IT'S November 2001, and I arrive at the refugee camp with my translator and an armed guard. This is in the outback un the heart of Wild West, the North West Frontier Province, notorious for its gun law, blood feuds, and swarms of armed Islamist political factions.
Over 50,000 people live in the New Shamshatoo refugee camp – roughly the population of Perth, Inverness, Cumbernauld or Kilmarnock. But there are no streets, no houses, no electricity, no running water, no schools, no hospitals. Just miles of cheap plastic and canvas to provide basic shelter amidst overflowing open sewers.
Malaria, TB and other deadly diseases are rampant. Crying mothers cradle fever-stricken babies and toddlers in their arms. Almost every day, some will die for the sake of a handful rupees that their parents can’t afford.
Meanwhile, just 25 miles away on the western horizon, the roar of the American B52 bombers reverberates across the Hindu Kush mountains, leaving behind a trail of mass graves. Every cluster bomb they drop has cost a minimum of £7500 – double that in today’s money.
For 20 years the country was blasted back into the stone age by a futile and failed war led by the USA and the UK. It cost trillions of dollars and left behind hundreds of thousands of corpses, a shattered infrastructure, a wrecked economy, mass malnutrition, the highest infant mortality rate in the world, and the most fanatical religious fundamentalist regime on the planet.
Unsurprisingly, the biggest single contingent risking their lives to cross the English Channel in small boats have come from Afghanistan. So, what do you do in their shoes?
That was my first challenge to anti-asylum protesters in Perth last Saturday, after brandishing my National Union of Journalists card. Most refused to speak to me. “Journalists are all liars,” spat the chief organiser, as supporters around him nodded approvingly. “No -one here will talk to you," he shouted repeatedly. “You should just go now.”
I persisted and some did talk to me. None were prepared to give their names or allow me to record their comments, but they did engage in conversation. One of the leading lights, draped in a Union Flag, was unapologetic. “This is our country and these people have no right to be here,” he fumed.
So, what would he do in their position? Would he just happily live in extreme poverty under the Taliban? Or would be brave enough to make a 5000-mile journey to build a better life and strive send money back home to his family? He avoided the question and instead launched into a blustering diatribe blaming "the Americans” for the problems in Afghanistan and claiming that 9/11 had been an inside job by the CIA.
Many of those gathering in the local park before marching to the Radisson Hotel had local accents and were clearly from some of the poorer parts of Perth. “These illegal immigrants are getting three meals a day and a free pass to the local leisure centre”, complained one woman. It was unfair, she said, because she has a disabled daughter, and can’t get any help from the council. I told her I understood her anger because I too have disabled daughter, but not a penny of council money goes to the asylum seekers.
She did seem genuinely upset about being labelled a racist by counter-protesters. “My children are mixed race, and their father is Indian. But he worked hard and never claimed benefits.” But asylum seekers are banned from working and from claiming benefits, I pointed out – so he was just one of the lucky immigrants. She told me she was all in favour of Ukrainian immigration and she would 100% support bringing in women and children from Gaza. As she talked about the suffering, she had tears in her eyes.
The men I spoke to however, were unrepentant and blustered their hatred of illegal immigrants. "This is our country," was a standard response to questions I put. One exception was an older man I spoke to as he was leaving. His main concern was crime.
“Look at all these shootings in London. That’s all Caribbeans.” I told him these are not illegal immigrants, but often the descendants of men and women brought over here many decades ago to staff the NHS. I also pointed out that when I was growing up in Glasgow, the most law-abiding communities by far were those who had come from Pakistan and India.
For millennia, people have travelled across continents in search of a better life. It’s part of who we are as a species. But if western governments insist on reducing immigration, there is only way to achieve that.
Based on Gross National Income figures published by the World Bank, the UK is 130 times wealthier per head of population than Afghanistan. Unless and until there is a colossal transfer wealth from the richest to the poorest parts of the world, people will always emigrate in vast numbers.
“Absolutely,” said this man of around my age who had just been protesting to send asylum seekers home. The conversation left me wondering what he was doing there in the first place. And whether he’ll be back.
“Nazi scum off our streets,” is one of the chants of counter protesters in defence of asylum seekers. There is clearly a hardcore racist element at the heart of these protests. Yes, we need to shout out our solidarity with for asylum seekers. But we also need to find ways to talk and listen to those from our poorest communities who are so alienated from mainstream politics that they are being swept up by the atmosphere of hate whipped by the far-right.
