In the frame of Professional mobility and training activities launched in 2019, Fondazione Aurora promoted the training seminar “Everything must fall: Reinventing a more caring world after the crisis” in the nexus “migration and development” on 20 November 2021 at the Museo delle Culture in Milan.
The activity oriented towards the development of international professional skills, saw the intervention of constitutional lawyer Lwando Xaso, author of the book “Made in South Africa – A Black Woman’s Stories of Rage, Resistance and Progress” in front of an audience of young people and students, the majority of whom were representatives of diaspora organisations and second-generation migrants with an African migrant background living in Italy.
The Afro-Italian participants discussed intercontinental issues such as civil rights, the recognition of identities and Apartheid.
The lawyer Federica Pistorello and the systemic psychotherapist Ronke Oluwadare also took part and contributed to the seminar, generating a debate on the current effects and consequences of historical processes and their contextualisation in different countries for a comparative approach that enriches the dynamics of circular migration and professional mobility.
The removal of cultural obstacles is instrumental in promoting the involvement of students with a migration background in circular migration paths.
“After my experience at the Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron asked me the most important question of my life: “What will you do for the others?” Today I would answer: “I will use my skills as a lawyer to help others and understand from a legal perspective what can be done to make others better off.” What I prefer from the Constitution is that we finally have rights and titles for those who are citizens, but also for those who are not citizens, for anyone. These are rights of dignity, of life, of education and training for all. There are few rights exclusively for citizens, the majority are rights for all mankind; because over time we have realized that these rights are still essential to be free, especially in South Africa. One of my favourite words from our constitution is “We”, as people and collective activities, which is not limited to the history of this Country, or of the African continent, but of the whole world.” – says Lwando Xaso.
Rights education is the key to strengthening the migration-development nexus that encourages the professional mobility of young people who are facilitated to start professional careers.
“A culture of care and caring is key to fighting oppression. As South Africans, we do not want to be at odds with the law, precisely because we know that the law is an instrument itself of care and not oppression. Being a lawyer for the past 15 years for me has meant having to deal with the education of ‘care’ in the sense of caring, a role that should not be limited, but oriented towards the transformation of utility and humanity. Working on the Constitution showed me how we can approach the law and the emotional sphere at the same time every day,’ says Lwando Xaso
Valuing identity means valuing the specific skills possessed by young people so that a highly competent workforce can be developed for full employment and creation of decent jobs.
The seminar provided the Afro-descendant students new keys and glasses that enabled them to redesign – in the light of history and the global context – their career path.