The Documentary
OtherCollections
reconstructs the phenomena of illegalities in agriculture and presents the virtuous cases
Black labor, corporatism, shacks of sheet metal e plastic. Or integration, labor contracts, legal assistance, housing. Two different ways of producing fruit and vegetables in Italy are presented in the documentary ‘OtherCollections‘ of River Journal Project, present together with the study ‘BeAware – Best Practices against Work Exploitation‘ October 3, 2018 in Rome.
The web-documentary shows 5 contexts
critical, where labor exploitation in agriculture nevertheless finds valuable alternatives, inspired by the legality and respect for workers. Interviews with the protagonists of the redemption ethics, beautiful photographs and a wealth of data inspire useful reflections.
The Red Gold of Foggiano
The
exploitation
of laborers
in agriculture plagues the largest deposit of ‘red gold’ on the planet, in the province of Foggia. Twenty-seven thousand hectares of crops, 27 million annually for tomatoes.
A Rignano, site of an infamous ghetto of migrant laborers, vige ‘the 21st century slavery‘. To which the Sankara House cooperative is opposed.
,
which instead strives to implement an ethical model of hospitality and work.
Olives without caporalism in the Trapani area
Corporalism
, an illegal practice
of overall management of laborers (in placement, housing, transportation, bureaucracy) finds a happy alternative in the province of Trapani.
In Castelvetrano
, population 32,000, where the following flow in each year.
1,500 migrants
for the olive harvest, an Employment Desk has been established.
. Labor is managed flexibly, but within the rules. And the minimum union wage is 65 euros, at least double what is paid in the black.
Oranges and accommodation in Calabria
Ghettos amass under extreme conditions up to 9,000 seasonal workers, almost always foreigners. The phenomenon is prevalent mostly in the South, but is also growing in the North. In Saluzzo, Cuneo, where campers number about a thousand. And in Canelli, in the province of Asti, where there are about a hundred.
To Drosi, a desolate hamlet in the province of Reggio Calabria that hosts about 800 migrants engaged in orange picking, 24 unused apartments have been offered to seasonal workers. This has resulted in a positive model of integration between natives and immigrants, which is also revitalizing the district’s small economy.
Vegetables between innovation and fair labor
Innovation and worker training
are crucial tools for combating illegality in agriculture. Paradoxically, Italy shines in exporting innovative agricultural systems but makes relatively little use of them on its own soil.
Finagricola
emerges forits good practices, with a
high rate of innovation matched by worker training, extended to seasonal workers (almost always foreigners).
Asti grape pests.
Spot checks and penalties exploiters of laborers are not lacking. More than 7,000 farms were inspected in Italy in 2017. The irregularities found led to the imposition of nearly 5 million euros and the confiscation of nearly 8,000 agricultural lands.
The activities of control
and repression of illegality – os well as disrupting ‘dirty’ supply chains – prove useful, at least in some cases, in soliciting local communities’ outrage at abuses.
In Canelli
,
the
‘city of wine’ n
el Monferrato, the ‘Rosarno model’ was taking hold. But Piedmontese caporalism has been (almost) eradicated. Thanks to the media scandal in 2015 that besmirched some
entrepreneurs
e
awakened civil society.
The documentary ‘OtherCollections‘ – realized by journalists Marzio Mian and Nicola Scevola, with photographers and film-maker Massimo Di Nonno and Nanni Fontana – can be viewed for free at http://www.altriraccolti.it/.
Marta Strinati and Dario Dongo
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
