“Immediate work or you don’t touch it” – Corriere.it

Demonstration in the square in Palermo for the basic income. Numerous recipients demonstrated to defend the social subsidy introduced by the Conte II government and which the current executive intends to significantly modify. The demonstrators left from Piazza Marina, to go up Corso Vittorio Emanuele and arrive in Piazza Indipendenza, where they will remain in garrison throughout the morning, in front of the seat of the presidency of the Sicilian Region. The protest was announced last November 23 during a press conference during which the organizers complained about the lack of solidarity with the income earners by the executive led by Giorgia Meloni. In Palermo there are about 60,000 recipients of the subsidy and in Sicily almost 230,000.

“Immediate work or income cannot be touched” is the phrase on the banner that opened the event. The organizers of the protest are Davide Grasso and Tony Guarino, respectively president and vice president of the «Basta Volerlo» association, and Giuseppe De Lisi, president of the Aps Puc – Palermo Help association. They are two of the voluntary acronyms that have kept the unemployed Palermitans engaged in socially useful work in the neighborhoods of the city. The new government has in fact included its proposal towards the abolition of the measure in the Def: in 2023 the audience will be reduced, it will be possible to receive the income for a maximum of eight months and it will be possible to refuse only one job offer deemed appropriate. Starting from January 2024, however, the measure will be definitively abolished. «We cannot take away the basic income, which in recent years has allowed many people to get out of poverty, without first finding concrete solutions. In recent years, very few job offers have arrived from the job centres, often unworthy. If they take away our income, we want real work and not undeclared work», says Guarino.

Protesters wave flags of Sicily, because they see the attack on income as an attack on the South, where unemployment and lack of job prospects keep people in poverty. “Starting from next year, many earners will be forced to go back to charitable institutions, poverty will increase,” continues De Lisi. Also in the square were students, workers and some representatives of the 5 Star Movement, who supported the demonstration. «We want the employment centers to be strengthened, for everything to pass from there, for all job offers and for all hires to pass from a list of unemployed that is visible to everyone, so as to be as transparent as possible. We need a development plan for Sicily to create employment, otherwise the income will not be touched», concludes Davide Grasso.