Goodbye Idomeni .. a place of; community, solidarity, fear, joy, peace, violence, hope, hopelessness … and seemingly endless waiting and waiting …what comes next ?
So Idomeni has all but gone, emotions are mixed and uncertainty prevails. I am not in Northern Greece at the moment and yet I have felt intense emotions and anxiety like a tightly coiled spring. If I feel this from England, through my connections in Northern Greece then I can’t imagine what people in Northern Greece must feel. I didn’t spend much time in Idomeni, mostly I was at Hara Hotel.. but the people in Idomeni made a huge impression on me. I think of the people I met there and wonder where they are now, do they have hope or despair?
Idomeni was not somewhere you would want to live, not somewhere you would want your family to live.. It was a waiting place .. a waiting place with seemingly no end in sight. The majority of people were unable to register for asylum from Idomeni and the borders are well and truly shut. So, without system or policy change (which was not on the cards) then being in Idomeni was pretty pointless, depressing and on occasion dangerous. Change was needed, Idomeni needed to be replaced with something far better. A place where refugees can live with dignity and humanity whilst their claims are processed as fast as possible.
The ‘clearance’ began with a show of force. Firstly, aid was prevented from being distributed in the camp, aid which people relied on to feed their families. Then – hundreds of riot police accompanied by military vehicles entered the camp. Mostly, people left without quietly and without resistance. Of course, what resistance could they show? They have been denied food and drink, they have children and babies and are faced with huge shows of force. The media showed videos of refugees smiling from the buses, on their way to the official camps.
I tried to force my optimistic side take control of my emotions, for purely selfish reasons I realise in retrospect. You see, I didn’t know if I could watch further suffering be forced upon these fellow humans from the comfort of my safe space in England. I imagined well run UNHCR camps, with large, clean white tents, showers, toilets and officials on site to quickly process applications. People gaining asylum within Europe as they are entitled to under International Law.
So what is the news from the people on the ground .. ? Yes, people left without resistance, over 2 days 3000 people were moved to the official camps, only a few hundred are left.
Around 4000 are unaccounted for, it is thought they may have moved to different camps (certainly some had relocated to Hara) or chanced it one last time to cross the border illegally. The police have announced refugees who are returned having crossed the border illegally will have their asylum claims cancelled… to try to escape is to be punished
A few hundred in Idomeni staged a protest last night, a peaceful demonstration .. the police reacted with force – any dissent it seems will also not be tolerated.
So where have these 3000 vulnerable refugees been taken?
The answer is, they have been taken to a number of official camps mainly around Thessaloniki, most (if not all) are not UNHCR camps. Many are on the unfit for human habitation, without basic sanitation and water provision. Most are tents, put up in abandoned warehouses, on factory sites and industrial areas; depressing and potentially unsafe. Some sites were not cleaned prior to moving people in, some tents are filthy and unclean. One camp is on an old tannery. The whole tanning process uses highly toxic and persistent chemicals, I just hope that the area was fully decontaminated prior to moving people there.
At the moment, most camps do not have the presence of UNHCR or NGOs and there are no translators, only soldiers. UNHCR have condemned many these new camps as unfit for human habitation .. So.. my optimism quickly dissolves.. only a few grains left, because without those I would cease to function as a human being.
Idomeni grew over time – fueled by the inadequacy of EU leaders, dithering politicians and a climate of fear mongering .. making refugees into problems with no solutions. Out of this loss of humanity grew community and solidarity. That will not disappear, already volunteer groups are mobilising, providing hope and helping life become more bearable (those are my grains of remaining optimism in a nutshell).
I am angry and frustrated .. every single study has showed that if refugees are given; safety, shelter, some assistance to settle in a new country and allowed to work, then they will contribute to an economy many times over. So, its not only the right thing to do to provide these things, it also makes economic sense… why is this not shouted from the rooftops and in every newspaper – ‘red top’ or not ?
Yet, we are seeing this trade in human lives, this race to the bottom, whilst people suffer and kids lose years of education .. I want to shout and scream until someone listens ..but I wont because no-one listens if you shout .. I will keep this energy for other things.. I will keep telling the human story, I will fight against the numbers game (played by politicians) and the de-humanisation of our fellow humans which is happening on a huge scale…. I will talk; in schools, to my MP, to different social and political groups, on the radio, on social media….
Stand in solidarity – do not be divided..
Solidarity for refugees 