Calais / Calaid Donations by Friday 4 September

[Tanqueray]

CALAIS RELATED DON'T JUST READ AND RUN!

I am collecting donations which will in turn be delivered to Dalston on the 6th of September when they are holding a big donation drop day. The donated supplies will be driven to the migrants living in the Calais camps.

I hope that with kindness and compassion in your hearts, you also believe that NO person should be without access to basic human rights like shelter and warmth. By collecting donations, we can help the chairty "Calaid" to improve these conditions.

For those not 100% in-the-know: The situation in Calais is part of a wider migration crisis in Europe - caused largely by the displacement of people from war-torn countries such as Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan and Eritrea. Please can we all work together to try to change the perception of this crisis from one of hostility & fear to one of concern & compassion.

I simply cannot sit back and read migrant related news articles online anymore, stare at horrific photos of drowned children or watch footage of migrants riddled with fear and looking so lost.

I don't know why more neighbouring countries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, the Oman, U.A.E, etc, aren't opening their doors to help their neighbours. I suppose I should understand more about why indeed they're not helping as much as it would make sense for them to do so. (Please excuse my ignorance and I don't want this thread to turn into anything argumentative or political.)

Let's not turn a blind eye. Please let's try to help as much as we can. I am taking donations tomorrow, Thursday and early Friday, which doesn't give you long to get stuff together but if enough people respond to this request for donations, I will fill my large car up and drive it out to the 'Calaid' location in Calais myself, before the weather turns horrid and cold.

PLEASE READ BELOW FOR WHAT WE NEED TO BE COLLECTING FOR THOSE WAITING...WAITING AND WAITING... IN CALAIS. I l LIVE IN PENGE AND CAN COLLECT WITHIN 5-10 MILES FROM HERE.

What we BADLY need:

SHOES: trainers or hiking shoes size 41-46

TENTS, COVERS, TARPAULIN

JACKETS: size SMALL and MEDIUM only

TRAVELLING BAGS

SOCKS

CANDLES or other lighting implements

BELTS

What we ALWAYS need:

Tracksuit trousers

Jeans size 28-32

Blankets

Sleeping bags

Soap

Shampoo

Toothbrushes

Toothpaste

Plastic bags

Woolly hats

Pants

Pots

Pans

What we DO NOT need:

WOMEN and CHILDREN?S CLOTHES or SHOES

Sheets

Pillows

Suits

Town Shoes

Jumpers

Wellingtons

Thank you, thank you xx

[uncleglen]

My son- who is still living at home and looks that way forever now unless he moves hundreds of miles away- says don't encourage them!

[Bovine Juice]

Your son needs to learn that these are desperate human beings escaping a war zone...

[Castletyne]

Hi, I'm part of a group going down to Calais in October,https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/calais-crisis-solidarity-with-people-in-france#/story

We're collecting donations all this month in the South East so should you get overloaded with stuff or need a hand/would like to link up, send me a PM!

Any donations would be greatly appreciated!

[Salsaboy]

And amongst them are a number of economic migrants desperate to get to the UK for all that it offers.

Bovine Juice Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Your son needs to learn that these are desperate

> human beings escaping a war zone...

[Blah Blah]

Here we go again. No-one is demanding you to donate anything Salsaboy or Uncleglen, but posting comments designed to discourage others from doing so is just despicable.

Meanwhile I can get 20 pairs of mens socks from Primark for a tenner and am happy to go buy some stuff to donate at the weekend.

I don't know what the situation is with the French authorities, and their provision for them. Or if the Red Cross could get involved. But until something is sorted I will just remind myself how lucky I was to be born in an affluent, developed country (one that became so by enslaving half the world) and be thankful it's not me freezing at Calais.

[Louisa]

All this middle class do-gooding is all well and good, but would they return the favour if you or your family were desperate? That's what you need to ask yourself. I've had plenty of crap in my life and no one helped me.

And don't bother giving me FA out of 10 because I'm being serious.

Louisa.

[Bovine Juice]

Salsaboy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> And amongst them are a number of economic migrants

> desperate to get to the UK for all that it

> offers.

>

We offer the English language and in some cases relatives. People coming here are not coming here for benefits. It's a myth.

[tfwsoll]

'Of course they do! Any nation state which has refugee's and asylum seeker's inside their borders should be providing basic care and human rights, whatever country that may be'......

'However, I do agree that all EU states must take their fair share of asylum seekers and refugees. It seems a shame that this country turned its back on the Italian's by not offering to take at least a proportion of those migrants who were rescued in the med.'

'All this middle class do-gooding is all well and good, but would they return the favour if you or your family were desperate? That's what you need to ask yourself. I've had plenty of crap in my life and no one helped me.'

[wool-e]

Completely agree, and will donate some items.

Blah Blah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Here we go again. No-one is demanding you to

> donate anything Salsaboy or Uncleglen, but posting

> comments designed to discourage others from doing

> so is just despicable.

>

> Meanwhile I can get 20 pairs of mens socks from

> Primark for a tenner and am happy to go buy some

> stuff to donate at the weekend.

>

> I don't know what the situation is with the French

> authorities, and their provision for them. Or if

> the Red Cross could get involved. But until

> something is sorted I will just remind myself how

> lucky I was to be born in an affluent, developed

> country (one that became so by enslaving half the

> world) and be thankful it's not me freezing at

> Calais.

