I volunteered with the Help Refugees NGO at the Jungle refugee camp in Calais, France for one month, July 10 to August 10, AMA

The Calais “Jungle” is the nickname given to a refugee and migrant encampment in the vicinity of Calais, France. Many living in this camp attempt to illegally enter the United Kingdom via the Port of Calais or the Eurotunnel by stowing away on lorries, ferries, cars, or trains traveling to the UK. The camp gained global attention during the European refugee and migrant crisis when the population of the camp grew and French authorities carried out evictions. The French government plans to evacuate 6,400 migrants from the encampment in 170 buses, starting on October 24, 2016 with the intent of resettling the migrants in different regions of France.

From wikipedia. It’s wrong though, there’s over 10,000 refugees.

The camp of ten thousand refugees is getting demolished today and the process will last one week, although I suspect it will take much longer.

France buses 1,600 migrants out of notorious ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais | The Washington Post

one thing this article gets wrong is the idea that it’s easier to get asylum in France than the UK. At least before Brexit it was easier to get into the UK. Now however it’s more complicated because of politics

Follow Help Refugees facebook page

Also Refugee Info Bus facebook page

I wrote a blog entry about my experience here and turned it into this article (google doc) that Cracked.com asked me to write. Hopefully it will be published soon.

TL;DR:

10,000 refugees and growing trying to get to the UK on a tiny plot of land in Calais, France, a short ferry/tunnel ride to the UK, infested with rats, toxic from pesticides and asbestos, with shit and piss overflowing from porta-potties, tightly controlled by the French national police who routinely tear gas, steal food, and destroy refugee tents. Fuck the police, fuck the French government.

I mostly tried to be as descriptive as possible.

For an anarchist perspective on the Jungle, I suppose one major thing that is getting left out of most articles I read online is the the CRS, the French National Police dedicated to controlling riots and protests, are in charge of the Jungle, tightly controlling it’s borders and who goes in and out. As always, the CRS are extremely brutal and racist.

From a volunteer friend:

I don’t care anymore, the truth needs to be heard. A 9 year old boy has been shot in the head with a CRS rubber bullet, and is now paralysed for the rest of his life. We have to speak out for him and others. We have a duty to. I witnessed the disgusting force and terrifying remarks of the French CRS for almost a year of my life. Before I went off to Calais, I had pretty good faith in most Northern European police. I was shocked and scared by what I found there. This is the reality and anyone who’s lived within the camp has seen the evil truth. I watched a man get his legs broken. I watched female volunteers being pushed to the ground. I watched toddlers cough in clouds of tear gas. I’ve taken children to hospital from tear gas exposure. I watched the CRS force a woman to take off her niqab and laugh when she began to cry. I woke up to find my 14, 15, 16 and 17 year old neighbours with black eyes and black bruises from beatings from the CRS. I watched a beloved friend screaming at the police, telling them that they are unarmed, to talk instead of fight, and to stop tear gassing the family area as a tactic to deter people from going off to try, only to be shot in the chest and fall to the floor. I saw brothers shot with rubber bullets in the head, chest, legs, groin, leaving lifelong scars and often knocking people out if to the head. I saw the nasty aftermath of a female volunteer after she was violently tear gassed in her face from a close proximity, begging the CRS to stop gassing the family area. I watched tactics of starting fires during the evictions, an excuse to force people from their homes and few possessions, so that they could be evicted quicker. I’ve wiped blood from the brow of my loved friends after violent beatings from the CRS in truck parking. I’ve witnessed countless times, the CRS police refusing to allow ambulances into camp, leading to fatal heart attacks and injuries that would have not lead to their death, if the ambulances had got to them in time. I watched the CRS protect fascists while they forced refugees to take off their clothes and put them in the bin. I’ve watched the CRS protect fascist groups surrounding the camp late at night, several times, allowing racist comments and verbal threats towards refugees walking past. I’ve watched the CRS make monkey noises at African refugees, several times. I’ve watched utter chaos explode within the camp, days where the camp is consistently gassed for hours upon hours, the CRS PURPOSEFULLY respond with too much force in order to provoke incredibly traumatised PEOPLE living in a shithole to fight back. What the fuck are stones compared to bullets and (even illegal in most warzones) grade A tear gas! These are humans, people, homo sapiens, NOT vermin! I can only share what I have seen with my own two eyes. And I can’t write everything, it’s endless. The stories I have been told from people without the heart to lie or exaggerate, are far more graphic and terrifying. Fuck the CRS, fuck police brutality, fuck racism and fuck the French and English government. I’m out

Help Refugees is a UK NGO working in Calais a couple miles from the Jungle.

They are among the most important organizations providing support for refugees in the Jungle along with Doctors Without Borders, Care 4 Calais, and others.

They are humanitarian workers, not activists. They made this explicit to us even showing us a video about this. (I was distracted wandering around the Jungle though, so I didn’t watch it.)

Despite the anti-fa stickers and anti-capitalist sentiments among the volunteers and at our base (a giant warehouse), Help Refugees is not anarchist. And while I do have some criticisms of what they do they are far and away the best people helping Jungle residents. Trust me on this. Help Refugees are awesome and they deserve every penny, please consider donating here.

Thank you