Lamezia Terme – An unprecedented and original narration, which moves from the history of a land towards its stories, a thousand faces met and listened to without screen and without prejudice, and told with equal sincerity: this is how Diego Bianchi, journalist and historical presenter of “Propaganda Live” talks about Calabria, in an unfiltered interview conducted by “Le Iene” journalist Roberta Rei.
Starting from the terrible and very recent news story of the Indian laborer, abandoned by his boss in front of his house with a limb severed by a machine, without having received help, and subsequently died in hospital, Bianchi poses the provocative question of the real usefulness of journalism, which “tells and continues to tell about facts that are then forgotten” – the theme of the interview is memory – “and those facts obviously repeat themselves”: such as the landings of migrants, such as deaths at work. The dialogue inevitably revolves around the responsibilities of politics and its hypocrisies, but, speaking of hypocrisies, the reference to the decent electoral percentages obtained by the League in Calabria is spontaneous for Bianchi. “In the series we talk about memory, but here it seems that no one remembers anything”, smiles the journalist, without sparing jokes for the Honorable Furgiuele “no connection, but I heard that he is from here”. In his usual brilliant and irreverent style which, as reported, would have won over even the Honorable Larussa, an unsuspecting fan of him, who “would like a program like Propaganda to exist, but from the right”. In the meantime, the interview turns into a journey, which retraces the many trips made to Calabria by Bianchi in recent years – “You can say that I created most of the episodes here”. Trips in search of “minor” stories – “those that no one talks about, that no one tells” – from Vibo Valentia to Simbario, from Spadola to San Luca, where “people only spoke with their cameras off”; from the beached corpses of Cutro to the submerged ones of Roccella Jonica, up to the Riace of Mimmo Lucano, struck to sink an idea, to “erase a different and therefore uncomfortable narrative of immigration”. An immigration that Bianchi loves to talk about all over the world, even on the borders between the United States and Mexico, where “the Governor of Texas placed buoys studded with blades on the ford of the river crossed by the migrants, under the eyes of local traffickers”. A narrative that helps the memory, and which according to Rei, “is necessary, but should not be used to create folklore on the topic of crime as often happens in Italy”. How to avoid it? “It helps to do it with a smile” explains Bianchi, who in fact leaves the audience enthusiastic about the square with a smile, giving them an appointment on his next trip.
Giulia De Sensi
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
