A monument for Fatima Destà, Montanelli's child bride
It was Monday when we told you about the latest vandalism which, in the wake of the protests triggered by the Black Lives Matter movement against all forms of racism, even past ones, featured the statue dedicated to Indro Montanelli.
The debate on the "effectiveness of" damnatio memoriae "
Stained at a young age of an ignoble act, for which today we would speak of pedophilia, claimed almost with a certain pride until the end of his years, the figure of the journalist appears to be somewhat controversial today, unworthy - for many - of a commemorative monument. However, the practice of damnatio memoriae is not welcomed by everyone and some do not hesitate to defend the memory of the one who is still considered today as "the symbol of free Italian journalism". Others, on the other hand, without necessarily singing the praises of man, believe that the scourge of racism is too complex and rooted to be resolved with the sole removal of monuments that commemorate it.
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The homage of Ozmo
Hence the brilliant idea of Gionata Gesi, the famous street-artist best known with the nickname of Ozmo. If destroying the traces of the past is useless, it is still legitimate to strive to build a better future. With this fixed thought well in mind, the artist has created a mural in memory of Fatima Destà, the twelve-year-old girl whom Montanelli bought and married in Abyssinia when he was 26 years old.
The symbolic monument appeared on Monday morning in Milan, more precisely at Via Torino, and portrays an Eritrean girl dressed in traditional clothing while, presumably, she is transporting drinking water to her village with a large yellow tank. A little girl who quietly lends herself to representing little Fatima, caught with her fist raised to the sky in a gesture reminiscent of that of the activists who in these days are pouring onto the streets of all cities to ask for more equality and a look halfway between the happy and the suffering, whose final interpretation is entrusted solely and exclusively to the eye of the observer.
An "artistic, poetic and creative" answer
The project is inspired by some statements made by Igiaba Scego, an Italian writer of Somali origin, who opposed the demolition of the statue of Montanelli, insisting, rather, on the urgency of “Work on the awkward traces of our past, but without using a pickaxe”. In short, if it makes no sense to demolish them, make sure to integrate them with new and contemporary works that tell "the damaged and exploited part of history".
This is the intent behind Ozmo's work. In a historical moment in which more rights are clamored for ethnic minorities, the street-artist, "Ideally representing on this pedestal a child, African, infubulated, sold in marriage to a white soldier, victim of man's colonialism several times", wanted "At least partially restore dignity to the weak, marginalized, raped and robbed".
So now, every time we pass through Via Torino, we cannot help but stop and look Destà in the eyes who, finally placed on the pedestal he deserves, will no longer be a mere silent voice nor an anonymous victim and, with his fist turned to the sky, it will remind us of the atrocities with which the human being can be dirty. Even and even a cultured, educated and respected human being.
