«Reconciling public and private life? I’m a disaster»- Corriere.it

A few photos posed in abundant blazers in pastel tones, the questions ranging from politics to songs to films, up to clothes, the extremely informal tone characterized by the «you»: the Pd secretary Elly Schlein who talks about herself in Vogue is like a song by Colapesce, «very light», that is rooted in concrete reality, but also linked to solid and lofty principles, «in order not to fall into the black hole», as the text quotes, which had great success two years ago in Sanremo.

Since she was chosen to lead the Democratic Party on February 26 – the first woman to hold this role – the 37-year-old former MEP, former vice president of the Emilia-Romagna Region did not grant interviews to magazines. This is the first, evident result of a long negotiation and a relationship that has consolidated over the weeks, from the demonstration for the rights of the Rainbow Families in Milan, when there was the first contact with the journalist, to the interview published on the weekly.

Schlein thus explains his political success: «I simply try to take a good look at who I have in front of me when I speak. In general, I think we have to be able to connect with the people we want to represent and we have to do it with an inclusive language, which is aimed at everyone and everyone». Almost shy, she does not claim to be addressing revolutionary issues, on the contrary: “There is a European mobilization that holds social justice and climate justice together”, she explains, flying high and talking about nationalisms and inequalities. But here and there throw a jab: «When I was an MEP I fought a lot to reform the Dublin regulation, but in the 22 negotiating meetings, when we discussed sharing responsibilities on reception among various European countries, I never saw the League, I never saw the right which today is represented by Giorgia Meloni». The reason? “It’s that they don’t have the courage to tell their nationalist allies, like Orban, that they too must play their part in welcoming them.”

She is all like this: from top to bottom and vice versa. “If I lose, I look the defeat in the face without denying it, on the contrary, I humbly try to understand how to improve, how to get back up”, he pontificates. But then it “goes down”: “I was struck by the words of an eighteen-year-old student in Cagliari, in one of my campaign appointments for the Democratic Party primaries: speaking of school and equal opportunities for access to an education of quality for all the boys, he said something very true, very strong: we are not all excellent».

The burnout? She admits that she feels “crushed” by the weight of responsibilities, but just as candidly that she plays the Playstation in the evening to relax. She praises movies with Scandinavian settings and mountain villages, but she doesn’t deny that she’s a fan of Strange things And The Crown. He says he loves the films of Korean director Kim Ki Duk, but also has among his favorites an Italian classic such as Armata brancaleone. He talks about the “non-loneliness” that gives you the strength to carry ideas forward through sharing, and then clearly tells Meloni that “we don’t need a female prime minister if she doesn’t fight to improve the conditions of other women”.It praises social and climatic justice but does not disdain the advice of an armochromist for dressing. He goes from Mumford & Sons to Radiohead without disdaining the Canadians Rural Alberta Advantage, whom he later met in a whiskey bar in Amsterdam, «where we spent the rest of the night chatting».

Schlein emerges from the interview as one of those nerd girls who, when you least expect it, dress up as unbridled female guitarists doing «crazy things», his own words, recording a video in front of the window on a whitewashed landscape. Someone who believes in the method of listening to make decisions, to the absurd point that in Emilia-Romagna, at tables on education, she would argue for 4 hours at a time with 70 people to make “balanced choices”. But also that he finds it hard to accept that he can’t go out every night anymore like a university student because she has a public role: «I’m a disaster. I try to defend personal life spaces but it’s not easy.”

His myths? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib , Jacinda Ardern, Greta Thunberg, Vanessa Nakate, the Brazilian activist Marielle Franco, killed because of her struggle for the emancipation of people living in the favelas.

His most frequent interlayer? “Let’s give an example”: to move from the global idea to the particular, from pollution to how to reduce plastic, from sustainable mobility to stolen bicycles, from LGBTQ+ rights to the “form of violence” experienced when the photo of his partner was published . Examples that do not sweeten, but rather strengthen. Because she is kind and polite, precise and punctual without ever being aggressive, but she doesn’t give discounts when necessary: «We don’t even have a law against hatred and discrimination, the one that Alessandro Zan brought forward, with which we work every day, scuttled by the right with that shameful applause in the Senate hall. Do you remember him?’ Yes, we remember that.