The rebirth of Scampia between politics and social struggles: here is the book by Monica Buonanno. Presentation Wednesday 19 October 2022 at 17.30 pm – Il Poggio Restaurant – Via Poggioreale 160/C, Naples
In the days when the spotlight is on the rebirth of Scampia, the book “Siamo solo sognatori abusivi – Scampia ammaina la vela” (ed. De Nigris Editori, pp. 19) written by Monica Buonanno, former councilor for Labor and Social Policies of the Municipality of Naples, will be officially presented to the public on Wednesday 17.30 October, at 160:152 pm, at the Il Poggio restaurant in via Nuova Poggioreale XNUMX C in Naples.
The author will be joined by: Sergio D'Angelo, president of the Gesco social enterprise group; Marco Musella, professor of Political Economy at the University of Naples Federico II; Francesco Petricciuolo, former worker at Whirlpool Naples; Omero Benfenati and Patrizia Mincione, representatives of the Scampia Sails Committee.
Moderated by journalist Federica Colucci
The story bears witness to how the rebirth we are witnessing today actually has its roots in paths that began some time ago, starting from the "pact" between local administration and neighborhood committee, between politics and citizens, intertwining dreams, hopes, difficulties, bureaucracy and social revenge. A journey made of small and large steps that ignited the spark of awareness, of the fight against degradation and abandonment, of feeling a central part in the city's housing, social, economic and cultural policies. A journey that had as its milestone the demolition of a symbol like the Vela Verde of Scampia, a historical moment that marked a new beginning for the neighborhood known to the news as a synonym for violence, crime, degradation and "Gomorra" and that, instead, continues unstoppable in the process of urban and social regeneration.
In Monica Buonanno's pages, Scampia is ready to rise from its stigmas and demonstrate that courage, determination and struggle are current and necessary themes to restore dignity to the citizens of the neighborhood, true protagonists of the stage who still today are committed to the social support of the local community: for this reason, part of the proceeds from the book will be donated to one of the social utility projects carried out by the Vele Committee.
THE BOOK
A necessary case study, an example to crystallize for future generations forced to fight because of the disinterest of politics. Enriched by the preface of Sabina De Luca, one of the greatest experts on cohesion policies in Italy, the volume is the first-hand account of a battle that could not simply be ended by bulldozing.
The Sails of Scampia erected by a determined and trivializing storytelling as a symbol of absolute evil - and of the white flags waved by the State - and the iconoclasm of their fall are the fruit of a complex social situation that resulted in a common struggle that channeled the forces of the people, civil society and institutions and that goes well beyond the history of the Sails Committee and the demolition itself. It is a reflection on the rights denied to entire communities, on the monsters created by the bad management of the res publica even before the monsters on the pillars, on the possibility of urban recovery and inclusion of the suburbs.
The story of the demolition of the Vela Verde, in short, is a reason to represent a different story made of resistance and determination, of violated rights and reclaimed rights, which cannot be flattened and for this reason Buonanno's story becomes a necessary document on what happened and what could happen far away from the Vela Verde and Scampia, in the outskirts of Italy that share the same condition.
THE AUTHOR
Monica Buonanno has directed and coordinated actions for employment, urban, social and housing development in connection with European and national directives; she has followed the symbolic disputes of the deindustrialized Mezzogiorno, from Whirlpool to Ericsson, from Tirrenia to Caf Italia for RFI, taking care of relations with the workers' union representatives and with the central Government; she has assisted the social and housing redevelopment of Scampia and East Naples; she has governed social policies during the Covid 19 pandemic in one of the most difficult metropolises in the country, always with the utmost attention to equity in disbursements and justice towards the most complex and dramatic situations of poverty. Author of articles and essays on the causes and effects of unemployment in the various forms of poverty with particular attention to housing poverty, convinced of the inadequacy of policies that segment and immobilize services and measures against poverty in a world where inequalities are increasingly clear.
Article published on 18 October 2022 - 11:12
