THEME: Bachelor student manning the barricades for refugees

Tanja Valentin Francis Burke sits with a cup of coffee in front of her in the Nobel Park Cafeteria. The coffee is much needed. She has just submitted her Bachelor's project. Finishing it has been hard work. Because she is just as passionate about being an activist fighting for better conditions for refugees as she about her studies.

It has therefore been a tumultuous autumn, where she has worked on her project in some rather unusual locations. For example on a train to and from asylum centres in Jutland, at a squat in Athens and in a tent at the city hall square in Aarhus.

Witnessing history

Like many other Danes, Tanja was amazed to see the wave of refugees from Syria, Iraq and other countries that swept in over Denmark at the end of the summer. But she did not just stare at the television. Instead she travelled to the border to help – and to see the situation with her own eyes.

"I think what we’re witnessing at the moment is historic. And I would like to be able to tell my children that I did something," she says.

Met with pepper spray

"A group of us travelled to Padborg on the Danish-German border to give the refugees clothing, water and food. Here we were met by ridiculous police actions. We weren’t allowed to speak to the refugees or give them anything. The police threatened to detain us," says Tanja.

"We saw how the police detained the refugees and we could hear them shouting: 'Let us out!' so in sympathy we also shouted: 'Let them out!'. But then a policeman came over to us and said: ‘I'm going to count to three, and if you do not have left the station you’re in for some pepper spray’."

1-2-3 and Tanja and the other activists were hit with pepper spray.

"We were prepared, so we had milk to wash out our eyes. But it was still pretty bad."

Together with the others in the group, she then went to Flensburg to see the situation there.

"The police seemed more sympathetic here. They explained the situation to us and we were also allowed to talk to the refugees. Several of whom were walking without shoes on their feet."

Outraged at Danish treatment

Meeting the refugees made a big impression on Tanja. At the same time, she was also outraged at the way in which Denmark chose to receive them.

"These people need help RIGHT NOW! You can’t put it off. They’re just human beings."

She was infuriated by the way the police detained the refugees, without giving them a proper explanation that they could understand. Not being allowed to talk to them or give them water and food made her angry.

"I felt we were taking the refugees’ human rights away. Though we’re always quick to point the finger at other nations who don’t comply with human rights."

That same week she helped start the network Welcome to Denmark Aarhus and was one of the organisers of the large welcome party for refugees #RefugeesWelcome in the Botanical Gardens in Aarhus.

Volunteer in Greece

Then things gathered speed. Tanja took a spontaneous decision to travel to Athens and find the volunteers who were helping the many refugees coming into Greece.

"I met an anarchistic group who were squatting in a building where they housed refugees and gave them food, clothing, medical care and practical information about their journey through Europe. I lived there for a fortnight under the same conditions. Slept in the same room, ate the same bad food, got ill like them and didn’t take a shower during for the fourteen days I was there."

Together with the other volunteers, she helped to escort hundreds of refugees from Victoria Station in Athens to the house that they had taken over. Here they were given a medical check-up, registered and were given the key to a room.

READ MORE: Photo gallery of refugee centre in Athens

"And then we typically did not see them at all the next 24 hours, because they just slept and slept, now that they were finally somewhere safe."

Wretched treatment

Some of the refugees showed her videos of their journey.

"I saw how they were pursued by coastguards and fascists who tried to sail into the rubber dinghies. That’s when I realised how much the criminal mafia really controls the refugees journey – and how expensive and dangerous that journey is. It costs at least EUR 3,000 to get to Europe and twice that if you want to travel further through Europe."

She continues:

"I saw how wretchedly they’re treated because the international community doesn’t do anything. That makes it difficult for me to stop doing this work."

We’re not the ones in a crisis

Back in Denmark, Tanja continues both the fight to get the politicians to act and her voluntary work helping the refugees. In November she helped set-up the activist group Refugee Action.

She is tired of hearing the story constantly being told in the media about how the European countries are facing a refugee crisis.

READ MORE: Denmark, borrow more money

"We’re not the ones who are in a crisis. The refugees are the ones who are in a crisis. We’re just feeling sorry for ourselves," she says sarcastically.

"Of course it's no good if one country has to accept all of them. But we’re in such a hurry to say that taking in refugees is expensive. Yes, it will cost money in the short term. But why not see them as a resource? They can create new markets and our culture can be enriched by it. The refugees who come here have money and an education. What they don’t have is security."

READ MORE: What about the long-term view

Occupied former college

Together with the other activists in Refugee Action, she camped out in the city hall square in Aarhus at the beginning of December in a show of solidarity with the asylum seekers, who are living in tents in camps and at asylum centres located in rural Denmark. At the beginning of January she was also one of the people who occupied a building that previously housed a training college in Aarhus. The building has been empty since last summer and according to Refugee Action, it was well-suited as an excellent asylum centre.

However, Aarhus Municipality did not agree with the activists. Because of her participation in the action, Tanja was charged with disturbing the peace, because she was the person who broke a window so the activists could get into the building.

"But because we had ourselves contacted the owner after we broke in and made them aware of the broken window pane and the fact that we were there, they’ve chosen to drop the charges. So now we’re waiting to hear whether the police also choose to drop the charges."

Take a deep breath

Tanja frequently visits the refugee centres in Jutland and helps the refugees and asylum seekers. But she doesn’t enjoy arriving at the desolate centres.

"An asylum centre isn’t a nice place to be. They’re out-of-the-way and often consist of housing that’s more like portable cabins, which are draughty, really cold and mouldy. I have to take a deep breath every time I go into an asylum centre."

The voluntary work not only takes up her time. It also uses a lot of her student grant. In December she spent 800 kroner on transport to and from the asylum centres.

"But that doesn’t matter compared to people being able to survive. I’ve always been touched by seeing people who aren’t being treated properly. The more I help, the closer I get to these people. They become friends."  

Too easy to ignore us 

Tanja now has to defend her Bachelor project and complete her supplementary subject. But she will be doing this as a distance student because she is moving to Berlin in February, as she believes that it’s easier to be an activist in the German capital.

"Activism is difficult in Denmark. Partly because people haven’t really opened their eyes to how awful the situation is. Either because they don't think the situation is really that bad, or because they don’t believe it’ll make a difference anyway. Also, people don’t want to risk anything. For many people, taking part in a demonstration is as far as they will go. Bannerdrop and squatting in houses is too radical for most of them. But when we hold a demonstration, the moment we go home again, our voices are gone and it’s too easy for the politicians to ignore us."

"Moving to Berlin is a bit of an admission of failure. I’ve thought about it. But I’m tired. Changing things in Denmark is going to require a big struggle."

Ambitious student

The decision to stand up for better conditions for refugees does not mean that Tanja is any less ambitious when it comes to her degree programme. On the contrary.

"I would like to enrol in an online Master’s degree programme that focuses on refugees and integration policy being offered in the UK. To do that I need an average mark of 11, so I can’t relax on my degree programme. Moreover, that’s not something I want to do. I like my degree programme and it’s my chance to end up doing what I really want to. That’s also why I have had to write a Bachelor’s project that was good enough to get a top mark of 12, while I was busy doing my bit for the refugees."

She defended her Bachelor’s project titled ’The Beneficial Character of Markets – A Critical Assessment of the Relationship Between Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom’ on 27 January. The project got a top mark of 12.

Translated by Peter Lambourne