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The world is talking, are you listening?

A civic statement on Col·lectiu Emma (@CollectiuEmma)'s blog criticizes the way the Spanish government is dealing with the political situation in the region of Catalonia, where 55 % of the population favors independence [ca] from Spain, according to an official poll. The statement explains the “strategy of fear” and other “hostile” arguments, and claims for “a friendly separation, preferably under international supervision and with external support for both parties.” The post is available in English, Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch.

Four years after the devastating earthquake that hit L’ Aquila, in Abruzzo, Italy, little or nothing has been rebuilt and the picturesque old town remains largely uninhabited, while many residents live in much debated [it] new towns. On May 5, 2013 almost a thousand art historians rallied together [it] in the historical center of L'Aquila to draw political attention. Despite some intervention made by the Monti government, a much bigger effort is needed to jump-start the reconstruction. The Italian comics activist Gianluca Costantini summarized the issue through the series of pictures “Yes we camp“.

“Yes we camp”, Gianluca Costantini's Political Comics project under CC 3.0 License

Renewable energy, permaculture and green building, along with local traditions and eco-tourism: welcome to Tribewanted – an online community launched in 2006 based on the idea of “global citizenship” and harnessing the energy of social media to meaningfully connect and practice positive behavior change. Thanks to crowdfunding strategies, the project plans to build 10 eco-villages around the world: after Vorovoro (Fiji Islands) and John Obey (Sierra Leone), a new village just launched in Monestevole [it], in Umbria, the heart of Italy. Connect with Tribewanted people via web, Facebook or Vimeo.

On January 23, 2013, amid rising tensions with the Spanish government, the regional parliament of Catalonia approved by majority vote a Declaration of Sovereignty [ca] — seen widely as a prelude to a referendum on independence, expected to be held by 2014. Thanks to a diverse team of collaborators, the online Catalan-language publication Vilaweb [ca] has been able to offer the document in thirty-six languages. More »

According to Stefano Femminis (popoli.info [it]), the current Monti government has shown more talk than actual action in regard to immigration, and the followings are emphasised [it]:

The situation remains the same as an year ago: expensive and unnecessary “human dumps” that in fact function as prisons for people that have committed no crime except for not having documents. The citizenship law persists on deeming as immigrants hundreds of thousands of people that have never immigrated from anywhere else: those are the 705 thousand children born and breed in Italy from foreign parents, companions in playing and learning to other children, not being any different from them if not for their rights.

Explaining why 35,6% out of the prison population is constituted of immigrants, according to  “Without Dignity” : The Observatory report [it] of the Antigone association, the website cronachediordinariorazzismo.org writes [it]:

The presence of foreigners in Italian prisons is mostly due to recent charges in immigration laws, that effected greater flows within the prison system; so much that one of the proposals for improving the inmates conditions in particular related to overcrowding as indicated by the monitoring report requires a need for ‘drastic intervention on three of the laws that produce -  without any benefits for collective security -  the largest influx in prison: the ex-Cirielli law, the Fini-Giovanardi law and the Bossi-Fini law.