THE TWINNING BETWEEN MARIA MATER ORPHANORUM AND MARIA DOLENS

Every day within the European Union 12 people leave their homes, say goodbye to their families, go to work and never come back. They are not abducted by aliens but rather they die while earning their salary. A silent, constant massacre, to which we are almost accustomed. The reason, in the vast majority of cases, is failure to comply with safety regulations. The same that led to the Marcinelle tragedy in 1956, when on the morning of August 8 in the Bois du Cazier coal mine in Belgium, a fire killed 262 workers. One hundred and thirty-six of them were Italian emigrants, 95 Belgians, 31 miners of other nationalities. Even today, the lust for profit leads to neglect of procedures that would save lives that are perhaps considered acceptable "collateral damage" and are certainly not sufficiently protected.

Maria Dolens has always encouraged the philosophy that people be put at the top of the list of priorities, especially those who are more at risk than others of not returning home from a construction site or a factory when the end-of-shift siren sounds. For this reason, since 2009, it has been twinned with Maria Mater Orphanorum, the bell which rings out in Bois du Cazier two hundred and sixty-two times every 8 August, at 8.05 am, the hour of the tragedy, alternating the name of one of the victims with each toll. Twinning means "the two Marys" remember together, and so on the same day, the Bell of the Fallen rings out at 12 on the Colle di Miravalle hill with its hundred strokes of peace in memory of the tragedies that occur at any latitude or any era, even in ours.

But there is no resignation, only a desire to remember in order to do something. Because we need to keep our guard up so that men and women of any country do not have to risk their lives every day to earn a salary. And it must be done consistently because often the workers who have the lowest wages and fewer opportunities to have their say are the ones who die.

The latest Eurostat data available from a complete analysis by the European statistics office for 2018 is pitiless. The EU average of deaths from accidents is 1.77 for every hundred thousand workers while the Italian average is 2.25. We could go on to see who does better and who does worse, but it is not a race, it's a tragedy. So, let's not forget to count the victims, but let us also begin to pursue those who are guilty with greater determination, those who are called by different names but may all be attributed to an uncontrolled desire that does not seem to subside even when satisfied. Distinguishing features: greed.

1st August 2009: Reggente Alberto Robol, Foundation President in Marcinelle with Jean-Louis Delaet, Director of the Le Bois du Cazier Museum, for the twinning of Maria Dolens with Maria Mater Orphanoru