Introduction

The issue of migrants coming together in large numbers in Calais gained political significance in two waves. During the 1990s, after the fall of the ‘communist’ regimes of Eastern Europe, people arrived in Calais fleeing the former Yugoslavia, including an influx of Kosovan families and children (Rumford, 2012, 2). A second wave occurred following the 11 September attacks and the raft of new ‘anti-terror’ legislation linking immigration, especially of Afghanis and Iraqis, with ‘national security’ issues (Rumford, 2012, 10) sparking the attention of the mainstream press. The continued ill-treatment of migrants, despite its illegality under international law prompted a solidarity camp of international activists, local French people and the migrant communities in Calais forming a collective organisation and space to organise from, this group has come to be known as Calais Migrant Solidarity.

This chapter assesses the work of Calais Migrant Solidarity over the past six years as a project and experiment in ways that activists collectively reproduce themselves as a multitude or community of many in the camps of Calais. This is undertaken through bringing a much-needed feminist analysis to the organisational practices in this collective, while paying attention the highly emotionally fraught environment tempered by the wide-ranging subjectivities and experiences of those involved. One suggested method for mediating disputes and disagreements is the mobilisation of safer spaces policies to regulate individual behaviour in the camps, and this chapter will analyse this method. Specifically, this chapter examines notions of safety, Otherness and ‘intersectional inclusion’ (Roestone Collective, 2014) and looks at the ways that activists negotiate individual experiences of ‘negative’ affect (especially ‘bad’ feelings like being unsafe or vulnerable or at risk). It is hoped that it might be possible to find ways to collectivise experiences of vulnerability, enacting an individually and collectively differentiated construction of solidarity through the spaces created together.

Methodology

My examination of the practices and conceptual underpinnings of safety in migrant solidarity organising emerges from my participation, particularly over three years (2011–2014) in both London and Calais with London No Borders and Calais Migrant Solidarity, No one is Illegal and similar groups. I also conducted 15 personal interviews with solidarity activists sourced directly through my personal activist networks.