The fourth conference of the Anti-Mafia Educational Project 2019/2020 organized by the Pio La Torre Study Center was held on January 14th 2020, at the Rouge et Noir in Palermo. At the conference entitled «Corruption and mafia in new political system» the speakers were: Alberto Vannucci, sociologist and teacher at the University of Pisa; Isaia Sales, teacher at Suor Orsola Benincasa University, in Naples and Franco Garufi, to moderate the speeches.

The focus of the conference is how corruption undermines democracy is Italy. Sicily is the first region with the largest number of corruption cases: 28 in the last three years, according to a report of the Anac, The National Authorithy against corruption.

“This is a hidden crime – said Alberto Vannucci – and this condition allows corruption to became wider and pervasive”.

“Despite the large number of cases in South Italy, corruption is stronger in the North – said Isaia Sales – this is due to the Italian economic power. However, both mafia and organized crime use corruption to exploit all the opportunitiesproduced by globalisation”.

Students confirmed this vision filling out the survey of Pio La Torre: the 64% of them consider corruption a “threat to democracy”.

The conference ended with the exhibition of Christopher Goddey, a 22 - year - old Nigerian migrant who arrived in Italy in 2015. “I really love Sicily and her folk singer Rosa Balistreri – he said – she taught me the Sicilian language. Her songs are so difficult, painful, but stunning”. In the end Chris sang a song about his condition, and the need to remain human, against all feelings of hate across Europe.