Page - 72 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 2/2016

72 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 2 2o16 Tony Kushner | Lampedusa and the Migrant Crisis the words of Kasseh, a 15 year old Ethiopian boy who, with his friends, left a farming commu- nity in search of better paid work. After a series of horrendous experiences, where some girls in his group were abducted, Kasseh was eventually reunited with his family in Ethiopia. Rather than ‘journeys of hope’, he reflects that they were ones of disaster: My only dream now is that somebody may stop these ‘trips’ that are full of pain and suffer- ing for poor people. My only truth now is tell my friends about what happened to me and warn them not to go through what I went.53 As an intergovernmental organization, IOM campaigns for ‘humane and orderly migration’ and thus it is not surprising that Kasseh’s testimony should be instrumentalised with this objec- tive in mind as a cautionary tale for those thinking of embarking on a journey that in reality would be chaotic and dangerous. Elsewhere in Fatal Journeys it is emphasised that of the 40,000 migrant deaths in transit recorded (and two thirds are not), for as many as one in five the region (let alone the country) of origin is unknown.54 That so many deaths literally leave no trace in a world of instant communication and constant surveillance reflects the utter obscurity and mar- ginality of so many migrants today. The Mediterranean, in the words of Caroline Moorehead, ‘is not a deserted sea. Its waters are among the busiest in the world, criss-crossed by fishing boats, naval vessels and cruise ships, along with the patrol boats of the various coastguards’.55 Even so, thousands have drowned in it. Against that invisibility is the desire of many NGOs, journalists, campaigners, academics and others to give restore individuality to the migrant. During the Nazi era, the Manchester Guardian was unmatched globally for its daily cove- rage of the plight of the Jews. Before and after, it was not only Jewish refugees that this newspa- per championed, and this empathy and support of the forcibly displaced has continued into the twenty first century. Confronting the crisis of the boat people in the Mediterranean in spring 2015, and the paucity of the European Union’s responses to them, it emphasised the common humanity binding ‘us’ and ‘them’: A proud father who is fleeing persecution, a mother who wants to give her family a chance – every migrant who risks their lives in the Mediterranean has a story that any European would recognise... [I]n any discussion of what should be done, that particularity is the most important thing to remember.56 Effort has been made to record the ‘individual stories of hope and fear’ of those that have survived the nautical disasters, including those from the sinking near Lampedusa in October 2013. One of these was Fanus, an 18 year old Eritrean woman whose story was told in words, photographs and documentary by film maker Zed Nelson.57 She had paid close to £1000 for the journey that so nearly led to her death. Travelling with her best friend, ‘Like almost every other 53 Brian and Laczko, Fatal Journeys, 174-5. 54 Ibid, 15, 24. 55 Caroline Moorehead, ‘Missing in the Mediterranean’, Intelligent Life Magazine, May/June 2014. 56 Editorial: ‘A thousand individual stories of hope and fear have been lost. Europe must act’, Guardian, 22 April 2015. 57 Zed Nelson, ‘A long way home’, Guardian, 22 March 2014; ‘Europe’s Immigration Disaster’, ’Dispatches’, Channel 4, 24 June 2014.