Forty-eight hours before Liberation Day, Vicenza reintroduces the word “anti-fascist” among the conditions to grant the occupation of public land for any type of event. A sweetened clause compared to what was initially proposed but which does not prevent a tough clash between the centre-left majority and centre-right opposition.
The clause that does not satisfy
At the time of the vote, the center-right parties adopted different strategies, with the seven councilors of Brothers of Italy and a councilor of the civic Idea Vicenza to leave the room at the time of the vote, and with the Forza Italia councilor, the Lega councilor and the other from Idea Vicenza abstaining. But even the center-left did not find itself in a united position, for opposite reasons. In fact, the clause does not even satisfy the Civic Coalition-Left-Greens, the marching left wing of the coalition led by mayor Giacomo Possamai. Mayor who “satisfies” them by bringing the case to the courtroom but who wanted a more relaxed formula than what the councilors Civic coalition-Left-Greens would have liked.
The appeal to the TAR
«It is an amendment to the Employment Regulations of public land difficult not to accept for those who recognize themselves in the Constitution” says Possamai. Words that, however, do not calm the tension in the city council. And with the centre-right having concluded the vote and not excluding it an appeal to the Regional Administrative Court on the basis of the recent decision of the Regional Administrative Court of Sicily which rejected a similar clause in a municipality on the island. The clause with the word “anti-fascist” was introduced in 2018, without the city had felt the need in the previous seventy years, by former mayor Achille Variati (centre-left) at the end of his second mandate, and was modified just over a year later by his successor Francesco Rucco (centre-right). Who removed the word “anti-fascist” and replaced it with “a refusal to join any totalitarianism”. The third change is Tuesday. Anyone who wants to use public land must “recognize and respect the principles, the norms and values of the Italian Constitution, republican, democratic and anti-fascist; recognize oneself in the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” of the United Nations and in the “Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union”; repudiate any form of dictatorial regime and limitation or suppression of freedoms personal, as well as any discrimination based on ethnicity, sexual identitylanguage, religion, political opinions, personal and social conditions”.
Hot weather
Tempers at Palazzo Trissino heat up immediately. The center-left vigorously defends the provision and with Mattia Pillan, one of the councilors of the Civic Coalition, reads the controversial monologue on April 25th by the writer Antonio Scurati. «Councillor Pillan’s five minutes of glory» dismisses Michele Dalla Negra (Idea Vicenza) while Jacopo Maltauro (Lega) observes that «the time you spent thinking about this modification testifies to the distance you have from the real problems of the city. Limiting the spaces of ideas is anti-democratic, this is authentic intolerance.” Valerio Sorrentino (Fdi) says that «the flag of anti-fascism is so torn that it has debased its original and most noble meaning». So “we will not participate in this farcical vote” he adds. On Thursday the city will experience yet another different April 25th than usual. At the official ceremony in Piazza dei Signori, at the same time, about a hundred meters away, the procession from the Bocciodromo social center. And with the headquarters of the Movimento Italia Sociale open “extraordinarily” all day.
