Lampedusa and the power of TV

Translation of the post of 13 October

In 1976 the great Sidney Lumet gives us one of his masterpieces: Network, a film about the power of mass media and television in particular. In 1977 to win four Academy Awards, Golden Globe and other prestigious awards. Unfortunately, the Italian television, taken as a whole, public and private, does not like to transmit frequently, and rightly so, given that the dock is she, television. I suggest you see him, you will find the prophetic character of the film that seems to tell a contemporary story and undated 1976.

Why I came up with the movie? Simple, reflecting on the case Lampedusa.

What is happening in Lampedusa in recent weeks , so well documented equipped teams of journalists and commentators , is done for twenty years. You read that right : twenty years. And ' the nineties that poor bastards leave their homes and their loved ones , their family ties and try their luck in the countries most " rich" who can offer , especially to young people, a better future. From what these young people are fleeing ? From Poverty , concrete, real , physical , but also the poverty of expectations , opportunities, choices. Fleeing war , the brutality of the war that in some countries, see Eritrea and Somalia , for example , lasts for twenty years. They flee from slavery physical and moral that in some countries prevents the normal course of a life that can be defined civil . They run from national governments for decades , ever since they got the end of colonialism , have been replaced occupants to European leaders , continuing to harass the people as in the past . They run towards the new world, attractive, appealing that satellite television shows them while they are sitting in a dusty bar for a beer because there is not much else to do in their city.

They face thousands of miles by any means of transport to reach the shores of the Mare Nostrum, which is though to everyone, not just Nostrum, and here, finding no other means, I repeat, not finding ferries or cruise ships, they rely on men without scruples that take advantage of their desire to change their lives.

For many of these, the most unfortunate (but I'm not sure), life will end in the open sea, for others, the lucky (but I'm not sure) on the roadside of an Italian port. And here I stop.

Is the immense pain they cause in every heart these journeys of hope. And 'perhaps a crime to be born in Somalia, Eritrea, Syria? What sins must serve a child from birth Egyptian, a Libyan boy or baby Sudan?

But having said that, these trips take place for over twenty years, because television is dealing only at certain times, creating emotional surges, and then, after the storm, everything goes back into oblivion? Of course a one year old child drowned at sea along with his mom makes us sick, especially if they make us see on TV at dinner time. But how many children die in Africa for measles? One child every minute (for information, visit: http://www.measlesrubellainitiative.org/). Moreover, many children in Africa die before the age of one year of life for malnutrition? Million, but their young faces there are shown on television at lunchtime, because it would disturb our tables.

Why television does not tell us that wars from which escape those poor bastards are fought with weapons manufactured and sold in large part by European industries and Western ? But there is an embargo ! European governments would respond immediately , our weapons do not end up in the hands of the rebels !

Hypocrisy, is simulation of virtue to deceive . This is the word that I have heard uttered by politicians these days, left-wing politicians , but also to the right. In fact it seems to me the right word. But the first concerns the hypocrisy of television pundits , political figures , always the same , that disdain for what is happening and that they do nothing to explain why these things happen and what should be done because it does not happen again : for example, the peace Eritrea and Somalia, peace in Syria and cooperate with all the governments of North Africa to implement economic development plans in support of those nations .

Only in this way will remain young Africans to live in their country of origin because they will have the opportunity to build their lives in peace , as it would be fair to happen for every child born in every corner of the earth.

And ' the time of the child Jesus that the poor bastards are forced to flee because of the lust for power that dwells in the hearts of men. When the television will show us the only way to save the island of Lampedusa and the hopes of thousands of young Africans?