PRESS CONFERENCE ON PALERMO WORLD CONGRESS

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON PALERMO WORLD CONGRESS

The CIVITAS Palermo World Congress, which will showcase "the Palermo experience" and draw world attention to civic education for promoting democracy and a culture of lawfulness, will be held in that Italian city from 18 to 22 June, it was announced at a Headquarters press conference Thursday afternoon.

At the press briefing were: the President of the General Assembly, Didier Opertti (Uruguay); the Permanent Representative of Italy and President of the Economic and Social Council, Paolo Fulci; David Dorn, Chairman of CIVITAS International, which is co-sponsoring the Congress with the City of Palermo and the Government of Italy; and the Mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando. The Congress will involve hundreds of educators and civic leaders from around the world.

Mr. Orlando, explaining the Palermo experience, told correspondents that his city had successfully rid itself of its image of a city with a culture of criminality and organized crime. It would not have been possible to hold the Congress 10 years ago and talk about a culture of lawfulness. At the time, the city had a democratic constitution and a free market system, "but really we had no democracy". Since then, tremendous changes had taken place. The culture of lawfulness was "a condition for real free market, real democracy".

Mr. Orlando, who is in the United States under the auspices of the United States Information Agency's International Visitor Programme, likened the fight for legality to a cart with two wheels: one wheel for law enforcement; the other for social and cultural promotion. In Palermo, "the two wheels were marching at the same speed". The city, which had been "a symbol of violence, of the Mafia, a symbol of illegality", was today a model for cultural promotion. The Mafia still existed in Palermo, but it did not "control the minds of the people". It controlled illegal business, illegal affairs and no more, which was a tremendous change. For years Palermo had exported "the disease" of criminality, but it was now exporting the "therapy" that came with the city's changes.

The Assembly President, Mr. Opertti, said a world congress on civic education for democracy was needed. Major ideas should always have a space. Success in the struggle against organized crime and in the defence of law should be made known. His country, Uruguay, had made citizenship a decisive factor. That was why he congratulated the Government of Italy, and particularly the Mayor of Palermo, for "bringing his ideas and dynamism" to the organization of the Congress. He also congratulated the Government of the United States for its support, and Italy's Permanent Representative, Mr. Fulci, for his commitment towards causes, such as this one, "which I think are worthy of those who carry them forward and dignify us all".

The Chairman of CIVITAS International, Mr. Dorn, said the story of Palermo was an exciting one. The heroes were the citizens who stepped forward to try to reform things. Crime and corruption were among the biggest challenges faced by emerging democracies, and to fight them, civil societies had to be built. Central to that was education, which was what his organization was doing. The CIVITAS had decided to work with the Mayor on the organization of the Congress. The CIVITAS, an international non-governmental organization, was trying to build bridges between governments and non- governmental organizations around the world. It was dedicated to building democracies. The forthcoming Congress was being organized as a celebration to show participants how their cities could build education for democracy programmes.

Asked if the Mafia had been chased out of Sicily in general, Mr. Orlando said the organization still existed and, as he had said, in Palermo. The Mafia had changed its strategy. It had lost its control of the population. The moment the Mafia became an acute disease, the young had been educated to live a different life.

Asked whether the relationship between the citizenry and law enforcement agencies had changed considerably in solving crimes, he said it had. The "conspiracy of silence" was no more. Now that the citizens were freer, they could also become richer. Investments were flowing into the city.

Mr. Fulci, welcoming the Mayor of Palermo in his capacity as President of the Economic and Social Council, said that the fight against organized crime and illicit drug trafficking was on the Council's agenda. The Mayor had gained national prominence in Italian politics. Under his leadership, Palermo had achieved a renaissance.

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