The Matthew Online

Students take to the streets to protest schools reform

By Elizabeth Fleming 

Rome, Nov. 9 - Late last month Italy's Education Minister Maria Stella Gelmini’s controversial public education reform was approved by lawmakers, introducing radical changes throughout the education sectors that are deeply unpopular with students, parents and opposition politicians.

Leader of the Democratic Party, Walter Veltroni, is promoting a national referendum to repeal the decree. Students and parents are joining him with massive protests in Rome, Milan, Florence, Naples, Bologna, Bari and Turin.

In Rome, university professors and teachers joined in the effort by leading lessons throughout different piazzas in Rome; more are planned.

Critics say the new proposal -- which would includes spending cuts of nearly 8 billion euros, a return to single-teacher system for subjects in primary schools, and grades for conduct -- will set Italian schools back 30 years, damaging classroom reforms set in the 1970s.

The concept of having one teacher per primary school class will result in tens of thousands of teachers losing their jobs. Parents believe that a return to a one-teacher-per-class system (from three teachers today) will cause a drop in education standards and potentially the elimination of courses like theatre and music. And, cutting the school week from 31 hours per week to 24 will cause logistical headaches for working parents, others contend.

“This law pushes toward the direction of privatization in the University sector,” said, Rosa Filardi, a John Cabot University Italian instructor. “With privatization comes a huge separation between the rich and poor. Taxes will increase making it harder for some families to even send their children to university,” she added.

After the vote was taken, the 134 senators against the reforms joined the students, teachers, and other protesters outside in Rome's Palazzo Madamo. Veltroni believes that both schools and universities will be damaged by the new reforms passed and will have devastating effects on the education system. In order for a referendum to pass, Veltroni needs 500,000 signatures and in a city with nearly three million people, it will be interesting to see whether or not he reaches the goal.

Already, the Center Right government of Silvio Berlusconi, the architects behind the plan, are considering watered-down alternatives.

$800 million spent on U.S. presidential campaign, and for what?

By Ottavia Criss

ROME, April 24 - A though-provoking panel discussion took place on Wednesday at John Cabot University's Aula Magna Regina Auditorium hosted by the Guarini Institute.

This interesting debate kicked off with a power point presentation by Lucio Martino, a specialist in U.S. politics. Did you know almost $800 million has been spent campaigning? He said the world is tired of hearing about the American elections, which have been discussed since 2000. Martino pointed out that history has shown that the party that remains divided until the last minute is usually the one that loses the White House. He predicts John McCain will win.

 

For Romanians in Rome, la bella vita is far from reality

By Megan Barnes

ROME, Dec. 10 -  Following the murder of a 47-year-old Italian woman in late October, allegedly by a Romanian immigrant, relations between the two EU countries have been tense.

Last month, in an effort to crack down on a perceived increased crime rates involving Romanians, the Italian government began deporting immigrants  who pose a threat to public order. In the first month, 283 Romanian immigrants, primarily Romanian gypsies were deported, The Financial Times reported. 

Sinking dollar has students rethinking travel plans

 

By Courtney Smith

ROME, Dec. 7 — With the continuous fall of the dollar and subsequent rise of the euro, American John Cabot University students may want to think twice about ignoring that familiar clink of a coin hitting the ground.

A two-euro coin converts to roughly $3, enough to buy a Big Mac.

The dollar's decline in the past five years is a major issue for economists and consumers alike. The fear -- both in Europe and for many Americans -- is that the dollar will continue to fall.

A country without babies? Welcome to Italy

By Pauline Horwits

ROME, Nov 27 - 1,000 euros to start a family? Tax breaks like this is what Italian politicians have been dangling over the past few years to boost the country's stalled birth rate.

It doesn't appear to be working.

According to 2001 population statistics, Italy has a birth rate of 1.23-children-per-woman, one of the lowest rates in the Western world. That compares with 2.1 in the United States, and a worldwide average of 3.3.

March on Rome addresses violence against women; but not all are welcome

By Sonia Malpeso

ROME, Nov 26- Despite the rain, an estimated 150,000 women marched on Rome Saturday afternoon to bring attention to violence against women, still a problem in Italy.

The “Violence against Women” march, leading from Rome's Piazza della Repubblica to Piazza Navona, was organized primarily via an an online petition by women's rights groups.

"The violence of men against women begins in the family and has no boundaries,” read the banner that led the march Saturday afternoon. Women's organizations from all over Italy attended the march, showing their support by holding colorful banners and chanting slogans.

Although, mostly a peaceful demonstration, tension arose shortly after the start of the march along Via Cavour when former Minister of Equal Opportunity Stefania Prestigiacomo, alongside Mara Cafagnia, marched with the crowd to show their support.

JCU's future ambassadors make a statement in U.S.

By Astrid Allard

ROME, March 20 - Last month, a delegation of six students from John Cabot University flew to Boston to enter the Harvard National Model United Nations, pitting JCU against over 2500 students from 200 universities around the world.

The Model UN’s purpose is to educate college students about how the United Nations functions. The Model UN organizers provide student ambassadors with a country and ask them how they would sort through the nation's current challenges.

This year, JCU students (pictured here) - Adea Kryeziu, Tim Loveland, Giorgio Orlandi, Elena Ravano, Sophia Wiik and Nermina Sljivo - were representing Croatia in this UN simulation contest.

Lifting the veil on religious stereotypes

By Kim Navarra

ROME, Feb. 27 - At first sight, she looks as if she just jumped out of the pages of Vogue.

Blonde, attractive and stylish, 21-year-old Panuar Omarova is more than just a pretty face. This Kazakstan-born Muslim is walking proof that looks can be deceiving, and that ethnic stereotypes are plain ignorant. Today, she studies in Rome at the European School of Economics. She is one of the growing number of Muslims who call the capital of the Catholic Church home.

CIA's alleged abduction still spooks Europe's Muslims

By Janae Wright

ROME, Feb. 22 - In 2003, the Egyptian Muslim preacher , Abu Omar, was allegedly kidnapped from Milan by U.S. CIA agents and Italian intelligence officials. Suspected of recruiting fighters for deep-seated Islamic causes, he was transported out of Italy to Egypt, where, he later said, he was tortured under questioning.

This highly controversial snatching is one of the small number of known cases of CIA kidnapping a person off the streets of a major European city without court sanction. CIA and Italian agents involved may be prosecuted for the actions taken against Omar in 2003. A trial would be the first criminal prosecution  nvolving the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program, a program that has created a dramatic rift between the U.S. and its closest allies in Europe. This turn of events may force a change in American foreign policy.

Chants of 'Yankees go home!' grow louder

By Ottavia Criss

ROME, Feb. 20 - The American Embassy in Rome made an unusual warning to Americans earlier this month: stay clear of Vicenza, a Northern Italian city known for its art and architecture, as Italian opposition grows to the planned expansion of a U.S. military base there.

According to police, 40,000 Italians from across the country took part in a peaceful protest march on Feb. 17 to keep the base, America' s largest in Italy, increasing in size from 2,700 to 4,500 troops. As the war in Iraq grows more and more unpopular in Italy (one of the primary military coalition partners alongside the American and British soldiers), the base has become seen as a symbol of lopsided U.S. military might. Italians also blame the Romano Prodi government for making decisions about U.S. troop levels on Italian soil without consulting the Italian public.