The Milan case. The ‘revolutionary calls’ of Democrat Pacini (PD member Pro Calabresi was absent)

Rome. The giant watermelon no longer looms large on screen from Francesca Archibugi’s old film, but is now making its way through the suburbs of Milan where, quietly but with a large social media following and a series of ‘watermelon events’ in deprived neighbourhoods (three a week, until 10 August), Lorenzo Pacini, PD councillor for the First Municipality and candidate for the far-left wing of the Democratic Party in the primaries to succeed Sala (for which others within the PD itself would prefer to back the moderate independent candidate Mario Calabresi), is making his way. But Pacini, watermelons in hand and a small army of young volunteers in tow, is pressing straight towards his goal, even at a time when he is at the centre of a national controversy (against Libero and FdI) over remarks he allegedly made on La Zanzara (and has since denied) regarding how to combat fascists. In Milan, meanwhile, this is how it works: Pacini cuts up watermelons and hands out slices to people who “are staying in the city in 45 degrees” whilst others head out for the weekend. If anyone asks questions, he answers. How did the idea come about? “The watermelon events are a way of actively involving people,” Pacini tells Il Foglio: “It’s said that right now in Milan there are too many candidates and too few ideas. Well, we’re building our programme in a participatory way, with the ideas we gather from citizens in every neighbourhood.” But isn’t Pacini afraid that his radical foreign policy ideas might scare off the moderate Democratic Party electorate? “I have always fought to defend Palestine and the Palestinians, and to uphold peace and justice, which requires the implementation of international law – a law systematically violated by the Israeli government. This is the national PD’s line, and it is what I believe the majority of Italians and Milanese want.” Within the PD, the issue of rearmament is also being raised. “Defence – or rather, the mad rush to rearm – at the expense of social spending and welfare is the greatest harm that can be done to citizens today.”