An April 25th in the name of liberation and well attended in the squares throughout Italy, from Rome to Milan passing through Bologna, Naples, up to smaller but very active municipalities. Benevento was no exception. There are two main reasons that have pushed people of all ages to postpone the start of this long bridge: the Palestinian question and the repressive attitude of the Meloni government. Never like this year has April 25th meant freedom, the need for freedom and liberation. In the Samnite capital, the procession started from Piazza Orsini at 10 am and went up the street to Piazza Santa Sofia, led by the Città di Grottolella musical band which played Bella Ciao with extreme elegance along the entire route. It was a morning full of significant interventions.
Michelangelo Fetto, actor of the Solot company, read Scurati’s monologue on the killing of Matteotti, a line of connection and reflection between a fearful past and an alarming present, made up of worrying government decisions and a rather delicate international scenario. Then the demonstration continued with the speech of Davide Melillo, vice president of the Anpi, who underlined how Matteotti still scares many in his death, no less than when he was alive. Following this, the mayor Clemente Mastella discussed multiple topics, from unrelated deaths at work to violence against women, then reporting the example of the American Independence Day to recall the need for greater unity among the Italian people, ontologically divided, which instead in America it would be the rule. Melillo, reconnecting to the topic of feminicides, recalled the fundamental role of women in the Resistance, a topic that is underestimated and too often forgotten according to the vice-president of the Anpi.
Attention then moved to the Constitution, with the reading of articles 2, 3 and 11 of the Constitutional Charter. Very touching was the story of Libera’s provincial representative, Michele Martino, who reported the misadventures of a young migrant from Zambia who chose our country to escape poverty and the countless dangers of his country of origin, just after reading the Italian Constitution thanks to its law professor.
The event ended with the brilliant speech of the provincial President of the Anpi Amerigo Ciervo who, before taking the floor, wanted to be accompanied by the other territorial representatives of the Anpi, including Erminio Fonzo, Maurizio Currupè, Daria Lepore and Teresa Simeone . Ciervo highlighted how April 25th this year has a different value, given the moment of strong international fears in which the word war was completely cleared. Hence the hope of the President of the Anpi that war will no longer become a necessity, so that in the coming years we can return to celebrating an April 25th of peace.
After briefly analyzing the dangerous and distressing world situation, highlighting how Europe no longer plays any independent role, he commented on the current governmental structure, defining it legitimate but with deep roots in the twenty years and characterized by a violent and vengeful attitude almost to want to rewrite history.
RAFFAELE DE BELLIS
