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Negli USA l'elettricita' prodotta dalle rinnovabili ha superato quella prodotta dalle centrali a carbone


By ISABELLA O'MALLEY AP

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FILE - Wind turbines stand in fields near Palm Springs, Calif, March 22, 2023. Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)


Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday.

Renewables also surpassed nuclear generation in 2022 after first doing so last year.

Growth in wind and solar significantly drove the increase in renewable energy and contributed 14% of the electricity produced domestically in 2022. Hydropower contributed 6%, and biomass and geothermal sources generated less than 1%.

“I’m happy to see we’ve crossed that threshold, but that is only a step in what has to be a very rapid and much cheaper journey,” said Stephen Porder, a professor of ecology and assistant provost for sustainability at Brown University.

California produced 26% of the national utility-scale solar electricity followed by Texas with 16% and North Carolina with 8%.

The most wind generation occurred in Texas, which accounted for 26% of the U.S. total followed by Iowa (10%) and Oklahoma (9%).

“This booming growth is driven largely by economics,” said Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy. “Over the past decade, the levelized cost of wind energy declined by 70 percent, while the levelized cost of solar power has declined by an even more impressive 90 percent.”

“Renewable energy is now the most affordable source of new electricity in much of the country,” added Wetstone.

The Energy Information Administration projected that the wind share of the U.S. electricity generation mix will increase from 11% to 12% from 2022 to 2023 and that solar will grow from 4% to 5% during the period. The natural gas share is expected to remain at 39% from 2022 to 2023, and coal is projected to decline from 20% last year to 17% this year.

“Wind and solar are going to be the backbone of the growth in renewables, but whether or not they can provide 100% of the U.S. electricity without backup is something that engineers are debating,” said Brown University’s Porder.

Many decisions lie ahead, he said, as the proportion of renewables that supply the energy grid increases.

This presents challenges for engineers and policy-makers, Porder said, because existing energy grids were built to deliver power from a consistent source. Renewables such as solar and wind generate power intermittently. So battery storage, long-distance transmission and other steps will be needed to help address these challenges, he said

The EIA report found the country remains heavily reliant on the burning of climate-changing fossil fuels. Coal-fired generation was 20% of the electric sector in 2022, a decline from 23% in 2021. Natural gas was the largest source of electricity in the U.S. in 2022, generating 39% last year compared to 37% in 2021.

“When you look at the data, natural gas has been a major driver for lowering greenhouse gas emissions from electricity because it’s been largely replacing coal-fired power plants,” said Melissa Lott, director of research for the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University“Moving forward, you can’t have emissions continuing to go up, you need to bring them down quickly,” added Lott.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) influenced the amount of renewable energy projects that went online in 2022, Lott said, and it’s expected to have a “tremendous” impact on accelerating clean energy projects. Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Villaggio per la Terra

 

Dove sono finiti gli americani che credevano in Dio, Patria e Famiglia?



WSJ News Exclusive

Americans Pull Back From Values That Once Defined U.S., WSJ-NORC Poll Finds
Patriotism, religion and hard work hold less importance

 


 Some 38% of poll respondents said patriotism was very important to them, down sharply from prior years.Photo: David Goldman/Associated Press


By Aaron Zitner
March 27, 2023 5:30 am ET

Patriotism, religious faith, having children and other priorities that helped define the national character for generations are receding in importance to Americans, a new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll finds.

WSJ/NORC Poll March 2023Read the full poll results

The survey, conducted with NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization, also finds the country sharply divided by political party over social trends such as the push for racial diversity in businesses and the use of gender-neutral pronouns.

Some 38% of respondents said patriotism was very important to them, and 39% said religion was very important. That was down sharply from when the Journal first asked the question in 1998, when 70% deemed patriotism to be very important, and 62% said so of religion.

Source: WSJ/NORC poll of 1,019 adults conducted March 1–13, 2023; margin of error +/–4.1 pct. pts. Prior data from WSJ/NBC News telephone polls, most recently of 1,000 adults conducted Aug. 10–14, 2019; margin of error +/–3.1 pct. pts.

The share of Americans who say that having children, involvement in their community and hard work are very important values has also fallen. Tolerance for others, deemed very important by 80% of Americans as recently as four years ago, has fallen to 58% since then.

