Capaci massacre: 5,000 Palermo students chant against mafia, thank Giovanni
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They say they want to be like him. They call him by name and thank him. “Thank you Giovanni”. Five thousand students gathered this morning in front of the Palermo courthouse to loudly and firmly say no to the mafia and to remember the magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Francesca Morvillo and the members of the escort Rocco Dicillo, Vito Schifani, and Antonio Montinaro, killed 32 years ago in the Capaci massacre. The students know well the story of the magistrate who “allowed himself to be killed to defend the freedom of this land”, who was so courageous to lose his life for all of us.
Even the youngest primary school children know exactly where they are and why their participation is important. There are 56 schools affiliated with the Anti-Mafia Culture Network that gathered at the symbolic place of justice, with their banners and posters. Some students performed songs and theatrical performances. The anthem of Mameli and the soundtrack of the movie “I cento passi” were not missing, as well as poems and monologues. The protagonists were them, the young people who were not yet born in 1992 but who hear the story of that horror from their parents and teachers. They have learned to pronounce the word mafia because they must recognize it and know how to defend themselves from it.
“Today is an important day in which memory is renewed – explains Giusto Catania, principal of the comprehensive institute Giuliana Saladino in Cep and president of the Anti-Mafia Culture Network in schools – and when memory is renewed, the fight against the mafia is renewed. Schools today are giving a strong demonstration of what educational and pedagogical commitment means on a daily basis. If the mafia were just a criminal organization, we would have already won. The mafia enters consciences and collective culture. This is why the role played by schools is so important.
Gabriele Vagliuso and Giovanni Di Girolamo, students of the Regina Margherita high school in Palermo, emphasize the importance of remembering men like Falcone. “By remembering him,” the two young men say, “we protest against the mafia to ensure that what happened never happens again. We send a clear message to the mafia: we do not agree!”
Matteo Renda also speaks on behalf of his classmates at the Nautical Institute Gioeni Trabia: “If today we are free to live in this city with our heads held high and with our ideals, it is thanks to Falcone, Borsellino, Peppino Impastato, and all the other martyrs who sacrificed themselves for us.” Supporting the students in their demonstrations are the lawyers and magistrates of the Anm. “On that 23rd of May 32 years ago, the history of our country changed – says Giuseppe Tango, president of the National Magistrates Association – the consciences of many citizens were changed, awakened from the numbness of that guilty indifference in facing the Mafia phenomenon. Today their memory shines, and the testimony of all these students is proof of it. We must start again from them. As Bufalino said: The mafia will be defeated thanks to an army of elementary school teachers.
The president of the Palermo Bar Association, Dario Greco, admires and is slightly moved by the young people. “They are young, they did not know Falcone and Borsellino,” Greco comments, “but they are here to remember them along with us adults who lived through those terrible days. Days that, however, represented a new beginning for the honest people of Sicily. If there had not been Falcone, Borsellino, all the martyrs of the mafia, today we would be different people, worse people.”
In the video, Giusto Catania, president of the Anti-Mafia Culture Network in schools – Gabriele Vagliuso, student Regina Margherita – Giovanni Di Girolamo, student Regina Margherita – Matteo Renda, student nautical Gioeni Trabia – Giuseppe Tango, president Anm – Dario Greco, president Bar Association of Palermo
translated into English
La strage di Capaci, cinquemila studenti a Palermo gridano no alla mafia: «Grazie Giovanni»
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