We were worried before the demonstration. Was the huge success of last year’s demonstration against violence against women solely due to the wave of emotion over Giulia Cecchettin’s feminicide? [she had been stabbed multiple times in November 2023 by her boyfriend who ‘resented’ the fact she was doing so well with her studies -Tr]. We should not have been concerned. A year later, the transfeminist procession convened in Rome by Non Una di Meno (Not one less) saw at least 200,000 people march with a political and economic platform that restores meaning to such media ‘crime stories. “Violence is political and this is a patriarchal government, a female premier is not enough,” explained activists at the start, in front of the Pyramid Cestia.
At the assembly point, women and men of all ages, children arrived: the square, which at first seemed too large, filled up. Certainly a very strong reason for such a big turnout was due to the actions of the Education Minister Valditara and Prime Minister, Meloni, who made inappropriate, xenophobic and denialist statements at the Cecchettin Foundation’s event only last Monday. It was no surprise that the bulk of the ironic and irreverent placards were dedicated to them. “Patriarchy exists, institutional racism is not the answer” was the unanimous chorus of slogans against Valditara. But there is also more: “We demonstrate:
- against the Orbanisation of society [Orban is reactionary right wing leader of Hungary –Tr],
- against the security bill that criminalizes life choices and dissent and in the militarizes society while the economic crisis bites,
- against poorly paid jobs and women having to choose part tim work that is at record levels under Meloni
- against the government that cuts welfare, health and schooling to finance rearmament.
“104 state deaths. It’s not immigration but your education,” reads the banner of the middle student collectives arriving en masse after organised a flash mob in front of the Ministry of Education on Viale Trastevere. There they also burned a photo of the minister from Salvini’s Lega (anti migrant party). The non-violent action was immediately taken up by the right wing coalition to try to smear this demonstration as violent as well and to demand the center-left parties distance themselves from it. Yet another sign that the government fails to even comprehend a feminist mobilization that is not convened by a party but by a composite network of associations, anti-violence refuges, collectives and youth centres.
There are the banners of Be Free, Differenza Donna [Women’s Difference], Lucha y Siesta [Struggle and Siesta], Giuridicamente Libera [Legally Free]. Those of the International House of Women, of Scosse [literally Shocks], of the Secondary Students Network, of Aracne. There is the CGIL [biggest trade union confederation –Tr] and Nonna Roma [mutual aid group fighting poverty]. There are also several representatives of the centre left opposition but without any party symbol or banners. “It is a demonstration for everyone,” explains Dem Senator Cecilia d’Elia.
The demonstration moves off behind the first truck wrapped in a giant banner that borrows a phrase from Gisèle Pélicot, whose husband is on trial in France for raping her and having dozens of other men rape her: “Shame must change sides.” Mara, a retired teacher, hides behind a tree to peek at her granddaughter, at the parade with her classmates, “If she sees me she might be embarrassed,” she says, “but I am so proud and I would like to take a picture of her.” A group of men look out from a building in Piazzale Ostiense waving feminist signs amid applause from people on the street. Actresses from the Una Nessuna e Centomila foundation also arrive: Paola Cortellesi [director and actress of film There’s still tomorrow, reviewed on this site -Tr], Vittoria Puccini, Maria Chiara Giannetta, among others.
There is a group of scouts carrying Palestine flags. They came from a parish in Rome, they say, to also demonstrate against genocide. The theme, like last year, is among the central points of the platform convening the day of struggle. Throughout the march winding through the centre of Rome, the colours of the Palestine flag mingle with the fuchsia and purple of feminists. Arriving in front of the FAO headquarters, the clang of bunches of keys goes up, used not only as a sign that the killer often has the keys to the house but also against the “complicit silence of Western governments on the massacre of the Palestinian population. Women are a privileged target.”
Fiamma and her friends are civil servants, each wearing a keffiyeh, “but mine is original- she stresses-I wore it back in the 1970s.” She comments that these girls are right because “war is the result of patriarchy.” The second stop is at the Colosseum where a huge list is rolled out with the names of the 106 victims of feminicide, lesbicide and transicide in the last year. “The information is biased because it leaves out the cases when the victims are elderly women, trans women or migrants,” says an activist on the megaphone, ”we ask for this vicious selection to stop”. Valentina, who has brought her 5-year-old son, pulls over to look for friends arriving from Pisa, with the girls. They stay even when there seems to be a tense moment with the police, near the Pro Vita [Pro Life – reactionary anti-abortion group] headquarters. “We’re not worried, it’s a good party,” they say as they head toward Piazza Vittorio, where the procession, after some hours, finally manages to arrive.
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