GREETINGS FROM THE PRESIDENT

We have set up the Gens Italica Network Association as a component and point of reference in Italy of the network of the Foundations and Associations which are most representative of the communities of Italian origin present all over the world.

For many years Italian society, in both the fields of politics and culture, has pondered the problems of improving research, innovation and competitiveness within the Italian academic and industrial system. This has included the introduction of various measures giving incentives designed to reverse the so-called escape of the brains. However I believe there has until now been only a partial vision that penalizes and de-motivates Italians residing abroad since it considers the work of these Italians to be, if not downright useless, at least a waste of effort as far as the homeland is concerned. Thus there seems to be a certain imputation of guilt directed at those who have emigrated, since the public investment in their teaching and instruction is considered to have been lost. By concentrating on encouraging the best brains to return there is a risk of representing those who, for various personal and family reasons, do not show an interest in returning to their native land as the worst brains.

Our Association instead considers the representatives of the communities of Italian origin to be important, not only as brains who might return, but because they are part of a highly evolved and competitive trans-national system and they therefore represent a resource of know-how, experiences, traditions and values that can and should be increased. Thus we have the realistic and constructive objective of stimulating opportunity and individuating areas of common interest in order to set up stable relations between the various communities of Italian origin as well as between them and Italy herself, so as to create new social, cultural, professional and economic wealth for all those involved in these relationships.

Italians and their descendants who live and work throughout the world are the representatives and the ambassadors of their country. It is necessary to recognize in a concrete way their constant commitment towards becoming a well-accepted part of their adoptive countries while still maintaining a strong bond with their roots and their traditions and it is necessary to respect their pride, not only of their Italian origins, but of the reasons why their ancestors left their native land and the way they did so. Gens Italica intends to make a commitment towards expressing the positive reality that these people represent in the countries where they live and it proposes to provide the necessary support, also by interacting with our own Italian institutional representative bodies, in order to appraise and intensify the sentiment of belonging and to promote the image, the culture and the activities of Italy.

In collaboration with the academic, industrial and institutional worlds the Association proposes to discover, through the network, the points of view of Italian emigrants on various aspects of Italy today, in order to demonstrate that their thoughts and opinions count and that they should become part of the internal debates of Italy, so as to bring multicultural opinions regarding the possible evolution of the Italian system to the attention of the appropriate decision-making bodies.

The first step of the network is the opening of the Gens Italica website and the launch of a project dedicated to the many enthusiasts of Italian origin who collect Italian historical cars. The field of automobile manufacture has in fact made the creativity, technical skills, design and sporting passion of our country famous throughout the world. With the opening of the website a discussion forum, which will always be active and open to all, will be launched, including interviews with the exponents of Italian communities all over the world, and it will be completed with special surveys conducted in collaboration with various important personalities within Italian society.