Catch up on the headlines, understand the news and make better decisions, free in your inbox every day.

Bill McInturff, a pollster who worked on a previous Journal survey that measured these attitudes along with NBC News, said that “these differences are so dramatic, it paints a new and surprising portrait of a changing America.’’ He surmised that “perhaps the toll of our political division, Covid and the lowest economic confidence in decades is having a startling effect on our core values.’’

A number of events have shaken and in some ways fractured the nation since the Journal first asked about unifying values, among them the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent economic downturn and the rise of former President Donald Trump.

The only priority the Journal tested that has grown in importance in the past quarter-century is money, which was cited as very important by 43% in the new survey, up from 31% in 1998.

Aside from money, all age groups, including seniors, attached far less importance to these priorities and values than when pollsters asked about them in 1998 and 2019. But younger Americans in particular place low importance on these values, many of which were central to the lives of their parents.

Percent who say these values are ‘very important’ to them, personally, shown among the youngest and oldest age groups

Source: WSJ/NORC poll of 1,019 adults conducted March 1–13, 2023; margin of error +/–4.1 pct. pts.

Some 23% of adults under age 30 said in the new survey that patriotism was very important to them personally, compared with 59% of seniors ages 65 or older. Some 31% of younger respondents said that religion was very important to them, compared with 55% among seniors.

Only 23% of adults under age 30 said that having children was very important.

To Kevin Williams, a commercial and residential painter in Bend, Ore., many of these values are linked. Mr. Williams, 33 years old, said he thought that patriotism is declining as a civic value in tandem with rising individualism, a sense of entitlement among many people and a decline in community involvement, possibly because of people focusing on their own racial or cultural backgrounds rather than what Americans have in common.
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“I think patriotism encompasses being part of your community and helping other Americans,’’ said Mr. Williams, who said he coaches youth sports and volunteers with a group that provides security at protests and rallies.

Mr. Williams said that, as a middle-school student at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he knew then that he would join the military. “I just felt that I wanted to do my part to protect my country,’’ said Mr. Williams, who supported former President Donald Trump’s two White House campaigns. He eventually served four years in the Marines.Poll respondents Janet Boyer, Kevin Williams and Elana Reiser.Photo: Ron Boyer; Kevin Williams; Michael J. Epstein

To Janet Boyer, a former Pentecostal minister who lives in Cumberland Township in Southwestern Pennsylvania’s coal country, patriotism has taken on a political sheen and is no longer important to her. “For me, patriotism has turned into right-wing nationalism,’’ said Ms. Boyer, who backed President Biden in 2020.

Political divisiveness also weighs on her. “Back in the day, Republicans and Democrats had a sense of deference to one another,’’ said Ms. Boyer, 52, a self-help author and jewelry designer. “They didn’t act like they were in a schoolyard trying to be vengeful and reactive.”

Percent who say these values are ‘very important’ to them

Source: WSJ/NORC poll of 1,019 adults conducted March 1–13, 2023; margin of error +/–4.1 pct. pts.

Asked what values unite the nation, Elana Reiser, 43, of Brookhaven, N.Y., pointed to economic opportunity. “No matter your starting point, you can always become successful,’’ she said.

Some 21% in the survey said that America stands above all other countries in the world, a view that some call American exceptionalism. Half said that America is one of the greatest countries, along with some others. The share who said other countries are better than the U.S. rose to 27%, up from 19% when the same question was asked in 2016.

Ms. Reiser said that, as a university math teacher, she knows that other countries rank higher on tests of math performance. She said longer vacations and maternal leaves in some European countries mean they have a better quality of life. “In America, you basically have to work your whole life, and you don’t get breaks,’’ she said.


Jennifer Benz, vice president of public affairs and media research at NORC, said that views in the survey might have been colored by the downbeat economic outlook that the poll also found. “People are just sort of down on everything about the country,” she said.

The survey found sharp differences by political party on social issues that have gained prominence.

It asked whether society had gone far enough—or had gone too far—when it comes to businesses taking steps to promote racial and ethnic diversity. Just over half of Republicans said society had gone too far, compared with 7% of Democrats. Some 61% of Democrats said diversity efforts hadn’t gone far enough, compared with 14% of Republicans.

