Celebration and remembrance. Milan celebrated April 25, the 78th anniversary of Italy’s liberation from Nazi-fascism. In the city gold medal of the Resistance, many events animated Tuesday.
At 14.30 the key appointment, when the great procession departed from Corso Venezia, complete with “Bella ciao” in the background. Arrival in Piazza Duomo, where the big stage has been set up.
Sala and Schlein in procession
Among the 80,000 demonstrators was the Jewish brigade – which was not challenged this year – and a banner in favor of NATO, booed by some of those present while a flag of the Atlantic alliance was torn up, in one of the very rare moments of tension. Also on the march are Ukrainian citizens with a large flag of their nation – many chants against Putin – and the association that brings together ex-deportees.
In the snake the new Pd secretary, Elly Schlein, with a red handkerchief around her neck, behind the banner “Born of the resistance”, a slogan chosen by the party with the aim of calling “the government to responsibility towards the resistance and memory”, as they explained. Neither in the procession nor on stage, however, are government officials. This year the Anpi of Milan, in controversy after the words of Ignazio La Russa on via Rasella, has in fact decided not to invite either the president of the Senate, La Russa, or that of the Chamber, Lorenzo Fontana.
In the very first row mayor Beppe Sala. “I don’t want to be critical at all costs, but if you hear certain things you have to say them out loud, putting your face on them. On some occasions Meloni has publicly shown a decisive face, she shouted certain words and certain slogans and what she should do is put your face up and say clearly and definitively: we are anti-fascists”, said the mayor at the start.
Sala does not believe it possible that April 25 can be celebrated by everyone: “It seems difficult to me because you have to believe in it 365 days a year by distancing yourself from those who still consider themselves heirs of fascism, there are still many in Italy. The important thing is “It’s that we feel it and I hope that Milan continues to feel this spirit. Let’s move forward and for us the Liberation is a celebration”.
All the trade unions and minority parties took to the streets, from +Europe to the Five Star Movement via Italia Viva and Azione. Also present were the Communist Refoundation and the Popular Union with the history of the giant peace flag. The van with which the two parties paraded was covered with posters with the face of the president of the Senate and the words “La Russa resign!”.
After the introduction by the president of the Milanese ANPI, Roberto Cenati, the mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, the general secretary of the Cisl, Luigi Sbarra, and the president of the national association of Christian partisans, Maria Pia Garavaglia, took part in the Duomo. And still room for the words of the student Farida Elashwal, Dario Venegoni, president of Aned, the number one of the national Anpi Gianfranco Pagliarulo and the partisan Aldo Tortorella.
“Milan is an anti-fascist city”
“We still hear that fascism did worthy things: no, it didn’t do worthy things. It was persecution and racial supremacy. The abominable anti-Jewish laws of 1938 were not an isolated episode but the direct consequence of the perverse ideology of fascism “, the words of Roberto Cenati from the stage. “Death makes everyone equal, but the republicans of Salò collaborated with the Nazis in the denunciation and capture of partisans, Jews and workers”. “We are witnessing a disturbing removal of the ignominy of fascism. The Nazis were not simple pensioners who walked the streets of our country, but responsible, with the indispensable support of the republicans of Salò, for massacres, massacres of the civilian population, deportations to concentration camps and in the extermination camps of Jews, political opponents, workers, Italian soldiers”, he concluded, referring to the words of La Russa on via Rasella.
He was then echoed by the mayor Beppe Sala, who guaranteed from the stage: “Milan is an anti-fascist city”. “The other day I saw a great man walking the infamous paths of Auschwitz, I saw his hard and moved gaze and his words, it was Sergio Mattarella. This great father restored history for us”, he continued, among the everyone’s applause. And again: “We must remember because we see well what happens if we are not vigilant. We have seen it on Capitol Hill and Brasilia and in Bucha, a horror takes shape that says: ‘Enough with civil and political rights, enough with science, with love”. This, in a nutshell, is the dream of the extreme right: enough with progress, let’s look back and take the opportunity to rewrite history. We who are in this square know very well what those who foment hatred have in mind and violence and – concluded the mayor – we all say no to this authoritarianism once again”.
The disfigurement of the partisans: “April 25? These cocks”
Valditara challenged by students
The celebrations started at 9 from the monument to the financial police in Piazza Tricolore with the deposition of a crown of the time in honor of the fallen. Then a quarter of an hour later I passed through Corso Monforte 35, at Palazzo Isimbrardi, while at 9.30 a wreath was placed at Palazzo Marino. At 10 am appointment at the Loggia dei mercanti, while half an hour later the celebrations moved to the Shrine of the fallen in Largo Caduti Milanese for the homeland. At 11, instead, a moment of meditation at the monument to the fifteen martyrs in piazzale Loreto.
The education minister Giuseppe Valditara was present at the wreath depositions. “I hope today is a day of union and unity, a beautiful testimony of cohesion and serenity, a celebration of our constitutional values,” he said in front of Palazzo Marino. “I particularly wanted a laurel wreath to represent my ministry – he explained -, because the school plays a fundamental role as a democratic garrison and as a testimony to the values of our Constitution. A Constitution that puts the person at the center and a Constitution that is the most beautiful response to the Nazi-fascist dictatorship. So today is a great celebration of freedom, a celebration that must unite all Italians. A celebration that celebrates the defeat of fascism and the return of democracy and the return of freedom “.
To journalists who pointed out to him that the definition of freedom festival is contested by some, the minister replied that it is a “freedom festival because fascism had trampled on individual freedoms. Let us not forget that one of the many faults of fascism was precisely that of having trampled on freedoms and therefore I say a celebration of freedom – he concluded – Obviously we celebrate liberation but it is also a great celebration of democracy and freedom”.
Shortly before, in Largo Caduti Milanese, the minister had been challenged by some students from the “Milan student network” who had protested against his presence in the city. The young people, at least a dozen, were kept at a distance by the police, not without some moments of tension amidst shoving, insults and slogans.