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Calais camps - where will they go?


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Only 30%? in my village the FN got more votes than all the other parties put together and there were about 15 of them!

What really dismayed me was to see that the proportion was almost exactly the same for the departement and for the whole region of Picardie.

I dont have any English friends to speak to but when I have family or other visitors I am always uneasy to speak with them in English in public, just while they are speaking amongst themselves I see the looks they get, it took me a few years to attune to these things.

I have a Quebecois renting from me at the moment, a really interesting outgoing well informed and travelled person, exactly what has been lacking in ly life since moving here, we were in the car yesterday and suffered an ignorant road rage incident, we both spoke to the guy that had forced me off the road calmly although that just made him more angry so I just started laughing at him as it was quite hilarious, his parting shot was 'faut rentrez chez vous hein!" at which point I told him I was chez moi and he had better get used to it.

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surprise surprise....i've leaved in France since 1997 when I arrived at the age of 21...although I love the place, i've never known such a bunch of nationalistic, inward looking, intolerant people. Granted, i live in rural France, but if your not born in the village with 10 generations of ancestors then you are definitely an outsider!!!
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I am lucky as I find our village pretty friendly. We have 2 Brits on the council and the British are encouraged to join the remembrance day ceremony and lay a poppy wreath.

We have had jokes about the English who used to rule the south west but are now coming back, albeit more peacefully but many locals recognise that we help the local economy.

I think if you are friendly and speak the language the majority of people are OK. Particularly if you get involved in local events, charities etc.
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If you happen to cross paths with an ardent FN member, being friendly and speaking the language just doesn't cut it anymore. As someone who does both quite well, the casual "speak French" remark struck me more because the lady saying it knew we both did, and could speak French, but objected to us having a private conversation within her earshot in what is, after all, our own language.

And when I see and hear of the blatant racism directed towards migrants in the UK, many of whom speak better English than a lot of native Brits, I am even more convinced that these days nationalism, jingoism, racism or whatever you prefer to call it, runs a LOT deeper than will be solved by speaking the language and being nice to people. Why, I personally know people who have been beaten up for less....

Ironic, really, when I hark back to the halcyon days of Francophile forums where"pretending to be French" in Leclerc ( note the lack of an apostrophe there) was the order of the day!
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Nothing is new. Think of Nazi Germany where there was a clearly identifiable group of people - the Jewish population. The Nazi began saying who are these people who come here and take our jobs, buy our companies, steal our wealth for themselves - people with a different language and religion, who eat different food, who are alien to our Fatherland but who want to impose their own way of life on the rest of us. These people wish to take over institutions like the press and control government so that they get everything they want.

Does this sound familiar in today's context?
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You can go back much further than that, back to the Huguenot Weavers at least.

Here in Luxembourg I come across racist remarks all the time.  Things like 'Bl00dy French coming over here taking our jobs and refusing to learn our language'  When I point out that in fact I am a migrant worker and I have taken a Luxembourgers job I get, 'That's different (why?) You're British and at least you try to speak the language'.  Oh freck [:'(] (that's not a bad word, it translates to 'oh dear')

You would think if any country was going to be tolerant to foreigners in would be Luxembourg but even here at the MEP elections there was one party, the ADR, right wing nutters, whose slogan was 'maner Europe, mei Luxembourg' (less Europe, more Luxembourg) and if they get into power they want to take Luxembourg out of Europe !  Some hope!  Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas

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Now that the Med is flattening out and open boats can use the summer weather to cross it...... Calais  this year looks like  its going to see more than ever arrive . Italy will push them into France thats for sure .

http://europeansting.com/2014/05/07/hundred-of-thousands-migrants-ready-to-cross-the-mediterranean-only-a-local-matter/
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'' Now that the Med is flattening out and open boats can use the summer weather to cross it...... Calais this year looks like its going to see more than ever arrive . Italy will push them into France thats for sure . ''

And the answer to the problem is..........?

1. Sink on sight - not really acceptable these days.

2. Accept the migrants and just put up with more and more and more etc.

3. Return them to the point of departure.

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Didn't the Australians try sending them back and got roundly slated for it?

The trouble with returning them tothe point of departure is that many will be eg Somali or say Eritrans who made the trip from Libya to Italy. Why should the Lybians accept them back?  They have enough problems of their own.  So, send them to Somalia or wherever? But they mostly do not have (or destroyed) any documents so how do you know where to send them?

I don't see how the holding camp at Percy is a solution, even a temporary one.  At around 100 Kms to any port and no resources, maybe not even food, it is a recipe for rioting.

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[quote user="dwmcn"]

Frederick,

We stayed on a campsite with Eurocamp on Ile de Re.

David

[/quote]

There you go then ! Plenty of facilities for the Calais

immigrants....But something makes me think that as far as this island is concerned hell would freeze over first !
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