The Otranto Legality Experience - 29th August - 3rd September
Written by Dorianne Formosa, participant representing Malta UNESCO Youth Association
Otranto Legality Experience was the first Summer School organised by FLARE, tackling and discussing the issue of globalisation, illegality and organised crime. Around 150 persons, from 30 different countries, coming from various environments such as students, activists, researchers, journalists, professionals, experts and relatives and friends of organised crime met in Puglia to share and express experiences and ideas to fight against organised crime and illegality. Six days full of seminars, workshops, evening debates, visits to properties confiscated to Italian mafias which are nowadays used for social re use, documentary movie sessions and concerts.
The event started off with a speech by Michele Curto, president of Flare, who gave us a brief introduction about OLE and FLARE. In the afternoon we visited a the Porto Selvaggio natural reserve in Nardo, a magnificent place with breath taking views overlooking the Ionian Sea. This natural reserve was saved from being destroyed by Renata Fonte, who paid a high price in the fight to protect the area. She was killed on the 31st of March 1984 and so to date Porto Selvaggio is dedicated to this noble woman Renata Fonte. The daughter of Renato Fonte was also present with us and she also spoke about her mother. The scout group of the area played and sang some songs, whilst FLARE unveiled a plaque dedicated to Renata Fonte.
The following day kicked off with actual seminar in which all the sessions were organised at Basiliani Resort. The morning sessions were divided into two plenary sessions daily, amounting to a total of around seminars, subdivided into 4 main themes: globalisation, struggles against international organised crime, role of the civil society and case studies. All seminars were delivered by experts in the field. All seminars were informative but what stuck me most was first the fact the Asians especially Chinese are nowadays colonising the African continent, were they are becoming owners of land in the African continent. Second was the issue of renewable energy in Italy, especially in Puglia, were a large number of hectares of agricultural land are being destroyed and replaced by solar panels.
We also had the opportunity to visit Porto San Cesareo, Mesagne and Torchiarolo, three properties confiscated from the Mafia. Porto San Cesareo is a seaside area, on the Ionian coast, which is now being protected for its natural beauty. I had the opportunity to meet Don Raffaele, a priest, who is currently working as a priest in the prison of Lecce. He has been working with victims of mafia for several years. Don Raffaele spent around 2 hours talking to us about mafia and indeed he gave us a lot of information about the various mafia groups in Italy, how they were formed and the reason behind the chosen name. Mesagne and Tochariolo are two properties which are currently taken over by Libera and are being used for social re use. A number of agricultural land is now owned by a Coop and are currently producing wine, honey and biscuits without the use of pesticides and the profit made is being used for investing in new machinery or new projects. A big villa also located in the middle of this huge agricultural land was previously owned by the mafia. Nowadays scout groups and other organisations are using this place for the summer period to organise activities and to help the coop in the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. The idea is to convert the villa in rooms to be used for agri-tourism.
Each participant had the opportunity to attend at least one of the following workshops: process of confiscation and social re use, Italian mafia in Germany, human rights pantomime, theatre of the opressed, flashmobs or are institutions omnipotnet? I attended the flash mob workshop which was amazing. Flash mob is associated to a group of people who gather together in a public area and perform an unusual and pointless act in a brief time. The whole idea is to convey messages, to do something funny and in the end to attract people. Every flash mob is filmed and then edited. The workshop was delivered by Neil Robinson and Miguel Texiera Da Silva, both members of Streetprov Netherlands. After the actual workshop, all the participants who attended the workshop conducted a flash mob focusing on the theme of Legality in one of the squares of Otranto. This attracted a number of local people, who tried to understand what was going on and also passing comments as most of the people thought it was a demonstration against the government.
The last three nights ended in a public debate in one of the squares of Otranto. On the 1st of September the first debate was delivered by Nichi Vendola (President of Apulia region) and Sabina Guzzanti (journalist), who discussed the film Draquila - L'Italia che trema, a film directed by Sabina highlighting Aquila and the sate in which people from Aquila were living after the earthquake of the 6th of April 2009. The second debate was between Colette Kitoga (physician), Pierre Moukala, Dario Riccobono (comitato addiopizzo - founder of addiopizzo travel) and Luciano Corridi (mayor of Otanto). On the second day the hot debate was between Moni Ovadia (actor, musician, singer and theatrical author), Don Luigi Ciotti (president of Libera), Atonio Tricarico (co-ordinator of campaign for world bank reform) and Pedro Paez (former minister of finance of Ecuador). The last debate on the 3rd of September took place in Castel Sant Angelo due to heavy rain and was dedicated to all innocent victims of mafia. It also happened to be the anniversary of the assassination of Carlo Alberto Della Chiesa. In this debate participated Jurgen Roth (German writer and journalist), Nando Della Chiesa (the son of Carlo Alberto), Mario Marcone (director of the Italian National Agency for the management of confiscated assests), Michele Curto (president of FLARE) and Giancarlo Caselli (public prosecutor in Turin, former general attorney in Palermo).