For each of the following, has our society gone too far, not gone far enough, or is it about right? Shown by percentage who say ‘too far’

Accepting people who are transgender

Schools and universities taking steps to promote racial and ethnic diversity

Accepting people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual

Businesses taking steps to promte racial and ethnic diversity
Promoting equality between men and women

Three quarters of Republicans said society had gone too far in accepting people who are transgender, while 56% of Democrats said society hadn’t gone far enough.

Overall, 63% of people in the survey said that companies shouldn’t take public stands on social and political issues, while 36% of people said companies should take such stands. Among Republicans, 80% opposed companies doing so, while 56% of Democrats favored the idea.

Half of people in the survey said they didn’t like the practice of being asked to use gender-neutral pronouns, such as “they’’ or “them,’’ when addressing another person, compared with 18% who viewed it favorably. Some 30% of respondents under age 35 viewed the practice favorably, compared with 9% of seniors.

The Journal-NORC survey polled 1,019 people from March 1-13, mostly online. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

Differences in how the new poll and prior surveys were conducted might account for a small portion of the reported decline in importance of the American values tested. Prior surveys, conducted for the Journal and NBC News, used live interviewers to reach

Trump describes 2024 election as ‘the final battle’ from podium in Waco


Former president honours January 6 rioters and delivers violent rhetoric in rally at Texas city during anniversary of Branch Davidian massacre

David Smith in Washington (The Guardian)

Donald Trump, the former US president, continued to invoke retribution and violence on Saturday when he used the first rally of his 2024 election campaign to rail against prosecutors weighing a criminal charge against him.

Efforts by Trump’s team to steer a more conventional, disciplined candidacy have wilted in recent days as the 76-year-old unleashed words and images that – even by his provocative standards – are unusually dehumanising, menacing and dangerous.


He opened the rally by playing a song, “Justice for All”, that features a choir of men imprisoned for their role in the January 6 insurrection singing the national anthem intercut with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Trump stood solemnly on a podium with hand on heart and footage from the Capitol riot was shown on big screens and US flags billowed in the wind. “That song tells you a lot because it’s number one in every single category,” he told a crowd of thousands. “Number two was Taylor Swift, number three was Miley Cyrus.”
Donald Trump called the prosecutors investigating him ‘absolute human scum’. Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The choice of location for the rally was also striking: Waco, a city in Texas, exactly 30 years after a 51-day standoff and deadly siege between law enforcement and the Branch Davidians that resulted in the deaths of more than 80 members of the religious cult and four federal agents.

It came with Trump facing the prospect of becoming the first president in US history to be indicted. A grand jury in New York investigating a hush money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, who alleged a sexual encounter with Trump, a claim he denies.

Trump falsely predicted his own arrest on Tuesday last week and called for protests without adding that they should be peaceful. On his Truth Social platform he warned of “potential death & destruction” if he is eventually charged.

He also used increasingly racist rhetoric as he launched ever more personal attacks against Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, raising fears that supporters could try to lash out on his behalf. Trump even shared an image of himself holding a baseball bat next to a picture of Bragg.

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, said: “The twice-impeached former president’s rhetoric is reckless, reprehensible and irresponsible. It’s dangerous, and if he keeps it up he’s going to get someone killed.”

On Friday a powdery substance was found with a threatening letter in a mailroom at Bragg’s offices; officials later determined the substance was harmless.


Yet at Saturday’s rally at Waco airport, there was little sign of Trump heeding the warnings and cooling off. Behind him supporters held signs that said, “Witch hunt”, “I stand with Trump” and “Trump 2024”.

The 45th president repeated his false claim that the the 2020 presidential election was “rigged”, praised the rioters of January 6 and raged against the “weaponization of law enforcement”, branding the prosecutors overseeing multiple investigations into his conduct as “absolute human scum”.

Wearing a dark jacket, white shirt and no tie, he said: “I got bad publicity and my poll numbers have gone through the roof – would you explain this to me ... It gets so much publicity that the case actually gets adjudicated in the press and people see it’s bullshit.”


