OMBRETTA INGRASCI

After graduating in Modern History at the University of Milan, I started in 2000 a PhD in Modern History at Queen Mary College -University of London-. At the present I am about to submit the doctoral thesis, entitled ‘The changing role of women in the Italian Mafia since 1945’.

In terms of working experiences, I worked as part-time teaching assistant at the Department of Italian Studies, Queen Mary College, and as research assistant for the book by John Dickie, Cosa Nostra. A History of the Sicilian Mafia,( Hodder and Stoughton Publishers, London, 2004).

I have been involved in an international and interdisciplinary group research — based on the University of Palermo — studying the role of women within organised crime groups operating in 13 countries. Since 1999 I have been researcher for the Osservatorio sulla criminalità organizzata al Nord, Italian think-tank studying organised crime -coordinated by Professor and Italian MP Nando dalla Chiesa.

During the years of my doctoral research I presented papers at various criminological and historical conferences, and I published articles on the Italian mafia.

GIROTONDO PER LA DEMOCRAZIA

The ‘girotondo per la democrazia’ is a form of protest organised by Italian civil society against the Berlusconi government’s attack to Italian Constitution. The girotondi came out of the concern of citizens who protested against both the antidemocratic government acts and the incapacity of the parliamentary opposition to face the antidemocratic direction that Italy was taking. The girotondo of people (literally in English ring a ring o’ roses) had the purpose to protect democracy symbolically by surrounding the buildings representing democracy. The first girotondo, organised in 2002 by myself along with my sister and other ten friends, intended to defend the judiciary power. It was a success: 4.5000 people joined the protest by linking their hands around the court. Soon the girotondo became really popular and spread around Italy as a way of civil mobilization. This success was due to the fact that film director Nanni Moretti joined the protest and became the leader of the girotondi, and also because the girotondo did not represent any parties, rather only people who wanted to defend Italian democracy.

The effects of the girotondi were positive and helped democracy concretely. First, the girotondi make the Left understand that it would be supported by most Italians, therefore the Left started to play its role in Parliament. Second, the president of Republic took the girotondi protests into consideration by reprimanding the government, and by not signing two Parliament bills. Finally, given the manipulation of the media operated by the government, girotondi movement by organising initiatives (including concerts, cabaret, theatre performance, books launches) on political issues provided Italian citizens with alternative information.

Even in other European capitals Italian citizens organised girotondi. In London we organised a girotondo in front of the Italian embassy (16 March 2002), and we called it ‘Linking hands for Italian democracy’.

In London another initiative was organised by the group of Italian citizens ‘save-democracy’. We prepared a petition to ask the European Parliament to take countermeasures against the serious and persistent breach of Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union (art.6 defends pluralism of information) committed by Italy. The petition, that gathered more than 3000 signatures, was mentioned in the list of documents that the Committee on Citizen’s Freedoms and Right produced in April 2004 to write its report to the European Parliament on the risks of media pluralism in Italy.