It was built to house Olympic athletes, but it currently houses over 1,000 refugees. The MIM or former Turin market is the clear picture of a failed gentrification process. Abandoned buildings in the area have been occupied by young people who have fled more than 30 countries. Most refugees in the South Sahara are women, men and children. When the Arab Spring broke out, the European dream began. After four years, many have gained political support, but have denied them the possibility of starting a new life.
Bishara is from Chad and arrived in Italy in 2011 from Libya, where he has resided since 2010. Denounces the failure of integration programmes: “In 2013, the money that came to help the refugees was over, and from one day to the next we are on the street. Most of us were not taught Italian and public institutions ignored their responsibility.” Thus, hundreds of fugitives who were trapped in Turin decided to occupy the abandoned facilities that were built for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. “They are a reflection of the dark management of public money,” explains activist Niccolò Vasile, “the buildings were built in a hurry and with poor quality materials, so at the end of the Olympic Games nobody wanted to buy the apartments.” Vasil has put a question to many Italians: Where has the European aid that was allocated in 2011 to receive refugees gone? The entrepreneur has an answer: When the “North African Emergency” programme was launched, the Italian Government entrusted a consortium of several associations with the management of the money to help refugees. That money has disappeared.”
Therefore, the former headquarters of sportsmen and women has become a self-management project. “The support of the Turin City Council and the regional government is limited to the payment of water and electricity. Cold water, that’s it.” The buildings of the MOI are falling apart and each apartment reflects a world. Families who have saved a little money have electric kitchens, water heaters and washing machines. Other only mattresses on the ground.”
On the ground floor of each building, refugees have set up various services, including a dining room, a shoe store and a computer room. A group of 30 Italian activists has opened an office to support the initiative: “We have lawyers who offer legal advice, we have expanded the Italian and English school and we teach subjects to get the driver’s license. However, it is a priority for us to help refugees in seeking employment,” said Vasil.
Volunteers find it very important not to isolate the fugitives from the rest of the population: “For many citizens in Turin it would be better not to see refugees, but we do not want to promote social apartheid. We are very concerned about the process of guettization of the MOI.” In fact, the whole space is surrounded by police and military. According to Vasile, “they want to demonstrate to neighbours that public order and security are guaranteed, but the presence of security forces increases tension.”
Bishara believes that poverty, unemployment and lack of integration go hand in hand: "We do not want to stay in Italy, but we are completely blocked. Here we have achieved political asylum, so we have been forced to live here. The problem is, it's very difficult to find a job. We have permission to travel across Europe, but only three months and as a tourist.”
Vasil has also criticised the lack of flexibility in European integration policies: “Young people are fed up with being all day without doing anything. Many leave, but when they come to another country they bring them back or go underground.”
The luckiest get temporary contracts in the crops. Kiwis in Piedmont, apples in Trentito-Adigen, tomatoes in Apulia and oranges in Calabria. For an average of EUR 30 a day, MIM refugees cross Italy to collect fruits and vegetables from the moment. "Working conditions have worsened since the beginning of the humanitarian crisis. Land owners have lowered wages, but the number of working hours has increased. They know that refugees are willing to do anything,” said Moroccan immigrant Mohamed. Mohamed has been harvesting crops for ten years in most Italian regions and does not like the current situation: "Refugees live in barracks and work in unsustainable conditions. It’s a secret legal slavery.”
Bishara agrees: “I don’t know if there is another option, I don’t see it. When I acceded to political asylum, I was convinced that everything would be easier, yet exploitation and misery persist.”
In any case, the alarms in Italy are the last times the alarm was unleashed. Last August four refugees died in Apulia as a result of an insolation during the harvest, and human rights organizations requested the assistance of the Government of Rome. In Saluzzo, in the heart of the Piedmont, a new project has been launched for Italian volunteers to review the work of the refugees and to denounce their abuses. But most fugitives have long been desperate for a dignified life. The Vishara is clear: “Europe has failed us. Sleep has become a nightmare.”
And what about arrival in Europe? : http://www.argia.eus/argia-astekaria/2487/errefuxiatu-krisi-globala-3
In the Basque Country, refugees also have a hard time: http://www.argia.eus/argia-astekaria/2487/errefuxiatu-krisi-globala-2
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