Left heterogeneous on family

Over a million people rallied on Saturday in
Rome’s Piazza San Giovanni, at the “family day” organized by catholic
associations and supported by some political circles, coming mainly from the
opposition. The event was meant to express support to “the family” as
an institution, allegedly threatened by the law draft about the DICO, promoted
by the left, which extends certain matrimonial rights to de facto couples, both
hetherosexual and homosexual. Not very far, in Piazza Navona, a
counter-demonstration, attended by a few thousands people, was organized to
express support for the DICO, with particular regard to the rights of gay
couples.

In fact, the latter appears to be
the central issue, about which the right seems somewhat
“uncomfortable” with its own position and the left, as usual, does
not seem to have one at all. Indeed, the generic “Family Day” had a
strong anti-gay demonstration smell, while different top representatives of the
left parties expressed radically opposite views on the event. Deputy Prime
Minister Massimo D’Alema, for example, declared that he would never attend the
Family Day “because it is wrong to defend the family by discriminating
others”, while Prodi’s other deputy, Francesco Rutelli, stated that, was
it not for his institutional office, he would be the first to go to San
Giovanni. In the light of these words, we can’t help but ask ourselves where
would the Democratic Party leaders have gone if the new movement, meant to
bring unity to the ever fragmented left, was already born. 

Meanwhile, the ruling coalition
suffered an expected blow as the administrative elections in Sicily – a region
traditionally dominated by the right – resulted in a wide victory by the
opposition, immediately contested by the former Mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando
who denounced, during an ad hoc press conference, the presence of widespread
vote-rigging. The confirmed mayor of Palermo, Diego Cammarata, encouraged
Orlando to speak to Interior Minister Giuliano Amato and defined his claim
“a little pathetic”.