This year, all that is human drowned in the sea, all that is holy has been profaned, and we are at last compelled to face with sober senses our real conditions of life, and our relations with our kind. In 2016, at least 5000 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean. Last Friday, two boats capsized, and “about 100 people are missing and feared dead.” Who fears them dead? No State and no amalgam of nation-States fears them dead. Rather, in this the deadliest year ever for migrants trying to reach Europe, the year’s epitaph is simple: “2016: The year the world stopped caring about refugees”. We are the world, and we turned the sea into a graveyard. This year, the women, child, man of the year lies on the bottom of the Mediterranean, and we do not know their names, and we do not much care. If we did, they would be alive today. So here is a poem for the unknown refugees who lie in the cemetery that we have made of the Mediterranean. See you next year.
no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well
your neighbors running faster than you
breath bloody in their throats
the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory
is holding a gun bigger than his body
you only leave home
when home won’t let you stay.
no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it’s not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilets
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back.
you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied
no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night
is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough
the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
niggers with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off
or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important
no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i dont know what i’ve become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here
(“Home” by Warsan Shire appeared here.) (Photo Credit: Electronic Intifada /Oren Ziv/Active Stills)
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Mediterranean Sea: 5,000 Migrants Drown Trying To Cross To Europe http://www.cameroon-tribune.cm/articles/4117/fr/
Tragedy for 80 migrants trying to reach Italy’s coast http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2017/01/05/Tragic-end-for-migrants-who-thought-they-d-reached-Italy.html
In 2017 | Immigration will reveal the crisis of human rights inside our societies http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/world/73043/2017_immigration_crisis_of_human_rights#.WG5jOnfMyb8
World Fatalities of Migrants, Refugees Approach 7,500 in 2016 as Three-year Total Tops 18,501 http://reliefweb.int/report/world/world-fatalities-migrants-refugees-approach-7500-2016-three-year-total-tops-18501
Lower number of refugee crossing the Mediterranean, higher number of deaths recorded in 2016 http://www.albawaba.com/news/lower-number-refugee-crossing-mediterranean-higher-number-deaths-recorded-2016-922738
As the world turns towards the right: what future for the “refugee crisis”?
https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/carly-krakow/future-of-refugee-crisis-as-world-turns-towards-right-2017-and-beyond
EU Migration in Numbers: 2016 Deadliest Year So Far http://www.eubulletin.com/6485-eu-migration-in-numbers-2016-deadliest-year-so-far.html
As Trump era dawns, Europe must reclaim refugees debate from populists http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Opinion/2017/01/10/As-Trump-era-dawns-Europe-must-reclaim-refugees-debate-from-populists/6111484055265/
4.1 miles https://vimeo.com/185717440
Mediterranean migrant arrivals reach 1,159; deaths at sea: 27 http://reliefweb.int/report/italy/mediterranean-migrant-arrivals-reach-1159-deaths-sea-27
Scores feared dead after migrant ship capsizes in Mediterranean https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/14/scores-dead-after-migrant-ship-capsizes-in-mediterranean
180 missing people presumed dead after shipwreck http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/180-missing-people-presumed-dead-shipwreck-170117092311329.html
Europe urged to address `tragic’ loss of lives in the Mediterranean http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/02/europe-urged-to-address-tragic-loss-of-lives-in-mediterranean/
Bodies of 74 Migrants Wash Up on Libyan Coast https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/world/middleeast/migrants-libya-beach.html
IOM: 525 refugees die at sea in first few weeks of 2017 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/iom-525-refugees-die-sea-weeks-2017-170314115725176.html
Nearly 250 refugees dead or missing after shipwrecks off Libyan coast https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/09/libya-refugees-250-dead-or-missing-shipwrecks-crowded-boats
250 feared dead in the Mediterranean Sea http://www.aljazeera.com/video/news/2017/05/250-refugees-feared-dead-mediterranean-sea-170510045757940.html
Mediterranean death rate doubles as migrant crossings fall https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/03/mediterranean-refugees-migrants-deaths
