Eugenia Roccella, Minister for the Family, Birth Rate and Equal Opportunities. What happened the day before yesterday at the Book Fair in Turin, with the harsh protest against you, is it really the fascism of the anti-fascists, as you yourself denounced?
«The definition comes from Pasolini, and the first to apply it to the Turin events was Matteo Renzi. I think he’s right: aggressive and illiberal methods denied the right to speak to a person who was simply invited to present a book in the place that should be more open to any opinion: the Book Fair. Whereas they are the same ones who every day scream the alarm of fascism ».
Can we then talk about squadronism?
«I don’t accept protests, which are always admissible in a democracy, although according to my history I consider non-violence an indispensable method. But I think there should be unanimous condemnation of what happened; on the contrary, on the left there was a worrying silence, or worse, an attempt to subvert reality».
It is paradoxical that acts of such serious intolerance find space in a place like the Turin Book Fair, which should be dedicated to dialogue and confrontation.
“Yes, it is. And it is serious that the director of the Salone did not understand this, that he tried to mediate, as I had already done, but in the face of the protesters’ refusal, he did not deem it necessary to take a clear and explicit position against those who deny the right to speak I was not asking you to subscribe to my ideas or declare yourself in favor of this government, but simply to defend freedom of opinion and expression. Among other things, my book is not about my political activity, but about my family, immersed in history of the Radical Party, of the libertarian and feminist struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. An event that perhaps the demonstrators should know about».
What is your response to Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein, who accused her and the right-wing government of not tolerating dissent?
«Anyone can have an idea and judge by seeing the videos of what happened. I asked the demonstrators to confront each other, invited them to the stage to read their statement (which they did), advised the police not to send them away and not to react to provocations. In response, the scheduled event was prevented from occurring».
From the left, so far, there has been no condemnation of what happened two days ago.
«Worse, they looked for pretexts, really ridiculous and surreal, to overthrow the accusations, climbing straws. You mentioned Schlein, I should add Appendino who defined the government as “authoritarian and arrogant”, Saviano who called me a provocateur… Should I continue?».
Among the few exceptions, on the left, that of the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, who sympathized with her.
«I thanked him and invited him to organize a new presentation together in his city. For a truly free comparison. I hope you accept the idea.
Why does the left always pretend to give democracy lessons to others?
]«It is already a fact that attacks on freedom of expression come from the left, and it is precisely that political part that claims to be champion of rights, but has problems respecting the freedom of those who think differently. There are many episodes of intolerance, recent and less recent: I think, for example, when Pope Ratzinger was prevented from speaking at the University of Rome. Above all, contrary to what happens on the right, when episodes of this type occur on the left, it is not the antibodies that are triggered, but the official defense of friends, of those who are part of their alignment and their environment. It happened this time too.”
Finally, what is your opinion on the “Wish for a Baby” fertility fair, which took place in Milan this weekend?
«We have been used to the idea for some time that fatherhood, motherhood, children, women’s bodies can be treated as commodities, exchanged for a fee, regulated by contracts and by the law of demand and supply. While those girls challenged me, feminists demonstrated against the Milan fair, aware of the danger of this drift. To my demonstrators, who spoke about women’s freedom and control over the female body, I proposed that we fight together against surrogacy. They gave a categorical refusal. It is this incurable contradiction that the new parental market embodies, and that we want to break”.
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.