‘We Are Coming to Save Our Lives’

“We are human beings, where are our rights? Where are human rights in France? We are not coming to die, we are coming to save our lives,” says Baby, an Ethiopian woman in France who speaks poignantly about her experience in “The Jungle,” a temporary refugee encampment outside Calais, France. The camp was originally formed about eight years ago. Today, there are upwards of four thousand migrants struggling to survive in squalid conditions as they bear constant attacks by local police who systematically bulldoze tents and fire tear gas and rubber bullets at the migrants. The people have fled from imperialist wars and civil wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and now, Syria, where the European powers are vamping up their war machine. Baby speaks at an NPA conference that took place on November 24, 2015.