What can history teach us about the refugee crisis at sea?

15 Jul 2016

On the day of the recent Referendum result, we considered the long history of people fleeing persecution, famine and/or war. Journalist Dr Thembi Mutch outlines the discussion.

by Dr Thembi Mutch, journalist and one of the conversants at the Museum’s roundtable discussion

Chris Trelawney from the International Maritime Organisation showed us a powerful film, addressing the number of people, who, like millions before them, abandon themselves to the sea to find a better life:

The IMO has been working to try and address the problem of the numbers of people who put themselves in multiple dangers in the hands of unseaworthy vessels and unscrupulous traffickers. Artist Afshin Dekhordi was able to pull up the number of a people smuggler on his phone, right in front of us, showing just how clear and present this danger is. Just how ‘easy’ it is to end up at sea.

The film asked us to consider who is responsible for picking up people at sea. So how we can stop people fleeing in the first place - the ‘push’ factors? Chris’s message is clear: don’t get wet; don’t get in the boat; the chances of drowning are great. This year 350,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea compared with 219,000 during the whole of 2014, itself a record year. Greece alone has seen 234,000 people land on its shores. 2500 people have died in 2015.

Find out more about the IMO on their website

A brief history of refugees to Britain

Then Rob Blyth, Senior Curator of World and Maritime History presented a thumbnail of refugee flight to Britain by sea. Starting with the Vietnamese boat people and the Ugandan Asians in the 1970s, he talked us through 1815-1914 when between 16-21 million people left the UK. The swoosh of people travelling to and fro across the oceans has been constant: Russian Jewish emigres, millions fleeing the Irish famine with their sights on Europe, North America. We learned of terrible tragedies: numerous times boats sunk just miles from land, instances where people were sent in circles with no country wanting to accept them as migrants.

Rob's talk highlighted common themes including religious difference, moral panics, public fears, and the prevalence of scapegoating. Moving onto internal migrations (within the UK) Rob revealed how much the conversations across the ages fetishized extremism. The mantras of ‘otherness’, dirt, wildness, depravity and taking jobs are applied across the board – to other religions, the working classes, the poor, migrants.

“Ships that had brought timber, tobacco or cotton to Britain and Europe were restocked and over packed by greedy masters to maximise their profits on the return journey. Their dying cargo – human ballast – was dumped overboard like a grotesque watery paper trail.”
Philip Hoare writing in The Guardian, 2015

 

The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault

A refugee's atlas

In 1588 a Flemish Huguenot, Jocodus Hondius created the most important sea atlas of the time, charting the routes of the Hugenots. Megan Barford, Curator of Cartography gave us a rare glimpse of this highly skilled work, emphasising the depth of talents migrants have always bought to the UK.

Find out more about Hondius and the sea atlas

We rounded off the afternoon with a reading by former artist and poet in residence Sophie Herxheimer and Karen McCarthy Woolf. They have created a beautiful book – Voyage – a result of their residency at the museum last year, and a nuanced delicate reminder that we are all migrants; we are all individuals; we are all people.

Tatler’s People Who Really Matter

By Karen McCarthy Woolf

Although you might think them wildly intimidating,
many are astonishingly cosy and nice.

She is not a perfect English Rose,
but he has the loveliest, gorgeous glossy hair.

Imagine how super-clever and super-connected
and affable one must be to have got this far.

Considering they are not all trained, many
are relentlessly upbeat and frighteningly talented.

Boundlessly energetic they approach each border
as if it were new, even after umpteen impressive attempts.

Mind-blowingly otter-faced, she tells the little ones
everything’s going to be just fine — the lie

flawless as pale skin, some might call it pneumatic.
When they get through it is delightful.

© Karen McCarthy Woolf 2016