[Aug. 2022] The historic town of Syracuse in Sicily, Italy, is the hometown of Archimedes, who is known as a mathematician and physicist.
When I heard about Archimedes, a sage from ancient Greece, and I immediately thought, “He isn’t Italian is he?”, but when Archimedes was born, Syracuse was a part of Greece.
On this day, during our summer holiday in Syracuse, we went out for a walk during our lunch break while working on a deadline, and noticed a statue of Archimedes.
It stands quietly in the middle of the bridge connecting Ortigia Island and mainland Sicily.
Despite being world-famous historical person, Archimedes is a relatively unassuming figure in modern Syracuse.
The guide of the walking tour the other day also said, “I think he deserves a larger statue.”
Arethusa in Greek mythology is much more standing out than him, and the fountain in Piazza Archimede is not of him, but of Arethusa and Artemis.
However, the Archimedes Museum is located on the side of this Archimedes Square.
We didn’t go in though.
Then there was a big π statue in the new town roundabout.
π is said to have been derived from Archimedes’ calculations around the 3rd century BC.
π, which I was familiar with when I was a student, is completely irrelevant to my life now.
Another thing that caught our eyes during this walk was the ship named Open Arms.
I was just staring blankly, but my husband noticed, “Oh, this is…”.
Open Arms is a Spanish charity organization that rescues refugees who come from Africa, taking huge risks in rubber boats or something, and bring them to Europe.
Due to its geographic proximity to Africa, Italy is in a compelling position to accept these immigrants.
Refugees and immigrants are really difficult issues.
Refugees whose lives are in danger due to wars and discrimination in their own countries should be helped, but immigrants who pay large sums of money to contractors and come over for economic reasons are simply illegal immigrants, aren’t they.
I am one of the immigrants, but I went through various formal procedures and struggled in my own way to obtain British residency.
There is a possibility that terrorists are among the immigrants who try to forcefully enter the country, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to let everyone enter without hesitation.
A few years ago, a German activist even went so far as to ram her ship into an Italian Coast Guard ship to try to get these migrants ashore.
The activist was once arrested, but was eventually released due to pressure from Germany and others.
Well, I agree with the idea of helping people floating on the sea, but I think they should think about the aftermath and then start activities to help.
It would be too irresponsible to let a large number of immigrants land and leave them there without helping the countries which have to accept them.
If African countries knew about these activities and thought that it was safe to cross the sea in a rubber boat, not only would accidents increase, but illegal immigration would also increase.
That is my personal opinion.
By the way, this Open Arms ship was docked at Syracuse for repairs.
