While a good part of the world is committed to enjoy the consumerism of Christmas, not everyone in this period has the opportunity to celebrate. In Italy for example have little to cheer the precarious workers and the unemployed who spend the holidays on the roofs to save their jobs: they are Ispra researchers, Fiat's workers of Pomigliano and Termini Imerese, employees of factories Agile and Russo.
Their situation is much worse than that of the attacked pope or the attacked premier, but Italian newspapers and television gave them maybe one hundredth of the coverage that have enjojed the powerful. The media devote too much space to the weather and perhaps to the damage it causes, but not to the causes of such damages: building abuses, the "normal" poor land management in Italy that turns every natural event into a disaster. Not everything is perfect even in Abruzzo, where a lot remains to be done to repair the damage of the earthquake and the prime minister, despite his promises, has not gone, perhaps because people would have done a lot of questions and he didn't have any good answer.
No good news of course from concentration camps for immigrants, where at Christmas there are desperate people who cut themselves with razors, try to burn themselves, kill themselves or attempt to escape. The result of a racist law which imprisons people for what they are, illegal. So devoid of human rights, in violation of all international conventions signed by Italy and of the spirit, if not of the letter, of Article 13 of the Constitution.
Meanwhile in the world while all the international media devote huge space to another terrorist incident, there are things far more disturbing to peace: for example the war in Afghanistan in which Italy participates, who continues as usual with new civilian casualties and no solution in sight. Or the Israeli attacks against Palestinians, while in Gaza continues the humanitarian emergency and there isn't a real progress to reach a just peace. Do not even get good news from Iran, where the police attacked the crowd that was protesting and the repression against opponents, students and journalists go on as in recent months.
Who is trying to enjoy the holidays might be annoyed to read all this. In the world there are always bad news and sometimes who isn't the subject of them just want to ignore all for a while. It's understandable but perhaps not right to do so. Our Christmas is now primarily a holiday from work and a celebration of food and gifts. But the story from which came the feast was quite different: that of a family traveling far from home, that had to stop to give birth to their child in a stable, and then run away quickly because the soldiers of the local tyrant came to kill the child.
Well it was not a party of people eating and having fun, but the day dedicated to a family of desperate refugees who nevertheless managed to escape and keep the hope of a better future.
This was also the meaning of the pagan festival that has widely contaminated the Christmas Day, the winter festival of the ancient cult of Mithras, Horus, of the Celts gods and many other deities. The hours of daylight after the winter solstice begin to lengthen, indicating that the darkness can be defeated.
Then there are those who have no interest in any religion, but have a social conscience, and so they realizes that if everyone knew and were angered by the bad news coming from our country and from the entire world, perhaps they would not be so many. Because the bad news, at least most of them, do not come alone but are produced from abuses of some men over other men.
There is the Christmas drowned in consumerism, there is the "White Christmas" of some racists and there is a true Christmas among the desperates who are now the subject of bad news. A day that reminds of a family that sought refuge in a barn, not of those who were celebrating and eating in the palace of Herod.
Francesco Defferrari
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