TE20 Migrant Mosaics

Immigration: The Contest (excerpt) Carlos Gámez Pérez

Translated from Spanish by Arthur Malcolm Dixon

I’m afraid the news from The Island isn’t good, as I shall relate. I shall do so in this virtual space, open to the whole world. This is my effort to recount what I believe is the true story of Immigration: The Contest , including the deaths: the terrible accident that has left the audience shaken to its core. If I were the affected person, which I’m not, I would say this story serves as an homage to the victims. It’s a far sight from the tear-jerking program the production company just put out; a special that aired, in sensationalist fashion, a series of shots of the bodies floating in the sea as well as a retransmission of the news segments showing the accident’s impact on the victims’ families. All presented by a professional who was hired with one clear objective in mind: to help the pain reach the other side of the screen through recurring soundbites and platitudes, well known for their efficacy in mass media. You already know the ending: the images of the state funeral and the final verdict. This way of telling a story is far from ideal; it’s cowardly, like when you watch from a balcony as they murder a foreigner in an uninhabited city, even if the only reason you keep quiet and watch is out of fear they’ll kill you too. But we are already used

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