12.40 – Monday 10 June 2024
President Claudio Soini represented the Provincial Council this morning at the ceremony organized by the Municipality of Trento on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Giacomo Matteotti. In the street that bears his name, the new dedication on the street name plaque was discovered, with an intervention by the director of the Historical Museum, Giuseppe Ferrandi, who among other things recalled the speech that the socialist deputy held in Piazza Santa Maria Major on 5 January 1922. Attached are the thoughts of the president of the provincial council on the anniversary.
This morning in via Giacomo Matteotti I proudly represented the legislative assembly of our special autonomy. With pride because Trento and Trentino are the land of origin of the politician, whose brutal and cynical killing caused Trentino blood to flow for the defense of freedom of thought and action. For those like us who sit in a parliament, Matteotti’s stature and his straightness in interpreting the role of deputy of the Kingdom of Italy, raising a solitary voice against the abuse and the beginnings of the fascist dictatorship, represents an extraordinarily important and timeless. It is a reminder to all of us of the importance of actively defending democracy and tolerance. A lesson, also, on the tremendous power of words: those of truth pronounced in Parliament by Matteotti, the arrogant and violent ones of Mussolini when he effectively assumed paternity of the political murder.
Commemorating today a great anti-fascist, such as Matteotti, also means remembering the deepest reasons for our Autonomy. Autonomy that was able to arise thanks to the return of democratic freedoms and which, by its very nature, is a solid defense of freedom and democracy. Freedom and democracy are based on the responsibility of self-government; on the human and civil growth of populations and on respect for their history and traditions. Dictatorships and authoritarianism, on the other hand, are based on centralism, militarism and violence. Evils for which autonomies represent an antidote. The antidote to fascism, in all its forms.
Last April, the Provincial Council unanimously approved law 5/2024, which promotes knowledge and celebrates the memory of Matteotti, in awareness of his family’s Trentino origins. Other public initiatives are taking place for this centenary, today in Pejo and tomorrow with the theater show at the Mart. Best wishes for all the celebrations that will help to shine a spotlight on the figure of the Honorable Matteotti.
