25 April, the centre-right presents a motion: “It is fundamental in the history of democratic Italy. But don’t use it to attack your opponents”

The center-right tries to dribble the controversies. And it does so with a motion that will be voted on tomorrow at Palazzo Madama and which wants to overcome the stumbling block of the motion presented by the united opposition after the case Russiathe words of the president of the Senate on via Rasella and the controversy over the absences of the representatives of the majority parties at the April 25 celebrations (the premier Giorgia Meloni will be at the Altare della Patria). The motion of opposition asks to celebrate the anniversary “with respect for historical truths” and cites the speech given by Liliana Segre on the first day of the legislature. And the majority could eventually vote for her. But the text signed by FdI, Lega and Forza Italia emphasizes the need, supported by Ignazio La Russa, to “pacify” and therefore asks that the celebrations not be “an occasion for attacks on opponents”: therefore it aims at the “collaboration of all the institutions and all the political forces, to adopt the appropriate initiatives so that the public commemorations of the events of Italian and European history take place in compliance with the due historical accuracy, without using them as an occasion for attacks on adversaries who nevertheless recognize themselves in the principles, values ​​and in the constitutional provisions”.

According to the text of the motion, the centre-right wants to commit the Senate to recognizing “the importance of dates which recall fundamental moments in the history of a united, free and democratic Italy”. An initiative wanted by the majority “so that these events represent moments of effective sharing and participation of all the political and cultural components that recognize themselves in the values ​​of freedom and democracy, and strengthen the feelings of national unity, inclusion, pursuit of the common good and, where necessary, reconciliation”.

“Someone says, there is nothing to pacify. It is not true – observed the president of the Senate yesterday, Ignatius LaRussa – there is still the effort to interpret history with all its chiaroscuro, of Europe and of Italy, through a single reading lens that knows how, without detracting from the evaluations, the memory and the interpretation of the individual facts, entrusting to each of us a shared Italian and European history: the fruit of this history is our Constitution”.

The anniversaries

Among the anniversaries mentioned in the right-wing document, in addition to April 25, there is also talk of “May 1, Labor Day, June 2, birth of the Republic and the election of the Constituent Assembly, March 17”, up to to the “proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, on November 4, the day of the Unification of Italy and of the Armed Forces”. But there is also talk of January 27, International Day in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, and January 10, the day of remembrance of the sinkholes and the Julian Dalmatian exodus. Finally, the text also mentions April 18, “when Italian voters placed our nation in the free and democratic world” and November 9, “Freedom Day, as the anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall”.

Primavalle fire

The premise of the centre-right’s motion recalls how “the President of the Republic recalled that the Constitution is the firm and vigorous foundation of national unity. Its principles and values ​​are the same, which must be lived by political and social actors and by all citizens”. But he also underlines that “a few days ago, Thursday 13 April, the Senate recalled with emotion the tragic events of 16 April 1973 in Primavalle, in the context of the widespread political violence of those years, with the common hope that such a season”.

Furthermore, the text finally refers to the resolution of the European Parliament of 19 September 2019 on the importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe and to the ”unanimous position – expressed in it – against any totalitarian power, regardless of any ideology and against Nazism, Fascism, Communism”.