Working towards a new future for Mediterranean migration

By Phoebe Martel - Rome

For Catholic lay associations and NGOs dedicated to migrant integration, a politics of community-building and “fraternity” is essential to changing attitudes within and beyond the Italian border.

For the second weekend of October, Città dell’Altra Economia, an event space in Rome dedicated to social justice and fair trade, became the home of Festival Sabir, dedicated to the cultures of Mediterranean. Civil society actors and Catholic relief organizations created Sabir after the 2013 Lampedusa tragedy, in  which over 360 migrants died in their quest to cross the Mediterranean corridor.

This year was the tenth edition of Sabir, which has also taken place in cities across Sicily, and it featured speakers from Tunisian and Palestinian NGOs, concerts and film screenings from migrant cultures.

According to Oliviero Forti, head of Caritas’s Office for Migration Policies and International Procedures, Sabir’s festival format and location at Citta del’Altra Economica were intentionally chosen to encourage multicultural dialogue and social exchange.

“The idea is to give a comfort zone to all the participants,” Forti said. “We have the opportunity to present a new paradigm on migration, a new way to talk about it. The risk is to be too negative.”

The skyline at Sabir Festival

 In between panels on the Italy-Albania detention center agreement and increasing European populism, attendees enjoyed an onsite café and performances by acts such as “Les Amazones d’Afrique” and “KOKOKO!,” an experimental collective from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The word Sabir is derived from the Spanish word “saber,” which means to understand, and it also refers to the Mediterranean lingua franca from the 11th to 19th centuries. Principal festival organizers included key Rome-headquartered associations such as ARCI, a national nonprofit organization, Caritas, the Catholic humanitarian aid network and the trade union CGIL.

Forti said that since the Lampedusa tragedy, there has been a continent-wide cultural shift in attitudes towards migration. In practice, this has led to many governments pursuing a policy of limiting the entry of refugees and migrants, even when they are rescued during search-and-rescue missions conducted by charities.

“The direction of the European Union, and in particular of Italy who is at the frontline of migration policy, is to limit arrivals,” Forti said.

Spin Time Labs and the move towards “another possible world”

“Spin Time Labs” in Rome’s Esquilino area, which houses 1130 families from 28 different countries, was also created in the wake of the Lampedusa disaster. Located on the site of a former social security administrative building, [PM1] “Spin Time” functions as a low-income housing complex for the families. It is also a coworking space and the editorial office of an independent magazine, Scomodo, and its mission is to create an environment of “urban regeneration” for the residents, student organizers, priests and volunteers that call it their second home.

Father Mattia Ferrari is chaplain for “Mediterranea Saving Humans,” the only civil migrant rescue vessel bearing the Italian flag and that collaborates with the Italian Bishops’ Conference. As part of his work with “Mediterranea,” he supports families living at “Spin Time” as they seek social services and adapt to life in Rome.

Father Mattia Ferrari on a search-and-rescue mission for Mediterranea Saving Humans.

“This is fraternity,” Ferrari said. “We are different, but we are together. We really are friends, brothers, and sisters.”

Regarding the political situation in Italy and the European Union, Ferrari said that the people of Spin Time stand in strong opposition to authoritarianism and repression but are ultimately most invested in interpersonal networks and transformation.

“Social movements try to build a different world through struggle, but we don’t just struggle,” the father said. “We also build through relationships and our way of life. We build this world through dialogue.”