«This“ article ”by Enrico Michetti is much more serious than the usual nonsense about Rome and the nonexistent or copied program. Repeating the clichés of anti-Semitism is not tolerable ». So Carlo Calenda on twitter about an article by Enrico Michetti of February 19, 2020, published on the Radio Radio website, and today reported in the Manifesto. Michetti’s article reads: «Every year 40 films on the Shoah are shot and financed, journeys of memory, cultural initiatives of all kinds in memory of that horrible persecution. And so far nothing quaestio, God forbid. But I wonder why the same pity and the same consideration is not given to the dead killed in the sinkholes, in the refugee camps, in the mass killings that still bloodied the planet. Perhaps because they did not own banks and did not belong to lobbies capable of deciding the fate of the planet ».
On the same wavelength the deputy dem Emanuele Fiano: «I have never written anything on the candidate of the right in Rome. We are in a democracy everyone votes whoever they want. Which side the undersigned is on, even the walls know. But how can you accept Enrico Michetti’s phrases such as the one that Andrea Carugati quoted today in Il Manifesto. But I wonder why the same pity and the same consideration is not directed to the dead killed in the sinkholes, in the refugee camps, in the mass killings that still bloody the planet? Perhaps because they did not own banks and did not belong to lobbies capable of deciding the fate of the planet. ‘In the text – continues the Pd exponent – there are still other phrases, harshly questionable, but this one hits me violently, it is part of the worst heritage of anti-Semitism that bloodied Europe between the thirties and forties of the last century, accompanying millions and millions of people to the gas chambers and then to the crematoria. Basically Michetti says: we talk more about the violence of the Jews, because basically there was a reason, they were the richest and most powerful. My grandparents gassed in Auschwitz were much poorer than her #Michetti, my uncle and my aunt ditto, my great-uncles the same. My father’s only legacy when he returned was my grandfather’s desk and a pair of his brother’s suede shoes. ‘
The stance comes one week after the ballot for the capital that sees Michetti opposed to the former Minister of Economy, Roberto Gualtieri, and after Calenda announced his vote to Gualtieri, while leaving his electors free, the outgoing mayor , Virginia Raggi, recently invited the two challengers to Palazzo Senatorio to take stock of the main dossiers, including the candidacy for Expo 2030.
And yesterday she received Michetti, stating her priorities on which she is ready to collaborate, to give continuity to what has been done so far: in addition to Expo, the suburbs, work, Alitalia, the issues addressed with Michetti. After the appreciation expressed by the leader of the M5s Giuseppe Conte for the challenger Roberto Gualtieri (“He is a person of value”), the first citizen made it clear that he will not give any voting indications: “I have already said that voters are not herds of bring to pasture ».
The electoral basin of Raggi, albeit greatly reduced compared to 2016, accounts for 19% in the Roman electorate, of which 11% of the Movement and a good 8% of the civic lists of the mayor who will meet at the beginning of the next week for a confrontation in view of the ballot. «The main objective is a debate on the elections, an adventure that is nice to talk about – explains the coordinator of the civic movement, Andrea Venuto -. An indication of a unitary vote is not on the agenda, but it will certainly be discussed ». At stake is a slice of support that is tempting both on the right and on the left. And Michetti is optimistic: “We will get many votes from Calenda and probably a part of the votes of the 5 Star Movement that does not vote on the left”.
Gualtieri, on the strength of Conte’s certificate of esteem, excludes that Raggi’s first meeting with his opponent could be the antechamber of an agreement: «But no … I’ll talk to him too». Then he announces that it is his intention to “immediately” clear Casapound, one of Raggi’s flagships. The face to face of the tenant of the Campidoglio with Gualtieri is, in fact, already set for Monday.