“I don’t want to be buried in this Italy so full of racism”. These are the words of writer Hamid Barole Abdu. Last Sunday 24 August he performed the theatre show he wrote with journalist Daniele Barbieri “le scimmie verdi” (green monkeys).
The show was part of the threee days itinerant exhibition “Persone” (People) managed by Solidafrica, the youth branch of Ngo ‘Chiama l’Africa’ (Call Africa).
“I am scared for my children because even though they are Italian, they were born here in Italy and they work in this country, they are never fully considered in the same way. They are always seen as different”, the Eritrean writer said.
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Abdu was born in Eritrea and he lives in Italy since a very long time with his wife, an Italian, and his children.
“Le scimmie verdi” is a show “based on changing identities between an Italian and an extra-EU national. The goal is to make spectators think. In fact he/she is invited to think and act as if she/he was somebody else, someone different, to understand how weak is the border between equality and diversity”, so it is written in a presentation brochure of the show.
The “green monkeys” was a part of the exhibition “People: Africa, Civil Society and change” hosted in Avellino from 22 to 24 of August 2008. The event has been inaugurated by TV presenter Idris from Africa, a famous football commentator in Italy. He talked about his experiences and thoughts about his Africa. Right after that, the movie “Kibera Kid” by Nathan Collett has been showed.
“Animated improvisations on Afro-Europeans contexts” has been the entertainment part of the exhibition on Saturday 23 August beside some speeches about life in Africa by Africans. The night has been shaked by the rhythm of “lions of Africa”, a group of dancers, artists and acrobats from Senegal. They did very good in getting locals involved in the African dances, sharing their traditions.
Sunday has been the day for the presentation of the book written by Italian sociologist Eugenio Melandri about the future of cooperation. The reading of the short story written by Antonio Scarpone followed the book presentation. Scarpone won the “Le mille e un’Africa” award with a story about an African geography classroom where kids discover the beauty of Africa.
The “Blood diamond” movie ended the three day long exhibition.
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