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Dear Editor, I am a Syrian Christian residing in Milan for many years. For the past week, I have been reading with dismay the news of the massacre of Alawites and Christians in my country, meticulously planned and executed by the Islamic terrorists of Al-Jolani. I had no doubts that something like this would happen sooner or later: the current Syrian leader is the same man who fought under the flag of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, his men are the ones who carried out the massacre of Maloula, his style of governance is the same imposed in Idlib: terror for minorities and Sharia for all. Only here in the West could someone think that a jihadist would suddenly become a sincere democrat. Yet many believed it. When the Islamists of Hts took power last year, I was appalled by the articles by Andrea Nicastro in the Corriere della Sera. The correspondent spoke of a “revolution of mercy,” described Al-Jolani as a statesman who “does not sleep in the dictator’s palace” even though “he could have done it.” And interpreted these events as a “sign of moderation.” Quoting Al-Jolani’s speech at the mosque, he took his words (“it is the victory of the Ummah”) and commented: “He could have said it is a Sunni victory.” Imagine if he had said: it is the victory of Syria! Nicastro spoke of citizens “reassured” because “not even a flower in the flowerbeds was trampled” so peaceful the revolution would be. I don’t know which citizens he was talking about: all my friends in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama were terrified and trying to flee. In the following days, the Corriere even interviewed women, one of whom was Alawite (who knows if she’s still alive), who praised the same people who were roaming the streets with megaphones reminding everyone that the veil was now mandatory and stopping girls at checkpoints to explain that they could no longer leave home without a male relative. Like in Afghanistan! Didn’t you find patriarchy disgusting? Now that Al-Jolani has resumed his job, the bloody jihadist, after a few weeks break, the Corriere headlines: “The party is over.” Why, did it ever start? All of us Syrians rejoiced at the end of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but at the same time, we trembled at the arrival of the galaxy of jihadists who identify with the acronym Hts. Thank goodness for Tempi: even though Al-Jolani has shaved his beard and put on a tie, you have never been fooled.
Boulos
Dear Boulos, let’s also see the U-turn of the major newspapers who, perhaps unwittingly, were “fooled” by the “moderate” Al-Jolani (defined as a “pragmatic militant” by Repubblica). Fortunately, besides Tempi, good journalists like Gian Micalessin and Fausto Biloslavo have helped us call things by their name.
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On the issue of “Salva Milano,” Mayor Beppe Sala and some members of the majority lack a healthy sense of realism. They speak as if there were others governing the city, as if the rules of the game, the resolutions, the acts, the plans were written and approved by mysterious forces. During the City Council meeting, they repeated several times that “discontinuity is needed.” Discontinuity from whom? I humbly remind you that the PD has been governing Milan for 15 years. In the end, they are right: discontinuity is necessary! The administration led by the PD has shown a lack of political vision capable of responding to Milan’s social challenges. The pursued development model is that of a showcase city, attractive to capital and major events, but not inclusive for those who live there daily. The suburbs continue to be neglected, with inadequate services, insufficient transportation, and degraded public spaces. In recent years, the gap between the mayor and the real needs of the citizens has become increasingly evident. The city is facing a deep housing crisis, with skyrocketing rents and house prices pushing entire segments of the population out of the urban fabric. Families, young people, and workers find themselves crushed by a city that is less and less attentive to the housing issue. The lack of an effective political strategy by the PD and the municipal administration has led to a fragmented management of social and economic issues. Housing policies have failed to provide affordable housing for low-income families, as well as those in the so-called middle class. The current administration seems more focused on managing the present without a clear strategy for the future, while the city drifts further away from its popular and working-class identity to become a laboratory of gentrification and growing inequalities. The resignation of the Municipal Housing Councillor, Guido Bardelli, has shaken the municipal administration and raised questions about the political management of the city. The disclosure of private communications and the subsequent resignation of a councillor raise questions about the cohesion of the council and its ability to face the challenges the city is encountering. Recent urban developments, with the so-called “Salva Milano,” have further highlighted the fragility of an administration incapable of regulating urban development in the interest of the community. I reiterate: the “Salva Milano” must be approved quickly to provide certainty to families who have bought homes, to businesses and workers, and to contain the significant economic damage to the city. Sala washes his hands like any Pontius Pilate. A dead policy must still guide Milan for the next two years, with enormous challenges to face, this is the worrying fact to consider in interpreting all events: with Sala’s surrender to the jingling of handcuffs, the political experience of governing the city is over.
Deborah Giovanati
We have many doubts about the investigation. This idea that the suspects “dictated” the norm to their political representatives in parliament (see the article by Ermes Antonucci in Foglio) does not convince us. As for the “political” aspect, Pietro Piccinini wrote well on Tempi: “Either the ‘Salva Milano’ is a good and just law, the only possibility to restart a leading sector of the city’s economy, as Sala has tirelessly argued, and then the mayor should clarify why he decided to abandon it on the street, since a good law remains so regardless of what the prosecutor manages to prove about Oggioni; or the ‘Salva Milano’ is a corrupt law, as corrupt as is the one who conceived it, according to the prosecutors, and then the mayor has an even more serious problem, since he defended it for months. No victim and no civil party.
