ROTARY – pages 58 – 10/2015
The challenge of taking the opportunity for mutual enrichment.
In Italy, as in the rest of the Western world, there is a strong immigration from countries with a large Muslim majority, especially from Africa and the Middle East. There are several causes that push people to leave their country: wars, expulsion, political instability, demographic and economic imbalance, flight from unemployment towards economic survival and others. This phenomenon, in the face of which our unpreparedness and disorientation manifests itself, certainly causes discomfort at various levels. But, if managed in the most appropriate way, uniting all the voluntary forces, it also offers the opportunity for a confrontation between different religions and cultures that can lead to mutual enrichment. Knowing the other, his historical, sociological, cultural, religious reality is one of the fundamental aspects for the realization of a peaceful coexistence and for a good management of the phenomenon of immigration. However, it must also be considered that these refugees live in a condition of inferiority both on the socio-economic and on the communication level. In fact, they are still people who find themselves living in a country other than their own, where a language that is unknown to them is spoken. For this reason they tend to close themselves off in their own reality, creating small ghettos distinguished by origin, language, culture, tribe, religion or religious brotherhood.
Getting to know the other
The religious factor cannot be neglected in addressing the problems of dialogue and coexistence. The depth of civilization that accompanies the Muslim religious tradition is of such breadth that it is fully visible even in the condition of minority in a land of immigration. In fact, Eastern Christians have remained present in their territories of origin above all thanks to their deep faith; and it was precisely this faith that allowed them to dialogue, where possible, with Muslims. It should not be forgotten that the first Christian communities were born precisely in the Middle East, a people that played a remarkable role in the development of Arab civilization commonly assimilated to Islam. It is well known that the problems created by immigration in our country and in Europe must be solved in the long term by seeking parallel solutions in the countries of origin of the immigrants. In the immediate future, the integration of a short or long stay is not yet known.
Reception centres
In Italy the majority of the centres are run by Christian-inspired associations, in the belief that these structures can become a living laboratory, where the coexistence of different faiths and cultures under one roof is an important opportunity for mutual understanding. The rapprochement between different cultural worlds, made possible by the reception centres, would make it easier for young immigrants to live together and integrate into our society. Setting an example of mutual respect and freedom of religious practice on an equal footing could help to blunt the religious fanaticism present in Muslim-majority countries, making an important contribution to the freedom of the Churches of the Middle East.
Those responsible for the centres
It emerges what a moral and historical responsibility lies with those who run immigrant shelters. They have the important commitment to carry out their task to the end, in full awareness of the consequences of their activity. But for this to happen it is necessary to consider the immigrant as a person, as a whole. If this is understood, then it becomes important to offer material assistance to those in need. But all this must not make us forget the primary purpose of reception: to provide spiritual help, to ensure that love and fraternity reign in communities, to give a witness of humanity to one’s guests, to seek opportunities for conversation in which to communicate to those who have been welcomed the reasons for what is being done and the aims of the reception centre. Cultural integration cannot be considered a secondary problem to that of material assistance. The two aspects must be co-presented, otherwise there is a risk that refugees will falsely think that the reception centres are welfare agencies as places which, in return for the assistance provided, actually aim at proselytism.
Cultural integration
The question of dialogue between different civilizations and mentalities cannot, however, be left exclusively to volunteers. Faced with this urgency, the institutions must also play their part. At the political level, attention is paid to the problems arising from the increase in the flow of migrants, while little or nothing is done for the cultural integration of the immigrant refugee into our society. An erroneous conception of the secularity of the state leads us not to touch upon arguments that have to do with religion in the public sphere. On the contrary, the religious aspect represents for every Arab, in this case I am thinking of the Syrians, a natural dimension of life, it is an integral part of his identity, whether he professes the Christian faith or belongs to the Muslim community. To deny those who come to our country from such distant cultural backgrounds minimal information about this Western culture is tantamount to promoting a one-sided insertion into our society.
The importance of an action that makes immigrants aware of the foundations on which European societies are founded would then be accentuated by the possibility of becoming the spark capable of triggering the process of opening up the watertight compartments that exist today between Europe and the Arab world, between Christians and Muslims and, at the same time, could represent a strong incentive for concrete measures to be taken capable to blunt the phenomenon of religious fanaticism that is fed today by some Islamic institutional seats. Greater vigilance in this sense seems more appropriate than ever. The knowledge of positive pilot interventions and the fruitful exchange of these experiences could subsequently give rise to a strategic coordination at a regional or even national and international level.
Real growth
An essential tool for this mission must be the commitment by the heads of the reception centres that their guests have the opportunity to pursue a true growth in their faith, while each maintaining their own creed. In this action, special attention will be needed to ensure that all opportunities are seized to build an inter-religious openness. These are extremely arduous tasks that cannot be left to improvisation and the good will of individuals. For this reason, I believe it is essential to collect and compare the experiences that are implemented in the different centres. Circulating and communicating the experiences of successes and failures in cultural integration initiative
s carried out in reception centres is a common heritage of concrete responses to be drawn on in order to avoid unnecessary disappointment.
What resources?
The most urgent priority, in the face of the phenomenon of immigration, is full integration and deep mutual knowledge between the different ethnic groups that will have to integrate; and where to find the necessary resources for such a demanding task? In the face of the enormous social upheaval that the phenomenon of immigration causes in European countries, which are unprepared to receive them, in the face of the problems arising from provisional organisation, a short-sighted vision of policy means that it is not realised that the use of money, given to underdeveloped countries for vocational training, would prevent us from continuing to spend much more of it in Europe to deal with reception problems. These problems are certainly great, but they are always less serious than those linked to the tragedy of the division of families caused by emigration. It is therefore essential to promote adequate vocational training for immigrants in our countries so that they can return to their lands prepared and able to contribute better to the economic development of their countries.
Giuseppe Samir Eid
Free web translation from the original in Italian
The published articles intend to provide the tools for a social inclusion of the migratory flow, shed light on human rights and the condition of life of Christians in the Islamic world from which the author come from. Knowledge of the other, of cultural and religious differences are primary ingredients to create peace in the hearts of men everywhere, a prerequisite for a peaceful coexistence and convinced citizenship in the territory.