TARANTO – «This is a city that struggles a lot. I feel the suffering, I feel it right in the air, on my skin. And we definitely deserve more freedom.” This was declared by Gabriella Martinelli, singer 37 from Montemesola, in the province of Taranto, who presented the song Il Gigante di Steel on the stage of the «Uno Maggio Taranto libero e pensiero» concert.
«It’s a piece that was born after a chat with my cousin and he’s the one who talks, who tells me. It was he who told me one day ‘I have to choose what to do: whether to follow my father’s path or leave the land from the city he loved. And this decision is not right and tiring because it takes a lot of courage to leave – continues the artist – And it takes a lot of courage to stay and fight for one’s territory”. The song «is the story of those who decide not to give up. It is a story of freedom, it is the story of workers and it is not right to have to choose between health and work. It is a compromise that we should never allow ourselves”, concludes the artist.
ILARIA SALIS: THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT
«I thank all the comrades of the First May of Taranto. Your solidarity and support have been of great help to me in dealing with the situation I find myself in.” It is the content of a message that Ilaria Salis, the Italian anti-fascist detained in Hungary, sent to the organizers of the Uno Maggio Taranto libero e pensinte concert, through her father Roberto who will go on stage and read it this evening. «It is thanks to your solidarity and support that I hope this nightmare will end soon», concludes Salis.
NAIP: THIS IS AN ANTI-FASCIST CONCERT
«This is an anti-fascist concert and we are anti-fascist artists. This is a period in which there are clouds but the clouds are just the absence of light, you just need to turn it on and the clouds go away.” This was said by Naip, an artist discovered thanks to the talent show
«I believe – he added – that the more darkness comes, the more it will be like shadows: the stronger the shadow, the stronger the light. In my opinion there will be a strong reaction of the light. I’m very confident. I think that the more the police beat them, the more there will be a reaction.” «Getting on that stage was beautiful. It’s the best thing I can do together with two or three others”, he concluded.
EX ILVA WORKER: WE ARE AT WAR
«We in Taranto are at war. A white, insidious war that travels under our land and ends in our blood. A dictatorial state condemns us to death and tells us it will build us a new hospital. We don’t want to cure ourselves, we want to live.” This was shouted from the stage of the concert in Taranto by Arnaldo, an Ionian steelworker who asked for “freedom for Taranto” on behalf of his colleagues.
«Making people believe that without that factory there would only be unemployment means lying – continued the worker – We must tell the truth about a murderous state. We may be a bunch of crazy people but we’re talking about a city that wants to live again. They have betrayed us all: from right to left, talking about hydrogen, green production. The truth is that they kill us with every decree.” «Now Salvini is asking for steel to build the bridge over the Strait of Messina», he continued.
“We of the former GKN have been in a permanent assembly for a thousand days, we preside over the factory and do what the entire system cannot do: fight for the factory”, said another worker, Dario representing the collective of the former GKN of Florence. “We have been without a salary for four months and we have a conversion plan for the factory so that it can produce bicycles for different urban mobility.” Dario announced that next “May 18th we will be in procession in Florence because we don’t have much time left”.