 

Trump also launched his most sweeping attack yet on one-time Republican ally Ron DeSantis. Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters

Trump claim that his personal life “has been turned upside down” because of “prosecutorial misconduct by radical left maniacs” and framed the various investigations as political attacks coordinated by Democrats in Washington.

He said: “You will be vindicated and proud. The thugs and criminals who are corrupting our justice system will be defeated, discredited and totally disgraced.”

He declared that his “enemies are desperate to stop us”, and “our opponents have done everything they can to crush our spirit and to break our will. But they failed. They’ve only made us stronger. And 2024 is the final battle, it’s going to be the big one. You put me back in the White House, their reign will be over and America will be a free nation once again.”

Trump also launched his most sweeping attack yet on Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, seen as his strongest challenger for the Republican presidential nomination.

“He’s dropping like a rock and I wonder why,” Trump said of DeSantis’s recent slippage in opinion polls. He went to repeat his claim that DeSantis had begged for Trump’s endorsement with “tears in his eyes” when he was running for governor. “I did rallies for Ron that were massive rallies.”

Trump claimed that Florida had been successful for “decades” before DeSantis took office and accused him of disloyalty. “But when a man, you know, you get him elected and there’s no quid pro quo ... He gets the nomination because of you, he wins the election because of you. Two years later, the fake news is up there saying, ‘Will you run against the president? Will you run?’ And he says, ‘I have no comment.’ I say, that’s not supposed to happen. ‘I have no comment.’ No. So I’m not a big fan.”

Trump’s critics described the rally as anti-democratic and un-American. The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, said in a statement: “Trump doubled down on his usual violent rhetoric and threats against his political enemies. After spending this week threatening the New York City district attorney Alvin Bragg and calling for ‘protests’, he talked about the ‘final battle’, ‘weaponization’ of the office, and how he would be the ‘justice’ for his supporters.

“His choice of Waco on the anniversary of the Branch Davidian standoff was to embrace the rightwing extremists who gave him the violent protests he craves. His followers got the message, loud and clear.”

The grand jury investigating Trump’s alleged hush money payment is expected to meet again Monday in New York.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I was hoping you would consider taking the step of supporting the Guardian’s journalism.

From Elon Musk to Rupert Murdoch, a small number of billionaire owners have a powerful hold on so much of the information that reaches the public about what’s happening in the world. The Guardian is different. We have no billionaire owner or shareholders to consider. Our journalism is produced to serve the public interest – not profit motives.

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Quintilio Prodi, fratello di Romano, architetto e musicista ha chiuso bottega dopo una lunga e travagliata malattia.

 

 

Abbiamo avuto occasione di conoscerlo molti anni fa a Bebbio, il casale castello dove generazioni di Prodi si riuniscono, insieme a stuoli di amici per gustare una favolosa porchetta, scaglie di parmigiano super invecchiato,qualche bicchiere di vino.

Al mattino colazione non stop in una grande stanza con bricchi di caffè bollente, latte e miele.

Il brusio della conversazione mattutina, le voci dei ragazzi che correvano e giocavano all'improvviso sembravano attenuarsi allo scaturire della musica di un trio d'archi che proveniva da una stanza interna del Casale.

E ci trovavamo, grandi e piccoli ad entrare di soppiatto in una stanza dove l'architetto Quintilio con il suo violoncello., una figlia che se non sbagliamo suonava il flauto, un nipote al violino si stavano esercitando su qualche brano classico. 

 Ma era soprattutto l'atmosfera che si creava in quell'ora di musica con i ragazzini improvvisamente sileziosi che si appoggiavano alle pareti seduti per terra e gli adulti che avevano accaparrato qualche sedia.

Poi magari nel pomeriggio tutti quanti o chi voleva ad ascoltare il professore Romano che ci anticipava qualche sua riflessione di politica economica a commento della situazione nazionale, sotto un berceau sbucciando qualche mela..

Un grande regalo quegli inviti a Bebbio e un ricordo indelebile di una sfera familiare fatta di grande affratellamento, amicizia, alto livello intellettuale e poi la musica di Quintilio con i suoi figli e nipoti.

 A presto ritrovarci, caro architetto, grande musicista.

