Aral Balkan
Absolute nightmare of an experience at Brussels airport passport control. Likely getting profiled because the birthplace on my French passport says Turkey and the chip isn’t working (which is why I was in the manual control lane to begin with).
The joys of being white passing in racist countries. You’re fine until they see you might be a bit too Brown inside.
Now sitting in a room with other Brown and Black folks, waiting (and they have my passport).
Aral Balkan
Just spoke with two women being held in the same room as me. Also of Turkish ethnicity, both Belgian citizens. Not being allowed in to Belgium.
Brussels airport is racially profiling European Citizens.
Please share widely.
Aral Balkan
Cue my white-presenting privilege and a predictably apologetic supervisor, taking me out of the room with a look of “oh, goodness, you don’t belong in there” (first experienced while entering the US, many years ago) Explained I was unlucky a plane had landed from Turkey and they saw “Ankara” as my birth place. Told him this is racial profiling and about the two young women. Promised to look into it.
Also told him “I hope you realise how horrible this feels.”
Aral Balkan
@MisterWanko I’m a French citizen. The two you women at Belgian citizens. Unless Belgium has a political problem with Belgium and France, it’s racial.
I didn’t think this would require clarification.
Mister Wanko
@aral If it's all Turkish people, couldn't it be political rather than racial?
Vjosa Musliu
@aral @EU_Commission
Belgium...why am I not surprised? Sorry to hear this Aral. Hope you made it with no massive headache.
Aral Balkan
@VjosaMusliu @EU_Commission Thanks, Vjosa. Yes, upon review, they decided I was white-presenting enough to exercise my rights as an EU citizen.
lightspeed
Ethnic profiling happened (happens?) in The Netherlands as well, but a district court allowed it. See the judgment below (obviously in Dutch, so might want to auto-translate). Kmar = Dutch border control by military police.
https://deeplink.rechtspraak.nl/uitspraak?id=ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2021:10283
It appears @amnestynl has appealed the case in a class action lawsuit (WAMCA):
https://deeplink.rechtspraak.nl/uitspraak?id=ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2022:1316
Aral Balkan
@gothnbass He was apologetic and looked embarrassed. It would have gone differently had I not been white-preventing.
Goth'n'Bass
@aral How did he respond to that?
Aral Balkan
@historleans It’s a good reminder to use whatever privilege I have as a white-presenting person to dismantle these systems of oppression.
(I’m very aware my once-in-a-blue moon experiences are nothing compared to the daily racism faced by others.)
💕
Rebecca Brückmann
@aral: I am sorry. The racism inherent in Western border regimes is nauseating.
Aral Balkan
@escamoteur @MisterWanko Yeah, the two Belgian women with Turkish ethnicity had working RFID chips in their passports.
🤔
Thomas
@aral @MisterWanko I can imagine how awful this must feel, but in your case probably not your birthplace was the trigger but your chip not working. The chips are an central element in passport security and normally they shouldn't make problems.
Aral Balkan
Boarded and looking forward to getting back to Ireland.
Aral Balkan
@JigmeDatse Do you have a link to where I said I regretted something I said at the EU Parliament? (I don’t remember regretting any of it.)
Jigme Datse
@aral Nice to see you... I watched the thing where you were talking at the EU about 2 years ago. I think you said you felt you said some stuff you now regret. But it was good overall, even with the stuff I felt was regrettable.
Aral Balkan
@gwenvaneijk Hey, Gwen, I’m happy to file a complaint. Do you know where would be most effective to do so? (And thank you.) :)
PS. I hope so too.
Gwen van Eijk
@aral Sorry to hear about your experience. Have you considered filing a complaint? Hope the two women are allright..
@lightspeed The Dutch border police is still racially profiling people. Amnesty has appealed, the court will decide on 14 Feb. (However, it's not a class action/WAMCA, the two citizens who have brought the case to court together with Amnesty and other orgs don't claim damages, all they want is a prohibition on racial profiling.)
Aral Balkan
@NAFO5IX @MisterWanko I wondered that too and asked him that directly. He said no, it was because a plane from Turkey had landed at the same time.
N4F0-Sec
Could be intel of a poss threat coming from or through Turkey - they don’t normally make that info public
Aral Balkan
@samueljohnson @Homebrewandhacking @EU_Commission Right, EU countries racially profile EU citizens at their airports, not the EU.
