She, the mayoral candidate, wasn’t there but all her “warriors”, as they defined themselves, were there. Marcella Stumpoabsent for sudden and serious personal reasons, and his “community” of Termoli Common Good-Left Network they had chosen yesterday evening, May 15th, to present their list running for the June local elections and so it was.
“Here we are again, after 5 years we are back. 5 years in which a lot was done.” The ‘historians’ speaking at the table Nino Barone and Roberto Carluccio in addition to the former councilor Paolo Marinucci, this time not re-nominated, who have underlined several times “the titanic work carried out by Marcella, alone”. The name of the ‘leader’ of the group is mentioned several times. “She’s not here today but it’s as if she were here with us, and we with her”. “We are interchangeable, we have no leaders”, so the candidate Antonello Manocchio and Ana Vargas, also a candidate and always close to the Network, relaunches: “We are a cohesive community, and our program is the fruit of sharing ideas”. The program, in fact. Summarized in 13 points ranging from participatory democracy to employment relaunch, from eco-sustainable development with energy from renewable sources, “but not that offshore wind monster presented!”, to the right to health via port management. But above all there are the characteristic elements of the battle, which they call “the barricades”: those against wild overbuildingthose for civil rightsthose for common goods And for the environment. “These are the points we have been fighting for for a long time. They identify themes dear to all of us and they are the problems we experience every day”, argues Marinucci, while Professor Barone highlights how politics is made up of projects and objectives. “For Marcella they are not speculative objectives, they never have been. She was underestimated, she carried out a surveillance task, what every opposition should do, a fundamental one. She came across as saying no to everything but that’s not the case, she also proposed ideas.”
“Our strength is consistency and credibility. We couldn’t not be there.”. The slogan of this electoral campaign is emblematic… The future is yet to come. “Termoli is anchored to the logic of the past, clientelist and business. We must counter them.”
Candidate Manocchio also outlined what happened before arriving at the choice to run alone. “We looked for alliances, also because there are sensitivities common to ours. But it wasn’t possible and it wasn’t our fault.”
In the room, in the Via Pepe location, there are practically all the 24 candidates, “women and men, young and old, all mirrored and who together represent society” (many of whom were also running 5 years ago), as well as many supporters and sympathizers. And after a while, as in the spirit of the political group, the presentation turns into a sort of assembly and many, especially candidates, take the floor. From the young Maira Pace, a student with a passion for social issues and who believes in associationism, to William Trivelli, who touches on a topic that “many of his opponents are repeating: that of parking. The city needs parking, agreed, but this means that an alternative road plan is never thought of. In addition to the car, there are other means of transport” and then she explains the reason for her commitment. “We also need followers, we cannot remain helpless”. Privatization of greenery, read park, absence of a theatre. “But why do we have to settle?”, she asked the audience.
Also speaking were the “veteran” Pasquale Benevento and the ‘battle fighter’ Ermanno Ferrante. “We know that the challenge is difficult, but we are the only list among the others that stands out and we are the real element of disruption, for change”. Professor Marinucci summarizes this hope. “Sooner or later, this spring, it will have to arrive for Termoli too”.
