On the day of the Turin Pride and on the last day of the G7, Extinction Rebellion paints the pedestrian crossing in front of the Piedmont Region skyscraper with the colors of the rainbow flag. A protest to defend rights and the climate, towards those who “trample on rights, while the world burns”.
Since this morning the pedestrian crossings in front of the Piedmont Region skyscraper, in via Nizza, are painted in rainbow colours. This is not an idea of the Cirio Council but an initiative of Extinction Rebellion. Dressed in rainbow-colored T-shirts and armed with paint and brushes, about ten people have colorful pedestrian crossing in the square in front of the building. A black lettering contrasts the yellow “Climate and rights, same revolt” while in the background there is a large sign which reads “They trample on rights, while the world burns.”
On the day of the Turin Pride, in the month in which people take to the streets all over the world against gender discrimination and for the rights of the LGBTQA+ communities, Extinction Rebellion returns to action to denounce the progressive erosion of civil rights underway in Italy and Piedmont. And to highlight the link between the protection of the climate and ecosystems and everyone’s right to live a dignified life. “There are countless scientific reports that show how as this crisis (and all social crises) advances, the forms of discrimination that many communities already experience today will be drastically accentuated” declares Martina. For several months, various members of the Italian government have been carrying out a campaign – political and media – against what they define as “gender ideology and green ideology”.
Over the past few weeks, for the European elections, several candidates – including Vannacci – have also signed the manifesto of values of the ProVita and Famiglia associations, which commit the newly elected to “counter the ideology of gender” and “defend families from the green ideology”. “The real ideology is that of those who have chosen to invest massively in fossil gas when the scientific community has been asking for thirty years to abandon all fossil fuels by 2030” Martina comments again. “Today also ends G7, in Puglia, where the leaders of the seven most industrialized nations in the world ratify an agreement for the abandonment of coal by 2035 and an increase in dependence on fossil gas, in contrast to what the scientific community has been asking for years. This is ideological.”
June is the month of Pride, to remember the Stonewall uprising every year, when the LGBTQA+ community decided not to accept the eviction of the bar they were in (Stonewall, in fact) but to stay and resist with their bodies. From that episode other riots started which gave rise to “June, pride month”, whose slogan was “Pride is riot”. Extinction Rebellion takes up that slogan today to denounce the government policies that are leading us to climate collapse and, in chain, to an intensification of the forms of discrimination which already affect LGBTQA+ communities today.
