The fight against the mafia. The innocent victims of the mafia.
Read MoreComprendre la Mafia
Understanding the Mafia
A project founded by Irene Segone, directed towards young people and the general public.
2020-2022
The Team.
Conference Pole
Margaux Facchinelli, Giulia Vigoriti, Alexandre Birkle, Yohan Esanu and Sarah Kummer represent this year's conference pole! They are assigned the challenging task of organising 3 annual events for the student body and the city of Menton, researching and inviting guest speakers as well as taking care of the various logistics (e.g. transportation, housing, etc)!
Formation Pole
Carolina Mohr, Valentine Menegazzo, Margherita Cordellini, Zhenguy Su, Tom Mansuy, Solenn Ravenel and Eleonora Gandini are part of our amazing formation pole! Their tasks will be to contact high schools on both the Italian and French side of the area and to coordinate with professors on how to inform and engage students on the topic!
Research Pole
Greta Murgia, Francesca Gamba and Azra Ersevik are part of the research pole! Their job is to research and write articles periodically. The aim is to have their articles published on the campus' newsletter as well as on French and Italian newspapers of the area. They are also in charge of the social media profile of the association.
2021-2022 Entire Team
Greta Murgia
President 2022-2023.
Margherita Cordellini
Vice-President 2022-2023.
Irene Segone
Founder and president 2020-2021
I have always been curious and intrigued by the mafia and its functioning. After spending part of the summer of 2020 researching, I thought to create a student initiative once back in Menton to share my research and built a culture of legality here as well.
OUR Conferences
On the 17th of December, Comprendre La Mafia met several other European anti-mafia associations in Paris, in order to share ideas, feelings and projects within each other. Some online and some in presence, at the meeting there were representatives from Basta (Beligum), Eine Welt (Germany), DemainesLibres (France) and LiberaBologna (Italy) and Comprendre La Mafia (France). These associations are not only involved at a local level with the community in activities that include sensibilization, podcasts, social investigations, activities and workshops in schools, but they also collaborate together in the European project CHANCE, with the aim of passing anti-mafia legislations on a European level. The meeting allowed for the youth group of LiberaBologna, who had represented the University of Bologna in Paris for the previous week through the Group Europe, to share their past activities and future projects. This has the aim of raising a European and international conscience about mafia, and to initiate communication as well as projects between like-minded associations around Europe. Our association had the honour of attending the meeting and is at the moment engaged in creating and promoting collaborations with the anti-mafia organizations.
Our association, in partnership with La Fabrique Politique, was delighted to announce its 1st conference on 21 Nov 2021, at 18.30! With Tommaso Giurati as guest speaker- one of the most knowledgeable and engaged figures at the French and European levels on the fight against mafia - the audience will delve into the complex thematic of the mafia, whether it even exists today, whether there is one in Menton, how organised crime is organised and structured. As Sciences Po students on the campus of Menton, the first French town after the Franco-Italian border and close to Ventimiglia, live in a critical area for migration and an area very concerned by the actions of the Ndrangheta (calabrese mafia), it is crucial for us to be aware of the phenomenon of the mafia.
our Interventions in Schools
Intervention in Italian, in Italy!
Three members of our team presented a 2nd intervention in the public high school Pierre et Marie Curie of Menton. The theme was "Mafia and Globalization"! They concluded their intervention with an online quiz on Kahoot that was welcomed with a lot of enthusiasm by the students!
Three members of our team organised the first school intervention in the 2-hour Italian class of the public high school Pierre et Marie Curie of Menton. The main goal was to deliver an introductory idea of what the mafia phenomenon is and to sensibilize the students on the theme. There exist numerous false myths and believes concerning the mafia, and the first that we wanted to deconstruct is related to a grammatical characteristic of the term mafia: it is singular. However, there does not exist such a thing as a monolithic entity named mafia. For instance, presentation started off with the illustration of the different types of mafias in Italy, their regional power, but also their national and international enormous influence. Moreover, the presentation focused on the main crimes that mafia members commit, emphasizing the fact that they cover a vast range of scopes. The last theme discussed concerned the various ways of fighting the mafia phenomenon. The whole presentation was structured in an interactive manner and with a constant reference to historical events. In the middle of the two hours, a didactic role game was conducted. According to the feedback given by the students, the interactive nature of the intervention was extremely appreciated, and the theme interested both those who had a basic knowledge of it and those who did not.
Our Articles
Parcours Civique at Libera
For the 1st year field experience of the parcours civique, Francesca and Issey worked together for Libera in Imperia, Italy. The slogan of the association is: "Libera: Associations, names and numbers against the mafias".
Read MoreEvolution: from a student initiative to a recognized association.
Aim. This project aims at understanding the mafia, why it is important to talk about it and how it relates to our studies. To do so the project aims at establishing a reflective and formative path that allows a group of young people to first explore and educate themselves and then transmit the knowledge gained from this first part, to the others. This initiative is designed to build upon an already quickly developing understanding connected to the culture of legality.
- Why is it important to talk about it?
- How does it relate with our studies?
- How can we communicate our knowledge to others?
