Towards a culture of active democratic citizenship through operating memory and antimafia social movements. The contribution of the Centro Studi Ricerche e Documentazione "Paolo e Rita Borsellino"

Abstract

This paper aims to reintroduce the guidelines and courses of action promoted by Centro Studi “Paolo e Rita Borsellino”, now in its tenth year, in the field of citizenship education. Following the path set out by magistrate Borsellino, there has been a constant commitment over the years to develop educational guidelines for new gen-erations that are designed to encourage projects that foster social cohesion, freedom and self-determination for those who actively participate in any democracy.
Centro Studi’s desire to contribute to citizens’ development, a greater awareness of the constitution and the pro-motion of democratic values has resulted in its involvement in trialling educational practices. This activity focuses on participation, inclusion and the tackling of educational poverty regarding, more specifically, the active school and popular education experience inspired by the values of democratic legality, antimafia and associations. Safe-guarding memory, which is all the more important if understood in its ‘operating’ dimension, thus becomes a primary means of educating to increase the spread of a culture of active citizenship and democratic cohesion.