Welcome to the world of restricted travel, British people

In her thought provoking piece in the Guardian, Chibundu Onuzo looks at one potential fallout from the Eu referendum outcome. But shines a light on the common experience on the ideal of free movement for the majority of the Black world. We re-publish the article in full here:

The news that, post-Brexit, British citizens may have to apply for permission to travel to Europe as well as pay a fee, made me experience an uncharacteristic burst of schadenfreude.

The proposed scheme wouldn’t require Britons to have a visa, but intentions for travelling would need to be clearly stated online and applications could, in theory, be denied. It would, in essence, be a curb on freedom of movement – a freedom I have never fully experienced, because of my nationality.

I’ve always needed a visa to legally travel out of Nigeria to most places in the world. There are other ways to do it. My cousin walked across the Sahara and slipped into Europe via the Mediterranean, but he was later deported.

Every time I fly into Heathrow, I am reminded that a plastic visa card is the only thing stopping my presence in London being a crime. I often see other travellers who have been ushered to the side, their lives deemed illegal, only that thin square of plastic separating us.

It is therefore ironic that the British vote to leave the EU may also unwittingly have been a vote to criminalise unauthorised British movement in Europe. The new scheme is believed to be part of a wider response to curtail the free movement of terrorists across European borders, but there’s no reason why it can’t also be directed at curbing the free movement of football hooligans as well.

Visa: my British friends are always puzzled by this strange word. They send me last-minute discount holidays, urging me to come along.

I explain. I can go to Ipswich without a visa, not Ibiza. Cornwall, not Corfu. Manchester not Malta. And so on.

“But you’ve lived here for so long,” they say. “Surely you can just tell them that.” I agree. I could tell “them” that –and then have “them” escort me back on to the plane, and deport me.

Even when the notice is long enough, the hassle of the visa process means I usually pass. My more tenacious Nigerian friends refuse to let their green passports stop them. To secure permission to travel in Europe, they queue, they print out their bank statements, they take the day off work to make their visa appointment, they take a second day off work because they forgot to bring a signed letter from their office, and they pay the visa fee. And all for a two-week pass into Europe.

To Britons contemplating a life of more restricted travel, I reassure you that it’s not all doom and bureaucracy. There are some perks. Say you’re invited to an event in Europe, a family holiday or wedding for example, and you can’t afford it, or you really just don’t want to go. You can always say: “Couldn’t get my travel documents sorted out fast enough,” and the matter magically ends there.

Yet, perhaps my gloating is misplaced. We all know that freedom of movement is not equally applied to UK citizens. All British passports are equal, but some are more equal than others. The Olympic legend Mo Farah was one of the most recent British victims of travelling while black. Flying back from the Rio games he was sent to the back of the queue by an airline official who, according to his wife, refused to believe he had a business class ticket.

Also this year, my friend Laolu Opebiyi was kicked off a flight at Luton airport when a Christian prayer message on his phone sparked a terror alert. My sister, a mechanical engineering student at the time, with a valid ticket and ample proof of her identity, was kept in a detention area for hours in Miami, almost missing her flight. She was let go without any explanation for why she had been held. British Muslim women wearing headscarves have had similar experiences.

If you’re black, whatever the colour of your passport, you have your travel stories. The friend with dreadlocks who is always pulled aside for “random” body searches; the relative with grandchildren in England who was told by immigration not to visit so often. We trade our stories, and then we laugh. You can slow us down, but you can’t stop us moving.

So, British people, welcome to the world of restricted travel. Fear not. You’re in good company. Billions of people around the globe also have their movement across borders restricted. Yes, the forms can be a hassle. However, if you have all your paperwork in order, and evidence that you’re a law-abiding sort, you’ll get accustomed to the process. But woe betide those who go to Europe only to pick fights at foreign football stadiums. Your days of punching rival fans in France may be numbered.

And who knows? Maybe filling out forms will make Britain more sympathetic to immigrants. I bet Nigel Farage didn’t think of that.

Chibundu Onuzo

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/13/r