One event canceled and one to be protested, with the risk of street tensions. Cagliari's anti-fascist movement is on the move, while the spirit of the April 25th celebrations lingers in the air.
One point has already been made: the coordination's objections led to the City Council's revocation of the authorization for Professor Raimondo Zucca 's lecture, "The Birth of Rome and the History of the Second and Third Rome," which had been scheduled at the Lazzaretto for the afternoon of April 21st. The event was organized by the far-right Vico San Lucifero association. The managers of the public space had required Zucca to sign a waiver stating that the meeting would not have political overtones.
"As during the last Zedda administration," the Cagliari anti-fascist coordination group accuses, "there is no oversight whatsoever regarding the requests for public spaces by these so-called associations, who manage to obtain various permits and authorizations." Once the problem was reported, City Hall rushed to intervene, halting the event at the last minute. "And the hall was already paid for," the organizers had announced, when they were forced to cancel at the last minute.
But it doesn't end there: tomorrow, April 29th, is the anniversary of the death of Sergio Ramelli, a young militant of the Youth Front who was unable to recover from the wounds caused by an attack by some militants of Avanguardia Operaia.
It was 1975. And tomorrow, 41 years later, a commemoration ceremony organized by right-wing circles is planned in the square named after the young man (next to Piazza Repubblica).
"Just a few days after April 25th, our city is witnessing yet another gathering of nostalgics of the 20-year period," the city's anti-fascist coordination group continues. "Faced with yet another provocation authorized by the Cagliari Police Headquarters, we anti-fascists reiterate the need to counter in every way any attempt to turn our squares, our city, and our land into a den of vulgar neo-fascist propaganda." The meeting is scheduled for 6:00 PM in Piazza Garibaldi, a short distance away.
"Anti-fascism is not a historical anniversary," the statement reads, "but a practice to be situated in the present through clear actions and confrontational practices that leave no room for modern fascists of all sorts."
Enrico Fresu