The National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia, in analogy with what was expressed by the Mayor of Trieste Roberto Dipiazza and the President of the Region Massimiliano Fedriga, has grasped the great importance of the visit that the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella will make together with his Slovenian counterpart in Basovizza. The other stops of the day have given rise to controversy in Trieste and in Parliament, but even beyond the border the decision of President Borut Pahor to go to the National Monument of the Foiba of Basovizza has not been free from criticism. And yet, ten years after the Concert of the Three Presidents (held at the end of a day in which homage was paid to both the Balkans and the monument to the Exodus), a new stage will be taken in the path of recognition of the mutual suffering that has characterized the short century in these lands.

The ANVGD is aware that many concrete and economic questions remain open regarding what is due to the exiles forced to abandon the lands in which they lived rooted for centuries and which today are part of Slovenia and we have not missed the opportunity to contest the recent visit to Ljubljana of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who did not mention these problems. But at the Foiba di Basovizza the President of the nearby Republic will pay homage to a symbolic place for Adriatic Italianity, a place where the people of Trieste, Gorizia and exiles from Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia remembered their dead, regardless of where they were killed, thrown into sinkholes or buried, which is often still unknown. Pahor and Mattarella will thus also commemorate the victims of the Titoist massacres who lived in Capodistria, Pirano and in all those places that today are part of Slovenia.

The 34 Provincial Committees and the 25 Delegations that represent the ANVGD on the territory will send their representatives, in compliance with the regulations on distancing and the provisions of the ceremonial, to be present at this celebration and other associations of the Adriatic diaspora also intend to bring their symbolic presence. Those who exclude themselves or work (once again) to create divisions, controversies and protests can continue to revel in their unproductive and sterile individualism.

 

Renzo Codarin