Giles Duley: ‘I stood on those Lesbos beaches in floods of tears’ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/03/giles-duley-photographs-syrian-refugees-lesbos
`Sorry I drowned’ https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/sorry-i-drowned-video
Migrants : 10 morts et des dizaines de disparus au large de la Libye http://www.jeuneafrique.com/446730/societe/migrants-10-morts-dizaines-de-disparus-large-de-libye/
Les corps des migrants étaient coincés dans les plis d’un canot pneumatique dégonflé http://www.humanite.fr/les-corps-des-migrants-etaient-coinces-dans-les-plis-dun-canot-pneumatique-degonfle-637203
Next time you see the Mediterranean http://africasacountry.com/2017/08/next-time-you-see-the-mediterranean/
The terrible price of the search for a better life in Europe http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41053024#
8,500 people lost in Mediterranean since death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/01/alan-kurdi-khaled-hosseini-mediterranean-refugees-sea-prayer
Migrant sea route to Italy is world’s most lethal https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/11/migrant-death-toll-rises-after-clampdown-on-east-european-borders
Refugees dying at quicker rate in Mediterranean http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/09/iom-refugees-dying-quicker-rate-mediterranean-170917035605080.html
Italy probes deaths of 26 Nigerian women from migrant boats http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41884354#
The Bodies of 26 Nigerian Girls Have Been Recovered From Migrant Boats http://www.okayafrica.com/26-nigerian-girls-found-dead-migrant-boats/
Migrant boat capsizes: 90 feared dead off coast of Libya https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/02/migrant-boat-capsizing-coast-libya-mediterranean
Bodies recovered from Mediterranean by Moroccan authorities https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/04/bodies-recovered-mediterranean-moroccan-authorities-refugees-migrants
Concern grows for 150 migrants stuck on ship for 10th day https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/un-refugee-agency-urges-end-to-italy-migrant-standoff/2018/08/25/54401eea-a843-11e8-ad6f-080770dcddc2_story.html
Mediterranean refugee numbers drop but crossing is deadlier: UN https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/mediterranean-refugee-numbers-drop-crossing-deadlier-180903075656124.html
Sharp rise in proportion of migrants dying in Mediterranean, says UN https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/03/sharp-rise-in-proportion-of-migrants-dying-in-mediterranean-says-un
Deadly dangers of a refugee’s journey to Europe increase https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/deadly-dangers-refugees-journey-europe-increase-180903060735255.html
Migrant crisis: Scores drown off Libyan coast https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45482486#
No NGO rescue boats currently in central Mediterranean, agencies warn https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/12/migrant-rescue-ships-mediterranean
Tres muertos y 18 desaparecidos al naufragar una patera frente a Almería https://elpais.com/politica/2018/10/12/actualidad/1539336766_329088.html
Nearly 60,000 migrants have died or gone missing since 2014: AP https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/56000-migrants-died-missing-2014-ap-181101072428378.html
‘It’s an Act of Murder’: How Europe Outsources Suffering as Migrants Drown https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/26/opinion/europe-migrant-crisis-mediterranean-libya.html
Récord de pateras y de muertes de inmigrantes en 2018 https://elpais.com/politica/2019/01/01/actualidad/1546358453_870531.htm
Migrant crisis: UN says six die every day in Mediterranean crossings https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47055619
Seas of Death and Hope http://www.ipsnews.net/2019/02/seas-death-hope/
Up to 70 dead after boat capsizes trying to reach Europe from Libya https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/10/dozens-feared-drowned-migrant-boat-sinks-off-tunisia
ICC submission calls for prosecution of EU over migrant deaths https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/jun/03/icc-submission-calls-for-prosecution-of-eu-over-migrant-deaths
‘We should be ashamed’: bearing witness to migrant deaths at sea https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jun/08/migrant-deaths-at-sea-exhibiton-sink-without-trace
Sink Without Trace: migrant deaths in the Mediterranean http://www.irr.org.uk/news/sink-without-trace-migrant-deaths-in-the-mediterranean/
Call it what it is, a massacre at Europe’s doorstep https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/11/21/call-it-what-it-is-a-massacre-at-europes-doorstep/
Plus de 2000 migrants sont morts en tentant la traversée vers les îles canaries en 2020 https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20201230-plus-de-2000-migrants-sont-morts-en-tentant-la-traversée-vers-les-îles-canaries-en-2020