«A letter published by some press agencies urged me not to lock myself away in what has been defined as the "ivory tower of the rectorate". On my way I saw a sign asking me what I thought about what is happening in Gaza. I don't want to leave this question unanswered."
The Head of State Sergio Mattarella, at the Graduates' Day at La Sapienza University, responds to the open letter of the student body: « I said what I think about what is happening in Gaza publicly and not in fortuitous or informal circumstances but on occasions fully significant. As in the speech I made eight days ago at the United Nations General Assembly in New York or with the letter that the day before yesterday I sent on Republic Day to the President of the Republic of Israel, also reiterating the request for a immediate ceasefire. Everything that concerns the dignity of people, of every person, their freedom, the need to respect humanitarian law is indicated in our Constitution. And it is therefore a duty for the Italian Republic. This applies in every direction."
Then he remembered the Palestinian population in Gaza, the Israeli victims of the October 7 attack, the violations in Iran and Afghanistan.
«For our Republic - he added - all violations of human rights must be denounced and opposed, all of them, everywhere, always, because human dignity, the demand for freedom, the condemnation of oppression, the rejection of brutal violence do not change value depending on of territories, depending on the borders between states, depending on the international relations between political parties or movements. This awareness is strongly felt in universities and in those who frequent them because it constitutes their heritage, because for a millennium universities have been the seat of free debate, of freedom of criticism, sometimes even of dissent from power, always in connection above the borders between the States and always in connection with universities in every part of the world."
(Unioneonline/D)
