Logbook, October 27

October 27 - At 18.00:XNUMX p.m., the Bamboo, the boat of the Exodus Foundation that welcomes the crew of Mediterranean Sea of ​​Peace, loose ties and moves away from Genoa.

Destination: Marseille. First stop on the maritime route of the 2 World March for Peace and Nonviolence.

A golden sunset illuminates La Lanterna, the lighthouse that has guided ships in and out of the port for 800 years.

The light that surrounds the city seems to us a sign of good omen for this trip through the western and southern Mediterranean that, in recent years, seems to have forgotten his soul.

The ancient civilizations called it the Great Sea, for the Romans it was the Mare Nostrum, for the Arabs and the Turks it was the White Sea, for the Egyptians it was the Great Green.

A sea between the lands that throughout the millennia has been the road that has united and brought together civilizations, cultures, men.

A sea that has become the scene of terrible tragedies

A sea that has become the scene of terrible tragedies: tens of thousands of people are prisoners in the Libyan camps, true
prisons where they suffer violence, rapes and torture.

Only those who can pay can go out to sea, hoping not to be intercepted by the self-appointed Libyan Coast Guard and be taken back to hell.

A Coast Guard financed with Italian and European funds thanks to an agreement that will be renewed in a few days.

Only this year, more than 63.000 people have risked their lives to reach the European shores in search of hope.

It is estimated that 1028 people died at sea. Deaths that weigh on everyone's conscience, but it is too easy to forget about them.

We are accustomed to the newsletters of the dead, of the bailouts, of the rejections.

It is easy to forget about suffering

It's easy to forget about suffering, you just have to turn your head to the other side.

And if you are on the mainland, comfortably sitting in an armchair, you can't even imagine those tragedies.

But here in the Bamboo at nightfall, although the sea is calm (small waves, little wind, we are going to motor) and you can still see the lights of the coast, the first thought is for those people, women, men and Children who, perhaps right now, on the southern shore of the Great Sea are going into the sea in inflatable boats or very small wooden boats.

Men, women and children huddled in insecure ships beyond imagination, along with their hopes for a better life.

You have to have been at sea at night to understand what these people can feel, almost always coming from places far from the coast.

Let's think about them and their fear

Let's think about them and their fear as if, wrapped in darkness, they will look at the horizon in the hope that someone will come to their aid to take them to a safe haven.

Consider also the people of Ocean Viking, one of the few humanitarian ships still sailing, who have been waiting for days to dock in a safe harbor. How can so many human beings be treated like this?

How can all this leave us indifferent? We throw this question through the waves. Think about it.

At 4 in the early morning there is little wind. We hoisted the candle and continued.

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Photo: Bamboo, the ship of the Exodus Foundation in Genoa, moored in front of the Galata Mu. Museum of the sea and migrations, one of the most important maritime museums in the Mediterranean.

In the square, in front of the Galata, we set up an exhibition with a small part of the drawings of children from all over the world who participated in the
Colors of peace project.

In the pacifist exhibition also the photos of Sea Beauty by Stella del Curto and Kaki Tree by Francesco Foletti.