The Hackney Chinese Community Services is holding a shrine for the Essex 39 on the first anniversary of the tragedy.
Last year, on 23 October 2019, the bodies of 39 trafficked Vietnamese people—29 men, 2 boys, and 8 women—were found in the trailer of an articulated refrigerator lorry in Grays, Essex. They had all died of hypoxia and hyperthermia whilst being shipped from Zeebrugge in Belgium, to Purfleet, Essex, UK.
The plight of the Essex 39, echoes previous tragedies of the Dover 58, in 2000 - in which 58 people trafficked to the UK from China were found dead in a lorry, and the 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster, in which 23 Chinese nationals died in dangerous work conditions.
These tragedies expose the inhumane border control which creates the conditions for organised crime to profit from human trafficking. The Morecambe Bay cockling tragedy demonstrated the in-country immigration control forcing undocumented migrants into exploitative and dangerous employment conditions.
In contrast, during the same period of time, China and Vietnam proudly pronounced their success in industrialisation and rapid economic growth. Even so, the deaths of these migrants demonstrates that economic success was not universally felt. Instead, it has often caused adverse effects, causing local environment damage and destroying livelihoods in rural communities, thereby creating an army of those destitute who are forced to seek migration to the cities or even further aboard in order to earn a living.
As pointed out by Daikon, in their article Grieve the Essex 39, but Recognise the Root Causes, “When [corporations] cut corners to maximise profit, local working class communities bear the brunt of the fallout, often in the form of irreparable environmental damage”. It notes further that ”the mainstream focus on criminal justice for ‘greedy and unscrupulous’ traffickers and safe passage for ‘genuine’ refugees represents a failure to interrogate the actual global conditions that lead people to risk dangerous travel, and the deadly effects of border controls.
on all migrants.
On 23 October 2020, HCCS will hold a shrine in its Small Hall to commemorate the First Anniversary of the Essex 39. The shrine is open from 10 to 5pm, for visitors to pay respects to these victims of global capitalism and British border control.
Essex 39 First Anniversary Commemoration
Date: 23 October 2020
Venue: Small Hall, 28-32 Ellingfort Road, London E8 3PA
Time: 10am to 5pm
克尼華人社會服務中心，在發生埃塞克斯39 (the Essex 39) 慘劇的一周年，為其舉辦一紀念祀壇。
去年,2019年10月23日,在埃塞克斯郡格雷斯的一輛鉸接式冰箱卡車的拖車中,發現了39名被販運的越南人的屍體——29名男子、2名男孩和8名婦女。他們從比利時的澤布魯格,偷運到英國埃塞克斯的普弗利特時,死於缺氧和體溫過高。
埃塞克斯39的處境與2000年多佛58的悲劇相呼應——在2000年,58名從中國被販運到英國的人被發現死在一輛卡車上,2004年的莫雷坎貝灣(Morecambe Bay)拾貝慘劇,23名中國公民在危險的工作條件中喪生。
這些悲劇暴露了不人道的邊境管制,為有組織犯罪從人口販運中獲利創造了條件。莫雷坎貝灣的拾貝悲劇表明,這國移民管制迫使無證移民進入剝削和危險的就業條件。
相比之下,在同一時期,中國及越南自豪地宣佈了工業化和快速經濟增長的成功。即便如此,這些移民的死亡表明,經濟成功並沒有普遍感受到。反而,它往往導致不良後果,造成當地環境的破壞,破壞農村社區的生計,繼而造成一支赤貧者大軍,為了謀生,他們被迫向城市遷移或遷徙到更遠的外國地方。
正如Daikon在《哀悼埃塞克斯39,但認知根本原因》一文中指出的,"當[公司]為了利潤最大化而削減開支時,當地工人階級社區首當其衝地承受著後果,往往以無法彌補的環境破壞的形式出現"。它進一步指出,"主流側重於對‘貪婪和肆無忌憚'販運者的刑事司法,以及‘真正的’難民的安全通道，是代表着調查導致人們面臨危險旅行的實際全球條件，以及邊境管制對所有移民的致命影響的失敗”。https://daikon.co.uk/blog/essex-39。
2020年10月23日星期五，克尼華人社會服務中心將在其小禮堂，設一祀壇，紀念埃塞克斯39的第一周年。祀壇的開放時間為上午10點至下午5點，供訪客向 “資本主義全球化和英國邊境管制” 的受害者致意。
Essex 39 First Anniversary Commemoration
Date: 23 October 2020
Venue: Small Hall, 28-32 Ellingfort Road, London E8 3PA
Time: 10am to 5pm