The drama and the fight against asbestos between cinema and the web

by Eleonora Anello

3000 deaths among former workers and ordinary citizens. 20 years in prison each requested by the prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello charged to the senior executives of the multinational Eternit, accused of "intentional disaster and lack of safety measures and precautions". This is the tragic story of one of the greatest environmental crimes at the hands of an industry that knew but kept quiet in the name of profit.

Those of us who take care of daily environmental communication have been very impressed by the fervour and the social cohesion arisen, after 30 years of silence, among the population of the affected areas.

In the intense wish of justice that meanders among the public opinion, art, in its various forms, plead the case, especially since there was the certainty that there are civilian casualties involved, meaning people that have never set foot in 63 Oggero Street, the base of Eternit in Casale. It has thus been seen an unprecedented explosion in information and communication, with the hope that the issue would have gained the proper visibility. And so it was.

One of the pieces most appreciated by audiences and critics is Polvere (dust), whose central theme is the asbestos,. The video-documentary by Niccolò Bruna and Andrea Prandstraller was awarded 2 prizes at the International Festival of Cinemambiente and, in recent days, one prize at the Euganea Film Festival.

The documentary film has drawn by “Asbestos in the dock”, a social networking project born in parallel and operated by Niccolò Bruna for the Association of Asbestos Victims (Afeva) of Casale Monferrato, aiming at highlighting all the heritage of information generated by research and enhancing and extending the message of the international civil battle. «The history of the process is a collective story - the author explains - a story where many people contribute to information and, through their narrative, complement the story. The pristine idea was to make a weekly report about the process and also to collect useful information for the documentary. In a short time, Asbestos in the dock was able to mobilize people who would not have been reached by the mainstream media, because their coverage is limited to the highlights of the process. Internet not only has been instrumental in helping to spread beyond the Italian borders the information needed to keep alive the international mobilization (on 2009 April 6th, the first day of the hearing, many foreign associations were present) but it has also encouraged the participation of the members. Thanks to the web there is indeed the possibility that a different kind of information will reach a better quality and a higher coverage than traditional media. The strength of the project is that it deals with a very specific and local issue; however, that attracts global interest. The media look at the spectacular side and not at the substantial one, but in Turin there is a process that can become a milestone for the issue of corporate social responsibility: it is a symbolic issue even more important than the process itself».

To repeat the eloquent words of the three prosecutors who are handling the case in Turin, it is a "huge disaster" that sees “as main allegorical accused asbestos", but whose devastating effects on workers and citizens are due to the conscious conduct of the two accused, which for years has been based on a single vile and despicable strategy: the non-communication of risks.