Commentary
Banning a demonstration is always a bad idea
Demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine that we have witnessed and taken part in this year have been protests for peace. There have been no issues with public order.
Before he makes the decision to ban a demonstration, the overly impulsive Minister Piantedosi – the one who sent instructions to the Rome police headquarters, which made the formal decision – should stop and count to 100. And then decide not to do it.
For one, if he wants to compile a catalog of protests and events that he’s not fine with, he’ll find he has already missed too many. Tuesday night's Nazi-rock gathering in the Veneto region, where Hitler and the SS were glorified, might have induced some vague suspicions of anti-Semitism in the mind of the conscientious minister. And there was again a march this year that crossed Rome with Roman salutes flying, all the way to Acca Larentia: Piantedosi could have sent the police in and detained everyone, but he might have had the surprise of finding some of his government allies there.
Not intervening was the right decision. Banning a demonstration is always a bad idea (while there’s not even a question of authorizing one), out of respect for fundamental rights and common sense – even if the slogans happen to be wrong, just as it is wrong (to put it mildly) to praise October 7 as a “revolutionary” event and a Palestinian resistance operation (this is barbarism and idiocy, to put it frankly). One of the reasons is that the demonstrations themselves are not the same thing as the statements made by (some of) those who want to convene them. And the demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine that we have witnessed and taken part in this year have been protests for peace. There have been no issues with public order.
The Gaza massacre, the war that Israel is expanding with impunity, the West's cover-up of war crimes – all of these will ignite anger and fiery words. No one can be surprised by that, least of all those who have a share of responsibility for this criminal indifference. Unless banning the demonstration is the first step in a plan to crack down on it with the full force of the authorities. But if they’re laying a trap, we can only respond with fully peaceful participation. No more idiotic slogans and historically outrageous statements that play into the hands of repression.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/il-censore-selettivo-sbaglia-sempre-se-dice-no on 2024-10-02