Hi everyone.
Last year when Liz and I were in Athens, I was keen to engage with the locals and having heard them greet each other so warmly in their own language every morning, I wanted to do the same. “Calimari”, I would say cheerfully to the man in the café who made our espressos. “Calimari”, I would say, smiling at the people looking after us in the hostel. “Calimari”, I would say confidently to the man setting up his grocery stall near Victoria Square.
However, only when a giggling co-volunteer took me to one side in a tentative, how can I say politely sort of way, was I aware of my only slightly inaccurate but fatal mispronunciation of the Greek, “Kalimera” (good morning). …Idiot! What must they have thought! Actually, from the expression on my friend’s face, I had a pretty good idea what they must have thought; These-a guys who-a come out of-a the Whales, they-a must-a be obsessing with-a the seafood! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Fools! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! “Calimari!” Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! “Whales!!!” Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Squid!!!” Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Yeah, okay, okay. It was fair enough I suppose. Anyway, one year on, and Liz and I are beginning to get to know the island of Lesvos and I noticed the same graffiti message daubed ubiquitously on nearly every blank canvas of public space; “Stop Pushbacks” was the message and I wanted to know exactly what it was that the aerosol artists were trying to tell me (and not misunderstand again). It didn’t take long. I spoke to some of the refugees from the camp and became horrified. “Pushback”, as it has come to be known, is the unlawful, inhumane and heartless practice of forcing refugees (those desperate people fleeing terror, murder and rape, remember) back out of the territory where they had found safety. Back to re-enter the cycle of horror. On land, this happens by forcefully taking them back. At sea, they are literally towed.
Shamefully, the Greek authorities have been found guilty of pushbacks but we hear that this illegal practice is carried out in many other parts of the world. It is illegal under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) which was drawn up post Second World War in 1950 and signed in Rome by forty-seven countries; a pledge to never again return to the dark days of fascism, a treaty which was drafted by British lawyers and championed by Winston Churchill himself.
On Monday, Liz and I were asked to help with the retrieval of a dinghy from a beach in the north of the island. Lesvos Solidarity are notified when dinghies and life jackets are spotted on beaches so that they are able to recover them to their workshop where they are used as the raw material for the hand-made backpacks and hip-bags etc. Lesvos Solidarity have named this positive recycling enterprise, Safe Passage, and proceeds from which help to fund the work they undertake.
We joined Adonis** and Bassam* and after about an hour’s drive from Mytilini we spotted the dinghy shredded into two sections on a rocky beach. Whether or not this particular dinghy sunk at sea and was subsequently washed ashore, or whether it was abandoned after a successful crossing from Turkey was impossible to tell.
The Aegean Sea is often treacherous and although we could clearly see the buildings on the Turkish coastline from where we stood on the beach, the crossing itself is fraught with danger. Apparently, the first thing that the refugees now do if they successfully make it across the dangerous water, is to slash the dinghy with a knife so that if they have been spotted by the authorities they cannot be forcibly put into it and towed back into Turkish waters. It is truly mind-boggling that such a practice exists.
Take a look at this:
A black dinghy containing just four tender, vulnerable young people makes its way across freezing cold, choppy waters. Dehydration, hypothermia and exhaustion inhabit all of them, the only thing stopping them from turning back is the almost certain violent death that would await them. But there is more, if these four youngsters don’t make it, think of the loss to the country to which they’re headed; a footballer who would be destined to play not only for Crystal Palace but Chelsea and Inter Milan as well as going on to play in two World Cups.
A young girl who would become a brilliant recording artist and actress starring in fifteen films as well as countless television roles. There is also a budding author, who would become one of Britain’s most successful children’s authors. And finally, there is a young boy who would find work in the retail industry and go on to form a partnership that would become one the UK’s most recognisable and respected high street brands.
But wait, the dinghy containing Victor Moses (football international and refugee from Nigeria), Rita Ora (multi-talented recording artist and actress, and refugee from Kosovo), Judith Kerr (prolific, best selling children’s author and refugee from Germany) and Michael Marks (co-founder of Marks and Spencer and refugee from Poland) is being intercepted by the coastguard. Might they too be forced back out to sea, back into international waters, back to heaven knows what, with zero regard for their safety.
