The Legality Ship setting off from the port … of Busto Arsizio

Busto Arsizio has become the “port” of departure for the Legality Ship, which will take sixteen students, eight from “Tosi” Technical High School, and eight from “Candiani” Art High School, to Palermo. The departure, for Civitavecchia, is on Saturday; in the Lazio town, the students will board one of the two ships, and travel to Sicily’s main city. The journey will indeed be fun, but it will be primarily instructive; the young people will be going well prepared, after completing far-ranging programs and projects.
They will not be lowering their guard, but they will be remembering those who have served the State, honest and innocent men and women killed by the mafias. Palermo is a natural location for the protests, which will reach their climax on Sunday 23 May, the anniversary of the Capaci massacre, which is now symbolic of the “military” power of organised crime, but also of the desire to renounce it. And, at the same time, renounce the privileges, abuses of power, favouritism, shady deals, inhumanity and terrible ignorance that form the natural breeding ground for mafia activities. The students will be sent off with the blessing of the Judge Giancarlo Caselli, who is in Busto Arsizio today, to present his book. «It’s an interesting trip they’re going on, remembering the sacrifice of Falcone and of his bodyguards. But they should not think of it as an isolated event, but as part of something larger, to do with legality».
It was as a result of school projects on citizenship and on the Constitution that the opportunity for this mobilisation, above all, for rights, arose. The right not to live as slaves of those who consider themselves to be shrewder, more cunning and more violent. Because the mafia is no longer a problem just of the South. “The concept of mafia is spreading, we see it every day,” said Alice Lamperti, a student in Year 4 at “Candiani” High School. “The mentality that is widespread amongst us children, of ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’, helps the mafia.” To know in order to understand, was the approach of Samuele, a student in Year 5 at the Tosi High School, who visited the prison in Via per Cassano. «I’m honoured to take part; we’re now going to see the results of everyone’s work».
As we were saying, the mafia is here; it launders money, it extorts, it sets conditions, and from time to time, it shoots. “The children are not going in order to show solidarity with others, they’re taking part in an emergency that involves this region,” said Candiani’s Headmaster, Andrea Monteduro. «As the District Attorneys, Dettori and Grigo, tell us, there is considerable mafia infiltration here, particularly in the south of Varese Province. The way forward is to talk about it, and to become militant. We are organising also to form a group of Libera (an anti-mafia association) in our school». It is hoped that this will be achieved in time for a visit by Don Ciotti (who will also be on the Legality Ship) planned for September. And the visit by the Judge, Gherardo Colombo, when “AmmazzateciTutti”, the anti-mafia association founded in Locride, near Reggio Calabria, will also be present, has now been arranged for 30 November.
A few months ago, the theatre group “La Gurfata”, also from Locride, visited the Tosi High School, which has been involved for years in the 23 May initiatives for legality, whose long-standing headmaster, Benedetto Di Rienzo, said, «No fewer than six schools from Varese Province are going to Palermo, including a comprehensive school from Somma Lombardo; this is the most significant contribution in relation to the population. I ask the media to pay attention; rather than creating news, they should create continuous awareness».
«Looking back over 150 years of a united Italy, the fight against the mafia is a continuation of the Risorgimento and of the Resistance – said a teacher, Ms Fazzini -.And with the plan to join Libera, we want to rediscover the taste of commitment for state school.”