The first time Eraldo Affinati heard of the Iranian city of Tabriz from those who had seen it was from the mouth of a group of young Afghans. They had arrived at the Città dei Ragazzi, a community in Rome where he taught, after a long and painful journey made up of many borders to cross, the first in Iran. “I learned many things from them – underlines the writer – from traumatized people who come from all over the world and who have at least an excruciating detachment from their homeland behind them, but unfortunately often also violence and torture”. Reality of which Affinati, teacher and writer whose latest book is The Gospel of the Angels (HarperCollins), had experience through their stories: human contact – he strongly maintains – is the only one capable of making us understand, of making us feel involved. And he has “always felt involved”.
For this reason, «in 2008, together with my wife, I founded Penny Wirton, a school where Italian is taught to migrants for free». And for this reason he was among the first signatories of the de petition The print for the release of Fahimeh Karimi. “I did it instinctively, to give my small contribution to this cause”, thinking of the Iranian boys and girls you have met over the years.
The goal is to bring the appeal, which reaches the goal of 300,000 signatures, to the Iranian ambassador in Italy. Do you believe in the power of a petition?
«The Iranian regime always seems on the verge of collapsing and instead continues in this violence, just think of the news from the doctor. But if it’s true that I can’t delude myself that awareness action can resolve a situation that has been dragging on for some time, it’s also true that it’s fundamental. If in the West we are aware that we cannot be happy if another people is unhappy, that we cannot tolerate a totalitarian regime, a despotic theocracy, because as human beings we must all feel bound by a single root, then we have already achieved an important result , that is, to give birth to this awareness. If an operational contribution could be made it would be better, but already reaching a global dimension of unity would be fundamental».
Do you think that the enormous courage that Iranian men and women demonstrate every day, especially young people and at the instigation of women, will leave a mark on the new generations?
«I am confident in the globalization that social networks and the Internet ensure. In this perspective, the technological tool is essential to form a global awareness».
Would you expect a more concrete condemnation from the international community? What about greater public participation?
«Participation occurs when there is direct experience. Let me give you an example: at the Penny Wirton in Rome there are 70 volunteers and 70 refugees. The ratio is one to one. And often those who teach, thanks to what was once called school-work alternation, are the same age as the unaccompanied minor in front of them. He knows its history, its scars. I’m sure he would be more inclined to take to the streets. Without direct experience, Iran, Ukraine, Africa may seem far away, but if you have human contact, which we believe in a lot, you are involved».
From the stories that some African migrants have given her, experiences and books such as Lin boys’ city e Life of life. What Iran told you and what Iran dreams of who flees from Tehran?
«A cultured country, with an illustrious past but threatened by fundamentalists. Torn apart. On the one hand they are viscerally tied to their country of origin, on the other they are grieved because they see it destroyed by violence, by poverty, by a cruelty that seems to have reached ever stronger levels. The problem is fundamentalism, they are Muslims who rebel not against Islam but against the fundamentalism which obscures democratic desires. They are young people who grew up with social media, in globalization, who feel even more like foreign bodies in the theocratic world they live in”.
Are the school kids the same age as those taking to the streets in Iran, are we talking about what is happening?
«Here in general a theme is not so much talked about, but embodied. Each person embodies the drama they come from. Illiterate children also arrive, from small African communities. By learning to write, in Italian, they also learn to face their pain. This is why we say that the language here is orthopedic, because it helps to heal the fractures of wars».
Mattarella said that “a state that kills its children condemns itself”, takes away its future. What do you think?
«A state like this seems to destroy itself, but the protests have been going on since September and it is still there, active. We as Westerners can only bet on the isolation of Iran”.
The protest started from the women, the most harassed, not only in Iran. Are they the strength of the new generation?
“Women qua women have always experienced discrimination in any patriarchal society, so the fact that they are the ones to mobilize is doubly important. I think of ten Afghan girls we welcomed in Italy. I know where they come from and I see the path they are taking, at university and in everyday life. Looking at them, I see this female revolution plastically highlighted».