Michele Lapini

We Want Freedom

Vivono in edifici abbandonati, fabbriche smantellate e vecchie case fuori città senza finestre, acqua o elettricità. Trovano riparo in tende e baracche costruite con pali di legno, corde e teli di plastica in quelle che di solito vengono chiamate “jungle”, campi improvvisati spontanei allestiti nei boschi vicino al confine bosniaco-croato. Si tratta principalmente di giovani tra i 18 ei 35 anni, provenienti da paesi ad alto conflitto interno come Pakistan e Afghanistan che vivono lungo i 100 km di strada che separano Bihac da Velika Kladusa, le due maggiori città della Bosnia settentrionale. In questa parte del Paese, il cantone di Una Sana, il numero di persone che attraversano il confine per raggiungere l’Europa è cresciuto in modo esponenziale dal 2016. Le rotte che portano alla Croazia e ai valichi possono durare giorni e quasi tutte finiscono con violenti respingimenti da parte della polizia Croata e le persone sono costrette a tornare indietro, spesso con segni pesanti sul corpo, senza soldi e con i cellulari rotti. Ma secondo il Danish Refugee Council nel 2020 sono circa 21mila le persone che sono state respinte dalla Croazia in Bosnia e 9 mila che sono riuscite ad arrivare in Slovenia e sono state rimpatriate in Croazia. E infine, una volta entrati in Italia, sono stati riportati in autobus in Slovenia e da lì trasferiti in Croazia e di nuovo in Bosnia. Si chiama “catena dei respingimenti”.
Il multistrato confine Europeo ha reso il passaggio sempre più difficile e le condizioni di vita delle persone rimaste in Bosnia stanno peggiorando di giorno in giorno. Una delle situazioni più significative è quella del campo di Lipa, costruita ad aprile 2020 per far fronte all’emergenza covid e distrutta a dicembre 2020 a causa di un incendio. Le persone in transito che sono ancora lì, vivono in condizioni disumane in tende sovraffollate e prive dei servizi essenziali, e con temperature invernali sotto lo zero, sopravvivere diventa sempre più una sfida quotidiana. – Queste fotografie sono state scattate tra dicembre 2019 e ottobre 2021

Waiting for future
A group of migrants watch from the barbed wire fence of Lipa Camp. In the first days of the year, there were many protests and tensions with Bosnian security forces. Lipa Camp, 04.01.2021

A line for the food
The long line under the snow for the distribution of the only daily meal at Lipa camp by a Red Cross team. After the fire on 23 December and the protests in Bihac against the reopening of Bira camp, migrant people were forced to stay in Lipa without any kind of assistance or basic services. Lipa Camp, 08.01.2021

We are freezing
The protest of migrants living inside the Lipa camp against the inhumane conditions in which they are forced to live. Some have started a hunger strike, to demand a dignified solution and the respect of human rights. Lipa camp, 03.01.2021

Solidarity
Nasrullah (center) is 37 years old and originally from Iran. When he arrived at the jungle of Velika Kladusa limping, he had just been rejected by Croatian police, beaten and left in the middle of the woods near the Bosnian border. The Bangladeshi boys fed and comforted him, and helped him get to Miral camp to be seen by a doctor. Nasrullah is one of the many, too many daily pushbacks. Velika Kladusa, 06.01.2021 

We want justice
The protests of migrants inside the Lipa Camp, after the fire on 23 December 2020. Lipa Camp, 04.01.2021 

Shower and snow
Sumon is 22 years old and from Bangladesh. He started studying Political Science in Istanbul, but there he made the decision to leave, encouraged by advice and hope. He left in 2019 and has been in Bosnia for 5 months after 4 pushbacks by Croatian police. His wish is to finish his studies, then it will be seen. The Bosnian winter increases the precarious living conditions of the thousands of people trying to reach Europe. Velika Kladusa, 10.01.2021 

Lipa camp
A man from Pakistan inside the Lipa Camp during a rainy day. Lipa, Bosnia. 02.01.2021 

A place called home
The outside of an abandoned house few kilometers outside the city of Bihac, where ten boys from Pakistan and Afghanistan have found shelter.They are waiting for better weather conditions so they can try to cross the border again. Bihac, 03.01.2021 

People on the move
A group of migrants walk just outside the Lipa camp, built in April in an isolated area 30 km from the city of Bihac. Lipa Camp, 03.01.2021 

Inside a squat
A man from Pakistan rest inside the large abandoned building along the Una River in Bihac where lived almost two hudrends people. 04.01.2021

Cooking for people
An Afghan woman cooks inside her tent in the jungle of Velika Kladusa. About 200 people live in this informal camp in an attempt to cross the border into Croatia. Velika Kladusa 22.10.2021

Night time
An Afghan family has just finished eating and is preparing to go to sleep in the informal camp in Velika Kladusa, on the border with Croatia. Velika Kladura, 23.10.2021

Warm up
An Afghan family warms themselves by the fire in the jungle of Velika Kladusa. There are many families living in this informal camp who are continually pusheb back by Croatian and Slovenian police as they try to reach Europe. Velika Kladusa, 27.10.2021

Jungle
Husen, 40 years old, from Bangladesh, prepares dinner in the “jungle” of Velika Kladusa. He has been in Bosnia for 4 mon- ths and has been rejected 3 times. Waiting for spring he lives in a tent with 3 other people. Velika Kladusa, 06.01.2021

The burned Lipa
A Pakistani boy walks under the snow in front of what remains of the Lipa camp after the fire on December 23, 2020. Despite the destruction of much of the camp, a thousand people still live there. Camp Lipa, 06.01.2021

Food and rain
A group of migrants return from a distribution of comfort supplies not far from Lipa camp. After the fire on December 23, the IOM ceased operations inside and people were left without food and assistance. Lipa, 03.01.2021

Shelter in Lipa
An abandoned house has become a shelter for a group of migrants from Pakistan. After the fire in Lipa camp, many have been seeking an alternative solution to survive the cold Bosnian winter. Lipa, 03.01.2021

Derportation
A group of migrants stays crammed inside a small van after being taken off a train bound to the town of Bihac by Bosnian police in Bosanska Krupa, northwestern Bosnia. In the little village of Bosanska Krupa, almost every night the Bosnian Police get on the train to search migrants and take them into vans. Bosanska Krupa, 13.12.2019

Squat in Bihac
A Pakistani boy looks out over the large abandoned building along the Una River, where nearly 200 migrants live. Bihac, 04.01.2021

Broken
Seyed, 25, a house painter from Pakistan, stand outside his temporary house where he has been living for 3 months. He has been pushed back 6 times from the Croatian Police. Sturlic, 13.12.2019

www.michelelapini.net

Michele Lapini è un fotografo freelance classe 83. Nato in Valdarno in Toscana ha studiato Economia dello Sviluppo e Cooperazione Internazionale prima a Firenze e poi a Bologna. Il suo lavoro fotografico si interseca con l’interesse verso le questioni sociali, ambientali e politiche che caratterizzano il mondo attuale. Ha lavorato in città come Londra, Barcellona, collaborando con festival culturali e musicali. Vive e lavora a Bologna coprendo la cronaca per “La Repubblica Bologna” e le sue fotografie sono state pubblicate su Internazionale (IT), The Guardian (UK), Corriere della Sera (IT), Pagina99 (IT), L’Unità (IT), Repubblica.it (IT), Latinoamerica (IT), Terre di Mezzo (IT), E – ilmensile.it (IT), Rai Uno (IT), ecc. E’ uno dei fotografi del libro “Genuino Clandestino” uscito a marzo 2015 con TerraNuova Edizioni.