¡Hasta la revolución! … ¿siempre? Part 1, Greece
It's been some time since my last article, the past few months have been very busy for me because I've done several photography exhibitions that have taken me much longer than expected.
This until the time came to leave for a very short trip to Greece, to Athens. I believe that speaking of Migratory Routes Greece is well preceded by its fame, the closest example we have is that of the shipwreck of June 14, 2023 (here an article about it https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/06/greece-shipwreck-un-committee-dismayed-rising-death-toll-calls-international), which occurred just a few weeks after my visit to Athens. My first two days in Greece were honestly half a disaster due to a misunderstanding between me and the Italian association that hosted me. Without having to name it, I can say that it’s one of the many organizations that deals with humanitarian aid, such as the delivery of basic necessities, in Greek territory: I had expressly asked to be able to document their work and it seemed to me they were all in agreement, they limited themselves to giving me a bed to sleep in and it also seemed that I had only asked for that.
I repeat, it was a misunderstanding and there is no problem, but I thought I had gone to Greece to work, if I had wanted to go there on holiday I wouldn’t have bothered an association that deals with humanitarian aid, right?
Not everything bad comes to hurt fortunately. In fact, after an initial moment of embarrassment, I was advised to go and visit one of the refugee camps in the area, even if strictly from the outside since it would be impossible to enter, and I already knew this. The following day I decide to go there, on the other hand it is possible to at least meet some families there and maybe be told a few stories, I tell myself. However I had nothing else to do, it was worth a try.
After an hour and a half on public transport, I arrive at the refugee camp (located here https://goo.gl/maps/gkNJ22c81bdbZbM28) and -camera in hand- I begin my desperate attempt to contact, hoping at least to make eye contact someone's. Result: nothing. After about half an hour I realize it's all a waste of time and decide to go back to the capital, if only by raising my head I notice a white van delivering food to some people who live in the camp and I decide to introduce myself.
Two girls deliver the envelopes containing basic necessities, I introduce myself but seeing that they are definitely busier than me, I wait for them to finish working to disturb them. They finish and very kindly start asking me who I am and what I do.
They are part of a Spanish association called S.O.S. Refugiados (https://sosrefugiados.org/en/) and are volunteers of a project that deals with assistance and delivery of basic necessities to different groups of refugees living in the territory, all financed by donations. A couple of days later I get invited to participate and photograph a food delivery outside another refugee camp and get a closer look at the situation there.
Many of the people who receive aid have been living in refugee camps for years, some with very young children, some with health problems that cannot be treated due to the lack of documents that would guarantee correct health care. All waiting for documents, all hoping to be able to eat something different from the usual rice delivered inside the refugee camps. They distribute all the envelopes, I finish my talk and we go back to Athens.
It's wonderful that realities like this exist, I think, but the thing that makes me think the most is that if the reception system, European in this case, really worked, there would be no need to send boxes of pasta or packets of flour directly from Spain up to Greece, for example. As commendable as the incredible work of all the volunteers of humanitarian organizations like this is, I find it absurd that they are so necessary. Surely since I started this project my ideas have been slightly rooted in the pessimism of a vision of things that objectively never seem to work, and it's not something that concerns me alone.
But the story, here and in most places that should be used for hospitality, is that food is always scarce, conditions are often bad and people have no choice but to hope that one day a piece will arrive of paper that allows them at least to try to rebuild their lives elsewhere.
I understand it’s a rather negative view of the matter, but I strongly believe that pats on the back are really of little use and that the time has come to come to terms with the facts, i.e. that the reception policies (and rejection) adopted so far are not working.
I'll give an example perhaps forced for some but in my opinion very fitting: prisons. Within a society projected into the future of an ever-growing economy, prisons cannot serve only as punishment. The priority should be to re-educate people so that when they return to being an active part of society, they will have a place where they won't make the same mistakes, but that's not how it works. It is certainly no secret that often the conditions of prisoners are very bad, constantly in shortage of personnel, including educators who should have the task of providing the right tools to those who have not had them up to that moment for a reason or for the other. And the result is that, according to data from 2022, at least in Italy, 2 out of 3 prisoners return to crime (an Italian article that talks about it: https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/xviii-rapporto-antigone-carcere-il-fallimento-della-pena-due-detenuti-su-tre-tornano-a-delinquere). However, since there are always more important things to think about, the question is never addressed, we do not invest in this field, with the consequence that the problem is never resolved.
Here the same situation concerns, on a much larger and more complicated scale, the management of migratory routes.
I'll try to explain myself better: whoever enters a refugee camp will stay there for long periods, from a few months to a few years. The reason? The timing of the awards is endless, there is a lack of translators, medical personnel, policemen. The reception centers are constantly overcrowded and those who are unable to enter are forced to sleep on the street in even more terrifying conditions with all the consequences of the case and we continue to convince ourselves that "these shouldn't have left" and "they should have gone elsewhere" without understand that it is not ideals that stop migration routes, but rather wars and climate change that cause them. It would be time to take action on those causes, just to name a couple.
Now I don't want to dwell too much, what I want to get at is that, as I have already said on other occasions, this is a phenomenon that cannot be stopped, but which could instead be used and in which it is now essential to invest.
Here is an (Italian) article that explains in detail how it would be useful to invest in immigration: https://futuranetwork.eu/geopolitica/702-3545/governare-limmigrazione-non-solo-contrastarla-analisi-e-proposte
But going back to my Greek adventure: once I had accumulated all my thoughts and the few photographs, I inevitably had to think about how to continue my work. In fact, one of the not too distant destinations that had been recommended to me is located in Laurio, about 2 hours by bus from the capital. In fact, there is an entire building occupied by the Kurdish PKK group (what is the PKK? Find it here https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20971100) which offers accommodation to people on the move, generally of Kurdish origin.
I was hoping to be able to tell their story and in turn understand better how it feels to be part of a people never recognized and always persecuted, but unfortunately once I arrived, this time too, I was kindly bounced back and I think the main fear is was given by my camera, as is often the case.
Once back, decidedly disappointed by this out-of-town adventure, I meet the two girls from S.O.S. Refugiados for a chat about future plans and projects and the proposal that is made to me, after a call with the association to evaluate a possible collaboration, is to participate in the Caravana Migranti (https://abriendofronteras.net/category/melilla-2023/): a peace demonstration that is held every year and that between June and July will reach Melilla, a destination that, at the moment, would have been quite complicated for me to document. But I will talk about this trip in the next article.
