Two people, one square. My first feeling, walking among the many flags of the Democratic Party waving on this hot November Saturday afternoon in Rome, was to find two different kinds of “homo democraticus” in the same place. On the one hand, there were the managers and their circles of “experts”; a possible return with a good turnout (50 thousand people according to official figures) or at least another “restart” (this word, on the one hand, is used in these regions with a certain persistence at least since 2008, if we do not take into account those who were there before On the other hand, militants and sympathizers of the regions coming from all over the country with 7 trains and 175 buses will fill the Public Square of the country.
Voices from the square
“Let’s see him in action, let him do it. He’s only created this much mess in a year and hasn’t solved anything: four more years and the people who gave him all those votes will be chasing him with a pitchfork.” The words of Maria, a smiling Democrat from Belluno, betray an awareness that is very common among the second population, who do not feel orphaned by contracts in ministries or regional councils, rely on Elly Schlein and are in no situation. Hurry to return to the government: with these figures, it would take something very big, bordering on a miracle, to see Giorgia Meloni go to the Quirinale to resign.
“This is impossible,” says Piero, a retiree who came from Florence with his entire family. Even if they hate each other, they will never give up their seats. We need to prepare and be ready for 2027. Elly is studying well”. As Piero finishes his understandable and realistic reasoning, the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, perhaps proud of such a packed square, gets carried away and ends his speech by shouting “We won and we will win!” There are people who whisper “lucky for…”
Interventions
Aside from the somewhat Mussolini-like slip of the mayor of the capital, the interventions on stage touch all points of the Dem agenda: There is the doctor advocating public health, the student camping with his tent outside his university, and the trade unionist. Murizio de Giovanni, the writer who followed the La Perla workers’ dispute, and Mamadou Kouassi, the Senegalese mediator who inspired Matteo Garrone’s film “Io Capitano.”
The Secretary is celebrating a turnout that perhaps exceeded expectations, especially at a time when there is such strong dissatisfaction with policy, but he knows full well that this will not be enough. He knows very well that there are already voters in Piazza del Popolo who voted for the Democratic Party, that the newfound enthusiasm after years of stagnation is a starting point and certainly not a destination; He knows very well that the real challenge will be to get those staying at home to vote again from the next European elections. “From here we want to expand further – he explains – we are not enough on our own, we really have to build the alternative”. The idea that “we are not enough” is key to his project, which ranges from alliances (Giuseppe Conte’s backstage presence was important) to establishing an emotional relationship with some of the left voters. A reference point was no longer seen in the Democratic Party.
traps
A tough fight full of traps. Schlein knows very well that his own party’s generals without an army – the leaders of cliques that Fabrizio Barca confined himself to the Roman context and once described as “power for the sake of power” – eliminated all his predecessors one by one. They are looking to Europeans to re-emerge. If the result is disappointing, they will try the “cleaning” one more time. Because the Democratic Party is a bit like that: Giorgia Meloni was the leader of the Brotherhood of Italy even when it garnered a paltry 4 percent of the vote in the elections, Matteo Salvini was still there after causing the League to drop to 8 percent, but in the end the Nazarene was there as if it were some kind of role-playing game. He enjoys holding recurring conventions and primaries as if he were playing a game. Schlein filled the Piazza del Popolo, but he knows very well that it is not enough for Veltroni to fill the Circus Maximus. The challenge now is to debunk the old adage that has haunted the left since the beginning of time: “full squares, empty ballot boxes.”
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Source: Today IT
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.
