. Recently, a young British journalist was raped in the jungle of Calais while on assignment there. It’s been one of the most reported stories in the French press in recent months, leading to angry debates regarding race, immigration, crime, poverty, privilege, and the end of the world. You know, the usual.
We recently went to the jungle ourselves to see if the reality lived up to the horror stories in the media. (Here, we’ll spare you the suspense: It does.)
Myriam works for a Catholic charity that serves the refugees in Calais. We are watching her and her coworkers distribute food to almost 200 camp dwellers. The situation is dangerously close to becoming a riot. “Stop pushing, please,” Myriam shouts. “Stop pushing right now or there will be no food at all! Jesus, they’re going to end up killing each other!”
A dozen volunteers are getting ready to distribute lunch from a small shack while, outside, a mob of refugees are banging on the walls. They’ve broken all the windows, which have been replaced by planks of wood. The exhausted crowd gets thicker and the refugees organize themselves more or less by nationality. Afghans with Afghans, Pakistanis with Pakistanis, Iraqis, Kurds, Somalis, and so on.
In the midst of the chaos, we strike up a conversation with 28-year-old Mohamat, who claims to be from Afghanistan (it’s difficult to know whether he’s actually a Pakistani because most of them pretend to be from Afghanistan, where citizens aren’t extraditable to their country).
Vice: Why did you leave Afghanistan?
Mohamat: One night when I came home, the Taliban had killed my mother and father because I worked with American people. I fled and went to Pakistan, then walked to Iran. I crossed the border at night. Then I got to Turkey, then Ankara to Istanbul to Iona, then Iona to Athens. Then I flew to Milan and got to Cannes, then to Paris, and now Calais.
How did you travel?
I drove, walked, took the train, trucks, buses… everything. I paid to cross a few borders, but I cannot pay any more. I cannot pay anybody, but every single night I still try to go to England. France is not too good for me. The police people come every morning with dogs. They catch me and I have to go to the station and they write my name, so I give a different name each time. I want to go to London because I have a brother there. I want to become a shopkeeper.
A little bit farther out from the food shack, about 20 women are queuing in a perfect line. A volunteer is getting pissed off because she thinks one of them has already been served. “We can’t recognize them because they all look the same,” she tells us, “and they take advantage of that.” That’s a wee bit rich, but we nod and walk on. On top of the volunteers’ shouting, screams of anger emerge from the crowd. Two guys are fighting. Apparently, a Kurd tried to steal a Somali’s crutches because the wounded migrants are served first. The Somali fought back. Immediately, ten Kurds jump on ten Africans.
A volunteer stuck in the middle of the melee passes out. His colleagues help him to a chair. A group of Afghans laugh, which annoys the only white hobo whom we can see in the crowd. “Dirty Arabs,” he screams out. The situation soon turns into pandemonium and the volunteers decide to stop the food distribution. They’ve still got a lot of plastic bags loaded with a can of tuna, some bread, a bottle of water, and a banana, but oh well. They have made up their minds. About 50 men who were calmly waiting won’t get anything for lunch today
As the crowd is dispersing, Claudie, a volunteer, spots Fredun, a refugee. It’s the first time she has seen him in three years because the 25-year-old man was in prison for hanging out too often with a group of Afghan smugglers. They’re the guys who help refugees jump on trucks that are shipped by ferry to England. The smugglers control the parking lots. Seven hundred euros per person gets you in a truck, whether the driver’s in on it or not.
Fredun says he’s never been a smuggler, but the French courts accused him of transferring smugglers’ funds to England. He spent a total of 31 months in a prison in Losse, where he learned to speak French. He was let out three days ago and doesn’t seem to feel comfortable in the outside world. His voice is shaky, his eyes full of tears. He visibly jumps at loud noises.
Vice: So, what’s next? What are your plans for the future?
Fredun: I don’t know. I’ve lost my family. They all died in Afghanistan. I don’t have a wife or kids or a job. I’m stuck here. If I go to England, Italy, or Germany, I’ll be kicked out at the first checkpoint. I have to stay in France, because I applied for French citizenship when I was in jail. But until I get it, I can be kicked out of the country at any time. I’m sleeping in a foyer in Calais for a couple more weeks, but after that I don’t know what I’ll do.
Are you thinking of going back to what you did before?
No. I’m never going back to jail.
