With all

Words have weight, they are stones. In some cases they can even become weapons that actually kill.
The season of terrorism and the Years of Lead were proof of this. Sermig began its journey precisely in that context: the commitment to peace to be witnessed in the face of real wars, but also the most subtle ones, those fought in the terrain of ideologies.
In the 70s you either took sides, or you didn't exist. Dialogue was seen as a weakness, a surrender to do-goodism.
Yet, a third way was possible. That of goodness that disarms, embodied by the apparent utopia of an arsenal of war to be transformed into an arsenal of peace.
On August 2, 1983, Ernesto and his friends found themselves faced with a disproportion: 40 thousand square meters of ruins to be renovated could not have "been biased". We needed vision, determination, perseverance, but above all the commitment of all those who felt ready to get involved. Believers and non-believers, young and old, humble and cultured people, ordinary people and personalities: the differences were not an obstacle, but pure wealth.

THE KEY IS GOODNESS
Ernesto sensed it that first day, when he decided to enter the Arsenal with a Bible, with a crucifix given to Cardinal Michele Pellegrino by the prisoners of Turin, with the books of Luisa Manfredi King, a partisan and non-believer friend. "I didn't want to enter only on behalf of the Church - Ernesto recalls - but as humanity, as a whole society". A vision that went beyond every physical and mental barrier, because in the world there are only two large categories: people with good will and those who don't have it.
Good opposed to evil, works of justice as the path to peace, commitment to an ideal thus became the common platform for building and planning: it is goodness that breaks down walls, disarms hearts and becomes the only key to dialogue with man, thus fueling hope.
This style marked all the stages of Sermig's life, crossing opposite people and situations. A story dotted with episodes of dialogue.

WITH THE INSTITUTIONS
With those who have responsibilities in the civil and religious fields. From the first meetings with Pope Paul VI and Giorgio La Pira to the confrontation with John Paul II, passing through all the presidents of the Republic, from Sandro Pertini onwards.
The idea that behind every role there was above all a soul, with which to enter into relationships and share common projects.

WITH THOSE WHO HAVE MADE WRONG AND WANT TO CHANGE
The first letter sent to the Arsenale came from the maximum security prison in Palmi.
A terrorist who, on behalf of the proletarian armed forces, asked to be able to dialogue to get out of the black hole in which he had ended up.
It was the beginning of a confrontation that never confused roles and responsibilities, but which opened a path to change for some former terrorists and defined a method that could also be applied to other situations.

WITH THE WORLD OF CULTURE
The friendship with Norberto Bobbio was a caress: an intellectual, a man of thought, also marked by doubt. It was he who suggested the idea of a university of dialogue, a space of ongoing training in which any theme and problem can be addressed with a free heart and mind. From that spark, an experience was born that allowed thousands of young people to dialogue with masters and witnesses of every field and sensitivity. Without fear, with the sole desire to grow and mature.

WITH THE GENERATIONS
The idea of the global Youth for Peace events: periodically bringing thousands of boys and girls to the square of a city to have them dialogue with representatives of the adult world, without shortcuts and paternalism, but starting from ideals of good. A journey that passed through Turin, Asti, L'Aquila, Naples, Padua, Bergamo and who knows how many other cities in the future.

WILLING TO CHANGE YOUR MIND
Four experiences, four ideas still alive in the history of the Arsenal of Peace. A summary: dialogue as an opportunity to sit around a table, ready to change some ideas, to try to see one's own face in the other, a person like me, with limits and potential that can make the difference. Forty years of history say that at Sermig there is room for everyone. Woe betide if it were not so.

Matteo Spicuglia
SPECIAL: An Arsenal that speaks
NP June / July 2023