It goes without saying that you don’t have to be a budding footballer international, pop star, author or Marks and Spencer founder to expect to be treated with respect and responsibility but since we find ourselves living in an era obsessed with Celebrity status and success, I thought these were worthy examples. Those four did make it to safety of course but we now know that there have been very many tragic deaths caused as a direct consequence of this illegal action.
Since the practice of migrant pushbacks is illegal under the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), it is little wonder that those who would now rather risk seeing these desperate people dead rather than accommodate them would seek to depart from this fundamental law of humanity. Indeed, this safeguarding treaty is a hot topic in the corridors of power this very week because as everyone will now be aware, moves are afoot to withdraw the UK from the ECHR. Not that those promising to do so, want to remove the protection, dignity, respect and equality from all of humanity. There are some lives within the global community they clearly believe to be superior, more deserving and more valuable …and clearly some less. The only country to have ever withdrawn from the ECHR is Russia, who did so after its invasion of Ukraine.
Liz and I returned to the workshop in the Lesvos Solidarity van and helped to carry the sections of rubber dinghy into the courtyard at the rear of the workshop. I had a heavy heart as we then walked back to the house whilst catching up with the news about electoral promises being made to remove the country of my particular birth from the ECHR.
We unlocked the front door, let ourselves in and took off our shoes. I went to the kitchen and put the kettle on. Then, I took out my phone once more to look up the definition of Racism, just be sure that I wasn’t overreacting. With unavoidable connections made, I can honestly say that I felt physically sick. Defining moments of the very worst kind.
A short time later we found ourselves in a taxi heading towards Panayoda and the Spanos mini football field. We weren’t expecting many to turn up for training that evening as there was a major basketball match taking place in Mytilini itself. However, five more dinghies had arrived on the coast of Lesvos in the previous few days and two-hundred new refugees had registered at the camp. Many were young families from South Sudan and some were single men and women, and some of them had come to see what was happening at the football ground.
The warm-up finished and Ali**, the coach divided the group into two teams. One of the young men came forward to me. He was limping heavily and pointing to his knee. He spoke no English (only Arabic). He indicated precisely where the pain was and I examined him and did various knee stability and strength tests. All seemed fine; he appeared to have simply jarred it so I asked him to jog lightly up the touchline (by miming!). As he made his way quietly away from me, I looked on my phone to find the current situation in South Sudan. It made for shockingly grim reading.
The game had started without the lad that I had sent to jog up the touchline, and one exceptionally talented young player had noticed oranges hanging off a tree on the other side of the wire fence a few yards back from the touchline. The ball was at the other end of the pitch so he reached through the wire fence and picked an orange straight off the branch. Then the game quickly shifted and he found himself with the ball at his feet while he was still peeling the orange.
Two players were trying to get the ball from him as he flicked and rolled the ball while pushing his thumb under the orange peel. The whole pitch erupted into belly laughter. He actually remained in possession of the ball throughout, and was even able to divide the orange into segments which he tossed to a team mate. It was wonderful! Then the lad who’d had the sore knee gave me a thumbs up and joined the game. Crickets were now in full cry, their chirping echoing loudly under a perfect blue sky as the laughter subdued to a few giggles.
What exactly is it, I thought, that defines an individual or a collective people? Is it the direction they choose when there is no particular stress placed upon them, or is it how they react under extreme pressure? As I watched this perfect scene unfold in front of me, I wondered what sort of life might possibly await these beautiful young people. Then I thought about what life lies for any of us, we are all so different and yet maybe the opportunities that we have, are to some degree defined at the point of our conception.
One of the most obvious differences that I notice is in the outlook that these people have. They daren’t think about the past, for the past resides in a land they have left behind. And they can’t possibly contemplate their future with any confidence, for their future lies in a country they have never been. Theirs is simply the present, focusing as they did on Monday, on nothing but the perfection of that evening on the football ground where they embraced every joyful moment.
Love to you all from Lesvos,
Rob Kersley.
**Name has been changed
