«What intentions does the Administration have regarding the Forlì Peace Center – APS “Annalena Tonelli”? Do you realize the economic situation, now difficult to sustain, in which the Center finds itself?» asks the city councilor PD Matteo Zattoniwho denounces: «The annual contribution of the Municipality of Forlì, which has remained stagnant for too long at €12,500.00 per year, is now largely insufficient to guarantee the economic sustainability of the Center itself, due to the increase in expenses both for the management and maintenance of the headquarters and for an effective organization of activities, primarily of the Romagna Forlì-Bertinoro Peace March».
«For the correspondent “Ernesto Balducci” Peace Center of Cesena – continues the Dem councilor – the Municipality led by Mayor Lattuca guarantees a contribution of approximately €20,000 as part of the Agreement for the management of the Center, which means a contribution of 60% higher than that currently received by the Forlì Peace Center. Perhaps the time has come for the Municipality of Forlì to also adapt its contribution by recognizing both the increased expenses and the strong increase in inflation (+8.1% in 2022, according to the MEF report)».
«Perhaps it is useful to remind the Zattini Council that the Forlì Peace Center this year celebrates thirty years of activity starting from its formal institution in 1994, which becomes even thirty-eight years if we consider how the Center ideally continues the activity of the Center of Intercultural Documentation (CDI), born in 1986 on the proposal and stimulus of numerous and well-established associations from Forlì, such as the International League for People’s Rights, the Forlì Committee for Peace, the Forlì Objectors Coordination, Amnesty, the Committee to fight world hunger , Lega Ambiente, WWF, LVIA third world volunteering, School Unions» insists Zattoni.
«In these over thirty years of activity” Zattoni remarks, “the Centre, which since 2003 has borne the name of the missionary from Forlì Annalena Tonelli who was barbarously murdered in Somalia, has organized and promoted every year dozens and dozens of meetings and events on issues for the dissemination of a culture of peace, non-violence, solidarity, multiculturalism and for the defense of human rights, including in particular the Romagna Forlì-Bertinoro Peace March, strongly supported by the late councilor Katia Zattoni starting from 2012. The concern about the future of the Center is also motivated by incomprehensible choices of this Administration, such as that of 9 October 2022, when, precisely on the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the March for Peace, the holding of a new sporting event was allowed starting from the same time and from the same Saffi square from which the March started, demonstrating with this overlap a strong lack of sensitivity, not to mention respect, towards an initiative with a decades-long tradition in which over 1,000 participants take part every year» argues the Dem councilor.
«In times of wars that have crept into the heart of Europe”, concludes the DEM councillor, “the cultural values and initiatives promoted by the Forlì Peace Center are more relevant than ever: our fellow citizens therefore expect it to be supported not only in words, but by guaranteeing real economic sustainability over time so that those impulses interested in war and the proliferation of weapons which unfortunately have ancient roots (“si vis pacem, para bellum”) and difficult to eradicate without the diffusion of a solid culture of peace» concludes Zattoni.
