We are not going back

During the summer of 2015, In the context of the largest refugee crisis since World War II, the flow of migrants reaching Italy by boat and headed overland for northern Europe is abruptly interrupted by the closure of the French border on June the 8th 2015. Within a few days, near the Italian border town of Ventimiglia, a crowd of 200-300 migrants is formed. On June the 11th, the Italian police attempts to forcibly deport them. Many resist and take shelter on the rocks, creating a first makeshift camp a few metres from the posh French Riviera town of Menton.

Two months later, the makeshift camp has been moved a few hundreds metres away from the rocks, in a parking lot, and has become a self-managed community run by an assembly of African migrants and activists from Italy and France. In this space, delimited by the sea, the border and the railway, migrants have the opportunity to regain strength and to be treated again with respect and love after days, weeks or even months of travel, often under inhumane conditions. Among infinite dreams, stories, hopes and uncertainties, one thing is clear to all the camp inhabitants and it's repeated constantly: 'We are not going back.'

The camp is eventually evicted by the Italian police on September the 30th 2015, but during its almost 4 months of existence, it has proved that a more humane alternative to the typical refugee camp run by state and para-state organizations is possible.

The full version of this multimedia project is available [here.](http://marcopanzetti.com/we-are-not-going-back/)