[PAA-Discuss] FW: A Quick Update from Calais

Thu Nov 3 14:28:59 EDT 2016

Most informative on the treatment of refugees – while their forest home is being burned! Lee

From: Voices for Creative Nonviolence [mailto:info=vcnv.org at mail74.atl71.mcdlv.net] On Behalf Of Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2016 7:33 PM
To: leeloe at igc.org
Subject: A Quick Update from Calais

Tags and Numbers: a quick update from Calais 

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Tags and Numbers
a quick update from Calais by Sabia Rigby

"Do you remember in history when we would tag and number people?" asked Brother Johannes.

Yellow band, number 67. When a refugee and migrant register, they receive a different color bracelet and on it is written a number. That is all.

Last Wednesday the French government closed registration in the afternoon. They began to burn the Calais Jungle. Minors that did not get a chance to register, had nowhere to sleep. Only registered youth can sleep in the container camp.

Volunteers slept in a protection circle around the minors who had not had a chance to register. That night the group slept in the compound with the containers.

Thursday morning, while the rest of the Jungle was burning, the police were arresting minors without registration bracelets and taking them in their vehicles. We do not know where they were taken or why.

Thursday night, volunteers who were able to be with the youth again, slept as a protection shield around them. This is not and has not been easy and/or safe for either party.

We have been fortunate to send the theatre group (a group of young men refugees) to Croisille, France. They were met with cheers and welcome from brave and gentle volunteers at a retirement home, where they were to stay. That night, people at the home sent out texts saying that there was a protest outside their windows, raging, that the refugees were not welcome.

It is our personal responsibility as humans to share these moments of cruelty and confusion. It is when people cannot fathom an atrocity taking place that the perpetrators get away with destroying lives.

The French and U.K. governments do not seem to be willing to take equal responsibility for this crisis. There were big-name organizations like UNHCR that were very, very unofficial members in trying to alleviate this crisis, but they left after witnessing how the two governments treated the minors. [As of Nov. 2, UNHCR and Doctors without Borders said they would come back to negotiate an appropriate response with the governments.]

The emotional and physical upheaval and abuse that has gone on in the lives of these refugees and migrants seems to be unending. Where are the laws of compassion and human dignity?

Connections by Frank Pauc

Dignified.

That’s the adjective that first comes to mind when I remember my recent meeting with Jerome Dillard. Jerome is an African-American gentleman; self-confident and at ease in the world. He’s the kind of man who is comfortable talking with the movers and shakers in politics. He has a business-like demeanor, perhaps a bit formal. Jerome is respectful of others, and I’m certain that he demands respect in return.

“Passionate” is the other word that I would use to describe Jerome Dillard. He is passionate about reforming the criminal justice system, and he is optimistic about the chances of that happening. Jerome spoke to me about the success of the Second Chance Act of 2007. He talked about the new bipartisan support in Congress for changing sentencing laws with regards to drug offenses. He mentioned the “ban the box” rules on employment applications, eliminating the need for jobseekers to state if they have a felony record. Jerome praised President Obama for showing clemency to thousands of non-violent drug offenders. Jerome is intensely interested in helping ex-prisoners to successfully re-enter society, and never again return to prison. He cares deeply about ex-prisoners, because he is one.
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Three Voices activists just returned from travel to Russia, a follow-up to a summer delegation, both of which aimed to help build citizen diplomacy during a time of rising tension between Russia and the U.S.  

They spent two weeks in Moscow and St. Petersburg, visiting with students, professors, social workers, journalists, members of the Moscow Quakers, and historians with a dedication to preserving human rights among their contemporaries, including political prisoners. 

Available for interviews are:

Brian Terrell
Maloy, Iowa

David Smith-Ferri
Ukiah, CA

Erica Brock
New York City

Speaker bios available on  <http://vcnv.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ad474c00c83953a2b8e225340&id=0e631babb1&e=0dd9579ef1> vcnv.org. Please get in touch with the Voices office  <http://vcnv.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ad474c00c83953a2b8e225340&id=da23257b9c&e=0dd9579ef1> by phone or email to invite a speaker.

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Our mailing address is: 

Voices for Creative Nonviolence

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