Meanwhile, Italy literally suffocates from the flow of refugees from North Africa. Asya Yemelyanova will tell more. Even when it’s +40, they can’t be dragged into the sea. Even if it’s the best sea in Italy. They sing about how they are afraid of it after two days spent in the Libyan waters on a flat rubber boat. People sunbathe on this beach only out of ignorance.
A different kind of music plays here for the second year. It’s a black zone for tourists, although the center for migrants, which was opened in this former hotel, is the best in the country. The prayer room, for which they fought the most with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Ramadan began, the dining room is empty, everyone is here. Nine study groups, ”laboratories” as they call them after two years of waiting for a residence permit. From here, they at least come out with a profession. Sewing courses, twinning of traditional Sardinian baskets.
Later, they sell them themselves on the beaches for 20-30 euros apiece. Everyone says that the Libyan camps are the worst. Yes, we work there as slaves. They beat us and don’t give us food. This was the first successful experience in turning a half-empty Sardinian hotel into a center for migrants. In luxurious Sardinia, the competition is tough. If it’s not new, not fashionable, and without a view of the bay with yachts, one can go bankrupt. Such structures are now in great demand among those who understood that they can make money off migrants. Vacation retreat "Red Island" hosts 150 people. "Porto Pozzo" hotel — 200.
The European Union sends 35 euros per day for each. Panini, water, and clothes will be brought by the Red Cross and churches, everything else is net profit. "Parking zones" for migrants that sprout up like mushrooms in Sardinia frighten tourists and locals. Are these structures ruining your life? This is our fate. We invest, we try. But if it's dirty, insecure, criminal, then they think the same about us. It takes so much effort to dissuade people. Each migrant center in Italy has its own code. Its specifics.
The refugees are no longer allowed to swim on their own boats to the shore. Their boats are sunk, refugees are spread and brought to the ports on warships. Women, children, and teenagers come to Lampedusa. It’s quieter and cozier. Here, the future Europeans begin to understand where they came to. The exhibition of black and white photographs "What We Used to Be" is a huge success for the third month. A nostalgia for the past without migrants on the island is now in fashion. How else could they call the main monument in Lampedusa? "The Door to Europe." From Africa to Europe, it’s really one step. 113 kilometers. But how many didn't make just a couple hundred meters to the shore?
In the Mediterranean Sea, the Mediterranean cemetery, there are at least 30,000 people buried. The island, from which everything began, is nominated for the Nobel Prize every year. The UNESCO Prize, the Peace Prize, was given to the Mayor of Lampedusa this spring. Here, people remember the times when there were twice as many refugees as locals. Today, they are also many.
The newlyweds come out from the church, people throw rice. The couple is being photographed, there is a drone in the air. But "they" will be in every shot. We were watching a scene today. You can’t even celebrate a wedding here without them. They will be in each photo. Migrants have become a part of your life. Do people have that much patience? There is no need to be patient. They aren’t intrusive. They don’t ask for anything. They don’t spoil the holiday. They sit on benches and look at our lives. At this wedding, which, perhaps, they will never have. And this is mutual. No one drives them away, migrants understand that they aren’t hated. I’m very proud of my island and my people.
This interview was recorded a week before the Mayor of Lampedusa spectacularly lost the elections. Tolerance? Peace Prize? It turned out that the island and the people whom Ms. Nicolini was so proud of needed something else. Because the migrants are different now. These are not the same guys who would come in 2007 and thank for unleavened island bread. These know their rights, ask for allowance, fashionable clothes, and an international SIM-card, and aren’t afraid of anything. The ratings of Italian talk shows break all records nowadays.
A new trend on Italian television is an attack which is live. A broadcast of Channel 4, Mediaset. Correspondent Elina enters the former Olympic Village in Turin. Now, it’s an immigrant city. Quite brave! Even the military doesn’t come here. A year ago, there was a real war with explosions. Elina was surrounded in just one minute. Guys, let’s go. Let’s leave! Let’s leave, let’s leave, please! Camera! Please, let’s leave! We are attacked, let’s run! This is also a broadcast of the Mediaset channel. And also exactly one minute later, the presenter begs the correspondent, Alessio, and his team to stop working on the air. Try to move away from them. It will end badly. I guess they’ve gone mad. We are just trying to show what is happening at the Tiburtina Station. Alessio, are you there? I hope this is just a technical problem.
Francesca Parisella also disappeared unexpectedly from the air of the program called Matrix. It was late. Behind the back of the journalist, everyone is asleep. Near the central station. Around 50 people. Francesca tried to talk in a whisper, but on the third minute of the broadcast, they broke her camera. Francesca! Get out of there! There is aggression not just on the air. It’s better not to go to some places.
Officially, according to the distribution system, Rome must accept 11,000 migrants. This week, the mayor of the city wrote to the Ministry of Internal Affairs that it’s too many for the capital, and the city no longer needs refugees or new centers. It’s dangerous. People are tired. The mayor, of course, wasn’t talking about those counted and divided between organizations, but about the invisible ones. Without documents, who were denied a residence permit, those on transit, waiting for money from home for the next stage of the trip, to the north of Europe.
The Baobab Center no longer collects them near the train stations, word of mouth works perfectly. Here, in the backyard of the Tiburtina Station, you can always find a place in a tent, water, and dinner. The Mayor's office checks up every day. After dinner, a ritual police raid takes place, and by the night, the camp is full again.
The city is becoming less and less hospitable, although we constantly repeat that it’s impossible not to notice this phenomenon, the transit of migrants. If our dear head of the city is so worried about safety, it would be more useful to equip an official camp here, to gather everyone in one place and to control them. The concept of "summer season" in Italy has many meanings now. The forecast from military and Intel sources, for the 2017 season, is ten boats a day. Only in one week, they caught 1800 people in the sea.
