A procession to officiate a political marriage that the entire left is anxiously awaiting. A big snake to say no to violence and, above all, to the return of “fascist regurgitation”. A mantra that, in the intentions of progressives, will be able to bring women and men, boys and the elderly back to the polls. Yesterday afternoon, the center of Florence was the scene of an impressive demonstration organized by school unions. Cgil, Cisl and Uil came together to condemn the fight last February 18th, in front of the classical school Michelangiolo. A vulgar and despicable fistfight in the middle of the street, between a group of six activists from Ação Estudantil and as many teenagers from the Coletivos de Esquerda. A stupid gesture, constantly mounted and exploited by Carlo Marx’s grandchildren. Ready, despite the evidence of images, videos and testimonies, to label it as “a fascist aggression”. Also present were, among others, the new secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, and the leader of the Five Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte.
At three in the afternoon, Piazza Santa Croce was still almost deserted when an American tourist, obviously unaware of what was happening in one of the most beautiful corners of the world, walked up to a young man holding a CGIL flag. “What’s going on? Why is there a stage? Why all these police?” he asked in broken Italian. The unionist tried to explain to him the essential importance of “rebelling against fascism and violence”. The Yankee’s disbelief was a whole program. And before leaving, visibly irritated at not having had the opportunity to photograph the façade of the basilica that houses, among others, the tomb of Ugo Foscolo, he laughed aloud: “Fascism? The one from the last century? Really?”. An hour and a half later, that square is packed with at least forty thousand people who are convinced that Mussolini’s regurgitation is indeed a current problem. From 2023. And he highlighted it through the speeches that followed on stage. Starting with Maia Senatori, a student of Michelangelo. “Fascism is among us. It was a full squad attack, not a fight. For this, we go down to the streets. All headquarters of neo-fascist organizations must be closed. Today in Florence there are two chosen ones, Alessandro Draghi in Palazzo Vecchio and Francesco Torselli in the Region, who are part of Casaggì. An organization that must be dissolved, because it refers to fascist and Nazi slogans». Words of fire, which combine the conviction of always being right and the intention of drawing up veritable lists of proscriptions. Even among those who were democratically elected. But that’s not enough.
Camilla Insom, a teacher at the Primo Levi Institute in Impruneta, a small town in the Florentine countryside, expressly emphasized that “the school is the educational community. The school can and must do politics. Nothing compares to Cosmo Bonaiuti, from Castelnuovo College, who asked for the repeal of 41 bis because that way “the State condemns Alfredo Cospito to death”. Elly Schlein, although she did not speak from the stage, did not avoid interviews. “I am very happy that there is a large delegation of the Democratic Party here, that the Five Star Movement is here, that there are other civic forces and the ecological left here. I think it’s a good sign that in some fundamental battles, as we’ve always said, we must work together both in Parliament and in the country, to organize an opposition”. Giuseppe Conte, “the people’s lawyer”, in the same line: “The fact that we are here today with the new secretary of the Democratic Party means that we are in concrete battles, battles of values and principles that concern all of us. Battles that do not only concern progressive forces, because here we are defending constitutional principles”. A political wedding celebrated in the presence of the CGIL secretary, Maurizio Landini. The three, in memory of this day, which will mark a shift in maximalist terms for the Italian left, had their photographs taken wearing white T-shirts with the text of some articles of the Constitution.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
