The Friulian Link with Canada

Italian assessor Roberto Antonaz in search of Friulians, Julians and Slovenians

Roberto Antonaz is getting acquainted with one of the many tasks that the new government of Friuli Venezia Giulia entrusted him with. In his opinion, his predecessors neglected this post, to the effect that even data and numbers are unclear and knowledge of the situation is far from complete.
However, the new assessor, designated by Regional President Riccardo Illy as responsible for relations with Friulians living abroad, has very clear ideas about how to carry out his duties. While preparing detailed programmes, he's fully aware that the first step will have to be the establishment of links with the numerous communities of Friulians, Julians and Slovenians dispersed all over the world. Also because, says Antonaz, they could teach so many things to a Region that is now seeing the other side of the coin: the need to accommodate, culturally and socially, a mass of immigrants who paradoxically found their "America" in Friuli, 30 years after the end of the Friulian Diaspora.
Have you already made up your mind about how to work at this peculiar task?
"For the moment I've browsed the most urgent issues and met with the associations of Friulians and Julians abroad. We could say that I'm politically orienting myself."
What do these associations ask for?
"First of all for a space in our thought. For instance, Toronto is known to be the second largest Friulian city in the world, after Udine. In general, the Friulian-Julian community in Canada is among the largest and most solid. The very existence of a daily newspaper in Italian shows that the Old Country receives a great deal of attention. This is why I feel that our Region should keep these links alive, displaying its appreciation, recognition, and gratitude towards its children who emigrated. Moreover, a link must be established with contemporary reality. Clearly, Friuli Venezia Giulia has changed since those people left it, so it is important for them to rediscover it. Even more than that, I see this appointment as a post with great cultural value, because it favours openness and acceptance in a phase when Friuli Venezia Giulia has switched from being a land of emigrants to a land of immigrants."
In summary, the situation has completely reversed...
"Yes, it has. The patrimony of all these Friulians, Julians, and Slovenians who endured the hardships of going away, to a different climate, language, and food, must become an integral part of the history of Friuli Venezia Giulia, turning this region into a land of peace, coexistence, and solidarity."
Your electoral programme mentioned the idea of keeping in touch with the communities abroad through modern technologies...
"We intend to open a website for our people living abroad, and to use the Internet as a tool for rekindling our relations with them. I think that this is necessary if we want to get in touch with the younger generations, and as far as I'm concerned I shall also try and visit our emigrants where they are living now."
So, are you planning a series of travels abroad?
"Actually, one of the very first visits I wish to carry out is with those who live in Canada. The relations with our people abroad have been neglected by my predecessors, who seemed to consider it marginal. The task was delegated to the associations of the emigrants, but I feel that the institutions should have been more present. On the other hand, I would like to promote these relations, because the presence of our regional government in these areas is required. We must create the conditions for the eventual return, even if only temporary, of young people living abroad.
Could their return be final?
"Far from it is the idea of using my post to promote permanent returns, because I believe that anyone must be free to live wherever one wants."
But what about the residents of Argentina, who had hoped to return but could not stay?
"The issue of the Argentines had been exploited: I went to Buenos Aires, in December, with the previous President of the region. We organized a meeting with all the associations of Friulians and Julians of Latin America, including of course the Argentines, and what clearly emerged was that there was no widespread desire to return. Very few returned, and quite often those experiences ended very rapidly with those involved going back to Argentina."
What if someone wished to return once and for all?
"Those who so wish must be allowed to, and their return must be made as smooth as possible: I'm referring to accommodation, jobs, and the bureaucratic reactivation of their life in Italy. There should be no ideological prejudice, though."
How important is the vote of Italians abroad?
"This novelty appears to have had positive effects already, in the recent referenda, because the voter turnout among Italians abroad was roughly the same recorded in Italy."
Did this prove that people want to participate?
"Indeed they do, they feel somehow linked to Italian life, and we hope that the same goes for our region."

Publication Date: 2003-08-31
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3107