(ANSA) - PALERMO, OCTOBER 21 - "The teaching of Pio La Torre is still very strong and is part of a sort of 'syllabary of lawfulness' which must also be at the basis of this extraordinary effort that we are all making to get out of the pandemic". This was stated by the Minister of Education, Patrizio Bianchi, speaking at the first conference of the anti-mafia and anti-violence educational project of the Pio La Torre center on the theme "The 40th anniversary of the Rognoni Law - La Torre: legal, political and economic evolution", followed by indirect streaming on the site of the association and on the portal "ANSALEGALITY & SCHOOL" of over 160 schools, including 12 residential houses from North to South Italy.
"I believe that this project that we propose to our schools - added Bianchi - is a moment of reflection for everyone.
Our rediscovered school must be a school of community and legality and legality in Italy has the names of all those who have fallen at the hands of the mafia, terrorism and delmalaffare ".
Speaking with the students and the president of the association, Vito Lo Monaco, were: Antonio Balsamo, president of the court of Palermo, Franco La Torre, son of Pio, Vincenzo Militello, professor of criminal law at the University of Palermo and Walter Veltroni, politician, writer, journalist and director, I work on a documentary on the life of Pio La Torre. Several questions posed by the participating students, from silence to confiscation, from the relationship between Covid and organized crime to collusion between the mafia and politics. At the beginning of the meeting, visible on the youtube channel of the Pio La Torre center and on the website www.piolatorre.it, also the projection of a video made by the volunteers of the civil service on the Rognoni - La Torree Law on confiscated assets.
"With the Rognoni law - La Torre ends the season of solutions due to insufficient evidence - ha Balsamo - The first to talk about mafia terrorism was Pio La Torre, in 1966, grasping the sense of the challenge to the State in the Mafia war, something that went beyond the criminal association. Covid19 has made us aware of the fragility of each and of the impossibility for each state to save itself. The pandemic can offer the temptation of a mafia welfare system, for this reason a strong alternative must be built, reducing inequalities ".
"I hope that in schools teachers will help students to get to read and understand the history of the twentieth century, to have antibodies within themselves to prevent the great tragedies of the 900, including the mafia, from happening again - said Veltroni. in his hands a chance to communicate that no one else has ever had before. "
"My father was born and raised in an environment steeped in mafia, in a district of Palermo where the large landowners gave the poor peasant residents the only possible job - said Franco La Torre, son of Pio, during his speech - and the intermediary of placement was the mafia themselves.We didn't talk about it in our daily conversations, but we family members were aware of the risk it ran.
There was a moment, however, that I remember: and it was when my father decided, like all his collaborators in the governing bodies of the Sicilian PCI, to acquire a firearm license and to take a pistol.
Knowing his limitations in handling tools like hammers and scissors we made fun of him and in fact that gun never came out of the bedroom nightstand drawer.
Having said that, we are not ready for the idea that a family member could leave us.
Even today I have difficulty in reconstructing the 48 hours following the murder of my father ". (ANSA).