As I've mentioned, it can seem, in Sicily, as if everything has stopped for the Ferragosto holiday and the days around it but there are two things which did not - the incidence of migrant boats foundering in the Mediterranean and the political debate arising from these sad events.
On 14th August 750 migrants who had been rescued in the Sicilian Channel arrived in Brindisi [Puglia] on an Italian naval ship. Among them were 140 children, many of whom were unaccompanied. On 15th August 1004 migrants, most of them from the Middle East and Nigeria, were taken to Naples, where taxi drivers given the job of driving them to hospital or reception centres turned up for work wearing masks. Scabies and illnesses such as gastroenteritis are feared although more serious diseases have been ruled out. A fine "welcome" but an understandable one, perhaps.
Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said on August 15th [the day of the bank holiday] that Operazione Mare Nostrum, launched on 18th October last year, must be wound up by Italy before its second anniversary and that Frontex [the European External Borders Agency] and the EU must take over. He said that Italy had shown itself to be a world leader in migrant reception and that Italian police had arrested 539 people on suspicion of people trafficking between 1st August 2013 and 31st July this year. The European Commission accorded him a curt response on Tuesday, saying that Frontex does not have the resources to replace Mare Nostrum and that EU member states must each help more. This last is exactly what Italy has been asking for all along, a plea which has fallen largely on deaf ears so I would like to know what guarantee we have that it will happen now.
Bureaucrats may argue, but people will always try to escape from hell and the absence of hope.
3 comments:
Did you see we had a container load of Afghan Sikhs arriving on a lorry, one of whom had died en route?
I think the whole world is turning into Hell...soon there'll be no escape for any of us.
There are too many distressing, despicable things happening in our world today.
Instead of slaughtering their fellow humans why don't the Fundamentalists direct their energy towards doing good. They should try it...they might find they enjoy doing so!
Instead of destroying, why don't they go out and be constructive...build buildings to house their poor? Work in the hospitals...become decent people instead of evil doers. What purpose are they serving by being so destructive? They're incapable of living a decent life...they're incapable of positivity. I despair.
I'm sorry, Pat for raving on...I don't know for sure what our world is coming to...but from all the indications, what I imagine isn't pretty; and it's very frightening.
Hi, WW. Yes, I saw that tragic news. Hi, Lee. I think most of us would agree with you - terrible events in the last few days. And yes, the energy put into hatred could be much better used.
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