In these years of distance from the political scene, Pino Caminiti – former vice -president of the Province and secretary of the Pd of Reggio – actually continued “to do politics” through the books he published (the last is a few weeks ago) and above all with his artistic work. His works, in fact, are “political” already for the materials “which reuses”, given that selects them among the waste returned from the sea to which with his art assigns a second life.
Knowing his past, it seems to me to be one of the strongest cultural strands that has built his political formation, the environmentalist formation. Then, looking at his works, another theme immediately captures: the last, their marginality and their irrelevance. Is that so?
«After all, the two themes overlap: are the last ones, if not of the waste? Today this immoral data no longer concerns only individuals, migrants and all the desperate of the earth, but economic systems, national sovereignties, geographical areas. When the primacy of strength is affirmed, then the last, or weak, are entire countries, economies, technological apparatuses, military forces; In essence, all that part of the world unable to compete for supremacy. Without more respect for the law and for the rules, the law of the jungle is worth: the strong eaten the weak. This is what is happening with the duties or with the invasion of Ukraine ».
He is deliberately not mentioning the war in Palestine …
«Because a war is not underway in Gaza. The term war means a clash between armies, a theater in which he shoots himself on one side and the other. A carnage is underway in Gaza. And I will tell you that I find the discussion annoying and even cloying if it should be called genocide or not. What importance can we have what we call it, what changes? He shoots himself on children, women and the elderly, they kill themselves innocent in a row for water and food. What else do you need to understand that a universal concept, the pity and value of life, cornerstone of that civilization to which Israel, claims to belong to belong to? After the holocaust, the world had said “never again”, and instead the images that come from Gaza remind us incredibly. The truth is that the limit has passed, and when it happens, nothing and nobody can be said to be truly innocent ».
Are we guilty of not doing everything to stop this disaster?
«It is a non -individual, but political responsibility. Too many governments and international institutions play chess on those broken lives. Every day that is done nothing, it is a day when hundreds of derelitti die ».
What can we do that we are not an international government or institution?
“Continue to make noise, keep the attention high, do not tire of denouncing, above all not to give in to the assument”.
Do you have a concrete proposal?
«During this time of death, in Gaza dozens of artists continued to work, among the rubble, outdoors, wherever possible. A few months ago they launched an appeal to international cultural institutions and anyone who wanted to welcome him. By putting together their works, carried out under the bombings, they decided to establish the “Gaza Biennale”, a collective exhibition not of physical works, obviously intrasportable outside Gaza, but of photographs and videos of their works, a sort of hymn to life and hope, an act of love within the atrocities they are experiencing. The appeal that launch, with their founding manifesto, is to host the Biennale, to make it known, to dedicate space and visibility “.
Who could collect this appeal?
«Our national museum, other museums, institutes and cultural associations, the Municipality of Reggio or one of the municipalities of the province. I give you a concrete example: before the summer, the “Gaza Biennale” was presented in the city of Padua, edited by that municipal administration and a cultural association that took care of the event. The exhibition recorded an extraordinary success of the public and a great media relief. A catalog was printed with a beautiful preface by Tomaso Montanari, while the event was presented by David Riondino. It is a less expensive initiative than the “mutton shooting” and has the strength to involve different cultural environments and qualified national presences. If he takes a look at the press review, he will find services of the major newspapers and specialized magazines ».
Are you aware that you are making an appeal to local institutions in a moment of maximum political fibrillation? They affect unexpected electoral deadlines and so close that they leave little room for issues that are not candidates, lists, coalitions …
“Look, if in the face of what is inhuman, it is happening before our eyes, art, like Grimilde, is fulfilled to penetrate the mirror and the politics is all reduced to” we see who is candidate “, then my aunt Vincenzina was right”.
Illuminate us. What did Aunt Vincenzina say?
«Her husband had to operate, a difficult spleen intervention. They said they would operate her on Wednesday or Thursday. She said to the surgeon: Doctor, can we do on Wednesday, because on Thursday there is “Don Matteo”? “
