Being a woman Being a man or simply Being
June 28th, 2010
Foto luca de mata®
Today I was at a table. Thoughts crossed each other. Cultures and histories of ancient and different origins. Mutual respect. Women and men of the highest level: intellectual, spiritual, moral, agnostic and political. High reasoning.
I thought I was living the harmony of utopia in pursuit of mutual knowledge.
Do I know? Do we really know humanity in all its complexity? How can we find a space where different ways of thinking can meet, coexist and confront each other? I say that diversity is an asset, but then again, do I really accept that declaration? Many, many, many years ago, Rai entrusted me with the making of a program titled “Being a Woman, Being a Man”. Today, I might accept such a job with one condition: that it would simply be called “being.”
Foto luca de mata®
In one of my trips to Asia I have arrived to a large Buddhist Temple in Hong Kong, where all day long men women children light incense, give offerings, pray and ask incessantly, as in any other Church, Mosque, Synagogue, Temple or in the intimacy of non-religiousness, for a response of peace and of coexistence in mutual love to their anxieties and their expectations…
The freedom of democracy.
June 9th, 2010
On this blog, in which we narrate our inquest “European Muslims” for RaiUno, we have excerpted a phrase by a woman who has responsibility in the Muslim community. This phrase should make you reflect, free of the usual schemes that divide rather than unite. For now we choose to leave it anonymous, it would be wrong to label before properly understanding the mining of these few lines. Each and every one of you should feel free to respond; your arguments might be agreed or disagreed with. This is the freedom of democracy: to challenge each other in order to understand and build peace and harmony: “in its complexity Islam is more a doctrine than a religion, a philosophy of life, for both men and women and has never been incompatible with Western values. The problem does not lie within the religion itself, but in its interpretation, in fanatic speeches that sometimes tend to distort the religious content according to personal ideas. We must work to increase awareness, to promote a tolerant Islam that fits its self to the western lifestyle, this should benefit Muslims and whoever practices a different religion: Christians or Jews.
A dream of little hands.
June 5th, 2010
Foto luca de mata®
Islam: Believe, Pray. Coexist.
May 29th, 2010
L'Islam una preghiera per la misericordia
Dear friends I created this group as part of an inquest I’ve been working on for two years. I would like to open a debate free of any logical or xenophobic prejudice, in the search for possible paths of dialogue and coexistence with what is now the reality of the “European Muslims”.
Your contributions and ideas will be useful me as I hope they will be useful for everyone, to get closer and want to understand the diversities.
The concept of secularism and freedom in European societies has been a long and complex path that took centuries to evolve. All of us, today, have the right to change our opinion, live in freedom in respect for others. Equality between the sexes is a value that was difficult to understand, but today it is a reality of essential justice that will increasingly permeate our lives if we wish for the word civilization along with all of its values to be part our behavior. The West is increasingly becoming multiracial and multi religious, this formidable resource should become a heritage, not cause mistrust and fear on both sides.
In this group we might encounter a variety and polarity of opinions, but if we wish to become more aware and broaden our dialectic capacities, that should not scare us.
Thank you for your time, yours always with affection and esteem Luca De Mata
Buenos Aires – Immigration
February 9th, 2009
Argentina – Buenos Aires – dal cavalcavia della Stazione centale – foto di ” luca de mata” Copyright 2009 - tutti i diritti riservati
Under this overpass, amidst trains and railroad tracks, an extensive shantytown inhabited by new immigrants. A place of despair and extreme misery. No water, no bathroom. Here, today’s slave dealers establish an economy of blackmail. Under these clouds, the dust of nothingness, an imagination – without morals – of the criminality, breaks memory and dignity.
There are many reasons to travel, but in the end there are really only two.
January 15th, 2009
There are many reasons to travel, but in the end there are really only two: to take a rest, or as one of my dearest friends would say: “Once in and while we need to send our ideas on a trip!”; the other is to live, to work and in this I would also include the will to know and to make things known. In the case of the first reason, you take your distance from anything that the mere thought of it could result bothersome. In the latter, you are moved to live or – more dramatically speaking – to survive, flee, search for peace or simply study and take notes, whether you work in the mass media or on your own. I have a drawer with over 80,000 photographs of my trips all over the world. I have selected a few and wished to comment on them and respond to all the questions that you may have after seeing these photos. But, most importantly, I am interested in the answers, so that together we can come to understand who we are.
India – New Delhi – Moschea Sufi – Copyright Luca De Mata
What is it about Islam that fascinates me? Its severity and fidelity. What is it that alarms me? The fact that I cannot see where the fanaticism of the severity meets the fidelity to fanaticism.
