From 1 to 4 October, 22 activists aged between 18 and 35 from Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Tunisia, Italy, France and Spain will meet in Reggio Calabria to discuss the issue of mobility in the Mediterranean. The encounter is part of a programme developed online in recent months and aims to explore both the obstacles and positive experiences encountered by the younger generations as they move across the countries of the region.

The event has a two-fold focus: on the one hand, it will analyse the difficulties caused by armed conflicts, bureaucracy, increasingly restrictive migration policies, economic and climate crises; on the other, it will highlight the opportunities and good practices that are emerging thanks to solidarity networks, grassroots projects and virtuous models of hospitality in a context where increasing militarisation and the externalisation of borders are transforming the right to free movement into a privilege for the few or a crime to be punished.

During the meeting, participants will define the editorial line and advocacy strategy of the project and draft a series of recommendations addressed to policy makers. They will also work on four videos filmed in symbolic locations such as Seine-Saint-Denis, Calabria, Lebanon and Palestine, under the mentorship of director Felice d'Agostino, as well as an illustrated booklet by French-Egyptian artist Tiana Kader recounting the journeys of 10 participants of the Med Youth Meeting 2024, organised by the same organisation. The publication, in French and English, aims to spark reflection on the challenges faced by those attempting to reach southern Italy, an emblematic territory where a lack of infrastructure and scarce job opportunities drive many young people to emigrate, mirroring dynamics common to every “South” in the world.

Finally, the group will have the opportunity to meet with key figures from local civil society: Domenico Marino, representative of the No Ponte movement and professor of Economic Policy at the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria; municipal councillor Anna Briante, to whom the advocacy campaign will be presented; and representatives of the EUROCOOP Social Cooperative, which manages the “Jungi Mundu” operational centre in the village of Camini, a valuable model of the rebirth of a village in decline thanks to the reception and hospitality of migrants.
The sessions will take place in private at the Spazio Open and Palazzo Corrado Alvaro, the historic headquarters of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, and will be covered by Etimologia magazine, the project's media partner.