Migration and revolution in the Mediterranean area are inextricably connected. In this paper, I bring the stories of young Tunisian and Syrian revolutionaries of the 2008 and 2011 uprisings who were later forced into displacement and migration and who—both in their countries of origin and at European borders—demand freedom from their regimes’ oppression and freedom of movement. As European youth can mostly move freely in the world, Arab youth share the dream of doing the same. Both local tyrannies and their international allies, as well as unjust socioeconomic and migration policies, prevent these young people from living in dignity, from choosing where they live, and from being actors of change. The letters they share and the movement they found address an international audience and it to listen to their demands.
“Our Dreams Are Not Different from Yours”: Between Arab Uprisings and Migrations
Marta Bellingreri is an independent writer, researcher, and activist based in Sicily and the Middle East. She holds an international PhD in cultural studies (2016) and has lived and worked in many Middle Eastern countries, particularly, Tunisia, Jordan, and Iraq, reporting for Italian and international media. The author of books about Lampedusa (Lampedusa 2013) and minor migrants in Tunisia, France, and Italy (Il sole splende tutto l’anno a Zarzis, 2014), Bellingreri was also involved in the production of the movies On the Bride’s Side, Shores, and Isola, on the topic of migrations in the Mediterranean Sea. She is part of the international network Alarm Phone.
Marta Bellingreri; “Our Dreams Are Not Different from Yours”: Between Arab Uprisings and Migrations. South Atlantic Quarterly 1 July 2019; 118 (3): 654–660. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-7616212
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