April 25th: #celebrations in Viterbo
Mezzetti (Anpi): ”Those parliamentarians from our constituency who desert the #celebrations are not patriots”
VITERBO #– The demonstrations of April 25th started this morning with a procession at 9.15 from Porta Romana which then arrived at the entrance of the Mariano Buratti high school, where a laurel wreath was placed under the plaque in his memory.
A young high school student read the reasons that accompanied the awarding of the silver medal for valor to the partisan and martyr, Mariano Buratti. # The procession then set off for Piazza del Sacrario.
The highest civil, military and religious authorities of the city lined up here.
Among those present were the prefect Gennaro Capo, the mayor Chiara Frontini, the president of the Province Alessandro Romoli, the commissioner Fausto Vinci, the provincial commander of the carabinieri Massimo Friano and the representatives of the armed forces.
”After almost 80 years #– said the mayor #– we find ourselves once again in this square in front of the monument to the fallen of all wars, to celebrate the liberation and to reflect together on the value and meaning of this anniversary, often still the subject of timeless controversies that fascinate the few enthusiasts of a nostalgia for a past that no one misses. # A past that leads us first to dictatorship, and then to civil war. # Dramatic pages of our history which, despite the liberation from fascism, continue to fuel divisions, and which still today prevent some Italians from sharing a feeling of national pacification, understood as a collective moment of communion, which is very different from the equalization that it tends not to make a difference between victims and executioners, between good and evil. # Today’s watchwords are the same as then: democracy, freedom, rights, justice and equity, these are values that we must defend and interpret from today’s perspective”.
”We cannot remain indifferent to the return of the war drums #– said the president of the Province, Romoli #– If we keep quiet we can almost hear them, they are so close to us. # Whether it is the bombs tearing apart the Ukrainian skies, whether it is the fighting in the Middle East or the Red Sea, we are almost witnessing a turning back of the hands of time. # And then we must ask ourselves: is this the world for which anti-fascists and partisans died? # Is this the world we want to leave to our children, where massacres are perpetrated, the use of nuclear power is threatened and the wells of cooperation between peoples are poisoned? # As Italians, we have suffered violence and abuse. # We know what it means to have the scars of torture and war wounds on our skin. # And we cannot accept that now, just a few kilometers from us, there are other people forced to the same fate. # We can and must do more so that the roar of weapons stops and voices return to the streets and squares of Kiev, Gaza and Tel Aviv. # We can never sufficiently honor those who gave their lives, or those who sacrificed part of it, to give us freedom”.
Then it was the turn of the president of the Anpi, Enrico Mezzetti: ”Whoever identifies with the values of April 25th is a patriot #– he said #– and those parliamentarians of our constituency who systematically desert the #celebrations of April 25th, the day of liberation from Nazi-fascism, these parliamentarians are not patriots and we cannot help but doubt their loyalty to their homeland”.
