REFUGEE WEEK ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

In recognition of Refugee Week, a globally celebrated event that acknowledges the resilience, contributions and creativity of refugees, asylum seekers and all those who are on-the-move, we held a roundtable discussion delving into this year’s theme of ‘healing’. This roundtable was kindly made possible by the National Lottery Community Fund.  

Hosted by Imogen McRoberts,the roundtable featured a number of people sharing their thoughts, feelings and experiences. Bringing together those who are affected by migration, showing solidarity and support to those who have had to leave their countries of origin and the places they call home. 

In times of great difficulty, the creative processes have often been used as a means of healing. In this discussion, Imogen McRoberts opens the room to art, music, food and community, and how they can be used as a means of coping or coming together.

Guests Wirya Budaghi, Djahel Boubaker, Miray Sidhom, Salam Noah, Sahir Noah, as well as Chloe Power from the Border Violence Monitoring Network joined the roundtable and shared their personal experiences of migration, through spoken word, art and poetry. 

Greece is one of the key points of entry to Europe and most people who are on the move have found themselves there at one point or another. It also has one of the largest humanitarian interventions in the world, with an estimated 120,000 refugees in Greece right now. However, the European management system has been known to have faults. In recent months humanitarian groups have accused the Greek government of spurring a hunger crisis for lack of food in the camps. 

Sadly, the treatment that most migrants receive is deeply dehumanising and the impact this has on people who are on the move is deeply upsetting. Many refugees, trauma survivors and people at risk of being detained suffer with their mental health and are denied psychological support. In the case of detainees, they have been provided with a ‘Trauma Handout Pack’, offering solutions such as getting a haircut or playing cards. This lack of understanding human emotions, or more specifically, ignoring them, is a recurring theme and narrative for most people on the move. 

Queer feminist, activist and researcher Chloe Power, who has been involved in migrant solidarity and self-organised initiatives in Greece and Turkey for over 5 years, introduces the disturbing day-to-day occurrences that take place in countries like Greece. After fleeing from the danger in their home countries, people like Boubaker Djahel have been pushed back by the state, aggressively and with lack of humanity. If you are not aware of the term ‘pushback’, it is the act of the government forcing migrants back over a border ‘without consideration of their individual circumstances and without any possibility to apply for asylum or to put forward arguments against the measures taken’. 

Boubaker Djahel is from Sig, a town in the North West of Algeria, now residing in Berlin. Seeking to migrate to Europe in 2016, Boubaker flew to Turkey on a tourist visa with intentions of crossing the Greek border and moving into Europe. Unfortunately, his experience meant being repeatedly pushed back from Greece to Turkey. Whilst in Thessaloniki, he worked with the Border Violence Monitoring Network as a translator. For the show, Boubaker performs a spoken word piece, talking about his experience of being pushed back and the impact this has had on him. Now, he is based in Germany, works for the Border Violence Monitoring Network and is enjoying the culture of Berlin. 

Another guest, such as Wirya Budaghi is currently based in Berlin, too. Wirya is a Kurdish-Iranian performance artist and activist living in exile after an Iranian revolutionary guard listed his name as a dangerous person to national security. In 2010 Wirya’s artistic work was raising awareness about the treatment of political prisoners in Eastern Kurdistan, including organising demonstrations in solidarity with prisoners and protests against the punishments of the capitol. Wirya’s art deals with the power of politics specifically in relation to Kurdistan, but also in the context of migration. During the show he performs a poem named ‘Keep Smiling’ and ‘Three Dimensions of Bodies’, spoken over a Kurdish backing track, using imagery of water and extensive reference to the human body and his ‘illegal body’.  

The symbolism of water is one of great beauty and fragility. In the final line of his poem, Wirya poses the question: “Can the refugee love the ocean, still?”. It is believed that at least 20,000 people have died in sea crossings since 2014 and last year alone, more than 3,000 migrants died or went missing this way. 

But, it’s not just the pathways of migration that are unsafe. The argument as to whether refugee camps are in fact a safe haven or humanitarian catastrophe is one of great examination. Yazidi refugees Salam Noah and Sahir Noah fled their town of Baadre in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2016 after the ongoing kidnapping and genocide of Yazidi men, women and children orchestrated by the Islamic State. In search of safety, their family arrived at the Ritsona humanitarian camp near Athens, where they would stay for a year. 

Salam found himself painting whilst they were at the camp, depicting his experience through paint strokes and colours. Similarly, his brother Sahir responded through the creative medium of poetry, writing powerful words in response to his brother’s paintings. Working collaboratively, they are now exhibited across the USA and Europe, with their own book published. Salam’s painting ‘The Hope Behind the Shadow of Pain’, and Sahir’s response poem titled the same, alludes to how the feeling of hope was important to them and as Imogen puts it, “to maintain hope, is to maintain resilience”. 

For people like Salam and Sahir Noah, art is a very powerful healing tool. In the same way art can be a means of processing, storytelling can too as stories “shape our understanding of events in history, keeping them alive in our collective memories” –  Imogen. 

Last, but not least, another guest speaker wasMiray Sidhomwhomigrated to the UK from Egypt when she was nine years old. Now, she writes solo plays which allude to her home country and the differences she has faced being in the UK. Throughout her performance of the piece titled ‘Baladi’ from her solo play ‘The Bread We Break’, Miray tells a story, speaking of the food from her country and the bread specifically, alluding to the relationship between food and culture. Throughout history food has been used as a “political vessel and a form of institutionalised racism, embodiment of class and outcome of an economic system that prioritises profit over any other human value”, as commented by Imogen. In Egypt, around 70% of the population rely heavily on bread for subsistence. It is a product heavily subsidised by the government. During the time of the Arab Spring prices peaked due to climate change and their usual traders, China, were in drought. With people unable to afford the new prices of bread, came food insecurity and conflict. 

To hear more from each of the guest speakers about their personal experiences of migration, how they have used creative outlets to help with the healing process and hear their performances, you can now listen back to the discussion down below. Part 2 will be broadcast on Friday 15th July at 1PM. 

If you would like more information or you would like to see how you can help or support people on the move, please visit our resource list here.