Oro –

Day at  Playa de oro in Manzanillo yesterday, so-called because of the tiny specks of quartz that make the sand glimmer as the sea pulls away. Apart from the food and drink, the family sitting next to us had: a paid hair-braiding session for one of the women while the other two chose new bathing suits from one of the people circulating among the tables; three massages; new beach cover-ups and two tattoos (a wolf on the man’s right shoulder, a flower on one of the women’s inner wrist.) Meanwhile the fruit vendors, the shell vendors, the ice cream vendors and the inflatable shark and dolphin vendors did a brisk trade while the waves thundered in then sucked out again.

You could be excused for missing them in all the activity: four big guys sporting lots of oro-looking chains, their beer bottles like miniatures in their ham-sized fists, and  their leader displaying a chest-sized tattoo of Jesus Christ.  The young man servicing our table froze at the sight of them. The man with the Christ tattoo approached him and whispered in his ear. The young man kept his eyes to the ground. The man put his arm around him and gave his shoulder a brief hug. Eyes still lowered, the young man nodded once. This earned him a second brief hug and the four ambled off toward the next service area at the next restaurant down the beach.

Business was brisk. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon. The rains lashed down on the drive home. In ten days, I will no longer be here.

*

“Qui sont ceux qui exploitent vraiment les migrants ? Les mafias. Tout d’abord, les mafias libyennes et syriennes gèrent leur traversée. Mais sur le territoire italien, en particulier dans le Sud, ils travaillent sous la mainmise des “caporali”, des “caporaux”, recruteurs de “main-d’œuvre”, au service d’exploitants agricoles. Ce système informel et parallèle, pilier de la récolte des tomates, est lié aux organisations criminelles. Si Salvini a à cœur, comme il le déclare, le destin des migrants, il s’intéresserait au sort de ces travailleurs, issus de l’immigration, abandonnés entre les mains de ces “caporaux” et utilisés comme esclaves dans les campagnes. La mafia gère toute la filière, de leur recrutement à la gestion des camps où ils dorment.

Il existe une loi contre ce système mais Salvini ne fait rien bien sûr pour l’appliquer.”

Roberto Saviano, entretien dans Mediapart, “Comme Salvini, Macron criminalise la solidarité avec les migrants“, 10 septembre  2018

Ma seule question à ce sujet, comme pour tout le reste: lorsque la pourriture atteint de tels niveaux, pas seulement en Italie mais à travers le monde, quelle est la meilleure façon d’y répondre sur le plan personnel? C’est-à-dire: est-il encore utile de “dénoncer” (surtout lorsque votre voix est inaudible – et je veux dire, vraiment inaudible), ou est-il préférable de simplement continuer à faire ce que vous savez être ce qu’il faut faire au lieu de gaspiller votre souffle contre les colporteurs de haine?

Comme d’habitude, je n’ai que des questions et aucune réponse.

“Who are the ones truly exploiting the migrants? The mafias. First of all, the Libyan and Syrian mafias organise their crossing. But on the Italian territory, especially in the South, they work under the control of the “caporali”, the “corporals” who recruit “laborers” for the agricultural owners. This informal and parallel system, the basis of   tomato picking, is linked to criminal organizations. If Salvini cared about the fate of the migrants, as he declares, he would take some interest in the fate of these workers, coming from immigration, abandoned to these “corporals” and used as slaves in the countryside. The mafia manages the whole system, from their recruitment to the camps in which they sleep.

There is a law against this system but of course, Salvini does nothing to put it in application.” Roberto Saviano, in Mediapart, “Comme Salvini, Macron criminalise la solidarité avec les migrants”, 10 septembre  2018.

*

My only question regarding this and all the rest: when the rot reaches such levels, not only in Italy, but across the world, what exactly is the best way to deal with it at a personal level? As in: is there any point in “denouncing” (especially when your voice does not carry – but I mean, not at all) or are you best to simply carry on doing what you know is right instead of wasting your breath on the hate-mongers?

As usual, I have only questions and no answers.