[Blah Blah]

Louisa, Newsnight has just shown images of a toddler, a baby washed up dead on an Italian (I think) beach. FFS stop being a spoilt 'poor me' idiot. You live in a country that looks after you. You have free education and healthcare and pensions (paid from your and other people's taxes, including people who have no children or use private healthcare or pensions). 53% of all income tax is paid by just 10% of the workforce. THEY help subsidise your needs.

People do not choose to be born into tyranical societies or war zones. They are ordinary human beings like you and I, and they are at the bottom of the pile, a bottom that no-one in this country has to endure. When you next turn on your light switch ask yourself this. Where does the fuel come from to provide that? Blair and Bush thought they had a perfect right to invade Iraq to protect our access to resources like oil and that's why a baby ends up washed up on an italian beach.

Don't you even dare label my compassion as middle class do goodery. My compassion comes from my conscience, something you clearly don't have.

[Salsaboy]

Both Blah Blah and Bovine Juice are jumping to conclusions about my comment. Where did I mention benefits or discourage people from making donations?

[Earl Aelfheah]

The UK response to desperate people fleeing a war zone, is shameful.

[mima08]

There are a few great initiatives on here but i thought this list in the independent might be good for people who want to help more / cannot make the dates:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/5-practical-ways-you-can-help-refugees-trying-to-find-safety-in-europe-10482902.html

[sparks27]

Here here - Tanqueray, please PM me and let me know where I can meet you tomorrow morning.

Louisa - you are entitled to your view but perhaps that provides you with the reason why 'no one has bothered to help you' in your life.

[Righty]

I can't say that I understand what is going on - but I understood that refugees had to apply for asylum in the first country they land in. Surely the fact that they are at Calais (desperately trying to get into the UK rather than applying for asylum in, say, Italy or France) suggests that they are economic migrants rather than genuine refugees?

[Salsaboy]

With regards to the people coming from Syria, why would they want to leave Turkey which is a safe country?

[Beej]

Perhaps you should look into the facts and read the news and inform yourself. Actually the tide is fast changing and most want to get to Germany because they appear to have more of a heart than us and their prime minister has stuck two finger up at the ridiculous 'Dublin Policy' (as it's called) that stipulates refugees must seek asylum in the first European country they arrive in, it hugely exacerbates the situation and must be changed. I CANNOT wait for govt to let more refugees in and I will happily put some up in my spare room.

Righty Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I can't say that I understand what is going on -

> but I understood that refugees had to apply for

> asylum in the first country they land in. Surely

> the fact that they are at Calais (desperately

> trying to get into the UK rather than applying for

> asylum in, say, Italy or France) suggests that

> they are economic migrants rather than genuine

> refugees?

[Beej]

Salsaboy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> With regards to the people coming from Syria, why

> would they want to leave Turkey which is a safe

> country?

might have something to do with the fact Turkey is now the largest refugee-hosting country in the world, already sheltering 1,805,255 Syrians and their govt is reluctant to absorb more refugees, which is leaving them stranded for days at the border.

[Righty]

Beej - the Dublin Convention/Treaty is the one that most European states readily signed up to. Germany also has a much less population density than the UK.

I fundamentally agree that we should take in genuine refugees - but the reality, which you are ignoring, seems to be that this is economic migration (I refer you back to the fact that most of migrants at Calais will have already travelled through several European countries to get there). If their plight was truly desperate - they would avail themselves of the relevant protection asap. It is highly curious that they do not do so.

[david_carnell]

It is not in the slightest bit curious!

Perhaps there is a diaspora of their countrymen here or even family.

Perhaps they speak English and not Hungarian or German or French so might stand a chance of getting a job here.

Perhaps they've heard that the UK is a tolerant society that doesn't persecute whatever minority group they belong to so they feel may offer sanctuary.

And even if they are non-EU economic migrants, all available evidence suggests they are both an economic and cultural benefit to this nation. In other words they put in more than they take out.

We colonised half the globe for centuries, pillaged natural resources, enslaved millions. And it this century we've bombed and gone to war with millions more across the middle east. We then have the feckin nerve to suggest that these people are "illegal". Nice.

[Blah Blah]

Language is often one reason why migrants go where they do.

Just on numbers, it's not practical to enforce the 'country of arrival rule' when there are so many fleeing. Do we really expect Italy to take them all for example? Just because WE don't happen to border a war torn country doesn't mean we have to behave like it's nothing to do with us. It wasn't the rest of Europe who sucked ass with America and created the void that ISIL have stepped into.

* crossed post with Dave C but totally agree with him.

[david_carnell]

And it's not even as if we are doing our fair share of asylum applicants either...

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/38C5/production/_85333541_european_asylum_apps_gra624.png

[Beej]

I love how yesterday (before a certain image was released) it was all 'don't let them in' today it's, 'oh ok then, let them in, just don't let them in here. Or why don't they stay in Turkey? why don't they stay where they first arrived? Ok they're refugees today, but oh hang on a second, they just moved geographical positions - they must be thinking too much about where they want to live, back to being economic migrants.

heavens above.

[Righty]

I think we're getting beyond the Calais issue now.

However, the death of those brothers was absolutely tragic - but their parents' decision to shove them on an inflatable boat across a major shipping lane was lunacy. They took a very unfortunate risk with the lives of their children.