OLE was indeed an informative seminar. It gave me the opportunity to meet people from different work environment. Lets continue fighting against organised crime and illegality.
Otranto Legality Experience was the first Summer School organised by FLARE, tackling and discussing the issue of globalisation, illegality and organised crime. Around 150 persons, from 30 different countries, coming from various environments such as students, activists, researchers, journalists, professionals, experts and relatives and friends of organised crime met in Puglia to share and express experiences and ideas to fight against organised crime and illegality. Six days full of seminars, workshops, evening debates, visits to properties confiscated to Italian mafias which are nowadays used for social re use, documentary movie sessions and concerts.
The event started off with a speech by Michele Curto, president of Flare, who gave us a brief introduction about OLE and FLARE. In the afternoon we visited a the Porto Selvaggio natural reserve in Nardo, a magnificent place with breath taking views overlooking the Ionian Sea. This natural reserve was saved from being destroyed by Renata Fonte, who paid a high price in the fight to protect the area. She was killed on the 31st of March 1984 and so to date Porto Selvaggio is dedicated to this noble woman Renata Fonte. The daughter of Renato Fonte was also present with us and she also spoke about her mother. The scout group of the area played and sang some songs, whilst FLARE unveiled a plaque dedicated to Renata Fonte.
The following day kicked off with actual seminar in which all the sessions were organised at Basiliani Resort. The morning sessions were divided into two plenary sessions daily, amounting to a total of around seminars, subdivided into 4 main themes: globalisation, struggles against international organised crime, role of the civil society and case studies. All seminars were delivered by experts in the field. All seminars were informative but what stuck me most was first the fact the Asians especially Chinese are nowadays colonising the African continent, were they are becoming owners of land in the African continent. Second was the issue of renewable energy in Italy, especially in Puglia, were a large number of hectares of agricultural land are being destroyed and replaced by solar panels.
We also had the opportunity to visit Porto San Cesareo, Mesagne and Torchiarolo, three properties confiscated from the Mafia. Porto San Cesareo is a seaside area, on the Ionian coast, which is now being protected for its natural beauty. I had the opportunity to meet Don Raffaele, a priest, who is currently working as a priest in the prison of Lecce. He has been working with victims of mafia for several years. Don Raffaele spent around 2 hours talking to us about mafia and indeed he gave us a lot of information about the various mafia groups in Italy, how they were formed and the reason behind the chosen name. Mesagne and Tochariolo are two properties which are currently taken over by Libera and are being used for social re use. A number of agricultural land is now owned by a Coop and are currently producing wine, honey and biscuits without the use of pesticides and the profit made is being used for investing in new machinery or new projects. A big villa also located in the middle of this huge agricultural land was previously owned by the mafia. Nowadays scout groups and other organisations are using this place for the summer period to organise activities and to help the coop in the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. The idea is to convert the villa in rooms to be used for agri-tourism.
Each participant had the opportunity to attend at least one of the following workshops: process of confiscation and social re use, Italian mafia in Germany, human rights pantomime, theatre of the opressed, flashmobs or are institutions omnipotnet? I attended the flash mob workshop which was amazing. Flash mob is associated to a group of people who gather together in a public area and perform an unusual and pointless act in a brief time. The whole idea is to convey messages, to do something funny and in the end to attract people. Every flash mob is filmed and then edited. The workshop was delivered by Neil Robinson and Miguel Texiera Da Silva, both members of Streetprov Netherlands. After the actual workshop, all the participants who attended the workshop conducted a flash mob focusing on the theme of Legality in one of the squares of Otranto. This attracted a number of local people, who tried to understand what was going on and also passing comments as most of the people thought it was a demonstration against the government.
The last three nights ended in a public debate in one of the squares of Otranto. On the 1st of September the first debate was delivered by Nichi Vendola (President of Apulia region) and Sabina Guzzanti (journalist), who discussed the film Draquila - L'Italia che trema, a film directed by Sabina highlighting Aquila and the sate in which people from Aquila were living after the earthquake of the 6th of April 2009. The second debate was between Colette Kitoga (physician), Pierre Moukala, Dario Riccobono (comitato addiopizzo - founder of addiopizzo travel) and Luciano Corridi (mayor of Otanto). On the second day the hot debate was between Moni Ovadia (actor, musician, singer and theatrical author), Don Luigi Ciotti (president of Libera), Atonio Tricarico (co-ordinator of campaign for world bank reform) and Pedro Paez (former minister of finance of Ecuador). The last debate on the 3rd of September took place in Castel Sant Angelo due to heavy rain and was dedicated to all innocent victims of mafia. It also happened to be the anniversary of the assassination of Carlo Alberto Della Chiesa. In this debate participated Jurgen Roth (German writer and journalist), Nando Della Chiesa (the son of Carlo Alberto), Mario Marcone (director of the Italian National Agency for the management of confiscated assests), Michele Curto (president of FLARE) and Giancarlo Caselli (public prosecutor in Turin, former general attorney in Palermo).
OLE was indeed an informative seminar. It gave me the opportunity to meet people from different work environment. Lets continue fighting against organised crime and illegality.
