Land of Fires. Online petitions to ministries and complaints to the prosecutor's office to draw attention to the toxic fires in Naples and Caserta: «We can't breathe – Nun putimme riciatà»
"We are a lost generation. We are the 20, 30, 40 year olds who live in the Land of Fires. We are the walking dead. We are orphans of mothers, fathers and grandparents who forced us to say goodbye prematurely." It is an open letter to the government from Gioventù Bruciata, a group of citizens who with the social initiative "We can't breathe - Nun putimme riciatà" are denouncing the increase in toxic fires and the resulting clouds of black smoke that have become the sad symbol of an entire area north of Naples and south of Caserta.
The phrase "We can't breathe" is a reference to the murder of George Floyd, the African American killed by a police officer in the United States with a knee on his neck while he begged for his release because he couldn't breathe. Similarly, the foul-smelling miasmas resulting from the numerous waste fires in illegal landfills scattered around Naples and Caserta spread dioxin and other polluting gases that continue to cause tumors.
"We raise the cry of pain of those who have lost their right to breathe clean air and live in a healthy environment - write the citizens, who at the moment have not formed either a committee or a movement -. For a month now or more our municipalities have been ferociously affected by a disgusting stench, which causes headaches, stomach aches, allergies, and who knows what else. We are therefore forced to barricade ourselves in our homes, especially in the evening and early in the morning". A forced lockdown also for children forced to play indoors to shelter from the unbreathable air coming from the various disposal sites that residents list: "Cava Alma, Cava Riconta, Resit 1 and Resit 2, Taverna del Re, Settecainati, Cava Giuliani, Stir, Ponte Riccio".
Living like this becomes impossible: "We live in an area of 426 square kilometers - reads the text addressed to Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the Ministries of the Environment, Health and the Interior - which includes several municipalities and in which over the years 2.767 sites of "illegal disposal of waste, including hazardous waste" have been identified. 37% of the population present in the area, over 354 thousand citizens, found themselves living less than 100 meters "from at least one site or more than one", exposing themselves to chemical agents that cause tumors, premature births, asthma, congenital malformations, leukemia that affect young people between the ages of 0 and 19".
The accusations against De Magistris
The mayor of Naples Luigi De Magistris is in the crosshairs "who, after an alleged investigation into the adequacy of the disposal sites in the northern suburbs of Naples, condemns us to receive approximately 150 tons of waste from the capital". Sapna, the public company that manages all the waste treatment and disposal plants in the former province of Naples, will receive 4 tons of waste from the capital per day from 31 October to 150 December.
The requests of Rebel Without a Cause
Hence the request to the government to intervene urgently to reclaim the territory and to commit part of the Recovery Plan to save the municipalities (not only those already identified in the Cis, the institutional development contract): «We also ask that the European Next Generation Eu funds be used in this land, because we are the “next generation”, and we are running away».
A new parliamentary commission of inquiry on the Land of Fires is also requested, to monitor and be present on the territory, to ascertain responsibilities. The appeal is also to the media to talk about it and to the executive: "We want solutions. And we want them now. There is no more time. We cannot wait another second".
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