116 / Welcome

It probably needs to be said that here in Australia we don’t know the first thing about the issues associated with refugees and asylum seekers. For a look at what kind of a concern it is overseas, namely in France/G.B., watch the film Welcome by Phillipe Loiret (and, for that matter, the 2002 Michael Winterbottom film In this World) – you may just be ever so glad not to have to deal with real refugee problems, where our problems pale in significance.

Both films are about the plight of refugees wishing to enter the country of their dreams, Great Britain, and in the case of Welcome, via the French port of Calais. The stories are harrowing, sad and infuriating. But in Welcome a dimension of the refugee predicament is documented that we here in Australia cannot fathom.

 Our refugee problem is at arms length. Asylum seekers are kept well out of our hair. It is very easy for us to discuss the refugee issues in a detached manner. We don't have to get drawn in, it is just a theoretical conundrum - I mean, where the hell is Christmas Island? Or Nauru? Or for that matter Port Hedland, Curtin, Villawood? Of course we have our mechanisms to get involved, but - let's, face it - the problem is not in our face.

 Well, enter Welcome and you find yourself in a different world. Here the illegal asylum seekers live among the general population, if you want to use the term 'live'. 'Exist' is more appropriate, and only just. They are fed by volunteers in mobile car-park kitchens. But here's the rub: It is illegal in France to assist 'aliens'. If you do so, if you help one in any way, shelter them, even just give them access to a shower, you are likely to be prosecuted, fined and jailed. How about that?

 Imagine you lived in a society where you are forced to ignore and denounce the most needy of people. Imagine if here in Australia, say in Sydney, you became aware of a refugee who is utterly desperate, without any means of support and if you rendered that support, you would be denounced by neighbours, interrogated by police, put on trial and jailed. How is that for a reality check?

 Count your blessings, citizen. You don't know the half of the refugee problem; probably ignorance in this case is a welcome anaesthetic.

Wikipedia on the legal issue raised in Welcome:

The debate about illegal immigration intensified after French Immigration Minister Éric Besson and film director Philippe Lioret debated the issue during the popular French television discussion show "Ce soir ou jamais". Lioret took the opportunity to ask for an amendment to French law depenalising those who help refugees. "If such a thing passes on [amending] this article, it will be a victory", he declared.

The French member of parliament Daniel Goldberg introduced a proposition to decriminalize aiding illegals. The proposition was hotly debated. The amendment was discussed but did not become law. Goldberg said he intended to introduce further measures to amend the law. Another proposition was tabled by a group of Communist senators, but never discussed.