Maldusa constituted two stations in Palermo and in Lampedusa, to carry out critical research work and facilitate the encounter of local and transnational realities.

In the two stations, Maldusa focuses on a qualitative research and documentation approach, in collaboration with activists, people on the move, and existing organisations in the North and South of the Mediterranean Sea. 

Besides research and documentation, in dialogue with the different but linked realities of Palermo and Lampedusa, Maldusa will prioritise the following key themes: breaking isolation; the continuum of criminalisation and deportation; border violence; migrant self-organisation. This, from an anti-colonial and intersectional perspective, centring voices and experiences of people on the move as well as in continuous conversation with people and realities in the Global South.

In both stations, activities will involve: organisation of festivals, meetings, workshops, training, conferences, summer schools, film screenings, book presentations, reading groups.

Lampedusa has historically been narrated and understood merely as a border zone, with a binary representation between island of peace and island of violence. The spectacularization of crisis and emergency has often led to a lack of understanding of the local, continuous, daily struggles of people who inhabit and cross the island.

Maldusa, with its presence on the island, seeks to create stronger bridges and connections between sea activist and migrant solidarity initiatives both on a local and translantional level, in order to propose counter-narratives and counter-practices, as well as amplifying those already present on the island. This, in order to avoid reproducing a misleading spectacularization of the border regime. 

The members of Maldusa have been directly and indirectly related to the island for several years, without an in-depth, embodied understanding of local complexities and dynamics. Through a new critical presence in Lampedusa, Maldusa attempts to adjust this approach, by learning from, connecting with, and amplifying the perspectives of the local context, as well as facilitating the creation of bridges between different realities and organisations, people on the move and local struggles.

The Lampedusa station seeks to support the critical documentation of the sea crossings from Libya and Tunisia to Malta, Italy and beyond, in order to facilitate direct intervention and solidarity by existing actors. Moreover, Maldusa wants to contribute to the qualitative documentation of the irregular detention of people who regularly disembark on the island, supporting campaigns and demands that challenge the existence and the logic of the hotspot system.

In Lampedusa, the association will organise cultural events (including book presentations, documentaries and film screenings, workshops and seminars) on a monthly basis, involving both local realities as well as and invited participants, with a particular attention to people who crossed Lampedusa in their migration route.

Read our reports from Lampedusa below!