On Saturday, May 16, I will take part remotely in an event included in the programme of the Turin International Book Fair: “Il futuro conteso: giovani tra violenza e bellezza”.
The title of the event already says a lot about the time we are living through. Young people are growing up in a landscape where violence is no longer a distant exception, but an everyday presence: wars, images of destruction, global tensions, and increasingly brutal public language. And yet, precisely within this scenario, a crucial question remains open: what space can culture, beauty and critical thinking still have?
My contribution will start from my book “Il pelecidio. Perché è moralmente giusto criticare Israele”, published by Multimage. It is a book born from the need to address an uncomfortable question: can Israel be criticised without being antisemitic? My answer is yes. Not only can it be done, but in certain conditions it must be done. When criticism concerns the political choices of a State, human rights violations, civilian suffering and the disproportion of violence, silence is not balance. It is removal.
I do not believe that the task of writing is to make everything more comfortable. Sometimes writing means entering precisely those places where public discourse gets stuck, where words are taken hostage by fear, propaganda or convenience. “Il pelecidio” was born there: from the attempt to distinguish what is often deliberately confused, namely political criticism, moral denunciation and identity-based hatred.
The Turin event will also be an opportunity to reflect on the role of younger generations in the face of today’s crises. We cannot ask young people to trust the future if all we hand over to them is rubble, cynicism and rhetoric. But neither can we settle for decorative hope. If beauty is to be a response to violence, it must become a concrete act: culture, education, memory, the ability to read power and not bow before simplifications.
I will take part alongside other authors and projects connected to Multimage, a publishing house long committed to peace, nonviolence and human rights. The event will be held on Saturday, May 16, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., at Casa Umanista, Lungo Dora Firenze 31, Turin. The meeting will be moderated by Daniela Brina.
For me, it will be an important opportunity not only to talk about a book, but to continue a broader path: using writing as a tool of critical friction, especially when the present demands silence, caution or alignment.
Event link
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