In 1987 I was nine years old,
a new family,
and I was experimenting, for the first time, camping life.
We were in Tuscany
and even at that time activities were organized
aimed exclusively at children.
And my brother and I were winners
of an improbable summer carnival.
I, dressed as a Hawaiian,
with my aunt’s scarf,
and my brother from samurai,
with my cousin’s shirt.
The animator,
to reward us, he invited us
and he turned to me with loving kindness
with which we normally address children.
And he asked me:
“Where are you from?”
“Of Rome”, I answered him very candidly,
arousing his laughter
and all those inside the campsite,
who participated in this initiative.
So, he, softening his tone of voice,
as if my answer depended on it,
try again,
and he tells me:
“Yes, of course, but WHERE do you come from?”
We were in Tuscany, remember?
So I, more and more candidly:
“From Rome”.
He smiles and tries again a third time.
But he does not understand.
And neither do I understand it.
Here, I wanted to start with an anecdote to talk to you
of one of the most important challenges
that gives us globalization:
cohabitation.
In the last few years,
I took care of welcoming
orient and inform a large number of young people
mainly coming from the Horn of Africa.
And also to raise awareness among my current fellow citizens
to the themes of immigration.
Milanesi of origin,
of adoption like me,
and passing through.
Here, even that experience helped me
to understand that the images that are used
to tell today, and even yesterday, the migratory phenomena,
they do not help us to project ourselves into the future.
That’s why I want to experiment with you.
Let’s try and close our eyes.
When you think about immigration, today,
What images come to mind?
Are there more recurring images than others?
Do you see people?
Can you distinguish the faces of those people?
To understand each of them
do you have any personal attitudes?
Can you understand their individual stories?
To understand that they can have different needs?
Open your eyes.
They were boats, tents, walls,
barbed wires, indistinct masses of people?
Here, those images
crush our eyes
on an eternal present, equal to himself for decades.
And that’s why I will not use images today
but only words
to tell you my idea.
The words, someone said that they were important.
And I will use the words
to try to build a new imaginary with you.
I am convinced
that anyone of you has had the chance to travel,
visit other cities,
knows how to recognize a welcoming place.
Not just for the degree of sympathy of citizens,
but also, and above all, thanks to accessibility
services and information available in the city.
Accessibility that also passes through
the use of a commonly used language.
Here, understand the information
and thus be able to access the services
represents the first step
for a progressive integration process
and social inclusion.
To start feeling part, especially in cities,
because it is in the cities that most immigrants,
when he has the possibility to choose,
he resides, he prefers to reside.
Because it’s in the cities they can find
physical and social space
to access support networks more easily,
both nationals and natives.
And thus have more opportunities,
from training to work.
And that’s why we need to start from the cities.
The spaces, above all.
Public spaces.
Why public spaces?
Because they are precious, they are widespread,
they are available, they are accessible, they are free.
They are often also beautiful and welcoming
think about urban parks or some squares,
and represent the possibility of meeting, for many.
Above all people living in the suburbs,
generally poorer, often immigrants
and even more often asylum seekers.
Here, imagine a road,
a road in which
the passage is very frequent.
It could be signposted,
a very common road signs,
or digital displays,
of the most advanced digital displays,
where you can access all the information
you need to move around in the city.
In more languages, above all.
Public spaces, urban parks and squares
they could all be equipped with a wi-fi network
so that everyone can always have
the ability to access information.
And everyone, not just the emigrants.
Imagine a neighborhood,
a neighborhood that is characterized
from the presence of a plurality of cultures.
It could be equipped with transcultural operators
that facilitate communication between residents.
All residents: those of today, those of yesterday, those of tomorrow.
And imagine that public institutions
activate periodic listening campaigns
through which they monitor the quality
of relationships between people through specific questionnaires
that also help in dialogue, in comparison.
Imagine that the aggregation places commonly used by the emigrants
they can become open social spaces
dedicated to meeting and mutual knowledge.
Or, think of some spaces,
some abandoned buildings
can become the headquarters of immigrant associations
or associations that deal with immigration.
That exist, in our cities.
In this way they can be recognizable
and can guarantee everyone,
a level of greater serenity,
because I am convinced that
when you see about twenty people
on Sundays enter a church,
you are calm.
And you’re happy with the fact,
that those people go to pray.
If you see five times a day
twenty, thirty people enter a basement
and you do not know what they are doing,
you are not sure.
If you know that there is a place
where those people can go to pray,
you are safer.
And also the people who go to pray
they can be safer and more secure.
Here, this why?
Because they exist
certain characteristics of living together.
Sharing, aggregation,
the possibility of recognizing oneself,
the possibility of living together.
These are all terms that decline
the concept of citizenship.
And even if it is the determining State
the rules for access to citizenship,
cities and local institutions can play a decisive role
to activate the processes of active participation
of all citizens, including immigrants too.
I give you an example of active participation.
Another little anecdote.
There is a neighborhood in Milan,
which has always aroused my curiosity.
Porta Venezia,
that, besides being one of the places
also told in the Promessi Sposi,
it is known as the African district of Milan.
Well, in 2013, the southern border of the Mediterranean
he had moved to the streets of that neighborhood.
At the beginning,
when the first groups of migrants arrived from southern Italy,
a piece of the neighborhood has become
a first aid operational center
where everything was available:
from clothes to food, to medicines.
And it was all managed by Eritrean and Ethiopian immigrants
who had arrived before,
twenty, thirty, forty years [fa]
and who had resided there for those years
or they had economic activities.
At a time when people have become 300, 400
this balance has somewhat wavered.
And above all, the difficulties,
that generated such a large number
of people in the streets.
Why do you make them come here?
This is a residential neighborhood, it is not a refugee camp.
You earn us something.
Here, I do not know,
those who earn less or more.
But I know one thing:
that the question that interests me is another
and it is the question that I would like to ask you:
how can we all make money?
Without losing the ability to distinguish
and without losing the ability to value solidarity.
Here,
in my opinion, the example of Porta Venezia
tells about a resource,
of a resource in terms of relationships
which is often contained exclusively
in the dynamics of foreign communities.
Here, the quality of those resources,
it could become a common heritage,
[could] be integrated into a reception system
involving the whole city.
So that this involvement, this recognized participation
can activate processes
reinvention of identity.
Because identities are constantly changing.
And then, another thing,
another little thing.
Just for …
… to bring a reflection on another resource.
You know how much it is worth, in terms of wealth,
the work of foreigners, today in Italy?
127 billion,
according to the latest report of the Moressa Foundation.
And the remittances?
According to Banca Italia,
remittances in the last 10 years
more than doubled the value of the 2016 financial year:
64 billion.
Here, imagine that feeling
that pushes people to share,
membership,
may it be the engine
therefore financial instruments are also established.
I do not know, let’s try to call him
“Urban social investment fund”
dedicated to social inclusion
shared partnership.
Citizens and institutions, public and private.
Italian citizens and immigrant citizens, of course.
Here, that instrument,
along with other tools,
together or alone, in precise, different contexts.
I told you: signage, communication technology,
the transcultural operators,
dedicated spaces,
listening campaigns,
funds for social investment in cities.
Those instruments can represent
the resources to build cohabitation
and maybe, so, we can all earn.
(Applause)
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