International day against violence against women
“Prostitution corrupts an entire society. If you continue to be free to buy the female body and use it at will, abusing it like a toy, then there will never be any lack of gender. And they will never be able to diminish the numerous forms of violence, legitimize by a culture of domination and possession. Cases of femicide prove it »Based on these words of President Giovanni Paolo Ramonda, the Pope John XXIII Community, on the occasion of the International Day against Violence against Women, launches an artistic and cultural path to raise awareness on the issue of sexual exploitation. It is an action initiated by the founder of the Community, Don Oreste Benzi, which starts from the premise: “no woman is born a prostitute”. In Rimini, the project finds its center in the education of children: the proposal already addressed to higher education institutions includes courses with seminars, school and class assemblies, in-depth workshops. Expert trainers on violence on the subject, journalists, women who have lived the experience on their own skin will intervene in the schools and will bring a direct testimony to young people.
RIMINI – On November 24th at 9 pm, the premiere of “Not even with a flower. The price of love” will be staged at the Teatro degli Acti in Rimini, the show inspired by the true story of a victim of trafficking and femicide.
RAVENNA – On November 26th at 8.30 pm the first replica will be held at the San Giuseppe Theater, Faenza.
CUNEO – On November 28th at 4.30 pm the show will be staged in the Toselli Theater in Cuneo. All events are a compulsory reservation.
THE THEATER SHOW – The play is inspired by a news story that really happened: the killing in Modena of a young woman exploited on the sidewalks of the Via Emilia by the hand of a client, whose body was then abandoned on the tracks of the railway station. The show compares various female figures involved in some way in the phenomenon of prostitution. It is a story with several voices that brings out all the complexity of the phenomenon of gender-based violence and that makes us reflect on the commodification of the body and the meaning of love. The direction of the show is by Emanuela Frisoni and Rosa Morelli; is written by Emanuela Frisoni with the contribution of the journalist Giovanna Greco. The actresses are: Barbara Abbondanza, Patrizia Bollini, Giorgia Guerra; structures the male voices of: Giorgio Borghetti, Giorgio Colangeli, Giulio Cristini, Giorgio Marchesi, Francesco Montanari. «We wanted to go beyond the news and investigate the daily life of the characters, directly and indirectly involved in prostitution – explains Emanuela Frisoni -. Behind the image of unveiled bodies, transgressions and violence there are often stories of loneliness and questions of meaning that concern us all, without exception ».
FEMINICIDES – On the occasion of 25 November, the community of Don Benzi will also commemorate young women met by the Street Units in 10 Italian cities and killed, in most cases, by their customers or exploiters.
VERONA – Friday, November 26, at 9 pm in Verona, on Strada Bresciana, 79 in Località Bassone, the volunteers of the Pope John XXIII Community will remember the killing of Venetita Niacsu in 2014; a murder committed by a customer who has never been identified.
BOLOGNA – Monday 29 November 2021 at 20.30 in Bologna in Via delle Serre, (roundabout of the truck driver), volunteers of the Albero di Cirene Association, of the Pope John XXIII Community and other realities of the area will meet in the place where she was killed in the 2009 Christina Ionela Tepuru, victim of trafficking.
Don Benzi’s association promotes the awareness campaign This is my body to raise awareness that prostitution is a protection of women’s rights and a threat to social advancement. The campaign is also calling for a law in Italy that recognizes customer responsibility, in line with that of France, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Ireland and Northern Ireland.