The Oxfam Festival in Florence, from work to inclusive education: “This is how inequalities are fought”

The Oxfam Italia Festival Let’s create a future of equality, now in its 2nd edition, opened today in Florence with a large number of visitors. The scheduled debates between scholars, politicians, writers, journalists and representatives of civil society registered from the outset the turnout and participation of a public strongly interested in learning more about the issue of Inequality.

Presented at the opening – after the interventions of the Deputy Director General of FAO, Maurizio Martina and the President of the Tuscany Region, Eugenio Giani – the Oxfam Manifesto For a future of equality that everyone can join. The Manifesto represents Oxfam’s vision for building a fairer future, accompanied by proposals that make it possible to reduce imbalances in the distribution of wealth and income, restore value, power and dignity to work, guarantee gender equality, ensure inclusive education and quality, equitable access to care and greater intergenerational mobility.

The Manifesto recalls the need to redefine the functioning of the economy, profoundly redesigning the “rules of the game” and promoting business models capable of combining growth and sustainability, profitability and solidarity.

The speakers

This morning Roberto Barbieri, General Manager of Oxfam, Ugo Biggeri, regional representative for Europe of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, Giuseppe Morici, author and vice president of Feltrinelli, Azzurra Rinaldi, director of the School of Gender Economics, and Marco Tarquinio talked about it , columnist for Avvenire, with the moderation of Cristina Privitera, editor-in-chief of La Nazione.

Barbers: It’s time to act

«Oxfam’s commitment to reverse course and concretely contribute to the creation of more equitable, mobile and dynamic societies, reducing and blurring the scissors that sharpen differences is very clear – comments Roberto Barbieri, general manager of Oxfam – We are always very comforted to see how many of you have accepted our invitation to the Festival, sharing experiences, data and strategies for this to finally start happening, stopping a trend that seems not only unstoppable, but increasingly dizzying in its gap between those who have and those who have nothing. There is nothing left that we don’t know: now the time has really come to act».

Martina: more rights for everyone

«A fair and inclusive society cannot fail to start from the need to guarantee the most fundamental of all rights: the right to food. – explained Maurizio Martina, FAO Deputy Director-General – Inequality in access to food, i.e. between those who can and cannot eat, is made even more dramatic by the distributional paradox: a segment of the population that can afford to waste food at face of another at risk of starvation. The world produces enough food for everyone, it is our duty – urgent – to make it accessible to everyone”.

The manifesto for a future of equality

There are six areas identified by Oxfam in which it is urgent and possible to intervene to counter Rooted, Harmful, Destabilizing and Unsustainable inequalities that run through our society.

For a fair distribution of income and wealth: in a country where 10% of Italians hold more than 6 times the wealth of the poorest half of the population, a reform of the tax system is needed to increase the degree of progressiveness and eliminate tax treatments differentiated, it is necessary to strengthen the fight against tax evasion.

Dignity of work

To restore value, power and dignity to work: in a country where 1 out of 4 workers is poor, industrial policies are needed capable of creating protected and well-paid jobs, the erga omnes extension of national collective agreements, the introduction of a statutory minimum wage.

Inclusive education

For inclusive and quality education: in a country where the school dropout rate is 11.5%, a national strategy is needed to strengthen the educating communities and invest in educational innovation.

Access to care

For fair access to quality care: in a country where more than 1 in 9 Italians had to give up healthcare services in 2021, the funding of the national healthcare system needs to be aligned with the European average, the public-private relationship and governance redefined State-Regions to reduce inequalities of access and territorial inequalities.

Gender equality

For gender equality: in a country where the gap in the employment rate between men and women is still 18 percentage points, we need public investments in social infrastructure, policies for the work-life balance and equal pay.

Intergenerational mobility

For intergenerational mobility: in a country where 1 out of 4 young people is at risk of poverty and social exclusion and their destiny is still strongly conditioned by their family of origin, we need fiscal measures and financial allocations that smooth out the gaps, and welfare policies that promote the emancipation of young people.

The winners of the “Fighting inequality can be done” award

As a tribute to the many who have already begun to take care of the future by pursuing an enlightened present, at 12 today – hosted by Ilaria D’Amico – Oxfam Italia awarded the “Fighting inequality, it can be done” prize, dedicated to Alessandra Appiano, a Rosita Rijtano for his book Insubordinates – Investigation on the riderspublished by Edizioni Gruppo Abele, who has been able to tell Inequality precisely in a new profession where it manifests itself with a clearness that not everyone is able to see or understand.

An increasingly practiced service work which, however, should push those who use it out of laziness, play or convenience, to ask themselves the necessary questions about compensation, guarantees, rights and protections of those who render it.

