Victims and perpetrators

This article is by Dr Bart Cammaerts There is something striking (pun intended) about the current reporting by the UK media on the disruptive actions enacted by ferry employees in Calais. There has been little or no attention in the UK media for the reasons why the employees of the Ferry company MyFerryLink got so angry that they felt it necessary to not only strike, but also block Calais harbour and crucially the Eurotunnel and ultimately also the Eurostar crossings from France into the UK and vice versa. No interviews with local union leaders, no attempt to try to understand or provide a forum to hear their side of the story. In much of the reporting there is not even a mention of the underlying reasons for and frustrations that led to the industrial direct actions in the first place. Instead, the UK media’s attention is firmly fixated on the impact of the strike, on its consequences, rather than on its causes.