“Solidarity has always allowed us to overcome very difficult tests.” Thus the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, from Piazza Castello in Solferino, in the province of Mantua, on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the foundation of the Italian Red Cross. Mattarella underlined “the precious support” given by the “professionalism” of the Red Cross to the intermediate relationship between citizens and institutions, thanking it for the work done and recalling that “the victims are all the same, they deserve help”. Then a passage on deaths at work: against the values of solidarity and civility “serious and extraneous – episodes and behaviors such as the one recorded three days ago, when a young immigrant worker, Satnam Singh, died, being refused help and assistance , after yet another tragic workplace accident. “. The illegal exploitation of labor – he added – is a “phenomenon which, with rigor and firmness, must be opposed everywhere, totally eliminated and sanctioned, avoiding giving the erroneous and unacceptable impression that it is tolerated by ignoring it”.
“The responsibility of institutions is to guarantee effective rights”
“When you think of the many precious energies and the many projects that the world of volunteering, in the freedom of the various subjects, manages to put into play, some object that it is a replacement for activities that should be the responsibility of public institutions, various levels. As if associations, movements, communities, third sector bodies were dealing with tasks that should not be theirs but only to fill gaps in public services”, said Mattarella. Then he added: “It can happen because there is a responsibility of the institutions to ensure the services and to guarantee the rights enshrined in the Constitution and the laws. A responsibility that is constant over time and which includes the task of removing the obstacles that stand in the way of an effective equality between people and which is not always achieved”.
The celebrations
In the square, from which the traditional torchlight procession will start, 3 thousand volunteers gathered, while another 5 thousand followed the speech of the head of state in another square thanks to the giant screens installed for the occasion. Before arriving in Solferino, the president was in Castiglione delle Stiviere to visit the Red Cross Museum. The battle of Solferino and San Martino was fought on 24 June 1859 and this episode inspired the Swiss Henry Dunant with the idea of the Red Cross.
