Paper short abstract:

During the last twenty years policie about refugees in Italy have been most often driven by demagogic forces. Mass media have often miss-informed about mobilities of migrants within the country and very often the information produced by the mass media has only produced unecessary fear.

Paper long abstract:

During the last twenty years the policies about refugees in Italy have been most often characterized by demagogy. The national mass media have often misrepresented mobilities and motivations of migrants and very often the information produced by the mass media has only worked to scare the audience about migrations rather than analyzing and presenting data to increase the knowledge of the phenomonen. The securitization of the frontiers to prevent migrants from entering the country has been presented as something unavoidable rather than a precise choice with specific consequences. When the Ukraine war started in less than a week the news have changed their tones and the importance of solidarity towards refugees has been broadcasted strongly contrasting with the previous public discourse on the criminalization of solidarity.

A few months after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, migrants arriving from southern borders did not get help from the authorities and their boat sank in the vicinity of Lampedusa, provoking a new tragedy in the Mediterranean sea. The striking different attitude that accompanies the arrival of refugees from Ukraine as compared to those coming from Africa is alarming and alert once more about the destiny of the rule of law that was the basis for the founding of Europe. Unfortunately, more and more boundaries seem to be delineated on the basis of economic, social and cultural difference.