“The presence of people from Pozzuoli in the Phlegraean Fields is millenary. Musumeci’s ancestors were still up in the trees eating bananas when civilization was already there”: Francesco Emilio Borrelli, Avs deputy, said this in a connection with Radio Cusano, offending not only the civil protection minister Nello Musumeci but also Sicily and all Sicilians. The honorable, speaking about the people displaced after the strong earthquake in the Phlegraean Fields, made an offensive joke that ended up overshadowing the dramatic situation of the citizens affected by the earthquake. Citizens who at this moment would need answers and certainly not yet another political controversy.
In any case, Musumeci’s response was not long in coming, who wrote in an Instagram post: “Before making jokes about Sicilians, take a trip to the bookstore. Because if you really think that in Sicily in the past we were ‘still up in the trees eating bananas,’ the problem is not Sicily, but the history program you missed. My island has a few thousand years of civilization to tell. He, instead, only managed to tell his disarming ignorance.”
“When prejudice and ignorance of history meet, the risk of making a bad impression is inevitable – commented the undersecretary for Culture, Giampiero Cannella, also Sicilian -. The statements of honorable Francesco Emilio Borrelli are surprising especially because they were made by a parliamentarian of the Republic. From whom one would expect a greater awareness of the history and civilization of the Mediterranean. It would have been enough to know the history and origins of Archimedes, Empedocles, Stesichorus or Gorgias of Lentini to avoid such statements. And, if we want to be picky, even a notion of general culture would have reminded that bananas, fruits of Asian origin, arrived in Europe only in relatively recent times. More than a reply, these words would deserve a footnote in a history manual.”
Also outraged is the FdI MEP Ruggero Razza: “According to Borrelli when the Phlegraean Fields were being populated, Sicilians were climbing trees to pick bananas. Such an insult would deserve a laugh: because it highlights ignorance, arrogance and superficial boastfulness. No, deputy Borrelli, you may have tried to race to conquer a position in the social ranking, but you are simply a narrow-minded ignoramus. No one in the Phlegraean Fields has planned and invested like the Meloni government with minister Musumeci. Now apologize to the Sicilians!”. Meanwhile, the official FdI social media account commented: “This is the left that demands to give lessons in respect to others. Hon. Borrelli should apologize and the leadership of the Greens and Left Alliance clarify whether they share these words or not.”
Read more Delmastro, no to chat access. The left rises up: bandages, screams, threats | Libero Quotidiano.it
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