Public indifference to refugee tragedies

Last Tuesday 73 Eritrean refugees lost their lives off the coast of Sicily. Writing in the daily La Repubblica Eugenio Scalfari accuses the media of reacting with indifference to the disaster: "The reaction of the national press to the massacre of 73 immigrants … is extraordinary (I can find no other adjective). On the first day the incident was on the first page: the number of victims, the faces of the survivors, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni's doubts about their credibility, the responsibility of the Maltese navy as well as the first comments inspired by the 'It's no business of ours' attitude of the likes of [Umberto] Bossi and [Roberto] Calderoli of the [rightist populist] Northern League. But since the second day our newspapers have turned a blind eye. … The vacillation, the caution, the talking and the silence of the major national papers reflect the deep indifference of the public spirit which limits itself to struggling from one day to the next - without remembering the past and without a perspective for the future."

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