Special mention

Special mention instead for the report on mental illness A crazy heart. He is alone Of Lavinia Nocellipublished in il manifesto in June 2022, because dealing with it as this investigation does serves to never turn off the light on what institutions and civil society could actually do in turn to address and cure it, perhaps helping to prevent its causes and effects.

Organization Award

The prize for organizations then went to Large Movements for the podcast Beyond the rainbow: life stories between oppression and freedom, published on Spotify, which effectively, emotionally and actively narrates the odyssey of Abdul and many others towards Italy and a future of integration without discrimination.

Special Recognition

The special recognition, dedicated to companies, was instead assigned to Reynaldi Cosmeticsfounded in Turin in the 1980s, as a laboratory for the production of natural cosmetics by Dr. Maria Grazia Reynaldi, the first Italian to graduate in cosmetology, and very attentive to research, welfare and social issues.

From collaborations in the poorest areas of Africa, to the provision of small manual jobs, to associations of disadvantaged people, thanks to the Drop House project in the Turin Barriera district of Milan, where 1/4 of the residents are migrants, to the Amàla cosmetic line, produced with ingredients grown on land confiscated from the mafia or in communities, which offer the people welcomed a concrete possibility of redemption.

Since 2019, the owner has divided the profits with the workers on a percentage basis, and in 2022 this share has reached 50%. The award was presented by Gianmarco Laviola, CEO of Princes Industrie Alimentari, winner of the first edition.

The other events of Oxfam Festival

The Oxfam Festival continues with Daniel Susskind, economist and author of A world without work (Bompiani), interviewed by Marianna Aprile, established TV presenter and editor-in-chief of the weekly Oggi.

At the center of the meeting was the theme of the new challenges posed by automation and artificial intelligence with problems related to inequality, power and the meaning of our lives.

Environmental, Social, Governance

The great theme of ESG will be debated: a grammar that has become synonymous with sustainability for companies, with Italy dangerously lagging behind in tackling the challenges of the three ESG areas in an integral way, too often transformed into an alibi for neglecting the crucial factor “S ” of society, without investing intentionally, measurably and even additionally, in the human dimension of business impact.

With Mario Calderini professor of the Milan Polytechnic, Enrico Giovannini, Scientific Director of ASviS, Giovanna Gregori, Executive Director of the Association of Family Businesses – AIDAF, Giorgia Ceccarelli Business and Human Rights Policy Advisor, Oxfam Italy, Ylenia Tommasato, Director of Sustainable Development Bolton Group and Paolo Iabichino, Creative Director, founder with Ipsos of the Civic Brand Observatory. The meeting is also part of the initiatives of the ASviS Sustainable Development Festival.

Tomorrow’s appointments

Tomorrow the Festival continues with the presentation of the book There is a fairy tale for you too by the Hungarian author Dorottya Rédai, with Maura Gancitano, philosopher, essayist and co-founder of Tlon. The meeting will be moderated by Beatrice Masini, director of the Bompiani division.

Fashion and equality

Even the fashion system will bring its experience of inequalities, renewing and updating the project I was a Sari with its founder, Stefano Funari, project coordinator Manali Jayantilal Ghaghda and Mumbai-based artisan Kalpana Suresh Bomble, who will share the experience and its impact of empowerment, transformation and empowerment.

Policies, ideas and behaviors to overcome inequality

Again tomorrow, a round table that will question the role that politics can and must play in reversing the trend. Moderated by Simona Poli of Repubblica Firenze, the following will discuss: Linda Laura Sabbadini, Director of the Department for the development of methods and technologies for the production and dissemination of statistical information of Istat, Alessandro Bechini, Head of the Italy Program of Oxfam, Sara Funaro, Welfare Councilor of the Municipality of Florence, Andrea Morniroli, Inequality and Diversity Forum Coordinator, Serena Spinelli, Welfare Councilor of the Tuscany Region, Emiliano Fossi, MP and member of the Labor Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and Irene Galletti, councilor of the Tuscany Region.

Finally, the final part of the Festival will focus on the crucial theme ofWater, every drop counts. Starting from the snapshot of the tragic impact that wars, climate change and natural disasters have on populations in countries such as Ukraine, Syria, Turkey or in the poorest regions of Africa, the meeting will reiterate the importance of guaranteeing water and sanitation services to most vulnerable communities.

With the testimonials of Monica Perosinojournalist of La Stampa, author of the book Mariupol snowCaterina Balivo, TV presenter and testimonial of Oxfam, Riccardo Sansone, head of Oxfam Italy programs abroad and Giacomo Stefanini, Chief Water Giver & Founder of Wami, with the moderation of the author and journalist of Fatto Quotidiano Roberta Zunini.

Final evening

Finally, the evening from 9 pm will close with the concert with free admission at the Cinema La Compagnia with the Modena City Ramblers, Giancane, Giacomo Lariccia and the Kabila, with the presentation entrusted to Angelo di Benedetto of RTL 102.5.