No One Is Meant To Know

At the recent Paris talks, representatives from France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the EU confirmed their shared political line of cooperating with dictatorial states, of being the de facto ATM for blood thirsty regimes whose task is, and will increasingly be, to block people departing for Europe at all costs. It is important that nothing of what’s going on in Africa leaks into Europe, into public opinion. Minniti and the Italian government have already done the dirty work for this, gorging out indiscreet eyes by excluding the NGO ships from the Mediterranean, the unique and troublesome witnesses.

Rejected Tunisians at the Palermo train station

“Italyisverygood!”

The days have been hot, and not only because the temperature has reached 40 degrees. The current systemic violence its showing its discriminatory and murderous character. Sending thousands of people back to Libya, blocking their arrival in Italy, through making deals with militia that collude with people traffickers, is nothing less than criminal. These are collective push backs, the kind which Italy has already undertaken in the past and for which it has been condemned in the European Court of Human Rights.

A photo taken during the eviction at Via Curtatone, Rome. Photo: La Repubblica

Young People, Little Protection: From Landing to Turning Eighteen. The Situation in Some Centres in Eastern Sicily

For a few months, the Hotspot at Pozzallo has included a container for “welcoming” children and families. A space is “dedicated” to those who are meant to only be passing through the Hotspot after the landing, but in reality they are frequently illegally and lengthily detained, a fact which has now become “normal and inevitable.” The situation is submissively accepted by some of the organisations that ought to be defending the rights of migrants but in fact continually fail to report violations of those rights, more concerned as they are to obtain a piece of the pie within the system than protect and safeguard the new arrivals.

Criminalising Those Who Rescue, Supporting Those Who Arm: The New Strategies Of The War On Migrants

The Golfo Azzurro, the vessel belonging to the NGO Proactiva, arrived at the port of Catania on Thursday morning with 490 migrants on board, including a group who had survived a shipwreck. At least eight people died, the bodies of whom were transferred to the Vos Hestia (Save the Chidren) although there are strong suspicions that many other bodies have disappeared, swallowed up all too quickly by the sea.

The Reception System in Agrigento, Trapani and Palermo: Between Disorganisation, Chaos and Abandonment

The deadly game does not stop. Europe has found a way out, and the only consequence will be the death of an entire society. The refrain we hear everyday is of an “invasion” and “help them in their own countries”. These phrases have contributed to the return of a regurgitated racism, spreading out across our cities in a series of episodes, from Aosta to Palermo, as seen by the latest protests in Castell'Umberto and Porto Empedocle.

Protest by shopkeepers in Porto Empedocle (Provincia of Agrigento) against the opening of a centre for minors

From On-Board Police To The Ban: What's In The NGO Code Of Conduct

Redattoresociale.it – The new rules proposed by Italy for the NGOs carrying out sea rescues are at the centre of heated debate. But what do they say in detail? Which are the controversial points? Below is a summary.

Borderline Sicilia Mobilises Against The Catania Landning Of the Anti-Migrant Ship

Borderline Sicilia is backing the call-out launched by antiracist groups in Catania against the proposed landing of the C-Star in the port of Catania. The ship has been hired froman British mercenary company by the far-right organisation 'Generazione Identitaria” , as Andrea Palladino reported in Famiglia Cristiana yesterday.

"They Leave As People, They Arrive As Ghosts” Shipwrecks And Push-Backs At Sea. Italy Closes The Doors, Including To Those Who Manage To Arrive

On June 12th a Swedish ship belonging to Frontex landed at Catania, with 356 migrants on board and 8 bodies. The survivors spoke of a dozen missing and the collapse of their rubber boat, packed with people far beyond its capacity. Only a few days later, a group of Sudanese migrants reported a boat which had broken apart after two days at sea, from which only a dozen people had been saved. Other refugees reported having met Syrian women and children in Libya: they had just been “brought back” to the departure point by the local Coast Guard and themselves told of having seen other small wooden boats go under.

The Italian Coast Guard vessel Diciotti in port at Catania

Welcome, Humanity!

“In a world full of doors, the only division that mattered now were between those who sought the right of passage and those who would deny them passage” (Mohsin Hamid, Exit West).

In only eight days, 1800 migrants arrived in Palermo. They went ashore from two different ships, the Vos Prudence (Medecins sans Frontieres) and the Diciotti, from the Italian Coastguard. Two different arrivals and two different stories... A different approach to the reality of immigration. 

The Reason the NGOs Are Being Attacked Right Now

Exactly a week after the press conference held on board the Aquarius, the SOS Mediterranee and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ship has come back in to port at Catania. Despite the vehement criticisms, the NGOs have continued to patrol the Mediterranean and rescue migrants, saving hundreds of people from certain death and demonstrating that sea rescue missions are more necessary today than ever before.

The Aquarius at Catania