In times of crisis, the fear of "the other», often increases and gets worse. An anti-immigrant speech is developing all over Europe.
In this last meeting and to conclude our works, the accent has been put on the public-spirited commitment. For that purpose, we started from the idea that we are all human beings, quite often, with the same characteristics, identical feelings… But it is not enough to generate equality between us. Exile is a question that often suffers two different problems: the hard leaving of one’s own country on one hand and the difficulty to be integrated into the receiving society.
So we have worked in small mixed workshops (pupils and teachers of the various countries, girls and boys).
1) First workshop: all together, we have seen the French movie "Welcome» (Welcome is a French movie realized by Philippe Lioret, that came out on March 11th, 2009 in France. The movie tells about the adventures of a swimming coach who decides to help a young emigrant from Iraq to reach the United Kingdom).
Then in every group, the pupils and the teachers have answered a questionnaire analyzing the situations described in the movie.
2) Second workshop: always in mixed groups, the students have been asked to put themselves in the skin of an illegal worker and to produce a text in the form they preferred (a diary page, a poem, a short-story, etc.)
3) Finally, in order to think about how we can favor and contribute to the integration of migrants, we have organized four workshops with representatives of associations working in this direction: Cimade, Human Rights League, and RESF.
Two other sessions were dedicated to evaluation: the first one has considered the work done during this last meeting; the second one to evaluate the two years-work.
FIRST WORKSHOP :
Questionnaire:
1) Main facts: what is the topic of the film?
Where? Why Calais? Situation of Calais? Where do the migrants come from? Where are they going? What for?
Who? Who are the two main characters? What is their story? Show the evolution of Vincent Lindon’s character. What are the others actors featured in the film? What conflicts are illustrated?
How? What means do they use to go to GB?
Why? Why is the migrant’s refuge called “the jungle”?
2) Let’s go further
Name other places of entry to Europe used by migrants.
From where to where?
Could you find yourself in this situation?
How would you react?
What other means are uses to reach Europe?
Can a better understanding of these situations be expected (can mentalities evolve on those issues)?
