Stories and News No. 1308
Maybe it's not always and everywhere like this, I hope not, certainly not for each of us, especially those who the fate of the majority depends on.
Nevertheless, I am convinced that most of the time the writer Oliver Goldsmith is absolutely right when in his well-known novel, The Vicar of Wakefield, he states that “conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse”.
Going straight to the point, I am speaking of the "clear conscience" of Giorgia Meloni and her associates, supporters or even just sympathizers, together with all those who enjoy a relatively peaceful sleep in the face of not only the deaths of Cutro, but each of the individual lives that disappeared along the journey from Africa up to our shores.
On the contrary, to put it like Goldsmith, a cowardly conscience to say the least that its own faults not only lack the strength and much less desire to prevent, but not even to remember, let alone accuse.
Certainly this page would not be enough to list them all and it is no coincidence that I have written a book about it, but it would be time for the current government to receive a punctual reply to his careless lies which should be placed an instant later as an essential premise of any discourse on the subject.
However, for the sake of synthesis and the equally burning desire not to let yet another oversight pass in silence, I would like to have my say.
Yes, our country, Italy, is guilty of those deaths and there is no need to bring up the coast guard, inhumane laws or murderous political strategies.
It would be so just for what Italy did in the Horn of Africa during colonialism in its first versions. A fault of colossal proportions for which no government has yet responded. And do you know who is waiting this letter? The Africans, yes.
However, wanting to go further, to affirm that Italy is guilty, it is enough for me to mention the enormous amount of money that our local arms manufacturers collect every year on the lives of millions of Africans. In 2021 alone, almost one billion euros in arms export licenses concerned North Africa and the Middle East: a worrying fact considering that this is one of the most tense areas in the world, amidst civil wars, tribal clashes and violent repressions of dictatorial governments.
Our country is also guilty of the equally unrespected right to remain in one's own land of which Meloni speaks without any knowledge of the facts because Italy is one of the largest investors in the world - but you can read exploiters, robbers, thieves, choose as you like - regarding the riches of the African continent, in particular gas and oil. Criminal action disguised as an economic enterprise even for the benefit of Africans, while an enormous amount of money leaves Africa every year to increase the profits of multinationals or enter current accounts in tax havens. This is money stolen from education, health care and the development of the continent, as a United Nations report recently explained.
On the other hand, whether it is the one of the last century or the following, for actual Italy colonialism, like its faults, are always of others, while instead there is still an entire continent that has never stopped devouring another.
Of all this, of the past, present and future deaths, and of not yet recognizing it, even if it is not the only one sitting in the dock, yes, Italy is guilty.