Virginia Libero speaks of “desertion”, but the Schlein children remain silent

The silence of the young people – a resounding and widespread silence amongst the young Democrats (whether Schlein supporters or reformists) – follows, at present, the words spoken by the leader of the Young Democrats, 28-year-old Virginia Libero, who two days ago, from the stage at the Festa dell’Unità in Reggio Emilia – right in the midst of the debate on the centre-left’s political line, and just a few days after the conclusion of ‘Nova’, the M5S’s policy programme – said something that quite a few Young Democrats think in their hearts, but which (for now?) they do not say: “We will not be the soldiers in your wars,” said Virginia: “If these right-wing parties lead us into a real conflict, you go off to war. Because we will organise the deserters.” Although Virginia Libero later sought to clarify that “Kyiv has nothing to do with this”, the Democratic Party reformists and Carlo Calenda were up in arms. But why aren’t the young Democrats – who have Virginia Libero as their secretary – speaking out? Or are they waiting, as was reported yesterday, for Virginia to speak out again?

One phone call after another; yesterday it was perhaps easy to find, in the North as well as in the South, the young Democrat who whispered that he ‘totally agreed’ with the Secretary of the Democratic Left on the same issues, and even the one who said ‘she was right to say it right now’, but very little came out in the open, on a day shrouded in mystery: why aren’t the young Democrats responding on issues they usually speak about willingly, after their Secretary has spoken? So, who knows, perhaps reasons of realpolitik (they need to find common ground on the programme with Giuseppe Conte, amidst perhaps irreconcilable differences in positions) advised the ‘bigwigs’ to strongly urge the ‘youngsters’ to adopt a wait-and-see approach, so as to prevent a consensus from coalescing around Virginia Libero’s words in favour of a line that was at times more in the vein of Conte than of Schlein? Not exactly a party directive, perhaps even a spontaneous retreat, given the circumstances, but who knows. The fact remains that the young people’s silence is there, and it speaks beyond the division between concepts shrouded in ambiguity. However, Paolo Romano, the Democratic Party regional councillor in Lombardy – who a year ago boarded the Global Sumud Flotilla, the humanitarian naval expedition to Gaza that had divided the political world – speaks plainly.

“I’m struck by the fact that Virginia’s remark has sparked controversy,” Romano tells Il Foglio: “For years, indeed decades, we’ve been watching what the world’s powerful say, their conflicts of interest and their wars. Now we’re simply saying ‘enough is enough’ – we’re not having any of it.” Perhaps it would have been better not to invoke the Resistance? “The partisans, let us remember, were the first deserters – but deserters from the fascist state.” But shouldn’t the dramatic situation in Ukraine warrant a different tone? “We have always expressed our solidarity with the Ukrainian people.” Romano says, “Yes to sending defensive weapons; we’ve always said so. We cannot tolerate the sight of bombs falling on a block of flats, with children trapped under the rubble. It is a different matter to supply equipment that could fuel escalation.” Escalation is already underway on the other side, say the Democratic Party reformists to the Young Democrats, led by Giorgio Gori, recalling the Italian and American youths who fought against Nazi-Fascism – and the leader of Azione, Carlo Calenda, says the same. “What we need today is a cultural shift and a change in mindset,” says Romano. “Peace is also built by practising it. The more weapons you have, the more soldiers you have, the more easily you take the path that leads to war.” From Rome, the young Democratic Party municipal councillor Francesco Di Carlo agrees with the GD secretary on one point: “Virginia’s words,” he says, “capture a genuine concern of our generation, namely the rejection of the idea that war might once again be regarded as a normal and inevitable prospect for Europe. It is a concern that I, too, share and which I believe must be fully embraced within the political culture of the Young Democrats”.

At the same time, however, Di Carlo finds it “difficult” to identify with the “argument about desertion: given my progressive and pro-European outlook, working for peace does not mean shirking the responsibilities that history may place before us, nor being indifferent when a people is under attack or when European freedom and security are at stake”.