Responding to the Challenge
We should say that in Italy the sea brings those in search of “hope.” Looking from this perspective, ”hope” for these people in Europe means starting from the concept of dignity, of having rights. It also means that you will meet people who accompany you in your journey, but that they will also leav...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlage
2016-05-01
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| Series: | Diaconia |
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| Online Access: | https://vr-elibrary.de/doi/10.13109/diac.2016.7.1.68 |
| Summary: | We should say that in Italy the sea brings those in search of “hope.” Looking from this perspective, ”hope” for these people in Europe means starting from the concept of dignity, of having rights. It also means that you will meet people who accompany you in your journey, but that they will also leave you free to live your faith. How can you save lives and maybe send them back to the coast where they escaped violence? The decision to set up the socalled ‘hotspots’ (new centers for identification and expulsion), in some areas of southern Italy raises similar doubts. Everyone who arrives anmigrant in Europe has his or her own story. Whoever arrives in Europe by sea or on foot tries to tell it to us, because they hope that they can have a better future, as Mohamed told us in Torre Pellice. Diaconia Valdese and the Waldensian cultural center organized public meetings where the local population and some present-daymigrants are confronted with several stories. This is a means of developing knowledge that does not originate from theoretical considerations but from the stories and life of the people. But all is not easy. People in Mediterranean continue to experience trouble, and many continue to die while trying to reach Europe. The Italian protestant churches have been working, in collaboration with the Community of Sant’Egidio, on the idea of building humanitarian corridors that would diminish the risks of the journey (the first family coming with this project in Italy from Lebanon arrived in Rome 4 February). Humanitarian corridors aim to protect people and not the borders of the state. |
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| ISSN: | 1869-3261 2196-9027 |