Trendy Milan

Milan is the city’s Duomo, the capital of fashion and it’s hosting the Expo 2015. But it is also the gateway to Europe for thousands of refugees.

A young newcomer sleeps on his suitcase in front of the central train station in Milan. Photo by Albert González Farran for the IOM and Save the Children.

It’s hard to see the contradiction of the city of Milan, which today celebrates an Expo dedicated to eradicate the world hunger, but at the same time it’s complaining about the “invasion” of thousands of people from all over Africa and Asia in search of the European dream.

The emergence of the boats rescued in Lampedusa and Sicily has become a routine that ended up affecting a city that wants to claim its cosmopolitanism, but shows a certain conservative provincialism when mutters, teeth closed, that’s enough with so many dirty and smelly foreigners.

The efforts of the local administration and the tireless dedication of part of the population to assist the newcomers it’s a small contribution compared to a situation that may become a bomb if the European countries don’t act quickly and give a reasoned solution for so many people who claim their right for a better present. A present that, for historical reasons, is also the responsibility of the northerners.