The young man beaten with an iron bar by ‘fascists’ in Milan and the convenient anti-fascist excuse

To douse a headteacher, a teacher, a schoolmate or a political ‘enemy’ with petrol, one must perhaps be French; for young people in France, political violence is a sort of rite of passage, as Pascal Bruckner told La Repubblica. Yet preventing the situation from reaching the point of no return cannot be left to chance, not even in a country like Italy or a city like Milan, which has experienced the tragedy of youth-led political violence. A (presumably) left-wing secondary school pupil is in a serious condition in hospital after being attacked on Monday night by a dozen far-right militants outside a school: they had caught him tearing down posters belonging to the Blocco Studentesco. Wishes for his recovery are widespread, yet the possibility of further incidents cannot be left to chance. To prevent a return to the dark years of the past, it is not enough to declare that ‘Milan is an anti-fascist city’, as Mayor Beppe Sala wrote on X, a statement echoed by many with understandable but incomplete indignation.

To prevent violence, we must speak the truth. The young man who was attacked (obviously, we hope that the attackers will be identified and held to account under the law) had not carried out an act that was either democratic or ‘anti-fascist’. Freedom of speech and of thought is guaranteed to everyone, including ‘unauthorised’ placards. It is not enough to condemn the attack without reminding everyone that democratic freedom (once referred to as ‘political freedom of action’) must be guaranteed. Those of us who are a little older will recall the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of Claudio Varalli, a left-wing activist: he and others came across some Fuan militants who were handing out leaflets (not throwing bombs); a clash ensued, and the right-wingers were outnumbered. One of them took refuge in a car; in a panic, he fired an illegal pistol (those were the times). He was subsequently convicted of culpable excess in the exercise of self-defence. To ensure we do not return to those years, the truth must be told: freedom of expression is not an ‘anti-fascist’ option.