life experiences and different legal pathways (it is precisely in this regard that other definitions such as economic migrants or political migrants emerge). In Italian press, this term has gradually replaced the more commonly used ‘immigrato’, which is more exclusionary and often related to the words ‘straniero’ or ‘extracomunitario’, effectively hindering migrants to settle within Italian society, making them eternal guests (sometimes unwanted), in the country where they live and work.
A ‘rifugiato’’ (refugee in English) on the other hand, according to the definition provided by the Geneva Conventions, is ‘someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion’. The term ‘rifugiato’ is thus distinguished from the term ‘migrant’ by the need of international protection and by its lawfulness.
Rifugiato’ is more used in today’s media language, especially after the 3rd October 2013 shipwreck of migrants in Lampedusa, where 368 bodies were found. Following what was described as the most serious shipwreck up to that time, there was a change of course in the narrative of migration: the dimension of pain, mourning and loss took over; the spectacularization of suffering predominates. While the more frequent media exposure of the abuses and violations to which migrants are put through may lead to a general awareness, it is exactly the extensive media discourse on depicting migrants as victims that fosters the spread of paternalistic and dehumanising attitudes, causing the perception of a migrant to be a person who is constantly suffering, without agency.
‘Emergency’: Italian media often explains the migration phenomena with an emergency approach, thus describing the issue as rare and unordinary. This type of narrative, however, leads to the development of a media reality that contrasts with the facts. This does not allow people to fully understand the complexity of migration dynamics. Indeed, something defined as an emergency is usually perceived as out of the ordinary, over which we have no power and dependent on causes that do not concern us.
However, this perspective ignores the precise social and historical dynamics and the responsibility of political choices in this context that have profoundly affected migration processes and impact on their outcomes. Even though the emergency no longer exists, the issue continues to be approached from this perspective.
Rather, the existence of migration flows should be rethought as a normal phenomenon, avoiding describing it as exceptional and difficult to manage, instead contributing to enhancing the importance and richness of an increasingly multicultural landscape, trying to develop networks connecting local and non-local citizens, building anti-racist spaces.
Despite many associations, spaces, schools, and centres in Italy promoting projects inclined towards the enhancement of an intercultural perspective in the country, public opinion regarding the migration phenomena is still very divergent, also due to the distorted perception of the issue, caused by systemic misinformation.