We are writing on the spur of the moment, just after a quick look at the stats. There will be a time for quarter-to-quarter analysis: for now we have some urgent things to say, in order to understand what happened, what is going to happen and what we should do. In fact, if there is something this referendum taught to us is that peoples still write the history and very soon we will be called for big challenges and a contribution from everyone will be necessary. Let’s split it by paragraphs.
1. Something staggering happened. This is the first fact to consider. Renzi lost with 20 points of difference. Renzi, the prime minister who had the biggest support from the dominant classes in the history of Italian Republic. The great communicator, the youngster, the demolisher. That Renzi to whom Italy’s dominant powers were desperately hanging after the unsatisfying elections of 2013 and the need of taking back some popular approval after Monti’s technical government and the imperceptible Letta, hence, we saw a resounding rejection not only for Renzi, but for the strategy of the dominant class to continue the government too.
2. Renzi lost because he did not match the interests of the masses. This is the main truth: if with the 80 euros Renzi intercepted a need, which transformed in approval, all the rest of his government was made of announcements and huge anti-people measures. In two years and a half, even Berlusconi did not dare to do the things he did: Jobs Act, elimination of article 18 of the Constitution, Sblocca Italia, gifts to big companies… None of the problems of the masses had been solved: there is still no occupation, there are still too many taxes, there are still no social services, school and public health services are seriously compromised. Repression in the streets increased and there is no more right of dissent on the media.
3. The people is not stupid, it is actually breaking through. All the money invested, all the media heavily guarded, terrorism of newspapers, all the nepotism networks, Confindustria, banks, Marchionne, the European Union, the US ambassador: all these things were not enough for Renzi, because in the end the people decided for itself. This is a very important thing to keep in mind. Popular classes are not stupid, they can judge how their life is going and they can understand if a government is doing their interests or not. And now in Italy we are at a point where they are not scared anymore. Months of propaganda done on fear: we needed to vote YES otherwise the markets, the banks, Grillo, Salvini… well, at the end people did not care. It is better a jump in the dark rather than this slow dripping pain. It is better to try to take back our own lives, than being “responsible” (for whom?). It is better a bit of uncertainty than continuing to vote the lesser evil.
4. Stop with arrogance. It is another reason, not the least important. People are fed up of who tell them what to do and what to think, of who insults them, of who tweets ciaone, of who cheats them. Renzi was the top of arrogance: he even screwed up Letta and his party-fellows. But in times of crisis each one of us already takes too much hatred, competition, depression: are we sure we want other divisions? Don’t we need something different, like a people’s assembly? Don’t we need other examples of humanity or tenderness? This is not bullshit. Not only we need to dream, but to see and touch another way of living.
5. The antifascist Constitution keeps up. Last but not least, many Italians voted to defend our antifascist Constitution. They voted because they thought the problem is not the Constitution, as it says good things, it’s just that they’ve never been applied. The far-right wants to tell stories, but a lot of people proved that it won’t be easy to change our past made of ideas, sacrifice of partisans, importance of labour, popular sovereignty, solidarity, personal growth over their social class. Many people, now, want to see that Constitution applied, rather than changed!
6. Do not give this victory away to anybody! It is for the above reasons that we have not to give away this victory to anybody. Neither to Salvini, who just opportunistically rode this chance in spite of being the most authoritarians, corrupted, friends of exploiters; nor to Five Stars Movement, which never talks about social or labour matters, but has just got confused ideas on the actual situation and on the course of action to adopt about Europe, immigration and so on. Yes, Lega and Five Stars Movement had a lot of media visibility and worked out well in many areas by politicising people on their belief, but in many other territories they just do not exist and the majority did not vote for them, but just against Renzi. If all these people had the chance of explaining or build their views, they would surely do it.
7. Working among lower classes works. In fact, that is what happened in Naples, where the protagonists of the NO were not those two parties, but the far-left. Five months of campaigns, daily contact with territories, solution of citizens’ problems, ability of perspective, being credible as people. We are humble, we do not think we are the best, we think we have a lot to learn, but we have to recognise that months of work on the referendum took unbelievable changes in people’s consciences, especially, in the zones we worked most, people were perfectly conscious of what was at stake. In our zone NO was close to 75%! And we are sure that there have been similar cases in the rest of Italy, from Mantova to Bergamo. When the left is really present on territories, it’s over for everyone!
8. Careful to open spaces. A dangerous space is opening, where many will try to get. On the ruins of Renzi’s government Lega, Five Stars Movement, fascists, local powerful people linked to DC and parts of the minority of PD will try to take a piece. We want to make it clear: we have no intention of giving away to anyone what we have done after years of struggles. In the past, already, the missing of proposals penalised us and made important matters like redistribution of wealth, public investments on occupation and so on disappear from the agenda. This time this must not happen. We have to build an alternative as soon as possible from lower classes which, beginning from urban areas, will become a real movement which gives concrete responses.
Yesterday we celebrated the winning, because it was fair enough to enjoy the moment after two years and a half of protests, cudgel club blows, criminal records, vouchers, contracts expired and never renewed, closed hospitals and insults, but we are the first ones to recognise that the situation is still teetering on the verge: it can be very dangerous or very effective, but it is up to us.
In order to do so we need help, smartness, competences from everybody, even from people who voted YES just because they were afraid of Grillo and Salvini, because they could not see any alternatives, because they were afraid of sneaky forms of fascism. Renzi divided us, but now there are no more misunderstandings, we just have to stick the broken pieces together again and create a new project that speaks to the masses.
Some will say it’s impossible, we are weak, and we are just dreamers. We say that in the recent years of crisis many strange things happened and maybe the wheel is finally on our side. We just have to be brave and remember, just like Chavez and Castro and many peoples from all around the world said: Sì, se puede!
