This Monday, Nov. 6, Yasmine Bouagga, a research fellow from the National Center for Scientific Research’s (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in France visited Hamilton to discuss the current refugee crisis in Europe. As part of the “Politics, Power, and Organization” division at the CNRS, she discussed the refugee community located in Calais, a northern port city in France.
As one of the poorest cities in France, Calais was not prepared to accommodate the thousands of migrants fleeing the Middle East and Africa. It is one of the largest refugee camps in Europe, serving as a home to 10,000 people. Bouagga traveled to the Calais “jungle” and visited the camp for over a year.
Her goal was to understand and record the lives and perspectives of individuals living in refugee camps. Her talk focused on the following topics: who are the refugees, who are the volunteers helping them, and what are the governmental responses of France and the European Union.
During her talk, Bouagga emphasized the fact that refugees who end up in Calais are seeking asylum in England. The majority of individuals in the camps are young men, many of whom are unaccompanied minors seeking a better life in the U.K. They are coming from countless conflicted states in the Middle East and Africa, including Iraq, Sudan, Kurdistan, Eritrea, and Syria. Since the U.K. is not part of the Schengen Agreement, which allows free movement amongst treaty states, they maintain control over the borders. This provision makes entrance from Calais more difficult.
Based on her first hand experience, Bouagga decided to document life in the camps by writing a book. Along with the help of a cartoonist, Lisa Mandel, she published a graphic novel:
Les nouvelles de la jungle (de Calais)
, which translates to
News from the Calais Jungle
. Through this piece, Bouagga attempts to convey life in the camps with a sense of humor. Additionally, Bouagga’s work attempted to connect refugees with average Europeans.
During her talk, Bouagga gave an example of works found in
Les nouvelles de la jungle (de Calais)
, which portrayed two side-by-side images. The first cartoon portrayed group of working professionals, each with nametags stating their jobs (e.g. doctor). The parallel cartoon illustrated the same individuals, however, all had nametags that read: migrant. Bouagga utilized the medium of cartoons to communicate the dehumanization of the refugee crisis for many Europeans.
Bouagga also discussed the fact that Calais jungle is a territory within French control, but operates as a forgotten city. Refugees work with NGOs and freelance volunteers to create some form of self governance. The French government has significantly attempted to help these emigrants.
Despite the misery within the camps, Bouagga highlighted the resilience of individuals living in Calais. NGOs and independent volunteers helped residents create a sense of community, as well as provided humanitarian aid. They contributed by building shelters, schools, medical centers, art centers and handing out food. Additionally, community centers and theaters were constructed for young children.
Bouagga referred to the overwhelming move to create these public services by residents and volunteers as “collective mobilization” against French abandonment of refugees. Despite the progress made within the camps, the environment was still very dangerous with fires, violent fights and illness running rampant. These factors eventually led to the destruction of the camp in Oct. 2016. The migrants were either relocated to “welcome centers” or thrown out onto the streets.
Despite the current French administration’s pro-migrant stance, there has been little done to help refugees. Specifically, Bouagga referred to the low number of refugees that the U.S. takes every year, and it’s decline of the past few years.
