"Milan is memory. Without memory there is no future". This is the common thread that, starting from the principle of memory - on which the city of Milan is founded, gold medal at the Resistance - brings together the events of four dates that symbolize the anti-Nazi and anti-fascist commitment. Among these also the 25 April, Liberation Day. Several events have been organized to celebrate this 72 anniversary, including the most awaited procession, the one that from Corso Venezia has crossed the streets of the center until it reaches Piazza del Duomo, where institutional interventions have been held.
"The Resistance also brought together different experiences, ideals and visions of the world. The Resistance was attended by women and men who, in the multiplicity of points of view, were able to work together, were able to fight together to win freedom and were able to build a better Italy. The freedom to be different is the greatest good that the Resistance has given us and which we still enjoy today. You are the best Italy, the one that never loses the hope of building a more just country where there is never more room for persecution, arrogance and fascisms of any kindGiuseppe Sala, mayor of Milan, stated in front of a packed square.
Tolerance. Opening. Sharing. These are the hallmarks of this new season of awareness. Values that affirm themselves with strength and determination against those who sow fear, hatred and separation. "Milan has chosen to be a free, open and welcoming city. Today is the time for choices, strong and conscious, that really bring out the values on which our life, our society and our democracy are based, by living the change with openness. Liberation is never over and for us today Liberation means overcoming the fear of the new, of the unknown, of meeting those who come from afar and asks us for hope ".
To remind the importance of the Resistance also the president of the Senate, Pietro Grasso, who declared: "Men and women, often very young, each chose according to their own possibilities to do their part to find humanity betrayed by the abuses of the dictatorship. The mothers and fathers of the Resistance have entrusted us with a task that certainly cannot be considered exhausted with this albeit beautiful demonstration. This day should not be considered as a simple celebration, but as an opportunity to rediscover our roots, what has united us and continues to unite us after seventy-two years. The men and women of the Resistance daydreamed about a free and democratic Italy in which no human being would be denied universal and inalienable rights ".
And the same Grasso pointed out that one of the major offenses that can be made on the 25 April is precisely the anti-politics or indifference to politics or even to consider this anniversary as one part of Italy: "It hurts to hear so many young people saying 'politics is a bad thing, that I care. It's so beautiful, it's so comfortable, freedom is there. But be careful, freedom is like air: you realize what it's worth when it starts to fail, when you feel that sense of suffocation that entire generations felt for twenty years and that I wish everyone never to hear again ". Participation and solidarity therefore as useful tools to create the conditions so that this does not happen and reminded everyone of the words that the partisan, as well as President of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi loved to repeat to young people: Italy will be what you will be. It is up to you to make our homeland stronger and more beautiful, that homeland for which so many of my fellow youths gave their lives. Nourish hopes and projects, give free expression to what is noble, generous soul of your minds and hearts, above all, always trust yourself.
