“Hate crimes in Europe!”: Dall’ Africa, fuggire per salvarsi

di Cinzia D’Ambrosi

Tra le ragioni che portano migliaia di rifugiati ad intraprendere viaggi pericolosi rischiando la propria vita, ci sono i conflitti in Siria, Iraq ed Afghanistan. Ma le guerre stanno spingendo anche i popoli del Sud Sudan, Etiopia, Somalia, Nigeria, Libia, Repubblica Democratica del Congo a cercare rifugio e sicurezza in Europa. Questi Paesi sono in fermento da molto tempo, ma la situazione sta raggiungendo un punto di non ritorno per quanto riguarda una crisi di sicurezza crescente. Ci sono milioni di rifugiati sfollati dispersi in Africa e milioni di morti e feriti, e il numero di coloro che fuggono cercando di salvare le proprie vite è sempre in aumento. Tuttavia , questi problemi non hanno attirato molta attenzione. I rifugiati africani in Europa non hanno avuto un’adequata protezione, per lo più sono bloccati, in attesa di una decisione positiva riguardo il loro status che darebbe loro la possibilita’ di trovare lavoro e poter ricostruire la propria vita.
Invece gli anni in un limbo burocratico li rendono vulnerabili allo sfruttamento e ai crimini d’odio. Nondimeno il loro ‘status’ instabile e’ ancora di piu’ compromesso da organi di stampa e politici che li rappresentano solo come migranti economici. Lo scorso agosto , in una intervista con la BBC ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-3384286 ) il ministro degli esteri britannico, Philip Hammond, parlando della situazione dei rifugiati a Calais avrebbe usato il termine predoni, che per definizione significa “andare in giro in cerca di cose da rubare o persone da attaccare”. “So long as there are large numbers of pretty desperate migrants marauding around the area, there always will be a threat to the tunnel security. We’ve got to resolve this problem ultimately by being able to return those who are not entitled to claim asylum back to their countries of origin.”

Purtroppo, queste osservazioni alimentano nelle persone rancore che si sfocia in dimostrazioni, attacchi a strutture per profughi e attacchi ai singoli.

E ,infine, la crisi migratoria e’ utilizzata per campagne politiche che favoriscono una chiusura verso il multiculturalismo e un rafforzamento di politiche di destra basate sulla paura di un ‘mafia’ di migranti economici.

Caption: “Life here does not give you anything.” Ahmed, 2015

Didascalia: “La vita qui non ti da’ nulla.” Ahmed, 2015

From Africa, Fleeing for Safety

Among the reasons for driving people to make dangerous journeys are conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. However, turmoil, deteriorating conflicts are also prompting people from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Lybia, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo to seek shelter and security in Europe. These countries have been in turmoil for a very long time but now are reaching a tipping point over an increasing security crisis. There are millions of refugees IDPs dispersed in Africa and millions of deaths and casualties and the number of those fleeing trying to save their lives are surging. Yet, these issues have not attracted much attention. African refugees in Europe have not had sound security and protection, mostly are stranded, waiting for their refugee status to be cleared so that they can work and build their lives. Instead their years in a bureaucratic limbo are leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and hate crimes. Even more so as their unsettled ‘status’ is tainted by reports in which they are often referred to as economic migrants. Last August, in one interview with BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-3384286) British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in which discussing the situation of refugees in Calais he would use the term marauding, which by definition means going about in search of things to steal or people to attack. “So long as there are large numbers of pretty desperate migrants marauding around the area, there always will be a threat to the tunnel security. We’ve got to resolve this problem ultimately by being able to return those who are not entitled to claim asylum back to their countries of origin.”

Unfortunately and irresponsibly, these comments have taken a hold in people at a local and international level generating hate filled media, demonstrations, attacks on refugee accommodations and attacks on individual.

Even more, the migration crisis is initiating division in Europe and it has often been used as a political tool, including far right mobilisation, nationalism and the perpetuation on the idea of defending borders… mostly using the reference of an invasion of a ‘mob’ of economic migrants.