Page - 65 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 2/2016

Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 2 2o16 Tony Kushner | Lampedusa and the Migrant Crisis 65 ranked the highest.19 As is happening in other parts of the ‘blue route’ – most recently the Greek islands – the misery of migration at its most desperate is coinciding in time and place with the pursuit of tourist pleasure. Affluent Western visitors are witnessing the victims of dictatorship, failed states, civil war, ethnic cleansing, religious intolerance and basic deprival of life chances. They are thus inadvertently becoming co-presents to those suffering the most extreme problems of the contemporary world. Whilst official Italian tourist information continues to insist that Lampedusa is ‘one of the most-frequented destinations of sun-worshippers, scuba-divers and nature lovers’, in reality this ‘glorious sun-bleached island’ is still firmly associated with human migration in its most basic and deathly form.20 Some tourists have understandably resented the intrusion of such reminders of global misery, but many have engaged in acts of kindness and solidarity alongside the work of sym- pathetic local activists. Most prominent has been the creation of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), run by Chris and Regina Catrambone after they came across clothing in the sea as they sailed in their yacht away from Lampedusa. Rather than ignore evidence of ano- ther migrant death, Chris (an American entrepreneur) and Regina (his Italian wife) decided to devote themselves to saving lives: 19 The Metro, 18 February 2015. 20 Italia Travel Ideas, ‘The Island of Lampedusa’, Italian Tourism Official Website 2015, http://www.italia.it/en/ travel-ideas/the-sea/the-island-of-lampedusa.html, accessed 19 June 2015. Fig. 3: Rabbit Beach, Photo: Tony Kushner