La radio dei matti smantellata con l'ospedale?

Il sindaco "porteño", Mauricio Macri (per lui è già stato coniato il termine macrismo) vuole chiudere gli ospedali psichiatrici di Buenos Aires, tra cui il José Borda. Dal Borda opera tuttavia una delle stazioni radio più anticonformiste del mondo, La Colifata, i cui programmi sono affidati agli stessi pazienti. La radio dei matti rischia la chiusura? Oggi se lo chiedono diversi giornali internazionali come l'Independent in questo pezzo, ma la questione viene ovviamente affrontata anche dagli animatori della Colifata se avete pazienza di far scorrere il loro sito Web. Una sbobinatura di uno dei programmi recenti è stata realizzata dal blog Formato Tetris.
La Colifata è gemellata in Italia con Radio Rete180, "la voce di chi sente le voci", basata al Carlo Poma di Mantova. In questo trentennale della Basaglia proviamo a ricordarcene, ogni tanto.

Argentina's 'Loony Radio' threatened by hospital closure

By Paul Scheltus in Buenos Aires
Wednesday, 11 June 2008

With no front teeth, Pacotillo is an unlikely radio sensation. And his patter with members of his on-air posse sounds more like a group therapy session than a Saturday show. But then the broadcast is coming from the inside of a Buenos Aires psychiatric hospital. And it is called La Colifata or "Loony Radio".
Thousands of patients at the Jose Borda hospital have picked up the microphone and taken part in this unique radio show, since it started in 1991. They read poetry, discuss sports, music and politics, interview guests or simply sing a song. And millions of Argentines tune in to Loony Radio each weekend to hear their wit and wisdom.
Now this national institution is under threat. Mauricio Macri, the Mayor of Buenos Aires, recently presented a new health plan that would see the city's massive psychiatric institutions disappear within two years. They would be replaced by what he described as more modern answers to mental health treatment, such as halfway homes.
The announcement has spread uncertainty among patients and staff at Jose Borda. They agree the system needs updating and that there should be more effort made to integrate patients into society. But that's what the weekly radio broadcasts do.
Loony Radio was the brainchild of Alfredo Olivera. As a teenage hospital volunteer it occurred to him to tape interviews on topical issues with the patients and broadcast them on a friend's radio show. "The idea was to give a voice to a part of society that has been classified as ill and marginalised," he says.
(continua)