Approaches. Before getting into the specifics of the setup of this project I would like to highlight the two approaches I will be using throughout this project. First of all it is a project in which we we learn together and hence rather than having me teaching others it will be all us of discussing and looking at information to try and understand it together. This because I am not an expert in the field and I strongly believe that it is a much more efficient approach to learning, understanding and remembering the things that are being discussed. Secondly, while all Italians or people familiar with the Italy are welcome to join and are actually encouraged be part of this project, it is designed in such a way that it is mainly directed to those that do not know much about Italy and its culture. This because one of the fundamental aspects of this project is also to deconstruct stereotypes attributed to the mafia, which I more often hear from people that associate Italians to “pizza, mozzarella and mafia”.
The set up. To comply with the aims of this project, the project is set up in two parts. The first part, educating ourselves, will be carried out in six sessions that discuss the various thematics relating to the mafia. The second part, educating others, will be a more hands-on approach aiming at consolidating what we have learned and what we will take from it and transfer it to others. This part will focus on the creation of collages summarizing our take ons from the six previous sessions and will honor the victims of the mafia. This collages will then be exhibited, preferably, in a public space where the residents and tourists of the city will be able to see and question and learn.
2021-2022. The project will continue with an expansion of the initial aim, creating a close collaboration with Mentonese schools and greater interaction with the residents of Menton. As the collaboration with Libera Imperia becomes stronger, the two copresidents have started to spread the word of the work done in Menton and the steps they will take in the upcoming year.
They have also changed the initiative's status to a recognised association. On 2 june 2021, the two copresidents met and went to the prefecture to have the initiative recognised as an association. This is extremely important as this year, with collaborations and parterships with various schools, it is necessary to have a legally valid status as to coherently achieve the aim of the association. You can here find the procès verbal:
Timeline
La conférence : "Comprendre la mafia: stéréotypes et définitions".
Ouvert à tous !! En collaboration avec: Libera, DeMains Libres, Crim’HALT, Sciences polémiques, la Fabrique politique, l'administration de Sciences Po campus de Menton, EnvironneMenton et le Bureau Des Arts.
Learn More18/02/2021Collage preparation.
14/03/2021Exhibition in Menton in honor of the innocent victims of the Mafia.
After the six informative sessions establishing a reflective path to understand the Mafia, the students who have taken part in the student initiative will exhibit, in the city of Menton, various collages, representing what they have understood and want to transmit to the city, as well as honoring innocent victims of the Mafia.
21/03/2021Sessions
A global phenomenon, with special focus on the Mediterranean.
Read More
Introduction. Definitions. Origins.
Read MoreEvents
After a few months of formative sessions, the students of Sciences Po Menton will create art pieces to remember the innocent victims of the mafia. These will be exhibited on the Sciences Po campus of Menton as to raise awarness on the issue of the mafia as well as honor the innocent victims of the mafia. For this reason the exhibit will open on March 21, national day of remembrance in Italy for the innocent victims of the mafia. Students will also put a name of a victim outside their windown on Sunday as to raise even more awareness.
Cette conférence abordera le thème "Comprendre la mafia: stéréotypes et définitions". De nombreux experts de la mafia, allant des artistes aux professeurs universitaires, et aux procureurs pénaux, partageront avec nous leur expérience et leur expertise uniques sur ce sujet pertinent. Cette occasion servira également au lancement de la première branche mentonnaise de Libera, une association civile de lutte contre la mafia. Cette conférence aura lieu le jeudi 18 février de 17h30 à 20h30 à la fois en personne sur notre campus (si la situation sanitaire le permet) et en ligne, diffusée directement via cet événement Facebook. En collaboration avec: Libera, DeMains Libres, Crim’HALT, Sciences polémiques, la Fabrique politique, l'administration de Sciences Po campus de Menton, EnvironneMenton et le Bureau Des Arts.
21 march 2021 : day to remember the innocent victims of the mafia
Testimonials
RESOURCES
All the images used as cover photos for the sessions have been taken by Letizia Battaglia.
RESOURCES.
Here is a list of resources you can look into if you want to learn more and understand more about the mafia.
Here is a list of songs that denounce the mafie:
'A camorra song'io by 'A67
'U pizzo by Flor
19 Luglio '92 by Pippo Pollina
1992 by Fish Taco
A Palermo by Statuto
A volte sono i nomi by Fabrizio Canciani e Stefano Covri
Abbi pietà di noi by Enzo Vitabile
Acqua 'e mare by Consiglia Licciardi
Al Carneval by Talco
Amore Non Ne Avremo by Yo Yo Mundi
Angeli di neve by I Luf
Beppe by Marco Corrao
RESOURCES.
Here is a list of resources you can look into if you want to learn more and understand more about the mafia.
Here is a list of songs that denounce the mafie:
'A camorra song'io by 'A67
'U pizzo by Flor
19 Luglio '92 by Pippo Pollina
1992 by Fish Taco
A Palermo by Statuto
A volte sono i nomi by Fabrizio Canciani e Stefano Covri
Abbi pietà di noi by Enzo Vitabile
Acqua 'e mare by Consiglia Licciardi
Al Carneval by Talco
Amore Non Ne Avremo by Yo Yo Mundi
Angeli di neve by I Luf
Beppe by Marco Corrao
Domande per testimone di Giustizia: Rocco Mangiardi
Join us
- 11 Place Saint-Julien, 06500 Menton, France