CONTINUED
LIFE IN THE JUNGLE | 1 | 2 | >
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Jul 9, 2009 wrote:
this article is NOT a hoax. I live in paris, france, and study in the UK, i take the ferry and tunnel very often from Calais, and if you look in the right places you can see them lurking around. it’s quite scary in fact. | | Anonymous, on Jun 17, 2009 wrote:
Evidence, oh ye wise one? | | Anonymous, on Jun 17, 2009 wrote:
this whole article is a hoax | | Anonymous, on May 20, 2009 wrote:
That’s awesome that they had a dojo in Afghanistan. I’m sure it was targeted as a terrorist training camp. | | Anonymous, on May 20, 2009 wrote:
My ex was super-retardedly into all things Greek. She was an asshole too. Go figure. | | Anonymous, on May 20, 2009 wrote:
That is so rugged. The Brazilian migrants have it a little easier. It’s still no joke but come on. | | Anonymous, on May 5, 2009 wrote:
Most want to go to england because they have a welfare system that pays well and free health care...sad truth is they are ruining it. the future in england is bleak in the future. Masses of muslims welcoming home the troops from afganistan with placards saying "Murders"...It isnt that Great in Britain thesedays | |
| jizzmopper, on Feb 2, 2009 wrote:
"the 25-year-old man was in prison for hanging out too often with a group of Afghan smugglers"
my mom always warned me about hanging out with the wrong crowd but i didn’t know you could go to prison for it! | | Anonymous, on Jan 30, 2009 wrote:
applying for citizenship while a prisoner in a foreign prison is rather odd. | | Anonymous, on Jan 30, 2009 wrote:
i built forts like that in the woods back in the day. | | Anonymous, on Jan 29, 2009 wrote:
i don’t know if i feel worse for the nomads or the people that have to deal with them (the shitty, raping ones i mean) | | Anonymous, on Jan 29, 2009 wrote:
tom petty said it best, no one wants to live like a refugee. | | Anonymous, on Jan 27, 2009 wrote:
might just work if they didn’t all kill each other in the first month | | Anonymous, on Jan 27, 2009 wrote:
is it still possible to found a new country? give me a minute and listen to this: the un pools some money and purchases a large patch of wilderness in a region that could be self-sustainable food-wise with the right farming. make the requirements for residency easy to attain and set up cheap travel for all the refugees that are interested. it would be the true melting pot. | | Anonymous, on Jan 27, 2009 wrote:
pieces of shit like this do nothing to help the western view of the middle east. | |
| sketchballer, on Jan 26, 2009 wrote:
eighteen mile walk? yeah, i’d be hiding too. fuck that. | |
| Tammy Faye, on Jan 26, 2009 wrote:
French teacher,
If you are still reading these comments could you give us an insight as to why most of the refugees want to go to the UK and not stay in France. Is French citizenship difficult to acquire? Thanks in advance.
TF | | Anonymous, on Jan 26, 2009 wrote:
who of these refugees has 700 euros to book a smuggling? | | Anonymous, on Jan 26, 2009 wrote:
more of them should apply for french citizenship like fredun. | |
| The Max, on Jan 26, 2009 wrote:
people are fleeing pakistan because even though they still have the charade of running things under a unified government, the fact of the matter is that much of the land is controlled by other entities, including al qaida. if you don’t support the local warlord, you are in deep doodoo. it’s better to run away than be burned in your sleep. | | Anonymous, on Jan 26, 2009 wrote:
ditto on the laura park comment, the cover is sick. | | Anonymous, on Jan 26, 2009 wrote:
give an inch, they take a mile. sad but true. | |
| superfunk, on Jan 26, 2009 wrote:
Once you go Greek you can’t sit for a week. | |
| tinkerer, on Jan 23, 2009 wrote:
why are the pakistanis fleeing? i understand the rest. | | Anonymous, on Jan 21, 2009 wrote:
Makes me feel lucky to not have to go through those scary situations to have a decent life. Thanks for doing this article! | | Anonymous, on Jan 21, 2009 wrote:
good job vice! I work as a french teacher for migrants in a town of the east of France. The situation is not as bad as in Calais but still...
Anybody can go anywhere, one of the students left China four years ago and ended up in Germany, where the smugglers abandonned him. He was fifteen at the time.
And they say France is "le pays des droits de l’homme" | | Anonymous, on Jan 20, 2009 wrote:
The UK is generally thought of as more accepting of Arabs than the rest of Europe. | | Anonymous, on Jan 20, 2009 wrote:
Why are they trying to get to England? | | Anonymous, on Jan 20, 2009 wrote:
An 18-mile walk is a looooooong way. Christ. | | Anonymous, on Jan 19, 2009 wrote:
how does an undocumented arab guy fly from athens to milan? | | | Next 30 comments > |
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