The migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, in Els Juliols' opening
The opening ceremony for the 23rd edition of Els Juliols, the summer school of the University of Barcelona, which this year dedicates a great part of the courses to current affairs, took place today. The event, presided over by the vice-rector for Equal Opportunities and Social Action, Maite Vilalta, treated the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, with participants like Anabel Montes, patron and head of mission in Open Arms, and Txell Aranda, screenwriter of the documentary Astral (from the TV show Salvados, La Sexta) on the story of a sail boat that was given to the NGO Open Arms for rescue missions in the Mediterranean.
The current situation is an emergency. During these last years, the closing of European harbours to the NGO has moved the map of the migrant flow to the Mediterranean Sea, the center of the humanitarian support activity for refugees and people exiled from the countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. This created a migrant and social crisis, with an important coverage in media and the involvement of several entities that fight to support people who risk their lives seeking peace, wellbeing or a future that helps them to live with dignity.
The opening ceremony for the 23rd edition of Els Juliols, the summer school of the University of Barcelona, which this year dedicates a great part of the courses to current affairs, took place today. The event, presided over by the vice-rector for Equal Opportunities and Social Action, Maite Vilalta, treated the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, with participants like Anabel Montes, patron and head of mission in Open Arms, and Txell Aranda, screenwriter of the documentary Astral (from the TV show Salvados, La Sexta) on the story of a sail boat that was given to the NGO Open Arms for rescue missions in the Mediterranean.
The current situation is an emergency. During these last years, the closing of European harbours to the NGO has moved the map of the migrant flow to the Mediterranean Sea, the center of the humanitarian support activity for refugees and people exiled from the countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. This created a migrant and social crisis, with an important coverage in media and the involvement of several entities that fight to support people who risk their lives seeking peace, wellbeing or a future that helps them to live with dignity.
Anabel Montes, lifeguard, patron and head of mission in Open Arms, dedicated her words to describe the situation in the waters of the Mediterranean, and in particular, the conditions under which Open Arms works: “The situation changed dramatically since March 2018, because we worked in a coordinated and efficient way together with coastguards, but with the new Government in Italy, this stopped being this way”. Montes said she is waiting for a trial in which she is accused of favouring irregular migration and will face a sentence of twelve years of prison, apart from an economic sanction as a consequence of something that happened during a mission in 2018, when Open Arms and herself refused to hand in a Libyan boat of kids and women they just rescued. Montes said that “although they use fear and threats as a tool to fight against us and restrain us, we will continue with our work because there is no reason for us to justify a single death in the sea”.
Txell Aranda is the screenwriter of the TV show Salvados. She talked about the idea of the documentary Astral, about the NGO Open Arms, which was successfully released in cinemas in October 2016 to raise funds for the organization. Although Salvados had treated the topic of migration, Aranda said the experience of seeing and living a rescue mission in person is extremely tough. She also said that when migrants arrive in Europe, they lose their track and that, in another program called Después de Astral, she said that “far-right movements are generating distrust among the population, and some people become reserved regarding the arrival of refugees”. “Spain, for instance, has not welcomed a quarter part of what it had promised”, she said.
The UB does not close for holidays
The offering in Els Juliols is structured in ten theme areas, ranging from Art, music and cinema to Technology and energy, going through Economics, business and social sciences; Philosophy, language and literature; Natural sciences and environment, and Social mobilization and education, among others. Like in other editions, there are new courses touching on current affairs. This is the case of #MeToo: from an unknown movement to tens of shared reports; Policies of uncertainty: from Brexit to Bolsonaro; Networking and pull marketing: event organization as a business; Next page: making feminism today, and Joan Brossa, different sides of the pyramid.
Most of the courses in Els Juliols take place in the Historical Building of the University of Barcelona. Others, depending on their features, will be taught in Alella, Cornellà de Llobregat, Esplugues, lʼHospitalet, Terrassa, Sant Joan Despí, Vilafranca del Penedès, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, and Viladecans.