Coronavirus, From Italy a model for other countries

In recent days, journalists, collegues and contacts on LinkedIn have been in touch with me to get my opinion on the crisis that has overwhelmed us all. Their approach is always the same:  the view from my privileged observatory on Milan. That is, an approach a bit like comtemplating our navel, as if the emergency we are experiencing was local. First restricted to Codogno, then to Milan, then to Lombardy and 14 provinces. Now to all of Italy. Yet since the first days, when we all watched in amazement as that new hospital in Wuhan went up, it was clear that the problem was global, even if we did not want to admit it.  Obviously, borders had no meaning – it was only a matter of days and the number of swabs. China has been for years a giant production platform at the center of world manufacturing, making eveything from the coats we wear to the phones in our coat pockets.

 But admitting that aspect of the problem is frightening. It means understanding that the solution can only be found at the supranational level, during  a historical period in which international institutions and relations between countries are severely tested, both by Trump's policies that reward bilateralism and by Brexit,  which has delivered  a moral and material slap in the face to Europe.

But since they want me to talk about my viewpoint, my observatory, I have to say that its real protagonists are the young people of  Generation Z. Born after 1997, they are a digital native, international and borderless generation. A distinct generation whose daily life of lessons and study, but also the gym and other forms of socialization, has just been turned upside down. They are now focused on how to carry on, on how to continue learning, on how to keep their relationships alive, and to do so they look to the digital world, even creating online study groups. A generation that is experiencing this situation with the awareness that it is a moment for growth, and doesn’t believe we are facing the end of Milan and its reputation as an international hub.  They don’t close doors, don't close borders, don’t think in a localistic way because they grew up in an open society in which globalization was a good thing, not a bad one. A generation we should all learn from. 

Today we risk betraying this generation, just as they are trying to take on normal responsibilities in an abnormal situation. We who have built that open and global society are no longer able to support and govern it. Faced with a global virus, we have given a local response, and even today, when 100 countries have been infected and ever more universities – including Harvard – are forced to adopt distance learning as Bocconi has done, we have not yet taken the path of collaboration and sharing in a decisive way. Sharing errors and best practices is the method for dealing with this crisis, but instead we see Germay simply saying that everyone will get the virus, while Austria and Slovenia shut down their borders in a panic and Trump cancels flights to Europe.

Milan and Italy had the misfortune of being the first Western country to be hit by the virus. For this reason we have been isolated but we also now represent a model for other countries and international institutions to look to. We have reacted with increasing rigor, and as the problem became clearer the tones have subsided, competencies are emerging to occupy the role they deserve, and solidarity is spreading to everyone and in many forms. From banks like Intesa SanPaolo to Chemtec di Corbetta near Milan which started producing hand sanitizer to give it free to citizens and frontline civil servants; from Emergency’s Gino Strada to Esselunga, up to the young women from Turin "on the fourth floor." The list is long and above all it keeps getting longer:  it will be the thing that brings us out of this crisis and allows us to be of help, also to those who at the beginning mocked and isolated us.

From my observatory, what I really see is a community that has rolled up its sleeves and found a solution that allows everyone to avoid a shutdown, to continue to be productive and to help those who need it most. At Bocconi, as at all universities, the community is that of students, professors and staff, and the solutions are called distance learning and smart working. But the concept applies to everyone: from doctors to civil protection, from companies to public administrations. Different communities, different solutions adopted. The same spirit.

Italian version published by La Stampa (14/03/2020)