On the evening of 21 January 2020 there was a conference at the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin held by Professor Nando Dalla Chiesa and PhD student Federica Cabras. The meeting had as its theme the ‘Antimafia’, which aims to export a new kind of ‘Made In Italy’ to Europe and the world as a tool of knowledge and prevention against mafias in Europe.

Professor Dalla Chiesa, who teaches ‘Sociology of Organized Crime’ at the Faculty of Political, Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Milan and was a Member of Parliament for three legislatures, introduced the conference, describing the origins of the Antimafia in Italy.

 

He focused on education, and how Italian public schools have been the main pillar in the fight against the mafia on a societal and a civil level.

During the conference, Italian cultural production on the topic of Antimafia was also discussed. Specifically, it dealt with literature, where representation of the Antimafia is rare, theatre, where representation of the Antimafia is growing, and finally on films and documentaries, where in some cases Antimafia is very present, but in others it is completely absent.

Finally, there was also the opportunity to speak briefly about his latest book, entitled "Rosso Mafia. The 'ndrangheta in Reggio Emilia", by Professor Dalla Chiesa, written together with Doctor Cabras, a PhD student in ‘Studies On Organized Crime’ at the University of Milan. Federica Cabras explained that this work analyses the mafia infiltration in the province of Reggio Emilia since the early 1980s, while the issue has been brought to the fore in the national news only in recent years through the judicial investigations in the 'Aemilia' trial.

The meeting was part of a series of events held by Professor Dalla Chiesa, which began on January 15 and ended on January 24. The meetings were

held not only in the headquarters of the Italian Cultural Institute but also in the Universities of Berlin (Freie and Humboldt), Potsdam, and Leipzig. The series of events has been organized by the Italian Cultural Institute itself, with the support of the Italian Embassy in Berlin, and in collaboration with the German antimafia association 'Mafia? Nein, danke!’, which deals with the fight against the mafia in Germany.

Simone Venturini

Berlin Global, News from Berlin