Soft ‘neutral’ music.
Neutral female voice: Welcome to Fortress Europe. You will join Tara from Kurdistan and John
from Uganda. You will escape to Britain
where you hope to find refuge from the persecution that faces you in your own
country. You are leaving your job, your
family and your friends behind, to seek safety in Britain, where they have
promised to protect your human rights.
You will go through several stations. You will start in a Safe House.
Only move to the next station when the voice tells you to. Move now to Station One. Take only one bag with you, your passport
and your ticket.
Soft music, background sounds:
murmuring men’s voices, water running, doors slamming.
Tara: I am waiting.
Waiting for ten days now in this tiny room with no windows and
only water and some bread. It is very
cold. I hear men’s voices in the other
room. I am scared of them; I don’t know
who they are. Who is going to take me
to Europe? When will they come? Tomorrow I must cross the border to
Turkey. Will they see that my passport
is fake? Will they let me through? Or will they take me back, imprison me, kill
me, like they have done with so many other people? Will I ever be free from this room? Nobody knows I am here except the agent. I hope this agent is trustworthy. My family sold everything for my passage
out; it cost $8000; they are penniless now.
Music louder, Door opening.
Agent: Are you ready?
Tara: Yes.
Sounds: Footsteps. Car engine.
Car doors slamming.
John: So many people! Where will I find the man who will give me my
papers. My aunt said the man would meet
me. I lived with my aunt and uncle
because my father died and we don’t know what happened to my mother.
I remember the last time we saw my father. We were escaping; it was terrible. People shouting, screaming: ‘Run, run,
go!’ Nobody was anybody’s friend. How can you be a friend when people are
shooting at you and the river is going ‘whoosh’ – and you have to go into that
river? The ‘bang bang’ and the ‘whoosh
whoosh’ made my mind go dead and I don’t remember what happened, anything else.
My aunt has sent me away, so that I shall not be taken into the
army like my brother and sister. I am
scared to go to England. I am scared to
leave my aunt. I cannot speak
English. I have no money. My aunt has spent everything on these
papers. I want to go home, but I
cannot.
Sounds: clanking metal, stamping
books, harsh footsteps.
Guard: Move on! Move on!
To the border. Give us your
papers! Hurry up.
Tara: Will they recognise
me? Will they recognise my face?
Guard: Give us your papers, give
us your papers.
Guard: Hurry up. Don’t forget your luggage.
John: Will they let me
through? Do I have to go back?
Guard: Don’t forget your
luggage. Move on.
Tara: Only the first step.
John: Do I have to go back?
Guard: Move on, Move on. Onto the next Station
Louder music, which then turns into airplane music
Airplane noises: airplane music,
engines, clicking of seatbelts.
Stewardess: You may now
board the aircraft.
Tara: They’re letting me on.
They’re letting me on.
Stewardess: For your own comfort and
safety we recommend you keep the seatbelts fastened throughout your journey
Stewardess: The emergency exits are
situated at the rear…
Tara: I
came to London as a tourist 15 years ago. Now I come as a refugee.
Stewardess: In the event of an emergency the masks will be released
automatically from the overhead cabins. Adults with children should put their
own masks on first.
John: I think of England as a country where I
will be safe and free, a green land, full of rain. English people, respectful and friendly.
Authoritarian voice: Move on. Onto the next Station. You have arrived in Great Britain.
A jabber of non-European voices,
occasional rings of the airport announcement bell. Loud techno music
Tara: He let me stay. They
threw my friend off the plane because he had the wrong documents. The government fines the aeroplane if you
have false papers, but … how else can we travel?
John: Do I have to go back?…
Tannoy: This is a security
announcement. Please ensure that you
keep your luggage with you at all times.
Immigration official: Passports…
John: What is the man
saying? Why is he looking at me so
unfriendly.
Immigration official: Passports!
John: He wants my
passport. What will I do now?
Tara: Will they let me in?
Immigration official: This way, this way.
Tara: Will they send me back?
Immigration official: Over here!
Tara: I am a refugee, I want to
seek asylum!
Immigration official: Fingerprints here. Finger on the inkpad!
Tara: Will they let me in?
Immigration official: Fill in this form. FILL IN THIS FORM!
Tara: Will they send me back?
Immigration official
(exasperated):
FILL IN THIS FORM!
John: I cannot read. I cannot speak English. How can I fill in this form?
Immigration official: Where are your parents?
Don’t you speak English?
John: Is there no-one to help
me? I am a refugee!
Immigration official: Wait here.
You will be interviewed.…….
Why did you choose Britain?
Tara: I didn’t choose Britain;
I was given a British passport by the agent.
Immigration official: Who is this agent? Which country did you transit through?
Tara: I
don’t know which country. I was too
scared to notice.
Immigration official: Why didn’t you stop
there?
Tara: Is there someone to help
me?
Immigration official: Name of
father?
Mother?
Brother?
Occupation?
Age?
Were you politically active?
Why?
In which organisation?
Tara: This man frightens
me. He speaks to me like I am a
criminal. I am so tired … I haven;t slept for 3 days … I don’t understand what they want … I don’t know what is happening. He asks me so many questions!
