Sea of People

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Hundreds dead last week. Hundreds dead this week. This humanitarian crisis on the southern shores of Europe isn’t new – more than 22,000 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean since 2000. But we now appear to be seeing a sharp increase in the numbers attempting the perilous crossing, with the result that more people than ever are dying.

It’s all too easy to forget that they are human beings. Many of those making the crossing, are children, Yet the language the media and politicians use to describe them (not “people” but “migrants”) has the effect of making them seem less human. A problem without a solution. We have failed these people again and again, and we desperately need to rethink our approach.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/22/eu-solution-to-mediterranean-deaths-migrants

Animation by Joana Gonçalves

Chapter I:

THE BEGINNING