KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – This week’s weekend video is a trailer for The Crossing, a much praised documentary short that tells the story of a group of Syrians fleeing war and persecution.
The documentary includes rare footage shot while aboard the small unseaworthy fishing boat steered by inexperienced smugglers, and follows the refugees after they arrive in Italy.
The full documentary will be shown at the Halifax Central Library this Monday at 6:30 PM, hosted by the Radical Imagination and Cinema Politica.
Following the screening there will be a panel discussion by Dr. Afua Cooper, Fazeela Jiwa, and members of the Halifax Refugee Clinic.
By all accounts the refugees featured in the documentary are relatively lucky, compared to the dreadful plight of refugees in Europe in general. For instance, the extent of vicious racism and xenophobia in supposedly tolerant Holland, where I was born, breaks my heart.
Most progressive people in North America tend to think Trump’s xenophobia is somehow a new phenomenon, but in Europe it’s old hat. Been there, done that, and still doing it. Check out my favourite artist/cartoonist Kate Evans, as she visits Calais, the French city where refugees gathered waiting for a chance to find a way into Britain. Now of course that camp has been bulldozed and its residents have been dispersed.
Find out more about the event here, or check out this review.
If you can, please support the Nova Scotia Advocate so that it can continue to cover issues such as poverty, racism, exclusion, workers’ rights and the environment in Nova Scotia.
