Mem.Med – Memoria Mediterranea is a grassroots initiative, a project born to recover the memory of the missing, support grieving families, and challenge the violence of European border policies. The project aims to accompany relatives through the process of searching and identifying missing loved ones, providing legal and procedural guidance, and offering psychological support to families.
From June 10 to 15, 2025, Mem.Med organized a powerful week of actions, meetings, and commemorative events in Palermo. The gatherings brought together mothers, sisters, and relatives of the missing from Tunisia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. The families came not just to grieve—but to organize, to speak out, to resist, and to demand truth and justice.
On June 11, 2025, a strong demonstration was organized outside of the Tunisian consulate in Palermo, led by Tunisian migrants, family members, and local activists, to condemn the brutal EU-Tunisia migration deal. The protesters standing against the EU violence demanded accountability for the thousands of disappeared and detained migrants, denouncing deportations and exposing the complicity of both European and Tunisian authorities in perpetuating a system of oppression.
On June 14, 2025, exactly two years after the Pylos massacre, together with other local and transnational activist groups, Mem.Med organized an action of commemoration. While carrying photographs of the missing and banners denouncing the murderous border regime, families and activists marched together in the city center of Palermo. The action started with a reading of poems and chants from the mothers of missing persons. During the march, silence was broken, calling for an end to the pushback regime, detention, and the normalization of death and disappearance at EU external(ized) borders.
Commemoraction in Palermo, June 14, 2025, Silvia Di Meo
By centering the testimonies of those who are most affected, this week of actions was a reminder that memory is a way of resisting. Throughout the week amidst public actions and internal meetings, we worked together towards a dismantling of the narrative of death and disappearance normalization, to keep the memory of loved ones alive and to demand justice in their name.
Alarm Phone Tunis
Website Mem-Med – https://memoriamediterranea.org
