From Campobasso to Termoli to Isernia, several events today to celebrate the liberation from Nazi-fascism which involved administrators and citizens in a date symbolic of the foundation of the Republic.
IN TERMOLI CROWN TO THE FALLEN, BALICE: WE REMEMBER THOSE WHO FREED US FROM OPPRESSION
In Termoli the ceremony took place in Piazza Monumento, where the deputy mayor Nico Balice recalled “the sacrifice of our fellow citizens, but also what is happening in today’s world. Liberation – said Balice in front of many citizens, representatives of the police forces, associations, municipal council and councilors – is an important concept because it anticipates that of freedom”. A laurel wreath was placed on the war memorial in Piazza Vittorio Veneto.
“Today we remember the sacrifice of the many people who fought to free the country from oppression, including many people from Molise – continued Balice, candidate for mayor of the centre-right coalition for the administrative offices of Termoli – They gave us our freedom back. There would have been no freedom without Liberation. An important historical moment in which we should all be aware that peace is the first value to be respected. Last year we talked about the winds of war that are still tearing the belly and heart of Europe. Today we find ourselves faced with other winds of war close to us where many children are losing their lives. Let’s not look the other way, we are not silenced. Let’s try to stay close to these people also with prayer.”
CAMPOBASSO, LIBERATION PARTY AT VILLA MUSENGA – Celebrations also in Campobasso, with a Liberation Day which took place in the beautiful setting of Villa Musenga, where the centre-left candidate for mayor Marialuisa Forte celebrated with the citizens the seventy-ninth anniversary of the Liberation of Italy from the Nazi-fascist tyranny.
“April 25th is a great collective responsibility: awareness that freedom and democracy are not “gifts”, but conquests achieved through struggle, a collective heritage to be safeguarded. Celebrating April 25th is not empty rhetoric, but respect and defense of these great premises of our Republic and of the rights enshrined in the Constitution, those rights and those values which are the basis of our political action and our vision of the city” the words of Maria Luisa Forte.
“Today is a symbolic day – he said – chosen because on this date the retreat of the Germans and the soldiers of the Republic of Salò from Milan and Turin began, following the breakthrough of the Gothic Line by the allies and the action of the Resistance . On 25 April 1945 it was Sandro Pertini who spoke on Radio Milano Libera, while the Nazis and fascists were fleeing. With a firm voice Pertini said: “Citizens, workers! General strike against the German occupation, against the fascist war, for the salvation of our lands, our homes, our workshops. As in Genoa and Turin, you put the Germans in front of the dilemma: surrender or perish.”
“But April 25th was only the last act of the fight against fascism that had already begun in the 1920s, with the sacrifice of their lives, by Giacomo Matteotti, Don Minzoni, Giovanni Amendola, the Rosselli brothers, Piero Gobetti and Antonio Gramsci, from whom the Resistance developed, as Pertini himself recalled on 23 April 1970, in a speech to the Chamber. Therefore, celebrating our liberation from fascism and Nazism, as Italians, certainly means meditating, cherishing the memory of the partisans and all the anti-fascists who reconquered our cities to civilization and respect for man for man; ensure that this memory reaches young people, in schools, in families, in places of aggregation and life. Celebrating April 25th also serves to rediscover the roots of representative democracy, of democratic parties, of Parliament, of free elections. In fact, without April 25th there would not have been June 2nd. Without the Liberation from Nazi-Fascism there would not have been the Republic and our Constitution.”
READ ANTONIO SCURATI’S MONOLOGUE CENSORED BY RAI – The party in Villa Musenga was embellished by the journalist Antonio Fatica who read the monologue censored by Rai of the writer and columnist Antonio Scurati, by Nicola Simonetti of the M5S, who read Ennio Cavalli and by Diego Florio of the Democratic Party. The actor from Campobassa performed the song from the show “My name is Tempesta. Il delitto Matteotti”, written by Carmen Sepede, directed by Emanuele Gamba, produced by the Act company (Arts, cinema and theatre) of Campobasso, and winner of the XVIII edition of the Matteotti prize, announced by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, in the literary works section and theatrical. Florio thrilled the square with the final part of Matteotti’s last speech to the Chamber of Deputies, on 30 May 1924.