Got it.
SamuelJohnson
@Homebrewandhacking @aral @EU_Commission The EU doesn't control any airports. All EU airports are staffed and operated by citizens of member states in accordance with their national laws (these include EU laws). Suggestions that "the EU" is racial profiling because of actions of an official (or officials) in one airport in one country is about as sensible as birthplace profiling. The EU does nothing of the sort.
PJ Coffey
Wow... EU using #RacialProfiling uncool.
MateLord
@aral you were controlled because of suspicions (not working) passport. I wouldn’t say people in Brussels are racists.
Aral Balkan
@matelord Thank you for whitesplaining to me what I experienced.
Aral Balkan
@pietervdvn Indeed :)
Pietervdvn :mapcomplete:
@aral Whelp, what a way to end Offdem :(
Reality hitting hard...
Aral Balkan
@pietervdvn Lovely chatting with you there, by the way. And don’t forget to send me the article when it’s ready. Hope the rest of today went well :)
Adam Horne
@aral I think it's a bit simpler than that - I went thru there a couple of weeks ago and they we're extremely painful for me too. I'm a white, blue-eyed, Australian who lives in Sweden. Maybe it's an outside the EU think? But honestly, it's the chip not working thing that's sending off alarm bells (if I had to bet).
Aral Balkan
@adamhorne Again, I’m a French citizen.
Aral Balkan
Mister Wanko
@aral it I don't agree with your reasoning or conclusions, so I'll just part ways here.
PJ Coffey
"Mastodon doesn't have a racism problem."
And yet here we are looking at you defending racism. Being silent would cost you nothing.
SamuelJohnson
@aral @Homebrewandhacking @EU_Commission Let us know if you have evidence of your claim a) from more than one airport in one country on one day and b) that it's EU policy.
Aral Balkan
@JigmeDatse Ah, yes. You’re not mistaken. I do regret thinking DHH was someone he’s clearly not based on his lip service to “small tech.” Yes, I do regret quoting him at the EU Parliament. Thank you for reminding me :)
Jigme Datse
@aral I don't it would be some time on this account. I could easily be mistaken. I think it was related to what you said about DHH. It aged poorly.
Jarvis Slacks
@aral @EU_Commission This happened to me last time I flew out of Heathrow.
Aral Balkan
@jkb Similarly sorry to hear you have to put up with it. I wonder if they realise how much they’re sabotaging their own societies with these policies. If you keep reminding people they don’t really belong in your society, there’s the chance they will actually start believing it. And something tells me they’re not going to work in the best interests of your society if they do. Self-fulfilling prophecies and all that…
(Or maybe just don’t be racist because it’s the right thing to do…) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
JKB
@aral Had this happen to me on a couple occasions, not in Belgium because that's my passport's issuing country and citizenship but other places seem to have red flags pop up when a guy with a full beard has his birthplace in Tunisia.
This sucks. I'm sorry this happened to you and ashamed this happened in my country
Aral Balkan
@kcsorenby Thanks, Karin. Back home and all’s good. Appreciate your concern :)
Karin Sorenby
@aral just read this now.. hope your in a better spot now. Take care wherever u are☺️
Christian Grobmeier
@aral @EU_Commission wow that smells. What is wrong with this airport to deny citizens access to their country
Aral Balkan
@grobmeier @EU_Commission Sadly, the answer is all too simple: it is racist.
Aral Balkan
@shalf “C’est la vie,” as the racist border guard who started it all would say :)
Yann 不停 Heurtaux
@aral Sorry to hear about this 😔
Aral Balkan
@xerz Oh, it’s definitely a thing. No single country holds a patent on racism.
Xerz! :blobcathearttrans:
@aral I’m genuinely surprised that is a thing over there… :blobcatsweat:
Océane 🏳️⚧️
@Homebrewandhacking @samueljohnson @aral @EU_Commission Yes, Europe is supposed to promote peace and democracy among its State members. Telling people of color not to leverage the EU against ethnic profiling by the police is really problematic.
Océane 🏳️⚧️
@Homebrewandhacking @samueljohnson @aral @EU_Commission The claim's that the Brussels airport is racially profiling EU citizens so I really feel like Samuel Johnson was looking for an opportunity to start a conversation
Deniz Opal
@aral @jkb Same happens to me in EU airports. Birthplace and passport both UK, must be my name or brown face. You would expect airports to have a more sophisticated profiling system than Millwall fans.
