The Calais refugees know how Parisiens are suffering

Where to start? Firstly, with profound shock and sympathy for those innocent ordinary people who died and suffered in the Paris attacks, and for all those who loved them, and for everyone else in Paris whose ordinary lives are now less ordinary, in the very worst way imaginable.

There are already hundreds of thousands of such innocent ordinary people whose lives are less ordinary, from places far beyond Paris.

They too have been running from the terrorists who call themselves “Islamic” State, but who have to date killed over 200,000 Muslims.

They control half of Syria and one third of Iraq – around 200,000 square kilometres, an area five times the size of the UK.

Meet Akram, a refugee whose first language is not English. Here is what he has to say about the terrorism in Paris: "Horrible ..The refugees in Calais are completely against this because we already had this bad experience in our home country. THIS IS WHY WE ARE HERE. We need peace and we really feel for the victims, and we are with them."

Akram is currently living in horrendous conditions in the Calais refugee camp, less than two hundred miles from Paris.

In a horrid twist of Friday 13th fate, a serious fire raged through the camp on the night of the Paris attacks. The Daily Mail reported that it was initially thought to be French “activists” angry at the Calais refugees; turns out it was accidental, a result of overcrowding, zero amenities, and zero health and safety.

What is not being reported is how the Calais refugees held a vigil in empathy for their Paris counterparts attacked by “Islamic” State.

The Calais camp – and the Greek Islands, and Lampadusa, and all the other frontline EU borders where the desperate boatloads are landing - is full of people whose innocent ordinary lives have been destroyed by terrorism, both state-sponsored and freelance.

If anything positive comes out of the horror of the Paris attacks, it must be the extension of the spontaneous humanity of Porte Ouverte, where Parisiens opened their doors to other Parisiens on Friday night.

Now that we Europeans have had “Islamic” State rampage through one of our most beloved cities, let us regard those fleeing the same atrocities from more distant cities with greater compassion and empathy.

Nobody – NOBODY – puts their children in a dangerously overcrowded boat unless it is safer than remaining on dry land.

Nobody – NOBODY – chooses life in a hellhole like the Calais Jungle unless their own lives – jobs, infrastructure, hopes, dreams, futures – has not been blasted to rubble, along with their loved ones, family members, communities.

So let us stop being massive xenophobic ostriches, and move from Porte Ouverte to Frontieres Ouvertes, and offer proper refuge and sanctuary to those who have experienced the Paris bombings and shootings a thousand times over in their home cities.

What is needed most now is open doors and open hearts and open dialogue, instead of head-burying and fear-mongering.

Refugees need refuge, not razor wire. Stand with them, as we stand with Paris.