Signorsì / Signornò and the virtue of disobedience

14/01/19

I leave to the experts the task of analyzing the "epochal" initiative promoted by Minister Elisabetta Trenta in the matter of military syndicalism; I would like to limit myself to highlighting two aspects of irrenounceable relevance, not before having premised an undeniable truth.

A self-respecting syndicate, like any category representation, to defend the interests of its followers in the face of a counterpart that is deaf to acknowledge the requests that are proposed to them, has only one weapon: the strike.

(First aspect) In the military world "strike" means "disobedience". It was and remains emblematic the experience of flight controllers blessed at the time by the then Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Sandro Pertini who, to avoid an institutional shock, sanctioned the demilitarization of the category.

(Second aspect) If the military summits fail to weigh in the face of political power their voice in terms of defense budget (the Italian compared with those of similar nations is unpresentable), obsolescence of weapons systems and lines, conditions of the infrastructures and of the polygons, of the retribution of the personnel etc, the vertices can only choose between two roads: A, say signorsì and bow the head, or B, say signornò and resign. While with option A things do not change or, as in Italy for decades, they change for the worse, with option B two scenarios can be hypothesized. If they concern an isolated case, as already happened, the resignation only serves to put in hopeful fibrillation potential candidates to the succession of the resignation, candidates who will take care to launch clear messages to have distanced themselves from the "rebel". But if they resign ... were two-three-four key figures? Then it would be an earthquake not just and it would emerge with evidence how to say signorsì can assume a negative connotation while the signornò can rise to the rank of what De Gaulle called "the virtue of disobedience".

However, taking into account that the political class and much of the Italian public opinion in the military world does not care much, I fear that in any case the decline of our Armed Forces will continue unstoppable, hand in hand with the cuts in military budgets. And to create a smokescreen around the collapse of a problem that affects national security, pride and dignity, Minister Elisabetta Trenta will continue to work on organizing the Armed Forces, fighting obesity, reducing the 25% of the the number of military chaplains, of the legendary timeless depleted uranium inherited from generations of politicians affected by overt ideological squint and, last but not least, of the bitumen of the streets of the capital. A policy that aims to create a handyman soldier, Anas-Red Cross-Firefighter version-guardian of public order and ferryman of illegal immigrants, good in short for any role less than for the combatant. All this with good peace of our national borders that a recent current of thought claims is no longer necessary to watch and defend. It would be interesting to know about the opinion of the military leaders; be careful, however, because there is to put at risk a chair in the Senate or the House or an armchair in Brussels or a managerial office in some company nationwide.

Gen. D. Nicolò Manca

(former commander of the Sassari Brigade)