Nuti, the Five Star Movement member who campaigns by bike, "We're targeting those who want to skip the polls."“

by ANTONELLA ROMANO
«"LET'S WAKE UP." He's already done it, for a year, filming "Fiato sul collo" in the city council, studying and reporting all the resolutions and fines for lack of decorum against city councilors. Then he took paid leave from H3g, the telecommunications company where he works, from March 23rd to May 8th. And he rode his bike to tour all the neighborhoods as a candidate, from Settecannoli to San Lorenzo. "Our hustle and bustle is getting out into the streets and talking to everyone. This is how we convince people who don't want to vote to participate in politics the way we understand it, explaining who we are and what we do," says Riccardo Nuti, 30, candidate and spokesperson for Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement, first on a list of thirty-nine aspiring citizens without party cards, architects, engineers, students, artists, and employees, with an average age of 35.
Their posters don't appear on the walls. And the electoral "holy cards," printed in 50,000 copies, are given only to those who specifically request them. "We don't give them out," Nuti clarifies, "to throw them out into the street." The electoral committee is on Via Sampolo, the very headquarters of the movement, a two-bedroom apartment with a bathroom, lent by Luigi Scarpello. At the entrance, the mayoral candidate's bicycle. Minimal furnishings: tables, chairs, maps, and movement campaign posters. The staff? None. "Or rather: it's us," says Riccardo Nuti, an athletic, bearded man from the San Lorenzo neighborhood, with a computer science degree from Vittorio Emanuele III University, whose economics studies he interrupted to go to work. When he opens the door at 3 p.m., he's alone: "The ones who help us are the candidate councilors; at this hour, everyone's thinking about their own election campaigns. The headquarters is open to everyone. If something needs to be done, we all pitch in." Here, no one is paid to do nothing." Among the "long-time" activists and candidates are Giorgio Ciaccio, an employee at an organic produce cooperative; Giorgio Trizzino, a lawyer and expert in environmental policies; Claudio La Rocca, Giulia Di Vita, and Samantha Busalacchi. Actor Claudio Gioè, who played "The Boss of Bosses," was the campaign's big sponsor: he will be on stage with Beppe Grillo for the closing event.
On a table, among a thousand objects, are two cardboard boxes containing donations to fund the movement, for an election campaign that couldn't be more low-cost. The €4,000 raised so far, in short, should cover everything. Seven other committees actually exist: they are activists' homes, made available for meetings. A candidate for mayor since October 2011, elected in an internal primary in which one hundred people participated, Riccardo Nuti considers himself an activist like all the others: in his manifesto, he is depicted in a group photo. "The leader of the movement is not a person but the group itself," he says. "We held our primaries without fraud and without paying a single cent." The movement will not ally itself with anyone, not even in the runoff. "There's no point in trying to find us, then," Nuti clarifies. The candidates for city council—including himself—have all accepted the rule of reducing their salaries: a maximum of €2,000. "We talk to everyone. Aware," Nuti states, "that our electorate is among the thirty percent of people in Palermo who don't vote." They interpret the anti-politics slogan in their own way. "We say enough not to politics but to this politics. We are for politics with a capital P. After a year in the city council, we have understood that left and right do not exist; no one is trustworthy." To gain recognition, they rely on "political" issues on which the "5 Star" candidates are uncompromising and know they can count. There's the no to waste-to-energy plants, the zero-waste strategy, family daycare centers, the revitalization of cultural sites, online bureaucratic procedures, and ideas like respect and protection of the environment and the common good.
Fabrizio Ferrandelli suffered an unpleasant incident yesterday during a debate between candidates organized by the Palermo branch of Arcigay at Villa Filippina. A Radical Party representative, Gaetano D'Amico, climbed onto the stage and slapped Ferrandelli. D'Amico, who allegedly threw himself to the ground, was forcibly removed by DIGOS officers. This is the second incident involving the Radical Party, given that a few days earlier, D'Amico had insulted Democratic Party leader Massimo D'Alema upon his arrival in the city. Ferrandelli himself took the initiative to defuse the situation, saying: "I'm turning the other cheek. Palermo needs serenity and a reduction in conflict," although he immediately added, "this isn't the first slap I've received during this election campaign; there have been moral ones, like the primaries. I'm still moving forward." Vincenzo Di Girolamo, provincial secretary of the Democratic Party, expressed solidarity.