Analysis
30,000 protest in Rome to support Europe
Can pacifists and pro-war types stand together in the name of anti-Trumpism? ‘This square doesn’t have answers.’
There is a moment in the middle of Saturday’s march when two banners are lowered from the rampart overlooking the square, on the side opposite that of Pincio Hill where the stage is set up. One next to the other: the first one reads “Rearmament – Yes, That Too,” held up by a group of young people waving the flags of Ukraine and Georgia. The other one says: “Italy Repudiates War. No Rearm Europe,” held up by a middle-aged couple with three young men. The two banners, mirror opposites of each other, are hanging side by side as if nothing is wrong with that picture, and ultimately few people even notice this glaring contradiction – not even those who can be seen behind the banners.
Below them, in a packed Piazza del Popolo, the bulk of the demonstrators who responded to Michele Serra's call are carrying the blue flags with yellow stars in a circle of the European Union, as per the program. Slightly fewer, but still very noticeable, are the rainbow banners for peace, which CGIL, ANPI and other associations had called for to counter the pro-war drift, choosing to take part in the event with reservations. A couple of Palestine flags stand out. In front of the stage, they are waving a paper mâché Donald Trump gorging himself on dollar bills.
Twenty years ago, in the name of anti-Berlusconism, the Girotondi movement brought together both those who supported expanding the protection of civil rights and those who were waving prop handcuffs. Now, the social base of what Paul Ginsborg called the “thoughtful middle class,” the backbone of that phenomenon, has eroded; the average age is quite high (both among the speakers and in the audience), and the controversial points are multiplying.
So, can pacifists and pro-war types stand together in the name of anti-Trumpism? The host, Michele Serra, could not pretend to hide the contradictions: “This square doesn’t have answers,” he said. “But it has clear questions. We are a big blue question mark and we are delivering these questions to the Italian and European parliaments.”
He concluded: “We do not know today how to achieve peace and avoid war.” Among the speakers, for every Roberto Gualtieri, the mayor of Rome who spoke on behalf of his colleagues and who lent major logistical support to the event, who suggested that the defining trait of Europe is rights and welfare, so we should not talk only about security and weapons, there was a Corrado Augias, who argued that the EU could be “a power: we could be the fourth actor in this global clash.”
Francesca Vecchioni, daughter of the singer-songwriter Roberto Vecchioni, said that “inclusion is a problem for Trump, but for us it is an asset”; her father was quick to point out that “one cannot accept just any peace.”
Many invoked the rather abstract notion that Europe is an oasis of civilization in a world that is going mad, while Andrea Riccardi, for the Community of Sant'Egidio, was one of the few to recall the migrant issue and stress the need to not reduce the continent to an exclusionary fortress.
Fabrizio Barca, of the Inequality and Diversity Forum, was also present among the crowd. He listed necessary steps on cooperation, industrial and ecological reconversion and social policies, and finally a common defense policy that would streamline spending. “That is exactly the opposite of what Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is proposing,” Barca stressed, “which is the strengthening of national armies under the heading of rearmament, when instead a common defense should be accompanied by the resumption of disarmament negotiations.” There were also the activists from Constituency Earth with Luigi Ferraioli, who argued that the EU should be an “exemplary stage in the process of unifying humankind on the basis of peace and equality.”
The idea of bringing this mass of people into some kind of unity, that of a “European people” without party symbols, seemed to palpably dissolve as everyone headed their own way through the center of Rome when the square emptied out. After March 15, March 16 was already coming, and those calling for a Europe of peace and rights, beyond atomization and representation, still have quite a ways to go.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/la-piazza-ce-il-popolo-e-diviso-30-mila-per-leuropa-a-roma on 2025-03-16