The leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Franco Corbellion the eve of the Liberation Day, which will be celebrated like every year at the former Ferramonti Concentration Camp in Inlayannounces that “We are awaiting the financing decree that the President of the Region, Roberto, will sign shortly Eyedfor the completion of International Migrant Cemeterythe largest humanitarian work linked to the tragedy of immigration, the only one of its kind in the world, known and appreciated in Italy, by the Vatican and internationally, which, I remember, significantly stands just a short distance from the former Internment Camp, a place chosen not by chance for its strong symbolic value, as this site of imprisonment during the Second World War was a place where humanity and solidarity have always prevailed and none of the over 3000 internees has ever suffered any violence”.
“I thank Governor Occhiuto, with whom I have been speaking for 2 years on this issue, for his commitment to completing the great work of civilization. The Migrants’ Cemetery, which was born in a particularly evocative environment, on a vast area, a hill of peace of 30 thousand m2, immersed among the centuries-old olive trees (which will remain intact), right in front of Lake Tarsia and the old municipal cemetery, partly Jewish, a stone’s throw from Ferramonti, will give dignity to the death of all those refugees who lose their lives in tragic shipwrecks and who are buried, without a name, in many small remote cemeteries, almost all Calabrian and Sicilian, which in fact they erase their memory and every reference for their relatives in distant, poor countries around the world who don’t know where to go to look for them one day so they can bring a flower and say a prayer”.
“The Tarsia Migrant Cemetery will erase this inhumanity. It will be named after little Alan Kurdi, the Syrian child who died on the coast in front of Turkey, together with his young mother Rehana and his little brother Galip, and has unfortunately become the symbol of the immense tragedy of immigration. The paternal aunt (who lives in Canada and with whom I have been in contact for some years) and little Alan’s father, who remained in Syria, will be in Tarsia on the day of the inauguration. I remember that I have been continuously engaged in the realization of this great work for 11 years, since the Lampedusa tragedy of 3 October 2013″.
“5 years ago, a few days before Christmas 2018, thanks to the former president of the Region, Mario Oliverio and the mayor of Tarsia, Roberto Ameruso, we managed to start the works, which then, after a year, stopped, due to the exhaustion of the first regional funding, the arrival of the pandemic and a series of other bureaucratic obstacles. Today finally thanks to Governor Occhiuto we will complete these works. But there have been countless obstacles and others still remain that I personally have had to face and overcome, in these long 11 years, to see this great work of civilization achieved, a source of pride not only for our region, Calabria, but for the entire country.”
Continue reading on StrettoWeb
