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Questaèroma and Razzismo ugly history were awarded the 2023 Paolo Dieci Award. During an event held at the Farnesina, Kwanza Musi Dos Santos co-founder of Questaèroma received the award (a check for 5000 euros) which will be used to carry forward “ Racism is an ugly beast, let’s change it together”, a project to raise awareness on a topic, that of racism, which is often underestimated or is faced without the necessary skills.
“With our project in schools – Musi Dos Santos tells Africa Kwanza magazine – we have had very interesting feedback but also perceived critical issues in the way racism is addressed in the classroom, especially by teachers. There is a great lack of deep and documented knowledge of the topic, and therefore it is often a bit trivialized as if it were just a question of insults, when in reality racism is a virus: each of us has probably breathed it, introjected it and therefore it is a question, all together – concludes Dos Santos – of trying to free ourselves from it and this can only be done through constant daily knowledge and practice. And this is what we try to convey to students when we go to schools.”
The Paolo Dieci Award, promoted by Link 2007, Cisp and Le Réseau, fits into the context of law 125/2014 which reformed cooperation and which recognizes an active role for the diaspora in the cooperation system itself. “It serves precisely to raise awareness of what diasporas, associations with migratory backgrounds as well as new generations do here and in their countries of origin” underlined Mehret Tewolde, vice president of the Le Réseau Association. “We are realizing that the Award is precisely a path that brings out and brings us together, leading all of us to have a greater awareness of the richness of the fabric of diasporic associations, making sure to incorporate it within the cooperation to make law 125 is effective and concrete”.
The figure of Paolo Dieci, who died in 2019 in a tragic plane crash, was remembered by Maura Viezzoli, president of the International Committee for the Development of Peoples (Cisp). “Paolo Dieci – Viezzoli told the Rivista Africa – he was a friend and colleague who believed very much in the partnership between civil society organizations and diasporas, in international cooperation and in education for global citizenship. The Award was established precisely to support and carry forward the idea that in cooperating for development, partnership between different subjects is important”.
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