17 August 2016
“These people are seeking to live. To live tomorrow”, denounced Xavi Casero (Doctors Without Borders) facing a Social Forum that listened attentively to the testimonies of each of the speakers of the meeting; Refugees without refuge on Wednesday 17th.
During his involvement, Xavi Casero, who has also been on the boat Dignity, set out an analysis of the whirlwind of sensations that he felt when on the boat. When he was capable of seeing with his own eyes, the way in which these people have stopped being people from their own country, now they are nobody, those who are not left to be people. Because you don’t want them anywhere. “Health of those who cannot be reached is what concerns me most…” explained Xavi Casero, making reference to the physical and mental state of those they encounter.
The shocking image of Aylan Kurdi was a defining moment for Marcos Chércoles(Proactive Open Arms). In his speech, he dealt with the pressure exerted by mafias. In each of these boats, there are between 150 and 300 people that pay a lot of money (around €1500) to travel to what can become being their end: “We are forcing people to fall into the hands of the mafias and putting their lives in danger, when all we want to do is defend their rights”. Both Marcos and Xavi called on collaboration, solidarity and our consciences: “We are going to cry loudly when we listen to each other”.
The Social Forum has also called on the testimony of Yonous Muhammadi, who was forced to flee Afghanistan in 1977 and who is a current member of the National Counsel against Racism of the Ministries of Justice. An important testament to a deeper understanding of the refugee situation, how the journeys are and the way the situation is developing: “What we can see in Europe is not a political crisis, it is a solidarity crisis”, stated Yonous while aiming directly at the politics that closes borders, which is leaving people to die “Europe is going to be a cemetery”.
Wednesday 17th in the Social Forum was completed by the Italian essayist, thinker and activist Franco Beradi, who deepened things with the following question: “Does humanism have a future in the 20th century?” How can humanism confront the dominant discourse of “the denial of life”, that it can become. From an ancient humanist perspective like “ontological liberty” and domination, to the importance of today’s situation to humanism: “The capacity to create a more solid, real and daily liberty”.