Commentary
We’re here to give voice to the heart of the left
‘Where are we going?’ is a question that concerns everyone, because the emergency we are experiencing involves the entire Italian people, forced every day to confront a radical change in their lives.
This is a bad government. And this is worth repeating on the eve of the vote that should ensure a large majority, able to keep the wheel of the “rescue ship” steady until the end of the legislature.
It is a bad government, to the point of causing profound divisions (as in the Five Star Movement), deep splits (between Articolo 1 and Sinistra Italiana, and even within Sinistra Italiana itself), and heated discussions on the modalities of participation, even among the most convinced supporters of the Draghi option: the PD, the Lega, Forza Italia.
In times of a long pandemic, the new parliamentary majority, which Wednesday is expected to give its confidence to this national unity government, was born with not one but several viruses, which will make the path of administering public affairs a difficult, tortuous one, full of obstacles for the parties that make it up. Most of all, the path ahead for the democratic forces (inside and outside the government) will be truly complicated.
Because it is the latter, more than others, who are asking the question “where are we going?”—which was not coined by Corrado Guzzanti, but by Paul Gauguin—but having a hard time finding an immediate, clear and convincing answer.
It is no coincidence that the people of the left (yes, it still exists, despite the mockery of the usual commentators on TV and in newspapers) are showing the most diverse political, cultural, social, gut-level and sentimental reactions.
Reading through the thousands and thousands of reactions pouring out on social media, emotion seems to prevail far more than dissent (or support), which are political tout-court. It means that the left has a heartbeat. And that now—after the tiring, but normal and even reassuring, rhythm seen during Conte 2 (with an unexpected prominence of the democratic parties that came to the Chigi Palace after the fall of Conte 1)—skipping beats, it has continuous arrhythmical contractions and risks going into full fibrillation.
However, treating a heart condition is not easy, because sometimes drugs are not enough. But words can be of great help. It helps to be listened to, to try to understand the reasons of others (which, unfortunately, happens very little in our parts), and to express one’s own opinion. To express anger or bewilderment. To express a feeling, or dissent. And it could also be a liberating, sincere, transparent few words, to explain why it is better to swallow the bitter pill (in this case, Draghi) instead of sitting at the window and crying over the recent past.
In short, it is your voice that we want to read and collect in il manifesto, the only newspaper capable of expressing the diversity and multiplicity of ways of thought that run through the world of the left today, marked by too many and endless shipwrecks.
“Where are we going?” is a question that concerns everyone, because the emergency we are experiencing involves the entire Italian people, forced every day to confront a radical change in their lives, afflicted by the loss of many—too many—victims of disease, afflicted by uncertainty, by fear. And we too, here in these pages, have an obligation to respond.
Perhaps the new government—an unprecedented step for all political forces and for the history of our country in this tragic context—will lead to another shipwreck on the left. Or quite the opposite: it will help to find a treatment that will allow a sick heart to beat regularly again. But the outcome—as we wish to believe, with a good dose of optimism about our will—is going to depend, above all, on us.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/diamo-voce-al-cuore-della-sinistra/ on 2021-02-16