Seminar Summary:


Full Audio:

Patrick McCarthy Memorial Series on Intellectuals and Politics


Supported by the Patrick McCarthy Fund
hosted by Professor Nina Hall

A One-Day Conference

MAURIZIO MOLINARI
Maurizio Molinari has been Editor-in-chief of the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa since January 2016. He began working at La Stampa in 1997 as their correspondent from Brussels, New York and Jerusalem-Ramallah. A journalist since 1989, he has covered conflicts in the Balkans, Middle East and Horn of Africa. Molinari has interviewed many world leaders, including US presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger, Colonel Qaddafi, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Chairman Arafat, the PKK commander Ocalan and the Iraqi Kurdish president Barzani. He has published 20 books on foreign policy, including his latest publication "Why it Happened Here", which examines the genesis of Italian populism that has shocked Europe. Molinari studied at Manchester College in Oxford and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, before getting his degree in Foreign Policy and History from the University of Rome.

CHRISTOPHER CERESI
Christopher Ceresi is an activist of Operazione Mediterranea, a humanitarian organization which operates a rescue and monitoring boat in the Mediterranean sea, for which he has worked since its inception. He holds a degree in history and has been involved in the collaboration between the social cooperatives Làbas and TPO in Bologna. Christopher is active in afterschool educational projects for middle-school students and has participated in projects involving various migrant groups.

NEVA COCCHI
Neva Cocchi is an activist of Ya Basta Association of Bologna. Cocchi has been involved in migration and asylum issues since 2001, beginning as an antiracism activist supporting migrants in their fight against migrant detention centers and the Bossi-Fini Bill. She participated in the desk-group of Project Melting Pot Europe until 2015, where she also managed training activities. In 2005 she founded the Migrant Help Desk of Ya Basta Association in Bologna, where she is still active. She was the coordinator of Migrant Info-Point for the town council of Castel Maggiore, where she led a project to promote migrant engagement within the local community. She has carried out research on refugee social inclusion in Emilia-Romagna, on refugee resettlement programs in Europe, and on EU Citizen rights in the framework of EU-funded programs. Cocchi has also participated in public campaigns to support asylum-seekers' claims for the right to stay, for inclusion in the city of Bologna, and against discrimination and border regimes. She is still active in initiatives for migrant rights with Ya Basta Bologna and is employed as a part-time social worker at a reception center for asylum seekers.

SIID NEGASH
Siid Negash was born in Asmara, Eritrea in 1979 and has been living in Italy since 1999. He is a trainer, media educator and community educator, and deals with various aspects of immigration. His work focuses on social inclusion of new generation Italians, with particular attention to the areas of intercultural development and the right of access to digital services and learning opportunities for children and adolescents. Negash is president and founder of Next Generation Italy, an association created to assist and support a new generation of Italians (both foreign and locally born). He is an ex-councilor and member of the Bureau of the Council of foreign citizens and stateless persons of the Province of Bologna, and a member of the Board of Directors and Head of Diplomatic Affairs of the Democratic Eritrean Organization.

LYAS LAAMARI
Lyas Laamari was born in Algeria and has been a refugee in Italy since 2013. In 2012 he co-founded MigraBò LGBT, the first network of associations, organizations and governmental agencies created to assist LGBTQI asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in Emilia Romagna. MigraBò LGBT provides help in filling out asylum applications and assists migrants with social inclusion, which in turn facilitates integration into the local community. Since 2014 Laamari has worked with MIT (Transsexual Identity Movement), assisting transgender and transsexual refugees and asylum seekers throughout the bureaucratic process. In 2016 he helped create the HLGBT (Homelessness LGBT people in Bologna) network, which is managed and funded by the social cooperative Piazza Grande in Bologna. Since August 2016, he has written for the first activist project website in favor of LGBT community ilgrandecolibri.com, where he provides news and insights about Arabic Muslim countries in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. Since December 2017, Laamari has advised the Refugee Coalition of Europe on LGBT issues in Italy. He is the co-founder of a new volunteer organization the National Refugee Forum which will officially be launched by the end of this year.

GIACOMO ROSSI
For the past ten years, Giacomo Rossi has been working in Bologna in the field of the reception and protection of asylum seekers and refugees. He began as a social worker for the social cooperative Arca di Noè. Today he coordinates the first and second reception services for the cooperative and is the director of the regional hub of Emilia-Romagna and vice-president of Arca di Noè. He also collaborated in the co-design of the Università di Bologna Master in Education in the reception of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees (Educatore nell'accoglienza di migranti, richiedenti asilo e rifugiati).

SEE ATTACHED PROGRAM

2018_11_26_Salvini_Poster Out.pdf