0
0
0
s2smodern

A discussion was organised by Centro Astalli, the Jesuit Refugee Service , on June 17, at the Gregorian University, between Luciano Manicardi, Prior of the Community of Bose, Massimo Cacciari, Philosopher, and Marco Damilano, Director of L'Espresso, on the theme of migration "Refugees: on the margins of humanity".

"Thirty years ago, following the fall of the Berlin Wall, we had dreamt of a unity of diversity," Fr. Ripamonti said at the introduction. "We do not know the exact number of people who died while trying to reach West Berlin through the wall, perhaps a few hundred. Instead, it is estimated that more than 30,000 people have lost their lives since 1990 trying to reach Europe by sea or by land ... the human cost of building barriers in a European Union born to break them down is definitely unacceptable. A Europe that is irreparably "old and frightened", says Massimo Cacciari. And inspite of this, "Europe's purpose is to be welcoming because otherwise it will disappear: it will be a long and probably tragic process, unless a ruling class is formed, a qualified elite, which understands the historical, economic and social need to welcome and integrate". The only possible European policy to save the old continent is "a Mediterranean policy", which will be able to connect to the great question of the next century, "Africa, and its enormous resources" in terms of wealth and youth. "The great cultures that have founded Europe", the philosopher says," the liberal, socialist and Christian ones, "have managed to survive but they must make a new narrative about Europe", "a new cultural and anthropological understanding".

Even the laws of the Old Testament drew up a "code of the rights of the migrant", in which "there is first of all a "culture of memory", "Do not oppress others because you too have been foreigners", the biblical God reveals Himself to the Jews when they were foreigners in Egypt", recalls the prior of Bose, Luciano Manicardi. In the immigrant, he adds, the son of Israel sees his own image, "the foreigner allows you to see yourself by making you a foreigner, and thus giving you a possibility of revelation. Finally, ancient laws evoke concrete integration, economic, social and religious measures, such as the addition of the sabbatical rest or the payment of fair wages. "At the heart of the Christian message", explains the prior of Bose , "there isn't something religious, but something human, the concrete person with a history, a face and his suffering". From the Gospel narrative we therefore grasp that "becoming neighbor is first of all acting on oneself".

0
0
0
s2smodern