ABSTRACT
Gradisca, Italy: 3.30 p.m., 28 May 2015. The documents stating the authorisation released by the Gorizia Prefecture in our hands, together with our identity cards, we ring the bell of the Gradisca Hospitality Centre for Asylum Seekers, the CARA (Centro Accoglienza Richiedenti Asilo). The centre features high concrete walls together with security cameras inside and outside the centre. We enter ‘the camp’, after being subjected to the metal detector and the severe check-up of our documents by the guard sitting behind a glass barrier. The feeling is that of entering a highly securitised ‘danger zone’. Once the documents are verified – and retained by the guard – we pass a second security door to be faced by two internal routes: the first, leading to the former CIE (Centro Identificazione ed Espulsione – that is, Centre for Identification and Expulsion) formally closed two years ago; the second, to the green areas of the CARA, hosting individuals who have applied for the status of refugee. Gates, barriers, bars, and barbed wire ‘protect’ the entire compound: the only entry/exit point is the double security door we have just passed. There is another gate for vehicles, equally subjected to strict military check-ups. This entry procedure immediately reveals the quasi-carceral regime of mobility characterising this site of ‘hospitality’.
