The Milan lost to the Expo’s brooms

On the morning of 2 May 2015, dozens of Milanese – soon to be hundreds and then thousands – had already taken to the streets with buckets and brooms to clean up the city devastated by the black bloc. On 1 May, whilst Expo 2015 was being inaugurated, the anarchist-hooligan mob had smashed shop windows, set cars alight and daubed graffiti on walls. Mayor Giuliano Pisapia – who had inherited Expo and had not exactly been jumping for joy – wasted no time in calling on citizens and politicians to defend the city. On 3 May, the ‘Nessuno tocchi Milano’ clean-up campaign, led by Pisapia and involving 20,000 Milanese, was a great display of Ambrosian pride and civic spirit. Perhaps the last of its kind. It was not a party-political initiative, although the Lega and Forza Italia refused to take part, demonstrating that they had lost their civic foresight.

The year is 2026. Three days after the devastation and looting of Milan by a horde of minors, according to the disarming and complicit ideologues of ‘youth disaffection’, it was a sort of holy crusade by children (it ended in a disaster of starvation and death – forget about free hoodies), to clean up Milan and reclaim its civic dignity and respect for people and property, no one took to the streets. Not a single mayor, not a single mayoral candidate. Apart from a ramshackle right-wing rally featuring La Russa, Letizia Moratti and the would-be candidates for Palazzo Marino, Silvia Sardone and Matteo Perego. A demonstration by the CGIL is scheduled for today, supported by the PD and left-wing organisations, with Sala, Calabresi and Majorino in attendance: but it is for ‘social cohesion’, under the banner ‘Milan does not want violence’.

Reclaiming the city with pragmatism and a touch of pride is a theme that transcends all political perspectives. The contrast with the popular mobilisation of eleven years ago is stark. It may be that the people of Milan have become more distracted or fearful, and years of guilt-inducing narratives about Milan have taken their toll: there was even a sense of Schadenfreude at the smashed shop windows. Yet it is above all the absence of political leadership that stands out. Beppe Sala did not take to the streets with a broom; he wavered between condemnation and understanding. Understandable, too, as he is stepping down. But what of his successors? The political parties? 

The mayor, of course, must hold his ground on the left by rallying support around Schlein, and must stand up to the Home Secretary, Piantedosi, who will be in town today to ensure security with 500 soldiers – an elite force, albeit a few years late. But Sala is still in charge. Mario Calabresi, on the other hand, has missed his first real chance to establish himself as a civic leader whose influence extends beyond party lines: “Guerrilla tactics are always to be condemned, but let’s listen to the protests”, as if, instead of twelve-year-olds engaged in looting, he were facing pupils of Schopenhauer – it’s not a particularly catchy slogan. His rival, Pierfrancesco Majorino, who sits slightly further to the left, has shifted the focus towards the broad neutral ground, arguing that “youthful anger can be addressed by investing in education”.

The most left-wing of the contenders, Lorenzo Pacini, put forward Giorgia Rossi, his head of the rights committee for Rivoluzione Milano, who went viral (mission accomplished) for posting on social media whilst arguing with the police: ‘Ask them for their ID as you would any ordinary citizen’. The ones smashing shop windows. Once upon a time, there was the Expo. The important thing is not to rub the young crusaders and all-encompassing sociology up the wrong way. Someone else will take care of mending Milan’s physical and symbolic rifts. In short, nothingness in the desert, in a wounded city. Not only in its pride and its ‘luxury’ shops (the hungry storm the bakeries, ‘bread and justice!’, as Manzoni wrote, not Under Armour). But above all, it has been struck at the very heart of its sense of civilisation, even before its sense of security.

The ability to tell even the most extreme protesters that there is room for them to join the political discourse has disappeared; and if, on the other hand, there is little room, we can squeeze together or make more space. This has always been the Milanese magic formula: it’s all about not undoing what is already there. The secret of Milan’s reformist left, and indeed of some centre-right councils. A way of teaching even 13-year-olds of the second, third or Nth generation (though there were also those whom not even Vannacci could bring back) the fundamental economic law: ‘Whoever turns their back on Milan, turns their back on bread’. Instead, there is no ability to try and tell those who have been looting ‘to combat the high cost of living’ (though, speaking from experience, Milan’s banlieues are not Ouagadougou) that there is a different option. The mantra is that we must listen, so as not to leave our left flank exposed to Concita De Gregorio’s barbs: ‘Take your eyes off the shop windows and keep them on the young people’.
Instilling respect for shop windows among young people (do they realise that the staff at Decathlon are not millionaires, but perhaps parents just like their own?) is someone else’s problem. Certainly not that of those standing for election to lead the city’s ‘change’ – that magic word.

As has already been said of the centre-right, it has long since lost the constructive and shared vision necessary for a complex community. Security-focused slogans are not the whole story. Forza Italia’s candidate, Perego di Cremnago, has championed the proposal to bring 500 military personnel to Milan; after all, he is Crosetto’s Under-Secretary of State for Defence. But apart from a few slogans such as ‘remigration’ or ‘punish severely’, there is no sign of an ability to champion a vision that broadens social and physical boundaries. Silvia Sardone has called for Pacini’s resignation from City Hall 1, but even Vannacci was late to the party with his pronouncements: “Anyone who orchestrates attacks on the police through paramilitary actions is bringing terrorism onto the streets. For us, this is terrorism, and for us the response must be a firm hand.” On the other hand, there is a left wing that for years – and quite rightly – has accused the government of neglecting security, yet as soon as the idea of deploying more military personnel is raised, Sala is quick to challenge the decision: “Not everything can be solved through repression.” In its plundering of electoral slogans, Milan bears a striking resemblance to Italy.