The EUAMI project workshop: One Africa – many Africas by Anna Pozzi
Anna Pozzi, is a journalist and writer specialising in Africa. She is editor of the monthly magazine «Mondo e missione» and contributes to various publications, for which she has produced numerous reports from countries in Africa and the Middle East. She was invited by Canossa Campus to hold a new workshop as part of the European EUAMI project. This gave Canossa Campus students the opportunity to learn more about the African continent and make new discoveries.
The meeting was a journey through the complexity of Africa, a continent often reduced to stereotypes, but which reveals extraordinary cultural, geographical and demographic diversity. Anna Pozzi emphasised how the borders drawn by Europeans during colonialism have contributed to generating long-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 that shape the continent’s future.
The journalist also focused on North Africa, highlighting the challenges posed by conflict, terrorism and climate change, which have forced millions of people to migrate. She then analysed Africa’s rapid urbanisation: more than half of the population now lives in cities, where the pandemic has exacerbated social inequalities.
A significant example was that of the Kivu region, rich in minerals but devastated by instability and exploitation. He recounted the story of Denis Mukwege (Nobel Peace Prize winner) founder of the hospital Panzi Hospital and Foundation a Bukavu, capital of the province of South Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for women victims of violence, linking local difficulties to the consumption choices of Western countries.
The journalist also cited Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, as an example of extreme contrasts: wealth and poverty, tradition and modernity. She concluded her remarks with an invitation to consider the impact of European policies and consumption on African humanitarian crises.
Anna Pozzi’s speech left a deep impression, stimulating greater awareness of a continent that is often misunderstood and of the responsibility to look at Africa with new eyes.