Over the centuries, the line separating North and South has changed its latitude. In today’s world, the direct North/South confrontation occurs along two borders: the one separating Mexico from the United States and the one that intersects the Mediterranean. This change in latitude defines a North (including Europe, which thinks of itself as the West and intends to protect and defend its borders) as opposed to a global South (that continually attempts to transcend such boundaries). And so, the Mediterranean ceases to be a place of opportunity but rather becomes a mere ribbon of sea and – to quote Gloria Anzaldúa – an open wound “where the Third World grates against the First and bleeds”.

Egidio Ivetic teaches History of the Mediterranean at the University of Padova.

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