«A new Treaty of Helsinki during the Jubilee». The Acli dream big, having reached their 80th birthday. In front of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and a thousand supporters, historical images of Mussolini’s government which transformed into a dictatorship, of war, of liberation parade. The memory of Achille Grandi, founder and first president of the Christian Associations of Italian Workers, trade unionist, politician, anti-fascist, who actively participated in the drafting of the Pact of Rome between socialists, communists and Christian Democrats and in the reconstitution of the democratic trade union. You sing Bella Ciao and count, clapping your hands, the hundred steps of Peppino Impastato, you are moved to listen to the story of Claudio Cavaliere, a former miner in Belgium who, with a cracked voice, says, Italians and those from African countries «we were all equally black with coal.” We listen in silence to the testimony of Sara Campiglio, the Varese teacher stabbed by one of her students who, however, continues to think that we need to shorten the distance with those in difficulty even when a hand that is too close comes to hit you. One is ashamed to look at the shoes that Silvia Maraone, with the Ipsia-Acli collaborator, distribute to migrants arriving from the Balkan route whose traffickers, as an extreme act of exploitation, leave their feet bare in the last miles before safety.
Among the notes of the national anthem, the memory of the contribution given to the Constituent Assembly, of the popular soul, of the minor saints, of the dialogues on the landing, the aclists meet for their 27th Congress and set the theme “The courage of peace” . They also do so with the words of President Emiliano Manfredonia who, after greeting the Head of State, underlining that «his person represents with the highest dignity the national unity in the Republic, that Republic that the Acli, the aclists, in these eighty years, have always tried to promote, support, strengthen”, analyzes the historical time in which we live. «Today», he says, «it chills our hearts to see how so many brothers die in the Mediterranean, it makes us angry to see renewed injustices between the few who accumulate incomes and those who cannot find a decent job. We are disturbed by a world where young people are parked and cannot unleash their talents. The injustice created by speculative finance horrifies us. We are afraid of the groans of suffering of our mother earth. We are worried about a world in which differences have become mistrust, in which there is strong pessimism about the social and economic progress guaranteed by democracy. The construction of new walls that separate people clouds our vision.” But it is precisely in this context that the Acli want to shout to everyone to have courage. «The word courage really means the action of the heart. We must make our hearts work, love this society, trust it beyond all limits and difficulties. In this time we strongly feel that courage is needed even at the cost of going against the grain.” Above all, it is no longer the time for “downward mediations”, but it is the time to stay in this world, bringing brotherhood where there is division, acting with solidarity where there is only personal income, it is the time for conscious personal and community choices to correct our habits that have violated the planet. Courage in supporting democratic systems by encouraging participation.”
It is time, Manfredonia says, to «have the courage of Peace. We feel that faced with the proliferation of wars and the difficulty of stopping them, our Europe has an important task. It can and must assume responsibility on a global scale. Russia has committed intolerable aggression against a country and a people. Our condemnation is unreserved. As is our support, first and foremost human, fraternal, for the resistance of the Ukrainians. Hamas committed monstrous barbarism last October 7, which reignited the conflict in the Holy Land and further magnified the deposits already full of hatred. Israel’s reaction was ruthless, inhumane. Contempt for innocent lives has become an element of a crazy political strategy. None of this escapes us. Let us not close our eyes to the very serious responsibilities of those who become attackers.” In this context, he adds, «it is not enough for us to react by seeking the measure – military or economic – proportionate to the appalling offenses against international law, freedom, the integrity of States, the life of peoples. We feel we must return to shouting “peace”. Not by equidistance. There will never be equidistance between aggressors and those attacked. Never. But we must say it: victory will never be military. We must say it because it is true, this hasty turn of conflicts shows us this. We have to do it knowing that it is difficult. That we need to work on many fronts. We ask, and have asked with many friendly associations, that Europe rediscovers the diplomacy of Peace. We are not naive: peace will never be just the absence of armed conflict and yet we must start from there, from the truce, from the silence of weapons. If we do not take up the flag of peace (which is our second flag for the ACLI), if we do not say clearly that the only victory is peace, we risk fueling that escalation which, unfortunately, we are already witnessing.”
Following the example of the teachings of Pope Francis, the ACLs set in motion, «we went to Ukraine, we went to the Holy Land, we listened to everyone’s voice, especially the victims, the least listened to compared to those who have their eyes fixed on the chessboard of the powerful. In Jewish culture it is said that God knows how to count up to 1. Up to one, in Israel as in Gaza, in Ukraine as in Russia, in South Sudan as in Yemen. And again one and one, all by name.” And remember the words of Mattarella, who «said in the first moments of this unfortunate war that sooner or later Europe would have to get back to work to weave a new Helsinki. This is where we must aim, starting from the bottom to work towards a culture of cooperation, respect, discussion and sharing of rights. Why not arrive at a new Helsinki Treaty? Maybe in Rome during the Jubilee of Hope. We want 2025 to be the year of Peace.”
Without claiming to change the world, the ACLI want to continue to get their hands dirty with everyday history, asking themselves “meaningful questions”, allowing themselves to be “hurt by humanity and rolling up their sleeves to heal it”.
Finally, he recalls the words of President Grandi that the ACLI would like to continue to put into practice for the next 80 years: «I don’t know if we will make an attempt destined to fail or if we will make an experiment of historic importance. We have the merit of having faced a great task.”