 Oscar

Quando un presidente americano e' stato arrestato


Galloping Grant: the day a sitting president of the US was arrested

President Ulysses S Grant’s penchant for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage landed him in trouble with police in 1872

Martin Pengelly

Donald Trump may be preparing to become the first US president to be criminally indicted but should his perp walk for paying hush money to a porn star come to pass – perhaps granting his reported wish to be seen handcuffed – he will not be the first president ever arrested.


Trump wants to be handcuffed for court appearance in Stormy Daniels case, sources say

In 1872, President Ulysses S Grant was nicked for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage.

The arrest of the 18th president, at the corner of 13th and M streets in Washington DC, was not for “a high crime, but it was – at least theoretically speaking – a misdemeanor”, the Washington Post reported.

Grant became president in 1869, four years after leading the Union armies to victory over the Confederacy in the civil war, the conflict which ended slavery in the US.

The policeman who arrested Grant was a Black civil war veteran, William H West. In 1908, West told his tale to the Washington Evening Star.

From his days as a cadet at the United States Military Academy, Grant was known as an excellent horseman.

Even as president, the Star said, he “loved nothing better than to sit behind a pair of spirited animals. He was a good driver, and sometimes ‘let them out’ to try their mettle.”

When he was stopped by West, the Star said, Grant “was driving a pair of fast steppers and he had some difficulty in halting them, but this he managed to do”.

The president asked: “Well, officer. What do you want with me?”

West said: “I want to inform you, Mr President, that you are violating the law by speeding along this street. Your fast driving, sir, has set the example for a lot of other gentlemen.”

Grant said sorry and left. The next day, however, he did it again.

According to the Star, Grant smiled like “a schoolboy who had been caught in a guilty act by a teacher” and said he had not been aware he was traveling too fast.

West said: “I am very sorry, Mr President, to have to do it, for you are the chief of the nation, and I am nothing but a policeman, but duty is duty, sir, and I will have to place you under arrest.”

Grant was taken to a police station and ordered to pay $20. A trial was held the next day, with numerous cases against speeding drivers “contested bitterly”. A judge issued heavy fines and a “scathing rebuke”.

Grant, however, did not show up.

The Post noted it was not possible to check the story. But it also pointed to comments from 2012 in which Cathy Lanier, then DC police chief, called Grant a joy rider.

“He actually was racing his buggy on M street,” Lanier said. “… We seized his horse and buggy.”

Lanier also said DC police “actually stopped and cited Ulysses S Grant three times for speeding” but “ended up letting him pay a fine and walk back to the White House”.

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And we avoid the trap that befalls much US media – the tendency, born of a desire to please all sides, to engage in false equivalence in the name of neutrality. While fairness guides everything we do, we know there is a right and a wrong position in the fight against racism and for reproductive justice. When we report on issues like the climate crisis, we’re not afraid to name who is responsible. And as a global news organization, we’re able to provide a fresh, outsider perspective on US politics – one so often missing from the insular American media bubble.

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Asse Cina-Russia: la partita africana che l’Europa sta perdendo


 

Asse Cina-Russia: la partita africana che l’Europa sta perdendo


Articolo di Romano Prodi su Il Messaggero

Tutti concordano sul fatto che il futuro dell’Africa determinerĂ  il destino del mondo, ma giĂ  da oggi questo continente è oggetto della massima attenzione da parte dei maggiori attori della politica contemporanea.

Accanto ai paesi che si sforzano di tenere ancora viva la loro presenza costruita nel periodo coloniale, operano attivamente in Africa tutte le grandi e medie potenze che agiscono nello scacchiere mondiale.

E’ nota da molti anni la crescente presenza della Cina, ormai divenuta il principale attore economico di tutta l’Africa. Si tratta di una presenza capillare, che continuerĂ  ad essere la strada obbligata per un paese che ha il 20% della popolazione mondiale, ma solo il 7% delle terre coltivabili, che possiede il piĂą grande apparato produttivo del mondo, ma non ha le materie prime e l’energia per alimentare la propria industria.

Un paese per cui la complementarietĂ  con l’Africa (e in misura minore con l’America Latina) non è una scelta, ma una necessitĂ .

