Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Expo, NoMafia Day at the Bio-Mediterranean Cluster

On Saturday 23 May, Sicily will be the protagonist at Expo through a series of important events which will officially inaugurate the Bio-Mediterranean Cluster. The day, which has a very complex calendar, will be punctuated by events of great importance which will also be collected and broadcast live on RAI throughout the day.

 

 

1) NOMAFIA DAY – The dominant theme of the day will be NOMAFIADAY celebrated by the entire EXPO 2015 thanks to which from the square of the Bio-Mediterranean Cluster Sicily – in connection with the Bunker Hall of Palermo, where the President of the Republic, Hon. Sergio Mattarella - judge Giovanni Falcone and all the other victims killed by the mafia will be remembered for their commitment in the fight for the affirmation of legality. The planned initiatives, which will take place in the presence of managers of the institutions and trade organizations most involved in this area, according to the marginal program, will be broadcast from all the pavilions of the 144 participating countries and will be filmed by RAI which will broadcast them through their institutional channels. From Palermo, in connection, the video greetings of Maria Falcone, sister of judge Giovanni Falcone, of Rita Borsellino, sister of judge Paolo Borsellino and of Tina Montinaro, widow of the escort agent Antonio Montinaro.

A live streaming is planned on www.biomediterraneo.com and www.livesicilia.it.

 

The Sicily of the Cluster will gather around Palermo with various television connections to share - starting from the Mediterranean countries - together with the visitors and students present at EXPO experiences, moments of remembrance and reflection in memory of the men of justice killed by the mafia. The initiative is promoted by the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Mediterranean Fisheries of the Sicilian Region in collaboration with the Giovanni Falcone Foundation and the "Metropoli Est Local Action Group".

 

NomafiaDay will also be an opportunity to address the delicate issue of the fight against agromafia.

 

This is the schedule for the day:

 

10.30 am Contemporary dance performance “Tra Sabbia e Cielo” curated by Roberta Bar raja and Cinzia Cona

                  Sicilian folk songs “The song of Spartanza”

11.00 am Connection with the Bunker Hall in Palermo: speech by the President of the Republic, Hon. Sergio Mattarella

 

From the Cluster 

                  the Regional Councilor for Agriculture, Rural Resources and Mediterranean Fisheries Nino Caleca

                  Rosa Giovanna Castagna, Regional President of CIA Sicily

                  Silvana Saguto, President of Prevention Measures Court of Palermo

                  Pierfrancesco Majorino, Councilor for social policies of the Municipality of Milan

                  Alfonso Sabella, Councilor for Legality of the Municipality of Rome

                  Vito Lo Monaco, President of the Pio La Torre Study Center

                  Ernesto Savona, Catholic University

                  The Commissioners of the countries present in the Bio-Mediterranean Cluster will intervene with their own testimonies          

12.30pm “Nomafia Kitchen” Cooking show with chef Gigi Mangia

4.30 pm “Cantata against the mafia” Sicilian popular songs with Paolo Zarcone

5.00 pm Debate on Agromafie with

                  Nino Caleca, Councilor for Agriculture, Rural Development and Mediterranean Fisheries of the Sicilian Region

                  Gian Carlo Caselli, Magistrate, President of the Scientific Committee of the Observatory on crime in agriculture and the agri-food system

                  Alessandro Chiarelli, President of Coldiretti Sicily

                  Elio Sanfilippo, President of the Euroobservatory for Economic and Social Policies

5.58 pm Connection with the Falcone tree in Palermo, for the minute of silence in memory of the victims of the mafia

6.15 pm SandArt “Two Sicilian Heroes” Performance by Stefania Bruno

7.00 pm Special Guest the anti-mafia Rapper OTHELLOMAN – Live Conference-concert

 

2) FIGHT AGAINST AGROMAFIA - With a debate scheduled for 5.00 pm, the Cluster will start a debate on the forms of combating crime in agriculture and on the major interests that alter the marketing and sales processes of agricultural products. Agri-food crimes determine a scenario in which the risks to the health of consumers add to the dangers for the regular functioning of the market. Agromafias cause very serious damage to citizens and honest producers, expanding their economic power through widespread pollution of the production and distribution fabric.

At a time when at the center of international reflection is the right to food sovereignty of peoples, the protection of national identities, the guarantee of processes and production, the traceability of products, the valorisation of the short supply chain as a condition also for fair remuneration for producers – declares Councilor Nino Caleca – it becomes extremely important to define shared paths at an international level to combat adulteration and agromafia. In fact, criminal organizations in Italy alone steal over 10 billion euros a year from agricultural production and above all they strangle a production and sales system which is debased and does not create wealth and development in the territories".

 

3) THE MEDITERRANEAN AT THE CENTER OF THE CLUSTER - During the evening, the first meeting will also take place between all the Commissioners of the pavilions present at the Bio-Mediterranean Cluster on the theme of the "Mediterranean common sea of humanity". Around food we will start talking about joint initiatives in the fields of fishing, agriculture and university research. Thus, with a series of initiatives planned with the eleven Mediterranean countries that share the space, that path of comparison, sharing, relationships, which led Sicily to present its candidacy as coordinator of the Bio-Mediterranean Cluster in scope of the EXPO 2015 initiatives. The common denominator will be food. Each State will be present with its own typical dish in consideration, among other things, that the elements that characterize the agri-food tradition of the various countries of the Mediterranean Basin are common, even if differently expressed in the various countries.

“We need to start implementing that cooperation strategy with the Mediterranean countries that can help us recover spaces for collaboration. It is through the recognition of the elements that unite us – states Nino Caleca – that we can build new paths of economic, social, cultural collaboration and find concrete and practicable answers to the problems of international scope that risk making the Mediterranean a sea of hatred and not, as it has been for millennia, a sea of connection, of peace and cohesion".