Cite as: Zanou, K,, 2020, "The Sea and the Sea: Do Migrants’ Lives Matter Less Than Tourists’?", Chronos 71.
Even as I write, people from local communities on Chios and Lesvos (Greece’s eastern Aegean isles) are flocking to their coasts to impede the growing number of refugees arriving on their islands in the last few days, following Turkey’s abrupt decision (29 February 2020) to open its borders to thousands of refugees desperate to reach Europe. One video shows some of them standing on the shoreline, in front of a small inflatable dinghy carrying people in great distress—men, women (some pregnant) and children—shouting to them that they should go back where they came from. One woman, furious, suggests sinking the boat on the spot.