FEBRUARY 2025
BORDER RESISTANCES
In this edition of our column, we want to remember Awa Diabaté and her son Mohamed, who two years ago, on the night of February 5, 2023, lost their lives in the Central Mediterranean.
Their death is yet another tragedy caused by the brutality of borders and migration policies that criminalize the movement of people, especially women and children, pushing them toward desperate and deadly journeys. However, this edition does not just tell the tragedy, but celebrates Awa’s struggle, her courage and strength, and that of all migrant and refugee women who, like her, fought against abandonment and indifference. Awa was one of those women who never gave up in the face of institutional hostility and the daily violence of borders.
Like many other migrant women in Tunisia, she joined a resistance movement, creating spaces of solidarity and care through the FreeFemmes organization, a project that led to the creation of a social tailoring workshop allowing migrant and refugee women to earn a living and, at the same time, rebuild their sense of community.
The workshop was not just a workspace: it was a space of struggle, mutual care, and the sharing of experiences, where each stitch became an act of resistance against exclusionary and violent policies.
This struggle is closely linked to the difficulties and injustices faced by migrant and refugee women in Tunisia, a country that not only lacks effective reception policies but where NGOs and international organizations often fail to adequately address the needs of migrant people. Institutional abandonment is a deep-rooted problem that forces many women to live in precarious conditions, without concrete support, and without their voices being heard. The women of FreeFemmes, and many other migrant activist groups, had to face this reality, turning pain and solitude into collective strength. Their daily struggles are often invisible, but they are essential to challenging the logic of borders and restoring humanity to those treated as “invisible.”
Awa’s death and her struggle do not end with her tragedy. Her death is another warning against migration policies of externalizing borders that have become increasingly rigid and violent, leaving tens of thousands dead and missing. Her life, however, continues to live through the struggles she fueled and which are still being carried on by many migrant women today. Awa’s example reminds us that resistance is not just about visible actions, but also about daily practices of care, solidarity, and creating alternatives to exclusionary systems.
Two years after Awa’s death, we can proudly say that her struggle has not been forgotten. The memory of Awa and all the other women like her cannot and must not be buried in silence and indifference. In this edition, we want to witness not only the death of a mother and a son, but the resistance that emerged from their loss, and the power of migrant women who, despite everything, continue to fight for a better future. Awa, just like all the women who have lost their lives or continue to fight, is a symbolic figure in the struggle against borders, but also an example of how, from tragedy, emerges a collective strength that refuses to be annihilated by despair.
Today, we remember Awa and her son with love and determination, knowing that their death was not in vain. We will continue to carry their memory forward, to fight for justice and for the end of a system that abandons people, especially women, at the mercy of borders. Her struggle is our struggle, and together, as sisters and comrades, we will continue to weave the fabric of resistance with the same strength and determination that Awa demonstrated every day of her life.
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