The Mediterranean Today. Stability, Instability, Orientations. A first rapid excursus

Abstract

A quick trip to some Mediterranean countries shows significant disparities, situations of inequality, different religious preferences, and struggling minority populations. The dream of a Mediterranean crossroads of cultures, which has taken up so much space in our past, seems today to retreat-- leaving behind a sea that has become a kind of hard border, difficult to cross for many men, women, children, who too often have lost their lives. The European Union prefers to defend its own borders from migrants and also from possible asylum seekers. It defends itself, and the Mediterranean is an important pawn in these actions, from the flows of arrivals from Africa, viz. the role of Libya, from which people escape the Syrian tragedy. For this purpose, they use countries like Greece and Turkey. A notable reversal for Italy in particular, an Italy that experienced first-hand migratory phenomena.