Project "Melting Pot Europa"

The globalization of markets which characterizes our times doesn’t constitute a true globalization.

An ever growing pressure from migratory flows produced by civil wars, and by the desire, or the will to find better living conditions, is not matched by the politics of control of the migrant workforce, which have responded with the militarisation of borders and the imposition of restrictions, detention camps and work permits linked to a job rather than to basic needs.

The decision to harmonize of European laws on immigration, bilateral agreements between states for forced repatriation, and even the outsourcing in the nation of origin of migrant flows of Temporary Stay Centers all represent moves towards the restriction of global citizenship. In this European and global context the “Melting Pot” project aims to be an instrument to promote and enlarge real citizenship practices.

Our multilingual and multimedia website (www.meltingpot.org), provides complete and in depth coverage of all issues relating to immigration laws (the regulation of migrant flows, political rights and work).

This legal and informative service goes beyond the typical limits of an advice service, providing, thanks to the website and the satellite, a more European and the global perspective. At the same time it’s not only a service, but also a project space which puts communication into practice and is an experiment in democracy.

First prize for the Italian e-content Award 2007

The first 10 years of the “Melting Pot Europa” Project
Since 1996, the year in which the project started, through the 5 language radio advice service, the spirit of research and practical as well as theoretical experimentation has always distinguished Melting Pot in the processes of the transformation of the migratory phenomenon in Italy and in Europe, without losing its understanding of the deep link between the global dimension of migratory flows and their roots in well defined local contexts.

Following the production of the multilingual radio advice service, which was put on-line in a downloadable audio format, the main development was in 2003, when a new website clearly marked the passage from a local radio project to an innovative national and European communication project which is experienced through its production of new on-line services.

It was in 2003 that the radio programs started to be broadcast to the whole of continental Europe, thanks to the satellite frequencies of Radio Global.

The introduction of the new website, and of the satellite broadcasting coincided with the enlargement of the editorial staff of the project “Melting Pot Europa”.

Two new staff (in Emila Romagna and in Friuli Venezia Giulia) were added to the historical one in Veneto and, since 2006, a new post was created also in the Marche region.

A lot has changed also in the field of radio broadcasting. From the initial simple translation in 5 languages (Albanian, Serbo-Croat, Arabic, English and French) of the Italian broadcast, in 2006 Radio Melting Pot came to life.

Radio Melting Pot is broadcast all over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and is accessible with a simple satellite receiver, a well known means of communication in the nations of origin of migrants, and thus also between the migrants who live in Europe.

We put this space at the disposition of the migrant communities in Italy, as well as in Europe which, potentially, through satellite radio offers a lot of potential still to be experienced; the networking and the communication between different communities in Europe, and between each single community and its country of origin.