Aral Balkan
ClaudetteK
@aral What an absolutely crappy thing for them to do! It’s infuriating, and I hope you’ve recovered a bit. And thank you for standing up for your fellow travelers similarly targeted and detained; that was an awesome thing you did.
MusicTraveler
@aral It is absurd that you immediately start to insinuate that all countries in EU are racists just because you have to show your passport 🤦🏻♀️
When I’m traveling they stop me also and searching my luggage and so on 🤷🏻♀️ Do I have to start to complain that the mistreating me? 🤦🏻♀️ Of course not, I’m white so I keep myself descent and I behave till they are ready with what they want to do.
You should do the same instead of just pulling the racist card 🤦🏻♀️ I don’t like this behavior 😏
Aral Balkan
@musictraveler I’m sorry you disapprove of my behaviour of getting racially profiled and complaining about it. I apologise for having made you feel momentarily uncomfortable in your whiteness. I hope you make a full recovery and that there was no lasting damage.
Yann 不停 Heurtaux
@aral The nerves 😒
Aral Balkan
@shalf I actually told him “I’ve never had an experience like this before here.”
His response?
“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” (With a smirk.)
Aral Balkan
Funny how many white EU folks come out to defend white EU police and gaslight you that you were just imagining things when you mention you’ve been racially profiled.
Almost like they’re racist themselves or something.
🤔
lightspeed
Congratulations Gwen! The appeal court apparently overruled the primary court and decided the Koninklijke Marechaussee is guilty of ethnic profiling.
lightspeed
As if the court knew I mentioned the case, the appeal court just published a press statement that they will publish their judgment next week on February 14th. Those who are interested (and understand Dutch) can watch a livestream.
Gwen van Eijk
@lightspeed Ah yes I see now, I hadn't looked into the specifics of the new law yet, as collective claims for declaratory and/or injunctive relief were already possible, my mistake. Just wanted to stress that the Amnesty case is not about monetary damages. Thanks for clarifying!
lightspeed
(Technical reply back to @gwenvaneijk: despite it's name the WAMCA covers all class action procedures, wether damage is claimed or not. It's a cover-all act for collective procedures that combines the possibilities to claim e.g. a declaration of right and *can* include damages. See the appeal judgment I cited and second bullet point under 2 on page 1 of the explanatory memorandum that accompanied the WAMCA).
Sébastien Lugan
@aral Just to contribute (a little late) with my own experience... My wife and myself have been working full time for Belgian organizations for more than 15 years. Last summer, my wife unfortunately lost her job. Although she had always paid all her social contributions in Belgium, they refuse to give her a single cent for unemployment compensation because of her Japanese passport (no Belgian ID) and the fact that she is the wife of a French citizen.
Sébastien Lugan
@aral Moreover, they now claim that she is no longer allowed to accompany me on our regular trips to Belgium since she lost her job in Belgium, even though she has a perfectly valid European residence permit as the wife of a French citizen. Despite hosting most of the European institutions, when it comes to foreigners, Belgium doesn't hesitate to violate the most fundamental principles of the European Union (free movement of workers and their families & coordination of social security systems).
Aral Balkan
@SebastienLugan Bloody hell, I’m so sorry you and your wife have to put up with such treatment, Sébastien.
Mind if I boost your posts?
Aral Balkan
@skinnylatte Thanks, Adrianna. It wasn’t fun but I’m very aware that I only get the occasional glimpse into what it’s like for others as being white-passing usually shields me from it. We live in a racist world, sadly, and nowhere is immune.
All that aside, hope you’re having a lovely week so far and here’s wishing you a wonderful day from the Emerald Isle :)
Adrianna Tan
@aral ugh i am so sorry. that sucks!
Aral Balkan
@grob I’ve been in that room, yes.
grob 🇺🇦
@aral once got held up entering the US for some paper reason and was brought into a room full of people who looked Middle-Eastern possibly. Was the only white person. No way this was a random sample or based on anything randomly distributed like fucking up your papers. Also the desk of the officer was like 1m higher than the rest so he could yell down at people while sitting. Asshole judge vibes.
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