‘There will be no list’

“At the June municipal elections, there will not be a list inspired by the values ​​and vision of the 11 August Association“. It is the Association whose name bears the date of the Liberation of Florence, launched in January by Tomaso Montanari in view of the municipal elections, to break the news.

After theappeal launched on 17 April “to all the political subjects who could give life to a progressive coalition capable of stopping the right and really changing things in Florence”, now the Association is withdrawing from the June race, promising however to continue its commitment.

“We were born with an appeal to emerge together, and we will continue to work – more than before, and better than before – to build this other politics. We were born with a long view, and the determination to take a path capable of changing ourselves and the state of things: this is what we will do, convinced that the only way to truly believe in April 25th is to implement the project of the Constitution. We have worked to ensure that this new wind begins to blow right from the precious occasion of the next elections: but in the end and despite all our efforts it cannot be like this. From the beginning we said that our objective was twofold: prevent Florence, like most of the Tuscan capitals, from ending up in the hands of this fascist right; and free Florence from a state of affairs that reduces it to a commodity and makes it more unequal and unjust every day”.

“To achieve this, we said, what was needed was not one more list in the fragmented archipelago of the left, but a broad coalition. A coalition capable of overcoming the right, cutting it off and going to a run-off with the Democratic Party: it happened in Campi, it wasn’t impossible. We had a beautiful project, and authoritative names (and never published in the press) for the candidacy for mayor, and for a government team to be proposed to the other subjects of the coalition. To achieve this there were two conditions: that the 5 Star Movement should take note that even in Florence the Democratic Party does not present any element of discontinuity with respect to the policies adopted by the Renzi and Nardella councils and presents itself increasingly as a hateful government management machine candies; and that Firenze Città Aperta, Sinistra Progetto Comune, Firenze Democratica and possibly other entities agreed to be together, in coalition. There was immediate total harmony with Firenze Città Aperta, and the dialogue with Firenze Democratica was also open and promising, despite the differences. But two other fundamental forces blocked the way to the creation of the coalition.”

“After an exhausting wait, which has now consumed the time of every possible different choice, the M5S is still negotiating to act as a crutch for a system of power that could not be further from its values. He is deciding this in Rome, with a tactical choice and indifferent to values ​​and democracy, overturning the expectations of the vast majority of his Florentine base. A suicidal and incomprehensible choice: the choice of someone who, by damaging himself, destroys any possibility of real change. AND Sinistra Progetto Comune, after having decided to launch Dmitrij Palagi’s candidacy three days before the announced birth of 11 August, has always demonstrated distrust regarding the possible birth of the coalition; she refused to sign a public appeal to the 5 Star Movement with 11 August, and finally, at the decisive moment, while affirming broad agreement with the city project proposed by 11 August, she refused to discuss the programs point by point to decide whether whether or not it was possible to be in coalition with Cecilia Del Re’s Firenze Democratica, and with the other possible subjects involved in the coalition, arguing that there was now “no more time” to seek broad convergence. But the time, then, was there: and there is there is strong disappointment for an a priori, short-sighted and factionalist choice, which ends up only serving the interests of many political forces, including the Florentine PD, who oppose the winds of change and for whom a fragmented and therefore weak left-wing opposition represents the best guarantee of maintaining power”.

“Faced with this scenario – which in any case, for months, we have tried in vain to avoid – the choice remained to present a list anyway. But it would be a serious mistake. It’s one thing to build a coalition capable of excluding the right from the ballot and then contesting the city in the second round, offering a strong and credible alternative to the Florentine PD system; it is another thing to make a list that does not unite, but actually further divides the world of the left, thus ending up in fact giving an advantage to the right. If we had decided to run alone, nothing would have distinguished us from those who have contributed to splitting the left for years, to sow resentment and divisions among those who should instead learn to run together for a better and more just world, as happened in Campi, as is happening in Livorno, Empoli and Mugello. We too would have participated in the hateful spectacle that sickened us so much and which distances people from politics. We weren’t born for this.”

“We don’t know if Florence is truly contestable for the first time but we know well that Eike Schmidt’s candidacy unites the right and the far right, giving that black alliance a (fake, but useful) veneer of credibility; we also know that the victory of this right would be an even greater evil than the evil represented by continuity with this wicked PD. We call ourselves August 11th because we strongly believe in anti-fascist ruling: and we would never want, not even indirectly, to bring fascist forces back to the leadership of the city. Because of this we will not be present on the ballot but we will certainly not be out of this electoral campaign. We are very sad about this outcome. Even because abstention risks being very high, and it’s really difficult to decide what to vote for: everyone will have to deal with their own conscience, and with their own nausea.”

“We are also sad because we realize that we are disappointing the legitimate expectations of many. This project was born from a widespread push and from the attempt to recognize and enhance the strong need for convergence and participation “to change course” that so many of you have manifested. We thank you for what you are writing to us, for the great participation in the working tables, for always filling the rooms with the association’s initiatives to capacity; we want to tell you that this collective journey of ours has just begun! what we want to tell you forcefully: the selfishness that is characterizing, even on the left, this electoral round must no longer have room in the future: today’s step backwards is intended to be the prerequisite for many steps forward towards a different way of doing politics and good administration, which knows how to unite and not divide, which knows how to build and not destroy. Through the support of those who have supported us up to now and want the desire for a different policy to be expressed loud and clear that puts aside selfishness and personalization, instead valorising, without ambiguity and contradictions, the desire for unity and cohesion in support of the change”.

“The 11 August association is moving forward, as we have said since January, and indeed is relaunching its commitment with greater vigor and enthusiasm. We’ll all see each other soon to talk about all this. And to present our Florence project: on which we will measure applications and paths: without discounts for anyone. It is on this project that we will oppose, challenging day after day those who will govern Florence. Then, on May 20th we will see each other at the Florida Theater to listen to the Messages from Gaza, for a choral reading that the playwright Hossam al-Madhoun of Theater for Everybody in Gaza, now displaced in Rafah, he sends to his colleagues across Europe. And on May 28th we will discuss the fatal project of differentiated autonomy, around Francesco Pallante’s book. We will work together to rebuild the social and political fabric of this city. We found ourselves dealing with closures, aridity, and the universal dominion of a tactical thought with very short breath and short-sighted gaze. All this can be changed: but it takes common work and time. We need to build a new way of thinking, a new way of doing politics, a new way of inhabiting public space together. Now the daily work of those who really want to change things awaits us: we are there, and we will be there. And we are certain that the stronger the support we continue to receive, the more difficult it will be to ignore our determination to change the state of things.”