Immigration official: Move on, move on to the next Station…
You!
We
have decided to detain you!
Station
6: Detention Centre
John: They have put me in a prison they call a detention centre. When they arrested me they did not tell me why
or where we were going. Now they say I
am in prison because I broke the law by carrying a false passport. My passport says I am over 18. But it had to say that so I could travel on
my own, but I am only 16 … I would not have been able to escape otherwise. They say I must wait until my claim is
processed. They do not say how
long. My aunt’s cousin has offered me a
home, but still they won’t let me leave.
I have spent two Christmasses in this prison.
And this is what I read in the papers:
(fading in and out of
threatening music)
Newsvendor:
GO BACK HOME!
SCANDAL OF THE BOGUS REFUGEES!
TIDAL WAVES OF REFUGEES SWAMPING THE HOME OFFICE!
ONE MP SAID:
MP: Bogus refugees should be kicked out in six hours not six months….
We should have a total ban on immigration until the backlog is sorted out.
Newsvendor: SEND THEM PACKING!
Housewife: They kill boredom by
filling out the benefit forms they were given on arrival to help them milk our state.
Newsvendor: Bogus asylum
seekers said to be
costing taxpayers £180 million a year.
Man in pub: They land here day after
day and say the magic words; ‘political asylum’ closely followed by ‘social
security’. We are playing host to
46,000 refugees who are eating us out of house and home. Even if these clamouring hordes really are in fear of torture and death…
Newsvendor: Asylum cheats!
Man in pub:…our little country has no room for them. But if they were genuinely living under
tyranny, they would never be allowed to get on a plane out. They’d be imprisoned or shot! The vast majority are not political refugees
at all. They just know that Britain is
a soft-touch escape route from poverty.
Music louder
Observer: ‘I’ve met a
lady who’s had her teeth knocked out by a baseball bat, a lady who’s been
stabbed in the leg – general things, like name calling and having things thrown
at them, people spitting on them as they walk by, not being allowed to go into
shops. The worst one was a group of
children playing and a petrol bomb was thrown into the group by some
skinheads…‘
News presenter :…he is one of 8 refugees murdered since 1990. Every year another 140,000 people suffer
racial attacks in Britain…
Home Office Minister (‘Face the
Facts’, Radio 4):…we get the asylum system
right, and we get the right balance. I
mean, what we’re certainly not going
to do is what some of the extremist, er, liberal chattering classes say to us
that we should dish out benefits willy nilly to every illegal immigrant that
happens to come walking by. That’s not
going to happen! What we’re gonna make
sure is that we have a system which gets the balance right…
R4 Radio Presenter: You see, we’ve heard
from UNHCR that Britain, with its present policy, should hang its head in shame
at what it’s doing.
Home Office Minister: Er, well,
what they have said to us, is that, when they’ve met with us, is, er, that our policy is in fact somewhat better
than many, er, other countries. They
seem to be telling you one thing and, er, us another.
R4 Radio Presenter: Another thing they’ve told us, minister, is that the way
detention is implemented in the UK is a contravention of human rights
legislation!
Minister: Well, that, er, is, what
we do is, we comply with the terms of the UN…, er, UNHCR, recommendations to
us. And In fact we don’t even go as far
as they would allow us to go.
R4 Radio Presenter: Do you accept …
Minister: It’s perfectly acceptable
I think to detain some of these people, and I don’t apologise in the least bit
for it. …
R4 Radio Presenter: Is it acceptable to
detain people who have done nothing wrong?
Minister: It is, er, unacceptable
to detain people who are, er, have done completely nothing wrong, but when you
say they’ve done nothing wrong, if someone has entered the country illegally ,
of course they are in breach of our laws….’
Authoritarian voice: Move on to the next
Station.
Tara: I have been put into
‘temporary accommodation’ while the Home Office decides whether I may stay in
Britain.
Always our house was like a guesthouse, there were always people
there. Now, I am in a room in a hostel
in London, alone. I don’t know what to
do, where to go. I have to do
something. But, I may not work for the
first six months, not even unpaid work.
I cannot stay a whole day at home by myself. I get depressed. I have
to do something. I go to college: to
learn English properly.
When we come here we need people to help us. It is not only a matter of giving
money. We need support. What makes me sad is people think we came
here because they think it’s paradise.
But we live on 40 pounds a week.
And I am one of the lucky ones because I managed to fill in the asylum application
form at the airport when I arrived.
Many refugees I have met did not understand they had to do that and now
receive no money to live. They receive
food parcels, but have to walk miles across London to get it.
Even now it is hard to make friends. I miss my family, my community, my house. I have lost my pension, my money, my
salary. I must wait for the Home Office
to decide whether to give me asylum.
The waiting never stops. Always
we are waiting. Every day seems to be
as long as a year…
music
Authoritarian voice: Move on to the next
Station.
Tara: When governments refuse to respect
basic human rights, they are not just violating international refugee and human
rights law. They are, in many cases,
condemning people to torture and even death.
Authoritarian voice: Move on. Move on …