Mediterranean Hope Newsletter-February 2015

Mediterranean Hope Newsletter-February 2015

Everything is the same as before.

Unfortunately as we had reported, after the end of Mare Nostrum there are again migrant deaths at sea and Lampedusa becomes again the island of salvation which bear the weight of a great and terrible world. This issue tells the impressions of those who live on the border of the Mediterranean Sea after yet another tragedy and tries to investigate the context in which the migration phenomenon is changing.

It’s high time we listened to Lampedusa

By Marta Bernardini and Francesco Piobbichi. From the beginning of January it was already clear to us, who have been living in Lampedusa for month, that arrivals on the island were increasing, and that a real acceleration of landings has occurred last week. Read this Article

Massimo Aquilante (FCEI): A humanitarian channel to protect refugees

Rome (NEV), 11 February 2015 – The opening of a humanitarian channel to accept refugees is a matter of conscience. The death of 300 people in the Channel of Sicily was confirmed the day after the tragedy by the President of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI), Pastor Massimo Aquilante, on his return fromMorocco, one of the North African countries most affected by the transit of refugees. Read This Article

A Mediterranean Hope interview with Don Mimmo Zambito parish of Lampedusa

The risk is to get used to these events. It would be the worst thing that can happen, not only to those who live far from Lampedusa but also for us living here. There is not a real agreement between the different actors living in Lampedusa, working and trying in many ways to help migrants from Africa or the Middle East. The risk is to lose the perception of the drama of immigration, the tragedy of death. We are facing a great risk. Read this article

A call from Lampedusa to Tripoli: A Mediterranean Hope interview with Nancy Porsia in Libya

A new scenario has developed along our borders, in Lampedusa, and media have started spreading the Isis alarm, insisting on a possible link between terrorism and landings. Mediterranean Hope interviewed Nancy Porsia, a journalist working in Libya. We discussed with her the events taking place in the country. Read this article

The philosophy of the House of Cultures of Scicli

At the “Casa delle Culture” (House of Cultures) of Scicli, the culture of assistance does not seem to find a home. Here, the concept of reception, inspired by any conception of charity, always a cleanser of consciences and sworn enemy of any discussion based on social justice, makes room for exchange, for a synthesis of diversities and a daily practice that sows the seeds for a new idea of insertion. Read this article