Antonio Federico, regional coordinator of the Five Star Movement, underlined the importance of everyone strongly declaring themselves anti-fascists. “A very simple word that authoritative members of our Government are unable to say, indeed they ridicule it. They cannot say “I swear by the anti-fascist Constitution”, they would like to modify it, introducing the “Single Leader” and, in the meantime, they try to create, through familism, a single center of power. The reform of regionalism also attacks a fundamental aspect that comes from the anti-fascist Constitution, that is, the equality of all Italian citizens regardless of the place in which they were born and the conditions in which they grew up and the assault on law 194 is shameful”.
Also Vincenzo Boncristiano of the Italian Left, the Greens, the Socialists and the Movement for Territorial Equity, recalled Pertini’s words: “While fascism is not an opinion but a crime, anti-fascism is not a word but is the beating heart of the Italian Republic and liberation is still the vital breath that animates the Constitution of the Italian Republic which, as Calamandrei said, is the rock that is not inclined but unfortunately, recently, taken with a pickaxe by a subcultural vulgate that undermines the fundamental principles of the Republic born from anti-fascism and from resistance. A few days ago, I heard a jurist say that “a Government is not judged on the basis of its words but on the basis of what it does”. Given that words are important, with the Cutro decree this Government criminalizes migrants and the NGOs that save migrants, sets a maximum number of foreign students in primary and middle schools, stiffens the penalties for essentially trivial crimes, generally committed by poor people, violates the rights of LGBTQ people on a daily basis and empties law 194 from within, which certainly does not live in good health, beats up students, the Prime Minister indulges in scoundrel and violent attitudes in Parliament like Benito Mussolini. So, how should we consider these acts of the Government, if not fascists, certainly indifferent and in violation of the Constitution of the Italian Republic. This is why I think that the idea put forward by our mayoral candidate of an inclusive city attentive to the rights of everyone, absolutely everyone, can only be a barrier against the rampant fascism and neo-fascism and be the best way to actively remember the resistance and the ‘anti-fascism’.
MONTE MARRONE, HONOR TO THE PARTISAN PINTOR –An exciting celebration also on Monte Marrone, with the laying of a wreath on the memorial stone of the partisan Giaime Pintor and interventions by the authorities and associations to remember the combat of the Italian Alpine Liberation Corps. “If I don’t return, don’t be inconsolable. One of the few certainties acquired in my experience is that there are no irreplaceable individuals and irreparable losses. A living man always finds sufficient reasons for joy in other living men”: these are the words written in the letter with which the intellectual Giaime Pintor decided to greet his brother. He felt it, he felt he was meeting his destiny. He had embraced the Resistance to fight Nazi-fascism, and at just 24 years old he died killed by the explosion of a mine left by the Germans right on this line. He had courage, the same courage as many partisans who did not allow themselves to be oppressed by the black fury. And Pintor was right, we continue to find joy in other living men.
“And today we find it in the Resistance fighters, individuals who, thanks to memory, continue to be eternally alive, individuals whose values have passed through time without fading. Their struggle gave us freedom and democracy. And it is from their blood that our wonderful Constitution was born” said the mayor of Agnone and president of the Province of Isernia Daniele Saia, participating in the celebration.
Saia remembered the words of Piero Calamandrei: “The Constitution is not a dead paper but it is a testament, a testament of a hundred thousand deaths. Wherever an Italian died to redeem freedom and dignity, go there in your thoughts because our constitution was born there.”
“Today fascism may not manifest itself in the clearest of forms, but it can hide behind any abuse, violence, injustice or attempt to rewrite history. Antifascism is not a scary word, yet many still struggle to pronounce it. On the streets, on TV, between obscurantist regurgitations and questionable editorial choices, some people try to put a black mark on this word. Well, then I say it for them too. Today and always I am proud to be anti-fascist. The fight against Nazi-fascism represents one of the highest moments of national cohesion and civil commitment. It is an extraordinary example of how, when we are united by a common goal, we can face and overcome the greatest difficulties. And our Constitution has collected and put this feeling of union on paper. A principle of unity and equality which today is called into question by a wicked plan for differentiated autonomy. A project that would increase disparities and break up our communities, fueling a highly counterproductive internal struggle” concluded Saia.
Also today, for the first edition of an event dedicated to the Constitutional Charter, 17 students from Oratino they received the Constitution from the hands of the mayor, in the Town Hall.
