Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - “A suitcase tied with string” (Italian: “La valigia con lo spago”) is a four-part series on immigration that will be aired on the RAI (Italian Public Television) starting June 22, not just words but facts. Democracy and concreteness in rules have changed even the most remote corners of our planet. Lands of hope that lure millions of desperate souls. If colonialism and inculturalization have failed, as is in fact the case, it was precisely because they were founded on ideologies of the past century...so, the question remains as to how to respond today without falling prey to demagoguery or neo-paternalism that breeds a dependency culture. Is it too late?
The web of stories gathered from all the continents cannot offer a response, but they can bring forth questions. They can become a voice. And this is the case for every program. “The suitcase tied with a string” is there to make this question reach millions of people through the TV, to reach all of us who, in the end, are all protagonists of this story. Immigrants? You or we? You are a you or a we, one of us. The suitcase with a string because, in the end, today where everything goes faster than our perception, there is still meaning behind the word “immigrant,” and why not the suitcase? And that string on the handle?...
Immigration cannot continue to be just another affair for organized crime on the planet. The inspiration for this study is to remind us that behind every woman and man – no matter what their condition – there is a Person. And in no case like this one does this logic extend over a planetary phenomenon that is involving all of us, changing all of us. We can no longer turn and look away. The world has changed and what about us – have we changed? What laws can stop the tidal wave of human desperation and misery that forces children in a city like Rome to sleep in tunnels and on the street? When you are used to nothing, even a tunnel can seem like a palace. But how many of us can accept that? And even if none of us know the real solution to the problem, we should find a response. Immigration cannot continue to be just another affair for organized crime on the planet. (Luca De Mata) (Agenzia Fides 3/6/2009)
