Alarms! Alarms! Here we are, but perhaps it would be appropriate to say: here we go again. We’re back to talking about naja. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto presented a bill with the intention of reintroducing a military service in Italy, even if not compulsory: a voluntary military service that allows the recruitment of around ten thousand reservists, «ready to be mobilized in case of crises, emergencies, support operationsor logistics or civil protection”. In itself it would be a simple reinforcement of our contingent, in an overall small number, even if they are not professionals but only a military experience of one or more years before returning to civilian life. Except that the single word “leverage”, in a country that has sent generations to take up a rifle, is not neutral. It triggers bells, memories, fears. Because everyone has understood it: the voluntary step today can become the obligation tomorrow. And it is no consolation that similar measures have also appeared in Germany and France. When the cannons speak again in Eastern Europe, Western governments rush to polish their helmets.
The absence of a European defense
Because it could just be a first measure, to see the effect it has, typical of a certain political strategy of small steps, perhaps the start of compulsory military service, or even a general call to arms, from 19 to 45 years of age, it is said. Similar initiatives have also taken place in Germany and France. After all, it was to be expected: if the Union launches a 500-plus billion euro rearmament plan, sooner or later the time will come to enlist those who have to use those weapons. And the fact that the member states proceed individually, without coordinating in the creation of a European army, is even more disturbing.
The French Chief of Staff Fabien Mandon even warned the French: “Let us prepare to lose our children.” A chilling phrase, which caused great controversy beyond the Alps, but which projected us into another time, as if 80 years of peace had only been a parenthesis and not the beginning of a new era. It is no coincidence that the news has thrown into despair Don Renato Sacco, historical memory of the pacifist movement, historical member of Pax Christi. “Then you think of the many young people you meet at school, in the oratory, in many situations”, wrote Don Renato, who is a student of Don Tonino Bello. «Young people who have life inside them! Which are bursting with life, with dreams. But they don’t want to start a war. Who experience service, but not military service. Yes we can say it: but don’t we adults also feel a little disgusted? Not even a little shame?”.
In any case, warns Don Sacco, «from tomorrow, or rather from tonight, we will resume our commitment, denunciation and civil disobedience! We return to Barbiana, to Don Milani, to “Have the courage to tell young people that obedience is no longer a virtue”». Uncomfortable words in a country that has always pretended to be peaceful, but has sent its children – entire generations – to die from Tripoli to Stalingrad.
Crosetto does not erase the doubts. In a country where young people flee abroad because they can’t find a decent job, how many will agree to put on a uniform to be called “in case of need”? And what kind of “need”? Civil protection, of course. But also operational functions? Armed interventions? Peacekeeping?The minister’s proposal certainly does not evoke nostalgia for barracks and gray shirts, but it raises a nightmare for all Italian mothers, reawakens tragic eras of the pastlike the two world wars, when the lives of millions of men and women were shattered in their prime and a profound question: what does it mean to be a citizen today in a Europe that demands protection, readiness and cohesion? Can things really be solved by returning to past centuries? Has history taught us nothing? And this is where the country is once again at a crossroads: defending itself, sure, but from what? From whom?
