Africa e diaspore: trasformazioni e migrazioni che interrogano il nostro sguardo Introduzione al CIRMiB MigraREport 2024

The essay introduces the content of the volume, briefly anticipating the main local and national data. Italian migration policy under Giorgia Meloni’s leadership focuses on a securitarian approach and the externalisation of the control of migration flows; this fuels a public discourse based on the blaming of migrants. In the wake of this vision, the European Union formulated the new European Migration Pact at the end of 2023 (which confirms the logic of the former Dublin Regulation). A long-term perspective is lacking, as experience shows that current restrictive measures are not reducing irregular immigration flows. In this sense, the formulation of the Mattei Plan opens the door to greater cooperation with African countries, which is useful for tackling the root causes of migration. The 7 essays in this volume invite a critical reflection on our view of Africa and a commitment to build more equitable and collaborative relations between the two continents, emphasising the need to overcome stereotypes and prejudices towards migrants from these ountries, whose diversity and complexity as well as the most recent changes are often ignored. The West, and particularly Europe, has historical responsibilities towards African countries (for their colonial past) and is struggling to free itself from a widespread implicit racism that creates a hierarchy between races and cultures. Today’s Africa is a young and growing continent, with an emerging role on the international stage that, as the African Union’s Agenda 2063 states, aims at a future of integration, development and worldwide recognition.