La strategia cinese ha solo marginalmente risvegliato l’interesse americano nei confronti del continente africano, ma ha invece spinto la Turchia ad esserne un nuovo protagonista, insieme ai paesi del Golfo e all’India.

Si tratta di presenze soprattutto economiche anche se, nel momento in cui esse assumono un carattere strategico di lungo periodo, finiscono fatalmente con l’assumere anche un rilievo politico.

Negli ultimi anni è tuttavia entrata in campo la Russia, un attore che sta recitando una parte diversa, non più concentrata su una presenza economica, ma su una strategia prevalentemente politico-militare.

I risultati sono finora inaspettati: con l’impegno di poche migliaia di mercenari del gruppo Wagner e con una minima spesa è passato sotto il controllo politico della Russia una notevole parte dell’intero continente africano.

Partendo dal nord è sotto dominio russo la Cirenaica, cioè la parte piĂą ricca di petrolio della Libia e l’area da cui Wagner può controllare una parte del flusso dei migranti verso l’Italia.

Procedendo verso sud sono bastati 1.400 paramilitari per prendere il controllo del Mali, paese grande quasi quattro volte l’Italia.

Completo è inoltre il controllo sulla Repubblica Centro Africana e decisiva l’influenza sul Burkina Faso. A cui si aggiunge qualche disordine provocato in Ciad e un decisivo aiuto al sostegno del governo autoritario del Sudan, aiuto ben compensato dalla possibilitĂ  di stabilire una robusta base navale a Port Sudan.

Una serie di obiettivi raggiunti con un impiego limitatissimo di uomini e di mezzi forniti da Mosca al leader di questo gruppo di mercenari che, fino ad ora, ha obbedito agli ordini di Putin, ma ha avuto momenti di aperta tensione sia con il ministro della difesa che con il capo di stato maggiore dell’esercito russo.

Questi eventi obbligano tutti noi a chiederci se fra Russia e Cina vi sia una strategia combinata, così che la prima costituisca il braccio armato e la seconda il braccio economico di una condivisa presenza nel continente africano.

Gli interessi dei due paesi non sono sempre coincidenti perchĂ© economia e politica spesso si sovrappongono e si scontrano, ma è certo che esiste perlomeno un nemico comune: l’Occidente e, in modo particolare la Francia, cioè il paese che piĂą rappresenta l’antica potenza coloniale e che piĂą è presente sia culturalmente che economicamente in tutta l’area. C

ome non ricordare Henry Kissinger quando ammoniva che non era certo geniale da parte degli Stati Uniti agire in modo che Russia e Cina si unissero in un’alleanza sempre piĂą stretta?

Da qualsiasi prospettiva si prendano in esame questi cambiamenti del mondo africano, è comunque doveroso constatare che il rafforzamento del potere russo è sistematicamente accompagnato dalle immagini del rogo delle bandiere francesi. La strategia russa ha infatti identificato nel risentimento antifrancese degli antichi colonizzati il punto debole da sfruttare per la propria penetrazione politica.

Con voluta tempestivitĂ  il presidente Macron ha compiuto un viaggio lampo in Gabon, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville e Repubblica Democratica del Congo, per dimostrare che la Francia ha ancora un grande ruolo in Africa anche al di fuori delle sue tradizionali aree di influenza.

E’ tuttavia sempre piĂą evidente che, di fronte a questi grandi cambiamenti, anche il piĂą simpatetico gesto di apertura serve solo a ritardare la ritirata.

Per legare l’Africa a noi dobbiamo prima di tutto legare noi all’Africa, con una politica europea che rompa anche simbolicamente con il passato.

Una politica non solo di aiuto ma soprattutto di cooperazione, abbandonando quel senso di superioritĂ  che ha sempre fatto apparire naturale e spontaneo imporre ai paesi africani le nostre regole e i nostri principi.

Non posso dimenticare quando, al vertice dei G8 del 2007, l’allora presidente del Senegal, invitato come ospite a parlare, disse semplicemente che aveva ricevuto maggiori risposte positive alle sue richieste parlando per mezz’ora con il presidente cinese che trattando per molti anni con gli interlocutori presenti, che pure rappresentavano tutte le grandi, potenti e ricche democrazie del mondo occidentale.