In the capital, the demonstration took place from Piazza della Repubblica to Piazza del Popolo with the slogan "Work, peace, environment, welfare, Constitution". Also present were the faces of Campo Largo: the secretary of the Democratic Party, the leader of the M5S, Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli. Landini: "There are so many of us, I think we could be more than 100 thousand people. It's time to take our word back, let's defend democracy by practicing it."
"Work, peace, environment, welfare, Constitution": this is the slogan that brought thousands of people to the streets in Rome today for the national demonstration promoted by the CGIL and over one hundred lay and Catholic associations that belong to "La Via Maestra". The procession started from Piazza della Repubblica and then arrived in Piazza del Popolo, where the general secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini, closed the event from the stage by announcing a general strike for November 20th. Also present were the leaders of Campo largo: Elly Schlein, Giuseppe Conte, Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli.
Why the demonstration
The demonstration in Rome relaunches various proposals and demands: from higher wages and less precariousness to a "really fair" tax system, from public healthcare and education for all to access to housing, from work and the environment together with peace, saying no to rearmament and an increase in military spending, from freedom of dissent to the defense and implementation of the Constitution. In terms of work, La Via Maestra" calls for increasing salaries and pensions, canceling precarious contracts, combating poor work and reducing the pay gap between women and men. In terms of taxes, the request is to fight tax evasion, reduce the tax burden on salaries and pensions, tax extra profits, incomes and great wealth and guarantee fiscal progressivity: those who have more must contribute more, insist the promoters of the event. There is also the request to increase public health financing to 7.5% of GDP and that for education at 5%, to hire staff, to reduce waiting lists and guarantee quality public services in every part of the country.
Landini: "We are over 100 thousand, the voice of the country"
"We are really many, I think we could be more than 100 thousand people who speak to the country from here, from this square", said Landini from the stage of the demonstration in Piazza del Popolo, while the tail end of the procession was still in Piazza della Repubblica. "It's time to take back our word, let's defend democracy by practicing it."
Landini: "No to the increase in military spending"
"There is a risk that weapons will replace words and democracy. Security is not weapons, this is a colossal lie. We must forcefully say no to the increase in military spending - Landini said again - True security is energy autonomy: we need an extraordinary plan for renewable sources". And he reiterates: "We must put work back at the centre".
Schlein: "Let's build the alternative together"
"In this square I find so much of the spirit that led us together to win the constitutional referendum, which according to everyone we had already lost and instead the extraordinary mobilization of civic forces and civil society made the difference. This is what we need", said the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, at the CGIL demonstration. "We need - she added - to build the alternative together to be able to go to these people who have mobilised. We want to build the alternative not alone, but with all those who want to contribute and there are many in this square."
Schlein: "Meloni stop criminalizing dissent"
"I believe it is very important to be here and so many to be here. I made almost the entire march, it is full of young girls and boys who have a lot to say, a lot to give, because they are not our future, they are already our present and must be listened to. And Giorgia Meloni must stop and stop criminalizing dissent and those who protest for the high cost of living, for the high cost of energy, for the high cost of fuel, and start giving answers to the Italians instead of blaming them", Schlein said again. "There is an enormous participation. We are also here alongside the CGIL, of all the associations of 'La via maestra', for social justice, for peace, to defend our Constitution, to defend public health, public schools, dignified work, the wages of Italians forgotten by the government of Giorgia Meloni, and also the industry of this country. I have now met - said Schlein - a worker who tells me about the difficulties in the South, where many of their factories are in difficulty due to the cost of energy and put them on redundancy pay. It is incredible that in 4 years this government has failed to do anything to improve the material living conditions of Italians."
Conte: "You can't work alone"
"We certainly cannot work alone in an isolated way. We have always, at the beginning of the legislature, worked with a united effort to try to bring about convergences", also stated the leader of the M5S Giuseppe Conte, on the sidelines of the CGIL demonstration in Rome, responding to those who asked him if the presence of all the leaders of the progressive camp in the square was a sign of unity. "But I would say that the situation for the progressive camp, beyond the criticisms that are made and the debate, is an overall positive situation, because in all these years we have found many common projects - added the former prime minister - We have made many convergences and in essence we are much more united than a centre-right. Even the other day, there was Meloni talking about foreign policy on the one hand in Parliament and Salvini from Brussels saying the opposite".
Conte: "Meloni go home, let's use the rearmament money for the families"
"For four years, Meloni has talked about an Italy with records that doesn't exist, aided and supported by a compliant media system. Now reality is calling the shots: students, farmers, breeders, fishermen, workers who are in extreme difficulty, underpaid. All categories at the moment are experiencing first-hand the difficulties due to the high cost of living, the high cost of fuel, to a country that has literally progressively become impoverished over the course of these years. We still have the chance to remedy this, but we must show courage", continued Conte. The former prime minister then spoke of the "extra profits of all the giants who have enriched themselves in recent years. Let's take back the money that was planned for rearmament, for weapons, let's put it for families and for businesses, because at this moment the country absolutely must restart. We have growth close to zero - he added -, a rather compromised perspective without more money from the Pnrr and many inequities and inequalities that are growing. The citizens can't take it anymore, we have to change absolutely page: this government goes home or really starts, at least with this budget law, to show the courage and interest in Italians that it has not done up to now."
Fratoianni: "Government faces real emergencies"
"There is an alternative to this terrible government, and it is ready not from today, of course there are other issues on which we will continue to discuss but there is an opposition coalition in the field and is ready to offer an alternative to the country, and which tells this country that this is not the time for resignation. It is for this reason that we are here", said Nicola Fratoianni of Avs then speaking to reporters in Piazza del Popolo. "From this splendid crowded square - continues the red-green leader - a message comes to the country, the thousands of workers, pensioners, boys and girls in this square are the best part of the country, they are the ones who keep it going every day and who repeat things that are simple but urgent and necessary. Enough with a policy that does not look at the problems of the majority of Italians, that defends privileges, that does not redistribute wealth. A government - concludes Fratoianni - that does not intervene in real emergencies: the cost of living with salaries stuck, with public healthcare collapsing, constitutes an explosive and unsustainable mix."
