https://www.corrieredellacalabria.i...cause-dello-spopolamento-della-calabria/the case
«The 'ndrangheta has been one of the causes of the depopulation of Calabria for decades»
Reflections after the intimidation of Mayor Alfredo Barillari: «The South becomes a desert and a few criminals fuel stereotypes»
Published: 05/03/2025 – 18:50
I endorse this harsh statement by Sergio Gambino, on behalf of the Sharo Gambino House of Culture, and I express my closeness and solidarity to the mayor Alfredo Barillari, also because the image of a black, burned , violated car nullifies the many efforts of administrators, Cultural Clubs, schools, associations, who are committed to changing the fate of an area among the most abandoned in Italy and with the most worrying depopulation data. I endorse it because, right here, a great writer and intellectual like Sharo Gambino, wrote the first book on and against the 'ndrangheta. Even the courage of a few intellectuals, moved by civil spirit and love of Calabria, is nullified by these acts that have the perverse ability to create apathy, indifference and make young people flee from a world where they do not feel free and are blackmailed. It must be said without mincing words: the 'ndrangheta for decades has been one of the causes, a contributory cause, of the depopulation of Calabria. No one wants to say it. Except in rare cases, crime is no longer discussed, analyses are not carried out, reports are not made, demonstrations are not held. Deafening silence. Every now and then someone, even with good reasons, talks about the 'ndrangheta to affirm principles of guarantorism (affirmed in the Constitution), but guarantorism is almost always to legitimately support the rights that must be ensured, it seems obvious to reiterate this by those who always and in any case feel like guarantors, even for those who commit crimes, but seldom is guarantorism demanded for the victims, for those who pay the protection money, for those who cannot choose where and what to buy, for administrators who operate legally, for those who live honestly from their toil. And in the meantime, young people continue to leave the Serre di Gambino, not only for economic reasons, but for ethical and civil choices, with pain, without wanting to and, of course, maybe, they could end up in places more unlivable and mafia-ridden than those they leave, but in the meantime the South becomes a desert and a few criminals consolidate and feed the anti-Lab stereotypes, for which others are not always responsible, and certainly not those who do not give up and who, despite everything, resist.
