Dear Aldo,
I noted, with regret, that Miss Salis will be nominated in order to obtain her release from prison, hopefully not acquittal. I am with the prime minister: politicizing doesn’t help, however it is yet another demonstration of how those who commit crimes, whether little or many, are better protected than those who suffer, especially in our country. The problem is that we also want to impose our hairy guaranteeism on others… by doing so we authorize any exalted person to behave in a manner unworthy of a civilized person, since he will always find the embrace of some obviously one-sided democratic and guaranteeist politician.
Ernesto Megali
Dear Ernesto,
I am publishing your letter because it is well written and has compelling arguments, even if I don’t agree with them. I receive letters of a very different nature, full of hatred for poor Ilaria Salis, a girl who has not committed blood crimes (her alleged victims had a prognosis of just a few days) and suffers very harsh and inhumane detention in a country which, despite being part of the European Union and having a particularly friendly relationship with the Italian government, it presents disturbing illiberal traits. But why do you hate her so much? A democracy fights for its citizens, and a government does so even more so for citizens who have political ideas different from its own. An undoubted success of the Meloni government was having brought Patrick Zaki, who was also the target of furious hatred, back to Italy as a free man. The extradition of Chico Forti, who was also convicted of murder, was also a success. Ilaria Salis was not convicted and not accused of murder. At the trial she was put in chains and on a leash. The Hungarian government, taking refuge behind the autonomy of the judiciary, has made it clear that her trial will be very difficult for her. Of course, Ilaria Salis was wrong to go to Hungary to fight with the neo-Nazis, and anyone who claims otherwise isn’t helping her and is actually playing into the hands of her opponents. But now it is right to fight for an end to her detention, which we should not wish on any human being, on any Italian and, let me add, on any woman. I would never vote for Fratoianni and Bonelli, but if Ilaria Salis, thanks to the vote of the Italians – or thanks to the intervention of the Italian government – were to leave Hungarian prisons I would be happy; and I don’t see why any compatriot should be upset about it.
TODAY’S OTHER LETTERS
History
My uncle, a prisoner of the allies, a cook in Hawaii
Speaking of soldiers taken prisoner by the allies and interned, two of my mother’s brothers, who left for the war, had been captured in Africa, one by the French, another by the Anglo-Americans. From my mother’s story I know that the first, Cesare, remained in Algeria until the end of the war and worked in a workshop. Back home, he could not find work and had almost decided to return to Africa: he had remained on good terms with the French/Algerian owner of the workshop in which he had worked. He had also written to him that he could come back whenever he wanted, he had grown fond of him and there would always be a job for him. My other uncle, Pietro, taken prisoner by the Anglo-Americans, was asked to join the allied army to fight, but together with many others he refused. He said he was beaten, put on a truck and, after a long journey, deported to Hawaii. From there I was also able to write to my grandparents who in this way knew that he was alive. He worked in the kitchens: his guardians were strict, obsessive about cleanliness, but in his story the imprisonment was not harsh. They are both back, Pietro died a few years ago, Cesare will soon turn 104. One of my father’s brothers, Giannino, an Italian soldier captured by the Germans, experienced the Nazi work camps. When he came home he weighed 35 kilos. I never heard him talk about his experience in the work camps: only about the hunger he suffered, constantly searching for potato peelings to survive. He passed away many years ago: today he would also be 104.
Alberto CompostaVerona
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