Giampietro Pizzo, President of Microfinanza Srl, our YES! Implementation partner in Italy, recently had an interview with Sandro Frizziero to discuss the NEET phenomenon.
Sandro Frizziero, writer and literature professor, recently published his novel “Confessioni di un NEET”, which was included in the final selection of the John Fante Prize in 2019. The main character of the book is a young man born and raised in Chioggia, who, like one out of four young Italians today, is a NEET, that is, he does not study or work.
The acronym NEET, increasingly used and sometimes misunderstood, characterises an extremely heterogeneous group, ranging from young people looking for a job, to excluded young people with disabilities, to young people who have decided to isolate themselves and have given up all plans of entering the world of work.
The main character of the book belongs to the latter category. He has made his life a lockdown, barricaded indoors and separated from the outside world, which does not frighten him but which he deeply despises. Deliberately locked up in 12 square metres, connected to the world only through the screen of his PC, he comes out of his physically soundproofed bubble only to eat his mother’s baked pasta; our character seems not to suffer this situation, on the contrary he claims it as a free choice. His parents do not seem to have understood his real intentions and continue to hope that, sooner or later, he will find a job.
Beyond the particular reading of the NEET phenomenon, this book is also a ruthless criticism of our society in which we run between work, gym and Sunday lunch at the in-laws’, a society full of contradictions that creates false needs. Without arriving at such extreme behaviour as his, we end up understanding and almost sympathising with the protagonist and why he has decided to distance himself from the rest of society.
You can see this very interesting discussion on YouTube here! We hope you’ll enjoy the interview!
You are also cordially invited to visit our Thinking Space – Peer Learning platform where you will find additional documents and cases that focus on NEETs.
On behalf of the YES! Project
Matteo and Yiorgos
