Stories and News

Stories and News No. 1312 I like to think, imagine or even dream, that in those dark days one person among many, perhaps at a young age and with a courageous faith in the future, placed her or his hopes in the following letter. I don't know, putting it in the classic bottle before throwing it into the sea, or closing it underground in a box, with the obligation for posterity to reopen it in the light of a different and much better tomorrow. In other words, finally free from the past . Dear you, Who lives over there, beyond the limits of a calendar that I will barely touch, where I would like to be and live even just for one day. How beautiful is to be born and grow up in your shoes, am I right? And how lucky you people are, having stopped living in fear. The fear of saying what you plan to do, even before doing, and of saying or even thinking, even before doing or saying. You are no longer afraid, right? And you will certainly have defeated that hateful form of self-censorship ...

Stories and News No. 1311 Nothing new in the premise of this umpteenth story: a privileged minority exploits the earth's riches, causing suffering and death among the majority of human beings. And the grotesque paradox, which is incomprehensible to any living creature on our planet, is that sooner or later this stupid attitude will harm everyone, without exception. In particular, today's story is about water. Or what the problem is. One cannot help but agree with Professor Hannah Cloke of the University of Reading in the UK when she states in the inspiring article that more than climate change and population growth, the real problem is social inequality, which causes the situation explained inside the incipit. However, when I read in the same article that constantly irrigated swimming pools and lawns in large cities contribute to the enormous gap between the few who take water for granted and all the others, this leads me to think that the problem is another one. Or one of ...

Stories and News No. 1310 Once upon a time, then, as promised. Once upon a time in Sri Lanka, giving life to the incipit of a story that dates back to about 30 years ago. And that's not good, not at all. Because certain plots should find conclusion, or peace, and at the end of the day, when you close your eyes and you find yourself with what you have claimed to believe  all the time, you know if effectively did something useful. Indeed it doesn't matter where this story takes place, how far away you feel it in time and space, because this is one of those tales that we are obliged to feel ours everywhere and in every age. Otherwise, there is little truth and coherence in what we say and do. So, let's get back to the story, yeah, that's why we're here. It was the 90s and in Sri Lanka the exploitation of cheap labor was in full swing, as well as in all areas of the world where multinationals had relocated their factories for various reasons. Among all, as Naomi Klei...

Stories and News No. 1309 I remember that the movie The Corporation , identifying the corporations as if they were human beings, obtained through a personality test a diagnosis of psychopathy. Well in a similar way, based on the behavior so far by italian Government with migrants, I would like to draw up a psychological profile. To do this, I use a simple but fairly reliable Sociopathy short test devised by Dr. John M. Grohol , contributor to the mental health site Psych Central . Thus, imagining that we are addressing the questions to an ideal personification of the Italy’s Government, let's start the test which includes 10 questions. First: I use charm and wit to manipulate others for my own benefit. Since we are dealing with long-standing political figures, I can only choose "definitely me". And to be honest, it would have been the same even if there had been a majority of a different colour. Second question: Compared to most people I know, I seem lacking in remors...

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 ...

Stories and News No. 1307 Once upon a time there was a dream. Even if it is not, right? But you can say whatever you want, verbally and on page, digitally or otherwise. Many will continue to do it, even in the most unexpected places – hence this story of mine – because it takes place in people's unconscious and to reach it, touch it and maybe challenge it, it is necessary for both to make their way in their respective senses. On the other hand, it would be necessary to wake up, and it is not easy stuff. But the tragedy is when it is the powerful man to dream, who usually assumes the presumed right to spill everything on the people who depend on him. What dream? Well, you know it, it is the most shared and controversial one for decades in a large part of the world, I would say, although it is still difficult to talk about it frankly. Because it's like a movie that everyone sees but no one wants to review in full, because otherwise you'd have to mention terrible images, an...

Stories and News No. 1306 Follow me in a house, inside a family like many others, husband and wife are having dinner at the table with their son, as usual with the TV on. The man of the news still talks about the war, thinks the son of two, six years old that particularly well behaved, even if we never say that about children, only adults, and instead it is necessary to do it from time to time. Because in their case it tenderly demonstrate it. “Did you hear what Putin said ?” says the disconcerted father, pushing away the plate with the still hot spaghetti left over. “We don’t do that,” the boy thinks, staring at the gesture more than at the words. “You always repeats we don’t reject the food, it's rudeness,” he adds in his mind, recalling the precise statement of the dinner regulation. However, when the grown-ups talk to each other, he prefers to listen and try to understand, an increasingly difficult task with the passing of the generations. “Are you referring to nuclear weapo...