"No child can feel good if other children suffer, near or far from us." In these words of Loris Malaguzzi, pedagogist 'father' of the Reggio Emilia Approach, lies the meaning of the mission of Reggio Children, which since '94 has been responsible for protecting and spreading the educational model of the "most beautiful kindergartens in the world".
The same Center visited by Princess Kate in May has now come under fire after the controversy that arose in the city over the opportunity to welcome a delegation of teachers and educators from Jewish schools from the USA and Israel. Reggio Children had asked to distance themselves from Netanyahu's government, after protests from activists and some parents and teachers, but the United States preferred to cancel the trip.
On the eve of the arrival of the 25 teachers from Israel, the president of the Jewish Community of Milan accuses the Emilian city of Third Reich methods and the right speaks of "defeat" for Reggio Emilia and of "Jew hunting".
The city rejects the sender. The casus belli broke out a week ago, when activists and some representatives of trade unions and politics asked Reggio Children to cancel the visit to the Loris Malaguzzi International Center of a study group of educators and teachers from Jewish schools in the USA and Israel, from 11 to 16 October. Among the doubts expressed, among others by M5s deputy Stefania Ascari, are the "possible relationships of some of the entities involved with organizations that support the Israeli defense forces".
Reggio Children takes its time, underlining that the entire network of people and entities that in various capacities enter into relationships with them are asked to adhere to the Charter for democratic and participatory education which asks, among the various points, to repudiate war and condemn "every form of genocide".
The controversies do not subside. On the evening of 6 October, around a hundred activists protest with flags, banners and megaphones in front of the Malaguzzi Centre. During those hours, a consultation was taking place, an assembly of 400 people including parents, teachers and representatives of the childhood councils, at the end of which the president of Reggio Children Maddalena Tedeschi underlined that the Charter is aimed at everyone, even the group of Jewish educators, who "were asked to further explicitly distance themselves from the policies of the Netanyahu government".
Overseas this has not been digested: the 71 teachers from the USA postpone the trip, while the 25 from Israel confirm and will be in the city tomorrow. They will have meetings with pedagogists and teachers, visits to schools. Ordinary activities proposed to study groups. But in the meantime the right is rising up against the Democratic mayor. Minister Tommaso Foti (FdI) states that the withdrawal of the US delegation is a "defeat" for a city "that calls for inclusion and dialogue".
The FdI group leader in the Chamber, Galeazzo Bignami, speaks of "anti-Semitism" for having involved American Jewish educators "in a political controversy due to their identity". The leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, calls for the resignation of the mayor of Reggio Emilia and speaks of a "Jew hunt". The harshest words come from the president of the Jewish Community of Milan, Walker Meghnagi, who evokes "methods and climate" from the Third Reich. There is no point in making the dem mayor, Marco Massari, son of a partisan, pass off as a Nazi: the accusations of anti-Semitism against the Municipality "do not correspond in any way to our values, to our history".
Tomorrow, in a climate hotter than ever, he will personally welcome the Israeli delegation. "The Charter (of Reggio Children, ed.) - he recalls - does not ask anyone to respond as a Jew, Israeli or belonging to any other community. It asks those who participate in an educational path to share universal principles of respect and protection of childhood". Reggio Children underlines that the Charter is the only document that represents its position and announces a public meeting for 22 October with an organization of Israeli and Palestinian families.
