My name is Concetta Castronovo, I was born in Agrigento on 02/09/1951, I am a pensioner with an average income of 600 euros per month.
Yesterday I listened to your director regarding the secretary of the CGIL Landini. I’m not a genius but I can’t help but realize the political ambitions of the union secretary. I realized two years ago that the union thought about everything except pensioners and workers. I got the card in 2021 only to realize the following year that my practices were languishing in their database, that they were only moving to boycott the Meloni government. I also have a disabled son and in theory I have a fictitious residence as I don’t have a stable home, if anyone has done something it’s Giorgia Meloni at least towards me. In fact, I tore up my CGIL membership during a live online broadcast on Facebook. Now the flotilla of dinghies and other such nonsense are on general strike for Gaza. It would have been more logical to organize a fleet of rafts and make them go around with pensioners and workers inside or organize hot air balloons to do the same. I know, it’s nonsense but I don’t see any difference with Gaza and it would certainly cost less. Gaza, Ukraine, everything bad is clear, but what does the Meloni government have to do with it?
Thanks for the vent
Tina
Dear Tina,
your outburst is clear and sincere, and I welcome it with affection and respect. You speak as a citizen, as a pensioner with a thousand difficulties, and you do it with the humanity that many forget. And in those words there is a truth that is too often lost in the courts of ideology. You ask me, in an innocent and courageous tone: «What does Meloni have to do with Gaza? And the unions with the Palestinians?”.
And I answer that in this time the boundary between foreign policy and domestic policy has become perversely blurred, often to the advantage of those who seek to exploit the pain of others for ideological purposes. You are right when you say that there are needy people, pensioners, families in difficulty: they are the forgotten Italy that a worthy government should put at the centre. And this is what a ruling class must be judged on. I believe that Giorgia Meloni has made and is making real efforts not to abandon those people. There is no point in denying it: he promoted social interventions, allocated funds for vulnerable groups, kept social discourse in his program, not as an ornament but as a necessity. He did it in an international context where the pressures are very strong, the European constraints are tight, the resources are limited. You could say that the citizen’s income was an imperfect instrument, too generous towards those who did not work, and that many saw it as an eternal subsidy, rather than a bridge to work. Those types of benefits, when the economy grows poorly and jobs are lacking, become aberrations. Well, Meloni has already initiated welfare reforms that put the dignity of work at the centre, not dependence, not welfare, which creates oppressed and miserable subjects and not free and happy citizens. The unions, which you attended and then abandoned, have often forgotten to protect those who really work, those who pay taxes, those who suffer every day. You’ve seen them silent on many real battles, too busy with exotic causes and ideological narratives. This is why those who, like you, need concrete answers, feel betrayed.
And allow me to make a few observations regarding the news that Meloni, Tajani and Crosetto would have been reported to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “competition in genocide”, the Prime Minister herself confirmed this publicly in television broadcasts and defined it as an “unprecedented” case. But who reports what, and with what elements, is another matter. Being reported does not equate to being found guilty, nor does it mean that the facts have been established. It is an initial step in legal action, not a conviction. This accusation did not lead to any proceedings. The complainants need to bring proof: deliveries of weapons, government decisions, objective responsibility in the conflict. And that the ICC accept jurisdiction. Meloni rightly declared herself an injured party, stating that this complaint is “without history”, that it is a political attack, that Italy has not approved new shipments of weapons to Israel since October 2023. And she added that she does not intend to remain silent in the face of slander that aims to delegitimize her. A valid reason, a weak point, a mistake has not been found to erode the consensus enjoyed by this majority, so we resort to this kind of pretext, these ridiculous accusations, what happens elsewhere, for which Meloni is absolutely not, not even remotely, responsible. We are faced with yet another tool that someone is using against the government to score political ground. In vain.
But not
Would it be better for a left eager to regain trust and votes to focus on workers, Italian citizens, issues that concern us closely? An opposition that deals with Gaza is of no use to Italians.