On the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the Liberation of Italy, anti-fascist Teramo today saw the traditional celebratory demonstrations take place.
First in Largo Madonna delle Grazie, monument to the Fallen of the Resistance: laying of the Laurel Wreath, then in Viale Mazzini, monument to the Fallen of all the Wars: Raising of the flag – Anthem – laying of the Laurel Wreath – celebratory interventions, then the delivery of the ” Citizen Merit” to the values of the Resistance, followed by the Villa Comunale “Stefano Bandini”: commemoration of the Teramani Alberto Pepe, Mario Capuani, Berardo D’Antonio, Romolo Di Giovannantonio and finally in Miano – Monument to the Fallen – traditional tribute to the Resistance from part of the residents.
This is the Mayor’s speech
“The Resistance was an extraordinary event. He had created a truly exceptional unit that went from the Badoglian officers to the communist workers.”
I believe that the deepest meaning of April 25th, which represented the epilogue of the pluralist and popular struggle for freedom, is contained in the words of Nilde Iotti. Words that today, in a historical moment in which the celebrations for Liberation are increasingly called into question, in which we daily witness attempts, even by institutional representatives, to censor anti-fascism, to forget it, to deny it, remind us indelibly how Liberation is everyone’s heritage.
April 25 cannot and must not be a divisive date, but on the contrary it must continue to represent, for our communities, as it was in 1945, a moment of national unity. Denying it means denying the sacrifice of those men and women who sacrificed their lives for the freedom and dignity of our country. Men and women of different social, cultural and political backgrounds, who fought against the Nazi-fascist dictatorship.
An anti-fascism which is at the basis of our Constitution, which represents its spirit in its fundamental principles: not just a right, but a real duty. Trying to erase it paradoxically results in its even stronger affirmation. Because it is precisely the attempts to deny it that confirm to us that today, more than in the recent past, it is essential to reiterate its necessity and value as a defense of human dignity.
During the Constituent Assembly, Aldo Moro himself, referring to the desire expressed by some colleagues that the Constitution was not anti-fascist but afascist, expressed his disagreement, precisely by virtue of the common opposition, which had led to the Liberation, to the fascist oppression of the values of human person and social solidarity. “We cannot forget what happened, because this Constitution today emerges from that resistance, from that struggle, from that denial, for which we found ourselves together on the front of the resistance and the revolutionary war and now we find ourselves together for this commitment of affirmation of the supreme values of human dignity and social life”, said Aldo Moro.
To look to the future we must remember and experience our past. Because it is precisely in the Resistance, in being partisans, in Liberation – which is something more than freedom – that those values that represent the antibodies to those disvalues that today are at the basis of too many events that are affecting populations and people are contained.
The Liberation of ’45 was first and foremost a liberation from wars. A Liberation which translated into the predominance of law, as subsequently sanctioned by Article 11 of the Constitution, contained in that repudiation “of war as an instrument of offense against the freedom of other peoples and as a means of resolving international disputes”.
A value that we must rediscover today, also in the awareness that Liberation is not only freedom from oppression and wars, which still blood the world today and erase the smile from the eyes of every child, but it is liberation from need, freedom to be able to choose a adequate profession, freedom to be able to build a life plan that makes us happy, satisfied, freedom to stay in one’s own country and not have to be forced to leave it for economic reasons.
Liberation, today more than ever, means guarantee of rights. Those rights engraved in our Constitution which, as Sandro Pertini said “is a good document, but it is up to us to ensure that certain articles do not remain a dead letter, ink on paper. In this sense, the Resistance continues.”
And this is why I am especially addressing the new generations: rights, even those we think have been acquired, are never fully acquired. They must be defended every day, with our daily behaviors. They must be defended by always being partisans. And today more than ever, being a partisan means not looking back in the face of injustices, never being indifferent, defending the least, leaving no one behind.
Today, being a partisan means reclaiming that European consciousness which was one of the great benefits of the Liberation. Because the Resistance, which led to that April 25, 1945, was not just an Italian event. Although with different characteristics, it united all of Europe with one identical goal: the liberation of national territories in the name of the dignity of man against barbarism.
And from that Liberation was born the awareness of the need to unite European countries under a common umbrella of values. After the Second World War, Europe, as we know it today, was also born so that, through the construction of a lasting peace process, based on a concept of sharing sovereignty, fundamental principles and values, the horrors experienced would not be repeated.
Today, precisely to give a meaning to the Liberation that is not a mere rhetorical celebration, to live it in current events, we must resume the path never truly taken towards a free, united and supportive Europe that is based on common principles, values, rights and institutions. and which consecrates peace among the European peoples, as outlined with foresight by Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi in the Ventotene Manifesto. A peace which, I will never tire of repeating, does not only mean the end of the war, but above all the construction of a better, stable and peaceful future for all peoples.
Only in this way will we truly honor the sacrifice of those young people, those women, those men, who gave their lives to give us a present and a future of justice and freedom.
A sacrifice that saw our territory, our community, on the front line in the fight against Nazi-fascist oppression. A page of our history that we also relive through the places of our city, such as Porta Reale – where the monument honoring the partisans stands – or Viale Mazzini – with the monument to the fallen in the wars – as well as through the places of our province and the I remember those women and men from Teramo who represent the symbol of the Resistance: I think of Giuliana Valente, to whom we will present a certificate of merit today, of Giovanna Di Filippo Mobili and Margherita Ammazzalorso; I think of Mario Capuani and Alberto Pepe. Women and men who, in addition to being protagonists of the Liberation struggle, have left us a very important witness: that of anti-fascism as an expression of freedom and democracy.
This is why, in Teramo, even today we continue to be forcefully anti-fascists.
Teramo is anti-fascist because it recognizes itself in the values of the heroes of Bosco Martese, the first open battle between the partisans and the Nazi-fascist formations: it was among those mountains, among those paths, that history was written, that the foundations of our Constitution were laid .
Teramo is anti-fascist because it is not afraid to sing, in its streets, “Bella Ciao”, whose notes will never cease to remind us of the sacrifice of those who lost their lives to free our country from the Nazi-fascist yoke, giving us a present and a future of freedom and rights.
Teramo is anti-fascist because it is a “City open to the world” which values differences, which promotes dialogue, which puts the person at the centre, which recognizes the other as an asset.
Teramo is anti-fascist because it is a city of rights, which puts equality at the centre, which leaves no one behind, which has made integration and inclusion its beacons, which when it extends its arm and hand it does so exclusively with The sole objective of helping those in need to get back on their feet.
Teramo is anti-fascist because in this era in which disvalues that we thought were distant come forcefully back to the fore, it continues to believe and work for a free and just society, in which the dignity of man comes before everything.
Today more than ever, here in our city, long live the Resistance, long live the Liberation, long live the anti-fascist Constitution, long live Peace, long live Teramo.
Gianguido D’Alberto
Mayor of Teramo
