Three marches, with D'Alema

GENOA – The CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour), and others, were among the thousands of people protesting the government's economic policies yesterday. The two large CGIL marches and a smaller one by grassroots unions like Snater, along with a demonstration by Cobas in Piazza Matteotti, mobilized large numbers of Ligurians. As always, the largest march was from the western part of Genoa, where regional president Claudio Burlando, Democratic Party leader Massimo D'Alema, and representatives of left-wing parties (including the Left-Communist Popular Party) and associations, from ANPI to Arcigay, also marched. The Student Union lined the route with white silhouettes painted on the asphalt, saying "student killed by education cuts" and "worker killed by the labor contract signed by the confederal unions." Self-criticism abounds: a port union representative commented, "If I don't defend the workers, I'll immediately lose support, while the national secretaries, even though they're being challenged, remain where they are." Among the banners hung by the FIOM (Italian Steel Federation), "We are all Mario," in solidarity with a worker fired from Ilva over an argument, and cardboard signs, "We are studying to live in Berlusconi's era; we want to live in a normal country." Under the Prefecture building, a huge banner denounces the cancellation of Liberation Day, Labor Day, and Republic Day, and commemorates the massacres perpetrated by Fascists and Nazis in the province of Genoa between 1943 and 1945, starting with September 9, 1943 (11 deaths in the Bolzaneto barracks) and culminating in the 300 victims of the Liberation Day. Among those affected were political and Jewish deportees, and hundreds of partisan workers, also killed in the Benedicta massacre. Thus, it was Massimo Bisca, president of the Genoa National Association of Italian Partisans (ANPI), who drew the most applause in Piazza De Ferrari by quoting Giuseppe Di Vittorio's words at the constituent assembly: "You are delegitimized from exercising your role." The strike concluded with a blockade of Piazza Corvetto until 2 p.m.