Hard words. Clear words. Giorgia Meloni lands in Copenhagen for the European summit and does not spare affections to oppositions and unions. «The Italian people will face in the next few days, I fear, several inconveniences for a question that has little to do with the Palestinian affair and a lot with Italian issues. The unions themselves explain it to me. I would have expected at least that if the cause was so important, they had not launched a general strike on Friday. Because long weekend and revolution are not together ». It is a message that aims at the heart of the internal conflict: the premier does not want the protest against Israel to become a land of social clash in Italy.
Meanwhile, the country is preparing on a high voltage Friday. Processions, principals, agitations in ports, a general strike that has its roots not only in anger for Israeli abroad with the flotilla directed towards Gaza, but also in the discontent accumulated within national borders. The Middle Eastern fuse lights a social powder keg.
Matteo Salvini raises the tones. “There is no right to chaos with a surprise strike for political reasons,” he marks. Then he warns: «There is a guarantee commission that will pronounce shortly. If the strike is declared illegitimate and someone will block roads, railways or transport, it will crimally pay the consequences ». It is the hard line: public order first of all.
The Interior Ministry moves as in the days of the great emergencies. The minister planted convenes prefects and questions from the main cities: Rome, Milan, Turin, Florence, Bologna. Special supervised social media, where groups organize mobilization. Saturday the capital will be the scene of the national procession from Porta San Paolo to San Giovanni. The service orders are clear: prevent disorders, isolate violent, protect sensitive objectives, especially Israelis and Jewish.
On the other hand, the unions do not retreat. The CGIL speaks of “a very serious aggression against civil ships with Italian citizens on board”. The USB increases: «Israel attacks international law. It’s time to block everything ». Landini had already warned: «kidnappings and arrests in international waters are an act of war against those who claim peace. We are ready for the general strike ».
The scenario is that of a black Friday. But there is more: behind this collision between the government and the unions, Italy is glimpsed as a mirror of European contradictions. Gaza’s war does not stop on the borders of the Middle East: it explodes in the European squares, it breaks public opinions, tests the democratic balance. Tomorrow we will see him in Rome.
