“I would have brought the stories of the mothers we meet, and in recent days I have listened to really critical experiences: women who would like to keep their children but don’t know how because, for example, they don’t have a home.” No theoretical discussion, much less ideological. But at the meeting Welcome life. Stories of free choicesat the State University of Milan on November 26, the director of the Life Help Center Cav Mangiagalli of Milan, and vice president of the Movement for Life, Soemia Sibyl he had no chance to speak. A group of protesters, mostly girls, broke into the classroom in via Celoria, literally taking away her speech.
What happened?
«I had been invited by the university group of Communion and Liberation of the Faculty of Medicine, an opportunity to bear our testimony on the Help for Life Centre. They told me that the focus of the meeting had caused a stir, but I would never have imagined such a reaction. There was an initial intervention and then, just when they were passing the word to me, a group burst into the room, shouting and shouting profanities.”
A provocation in style…
«They took the speakers’ bottles, spilling the water on a boy from the organizers’ group and on the electrical system, which stopped working. I wasn’t even able to say “good evening”.
What would she have said if they had let her talk?
«I would have shown the video testimony of a mother who talks about a difficult pregnancy. The couple had arrived in Italy a few months ago. The child she was carrying had been diagnosed with a serious heart malformation and the proposal was for a therapeutic abortion. The mother came to us in tears because she wanted to keep the baby.”
Returning to the protest, what struck you most?
«The meeting was organized by kids for other kids of the same age. There were around 200 people in the courtroom. Apart from the protesters, around fifty of those who were already in the room and those who then arrived from outside, the others were there to listen: it was a missed opportunity. There was no discussion between the parties, the speakers and the public were united by the silence in front of the show that was the irruption: a shouted action, without the possibility of dialogue”.
What do you think about what happened?
«There was prejudice, an underlying anger, like an outburst… The protesters, mostly girls, didn’t let me speak, they remained in their positions without even listening. I don’t feel anger but great disappointment, there is a distorted image of the Cavs: we work in favor of women, especially non-EU women and those of other religions.”
Often when we talk about Life the discussion slips into ideology. Why is talking about it so difficult?
«Perhaps there is fear in listening to the truth, in understanding that there is more than what one perceives. Listening is tiring, you have to be silent by silencing prejudices, comments and human temptations. Even for us at Cav, listening, saying “I’m here for you”, is tiring. It takes practice.”
Do you have anything to say to the protesters?
«Come to the Cav, I’ll be waiting for you, to hear the voices of the mothers for yourselves».
