Anna Pozzi, a journalist and writer who is an expert on Africa, is the editor of the monthly magazine “World and Mission,” collaborates with several newspapers for which she has produced numerous reports from countries in Africa and the Middle East, and was invited by Canossa Campus for a new workshop within the EUAMI EU-funded project.
Canossa Campus students were thus able to delve deeper and make new discoveries about the African continent.
The meeting was a journey through the complexity of Africa, a continent often reduced to stereotypes, but which reveals an extraordinary cultural, geographic and demographic diversity. Anna Pozzi pointed out how the borders drawn by Europeans during colonialism contributed to generating lasting conflicts, such as the one in Sudan.
She went on to compare African population growth with that of India and China and demonstrated the need for a careful reading of the dynamics shaping the continent future. She also devoted attention to North Africa, highlighting the challenges related to conflict, terrorism, and climate change, which have driven millions of people to migrate.
She then analyzed Africa rapid urbanization: more than half the population now lives in cities, where the pandemic has exacerbated social inequalities. A significant example was the Kivu region, rich in minerals but ravaged by instability and exploitation.
https://euractiv.it/section/european-values-and-migration/interview/approdano-su-moodle-le-lezioni-per-i-docenti-sullunione-europea-e-sulle-migrazioni/
She told the story of Denis Mukwege (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize) founder of the Panzi Hospital and Foundation in Bukavu, capital of South-Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for women victims of violence, linking local difficulties to the consumer choices of Western countries.
The journalist also brought as an example Nigeria, Africa most populous country, a symbol of extreme contrasts: wealth and poverty, tradition and modernity. The reflection closed with an invitation to consider the impact of European policies and consumption on African humanitarian crises.
Anna Pozzi talk left a profound impression, stimulating greater awareness about an often misunderstood continent and the responsibility to look at Africa with new eyes.
