I was
elected in May, and from then until the 3rd November, 21 drowned bodies of
people who were trying to reach Lampedusa have been delivered to me. This, for
me, is something intolerable. Lampedusa now bears an enormous burden of pain. We
have had to go through the Prefecture to ask other boroughs for help in order
to provide the last 11 corpses with a dignified burial as we have no more sites
available. I know there will be others that we will bury, but I have one
question which I must address to everyone: just how large exactly does the
cemetery on my island need to be?
I am not
able to understand how such a tragedy can be considered normal. Last Saturday
the bodies of 8 young women and two boys aged 11 and 13 were recovered from the
sea. They were on a journey that was meant to be the beginning of a new life. How is it possible that the fact that 11 people
can just die together like that, cease to have an impact on daily life? 76 people were rescued but there were 115 people
altogether, the number of deaths is always a much higher number than what the
sea actually returns to us.
I am full of indignation about the acclimatization that seems to have contaminated everyone. I am scandalised by
In all of this extremely sad page of history that we are writing together, the only reason for any pride is provided by the men of the
Everyone has to realise that it is Lampedusa, and its inhabitants, with the structures providing rescue and reception, which give human dignity to these people, and who also give dignity to our country and
Giusi Nicolini