The celebrations of April 25th this year immediately appeared different from usual and the Turin square could not be missing from this diversity.
One of the main criticisms of the procession for April 25th, which in Turin traditionally takes the form of a torchlight procession on the evening of April 24th, has always been that of having been transformed into a ritual, a bit sterile like all rituals, because the claims ” lives” usually manifest themselves during the May Day procession.
Not that in recent years there has been a lack of strong and demonstrative gestures, but they were relegated to marginal corners of the square.
This year the atmosphere was different, starting with the participation, which was much larger than usual; then the presence of many young people in the pro-Palestine segments and in others.
In Piazza Castello the ritual and movement parts found a form of coexistence: after the short official speeches, so short that they ended before the entire procession reached the square, the stage was occupied by the movements.
On the evening of April 24, among the ranks of the procession, various attempts could be observed to update the historical example of resistance, for example with the parallelism between Zionism and fascism present in the poster of the Turin for Gaza coordination, with the nonviolent resistance of the movements for climate justice and social justice, with the actions of movements protesting against the Government and new forms of repression of dissent.
All this has meant that a new generation of young people has felt called to make the history of liberation from Nazi-fascism alive by giving it new and universal meanings in the struggle of oppressed peoples, in the request for social and climate justice, in the aspiration for peace and in calls for ceasefires on all war fronts; a sea of young people full of anger against injustices who are too often accused of using fascist methods for the vehemence with which they express their reasons which they perceive as existential critical issues; a flood of young people who, despite their numbers and tensions, reduce their response to the numerous provocations they suffer to a minimum, so much so as to surprise those who in recent days imagined apocalyptic scenarios and to give the numerous critics very little support.
