Worldcrunch
GÄVLE — Under the dark of a freezing arctic night, Jimi arrived at his destination. They welcomed him with a plate of Swedish meatballs, before showing him to a soft, white bed in a room that sleeps eight. “Welcome to Sweden,” says a man of African origins, shaking his hand. Jimi, 25, who is from […]
ROME — Lo Chiameranno Andrea (“We’ll Call Him Andrea“) is the name of a famous film by Vittorio De Sica, where two elementary school teachers who yearn for but are unable to have a child, compensate by giving him this hypothetical name. It was 1972 and the male name Andrea represented the essence of Italy, […]
NADOR — Papa Africa carefully wraps his only possession, a cooking pot, in a cover. He then climbs up to the top of a tree to hang it. “It’s because of the police. When they come, they burn and break everything,” he explains as he jumps back to the ground. Next stop is the “Tranquilo,” […]
LAMPEDUSA — Yesterday, they buried those remaining of the 385 victims from the Oct. 3 shipwreck off Lampedusa. There were no flowers. No gravestones. None of the ceremony that so many had promised. That first day, as the death toll mounted, various political leaders, including Prime Minister Enrico Letta, had called for some kind of […]
The tragedy earlier this month off the coast of the island of Lampedusa, which left more than 300 dead, is a cruel reminder of the treacherous journey across the sea to Italy’s southern coastlines made by so many would-be immigrants. But Italy is typically just the entry point for immigrants, a springboard for other European […]
One native of Sierra Leone, who arrived in Italy via the now notorious island of Lampedusa, is trying to find peace in a Roman slum.
LAMPEDUSA — Two brothers, both with the same dream: escaping the violence and chaos of Eritrea. One has already spent nine years living that dream; the other still hasn’t been rescued from the sea that swallowed him last Thursday. Desperation and grief are in the eyes and voice of Adel, who emigrated to Sweden nine […]
LAMPEDUSA — “Follow me,” said Jesus, “and I will make you fishers of men.” A disturbing parallel is evoked from this famous passage of the Gospel of Matthew, as nets tossed into the sea off the Italian island of Lampedusa fill up with the bodies of men… of women and children. After the latest tragic […]
BERLIN — There are a record number of asylum seekers pinning their hopes on Germany this year, and refugees from Russia by far represent the largest group. Of those, some 90% are from the North Caucasus, particularly Chechnya. German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has characterized the situation as “unsettling.” Germany has more asylum requests than […]
SHANGLIN – Zhen Minxin keeps repeating that he is “lucky.” On this warm morning of mid-June, his return back home is being celebrated, with the slices of watermelon laid out on the table and cigarette butts scattered on the floor as sure signs of the festivities. Zhen’s own cigarettes are Gold Seal, a brand unknown […]
While some from the poor island nation still dream of emigrating to the US, others see a new promised land in Brazil. Still they face many challenges when they arrive.
SANTIAGO – José came to Santiago, from Cali, Colombia five months ago. Some acquaintances in his hometown had put him in contact with Carlos, another Colombian who has been working in a cell phone store in the Chilean capital for the past year. Now José has joined Carlos as a salesperson in the store, where […]
Some Mexican leaders say immigration reform is simply a domestic matter to be left for Washington to resolve. But the stakes for Mexico are simply too big.
POLITICO, WASHINGTON POST, CNN (USA) Worldcrunch WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will outline his vision for comprehensive immigration reform on Tuesday, a day after a bipartisan group of U.S. senators outlined a proposal that could begin to move groundbreaking legislation forward on an issue that has long divided Americans. A key question is whether the […]
EFE, GRANMA, PRENSA LATINA (Cuba) Worldcrunch HAVANA- Effective from midnight local time on January 14, thanks to a new reform by the Cuban government, Cuban citizens are now allowed to apply for passports, without having to apply for special exit visas. Photo: Rindo75 via Wikipedia First announced in October, these new regulations include an extended […]
TRAPANI – After Pretoria until 1993, and Alabama through the early 1960’s, the Italian city of Trapani has discovered Apartheid in 2013. The cold bureaucratic language of Trapani City Council member Andrea Vassalo leaves little room for doubts: the head of the council’s urban territory commission cited the “frequent complaints of the indigenous” (using exactly […]