Books, Smorto: “In my stories the courage and rebellion of the Calabrians in politics is ‘Ndrangheta'”

The starting point was “to tell the other side of Calabria. A region that has a very bad reputation, given for lost, or at least with little hope, from the rest of the country” and, to do so, “starting from the story of the resisters “. Thus begins the story to the Adnkronos by Giuseppe Smorto, historical signature of Repubblica, which describes the fil rouge that moved him in writing ‘A Sud del Sud – Journey into Calabria among the devils and the resistant’ (ed. Sulfur, pp. 176). A journey within a region “very identifying – says the author – A place from which one has always started and where now one arrives again”. Stories of resistance, of redemption, sometimes surprising, and of rebellion against a system that is too harassed and oppressive. “The first aspect on which I wanted to emphasize is therefore that of citizens who rebel, and their response to the shortcomings and troubles combined by politics”, explains Smorto. “What I have noticed is that citizens have rebelled, especially on the issue of health. Rebelled and organized”. Just think, to give an example, that “in Calabria there are citizens who have been occupying a closed hospital since November, they work shifts (a hospital that covers a basin of 80 thousand inhabitants, ed), closed due to a pure regional deficit”. Yes, because the region “has health care in its hands, which is 70% of the regional budget, and is unable to make it work”, observes the author. The second aspect “is the many stories full of courage. Citizens, cooperatives, entrepreneurs who rebel against an almost military control of the ‘Ndrangheta – the journalist exclaimed – But this does not mean that this domination always succeeds. The mafia is not popular, it wins only with fear “. Among these, there are “cultural stories, of young people who start up by recovering ancient stone mills”, in a “strange mix between the recovery of the past and memory and the potential that technology gives you”. ‘A Sud del Sud ‘is “a sentimental but also social and economic journey”, specifies Smorto, who has tried to find excellence in all sectors. “I also talked about music, for example in Roccella every summer there is one of the major jazz festivals in the world and very few know this.” On the music there is “that beautiful phenomenon that gives the idea of ​​the perception of Calabria: every now and then there is a C series neomelodic who cyclically makes a song for a boss. Every time this comes out, Calabria is said to be he makes songs for the ‘Ndrangheta. It’s certainly not like that, Calabria is Brunori Sas, it’s Peppe Voltarelli “. This happens because “evil has a commercial appeal, it is much easier to solve it like this”. The book is addressed not only to Calabrians but “to all those who want to go there, because the journey is worth it”, but it can also be “a guide in anticipation of the regional elections, even if I speak very little of politics because especially in recent years it has disappointed the Calabrians “. Finally, a consideration: “The good that arrived in Calabria came, also in terms of welfare, from associations and, even if I am not a Catholic or a practitioner, I must say that it comes from Catholic priests, on the street, who work in the area , an almost anomalous phenomenon “.