By Isabelle Caraluzzi, NYU Florence Student
About two weeks ago, an estimated 500* refugees drowned after the vessel smuggling them to Italy from Tobruk, Libya wrecked somewhere in the Mediterranean. Crowded into a dilapidated, repurposed fishing boat, these Somalis, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Sudanese, and Libyans set out to cross the sea with hopes of escaping the tyranny, poverty, danger, and instability they faced in their home countries. On April 16th, 41 people were rescued near Greece after days of drifting at sea.
It’s hard not to wonder why there hasn’t been much productive conversation in the last two weeks surrounding the aftermath of this tragedy. Or to wonder why it took major media outlets like The New York Times and CNN until almost a week after the fact to post their first acknowledgments. Or why this story wasn’t given the chance to occupy major headlines long enough to touch people the way it should have. Or why the E.U., NATO, and the U.S. are choosing to treat these people’s struggle for safety and freedom as a police issue, deploying more warships to turn individuals and their families around. People don’t cram themselves into a 30-meter-long boat with 100-200 other people and head for the open sea simply out of frivolity. They do it because risking their lives trying to reach sanctuary is less dangerous than staying at home. They do it because they face the relentless threat of death, or torture, or kidnapping, or rape, or bombing, by any of the numerous assailant groups active around them. They do it because they want safer, more stable lives for themselves and their families.
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