The substance of freedom

I extend a warm greeting to all present, especially the students […] The profound aspiration of the Italian people, after the wars of fascism, was peace. The regime had made war a normal condition for Italians: not war for life, but life for war. The Resistance set itself the goal of achieving peace as the normal condition of relations between peoples. At stake were the reasons for life against the exaltation of the cult of death, presented as a last, desperate order by the Republican bands.

The Resistance was growing in all European countries under Nazi rule. From the common cause, solidarity was making headway, capable of overcoming the legacies of recent wars. From the various Resistance movements, too, the idea of a Europe of peoples was born, today embodied by the popular sovereignty expressed by the Strasbourg Parliament. It was anti-fascist exponents who developed the idea of a united Europe, against the tragedy of nationalisms that had sparked the European civil wars. […]

Defending the freedom of the European peoples is a shared task. Now, equality, the affirmation of the rule of law, cooperation, freedom itself, and democracy have become common goods of the European peoples, to be protected by all the signatories to the European Union pact. The freedom of the different homelands has become the liberation of Europe from those who sought to subjugate it. And it was a struggle so real that it even involved people whom the Nazis claimed to oppose to the partisans. International solidarity was measured in the Ligurian mountains as elsewhere by the contribution made by the many who, coming from distant homelands, had joined the Resistance. […]

Democratic life, as we have seen, was growing within the specific character of the anti-fascist forces in Genoa. Alongside the five parties in the Northern Italian CLNs (Actionists, Communists, Christian Democrats, Liberals, and Socialists), there was a sixth political force, the Mazzinian Republican Party. This was a highly peculiar issue, and to resolve it, Sandro Pertini, the seventh President of our Republic, was sent by the CLNAI. Today, in his region, we wish to honor his memory. His figure reminds us that political participation is a defining aspect of our democracy. It is the democratic exercise that underpins our freedom.

From these founding principles comes an appeal: we cannot surrender to citizens' absenteeism from public affairs, to voter abstention, to a low-intensity democracy. Also to respect the sacrifices our people had to endure to return to being citizens, holders of the rights of freedom. […]

[With the liberation] the era of human rights for individuals and peoples began, to prevent conflict, to affirm that the dignity of people is not limited to the borders of the state of which they are citizens. There can be no peace for just a few. Well-being for a few, leaving poverty, hunger, underdevelopment, and war to others.

This is the great lesson that Pope Francis has given us. In his Fratelli tutti, he urged us to overcome "anachronistic conflicts," reminding us that "each generation must make its own the struggles and achievements of previous generations and lead them to even higher goals... It is not possible to be content with what has already been achieved in the past and to stop and enjoy it as if this situation made us ignore the fact that many of our brothers and sisters still suffer situations of injustice that challenge us all."

This is why it is always a time for Resistance, this is why the values that inspired it are always relevant. […] A pact, a commitment, that would not have failed even when, in the 1970s, terrorism attempted to attack the foundations of our democratic coexistence.
 

The Garibaldi "Cichero" Division was a partisan formation that fought in the Genoa area and was distinguished by the "Cichero Code," a rigorous code of conduct that President Mattarella recalled in his speech as the moral foundation of the Resistance:
"From Liguria came a powerful lesson on the morality of the Resistance, on the fundamental reasons that opposed the domination of man over man, opposed a conflict born not to defend one's own community but as an attack on the freedom of other peoples. By adopting basic behaviors of respect and solidarity, the partisans conformed to Cichero's Code, which stipulated that, in formations, the leader should eat last, should only go to sleep after personally verifying that everything was functioning and in order, should have the most demanding guard shifts, should not swear, should not harass women, should not requisition anything without paying what was due, and should share whatever was received with others. Fraternity. An experience inspired by a figure, that of Aldo Gastaldi, the partisan "Bisagno," commander of the Garibaldi-Cichero Division, a protagonist of a commitment to the homeland, justice, and freedom, considered a service of love, as well as an exercise of responsibility.
During a tragic death a month after the Liberation, awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valor, the Church of Genoa has decided to begin the canonical process of beatification for this servant of God.

At the link, the video of President Mattarella's speech at the commemorative ceremony for the 80th anniversary of the Liberation
https://www.quirinale.it/elementi/131559

Edited by the Editorial Staff
NP in-depth analysis
NP May 2024