There was no need to see the relatives of the victims in tears holding a sit-in outside the funeral home to understand the complete inadequacy of Minister Piantedosi.

There was no need because since February 27th, Piantedosi has been making a series of missteps, first accusing the parents of the deceased children of being irresponsible, then blabbering that migrants should not leave because Italy will pick them up, and finally attempting to justify the Cutro massacre in Parliament with an impressive and culpable string of lies and omissions.

Therefore, what happened in Crotone was not necessary to understand how out of place the Prefect at the Ministry of the Interior is, and yet what happened yesterday was incredible. The minister decided unilaterally to transfer all the bodies to Bologna, with trucks ready to transport the coffins – like in Bergamo during the Covid-19 pandemic. The relatives of the victims sat on the ground in the square protesting, shouting and crying. Someone in Rome perhaps warned Piantedosi that he was making yet another mistake, and then suddenly, they changed their minds: the bodies now stay in Crotone, and then we will see.

Today, Piantedosi is forced to return to the scene of the crime in Cutro, where, to put a media patch on the tragedy, Meloni has decided to convene the government.

Here, the minister has only one way to leave that yellow building with dignity: to apologize for everything, admitting that he does not have the ability and humanity to perform the role he was accidentally elevated to, returning to dealing with paperwork in a prefecture, or better yet, retiring altogether.

• Alessandro Gilioli

  Nato a Milano nel 1962, laureato in Filosofia alla Statale. Giornalista dai primi anni 80, ho iniziato a Rp da ragazzo poi ho girato per diversi decenni tra quotidiani, settimanali e mensili. Ho scritto alcuni libri di politica, reportage e condizioni di lavoro, per gli editori più diversi. Tornato felicemente a Radio Popolare dall'inizio del 2021.

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The investigation by the prosecutor’s office in Bergamo on the management of Corona from the beginning of February to 8 March 2020 is still ongoing, and it is yet to be determined if any crimes have been committed and by whom.

However, there is a clear political fact emerging from the investigation that does not involve crimes but rather a political judgment.

The investigation highlights the heavy pressure exerted by some big entrepreneurs and their organizations to prioritize profit over health.

While it was already known that there were public statements by Bonomi and regional presidents of Confindustria in this regard, what emerged from the investigation is that these entrepreneurs were exerting their influence through direct and private messages and phone calls to political figures.

This is not a matter of errors, underestimations, or lack of preparedness; it was an ideological position that put profit ahead of health and life.

Their crusade continued even after March 8, with requests to include as many productive categories as possible in the so-called “essential” industries, until they obtained the derogation that only required self-certification to be defined as “essential.”

The political fact is that we had, and unfortunately still have, a largely irresponsible, foolish, and short-sighted entrepreneurial class that prioritizes profit over public health.

The only way to contain the economic damage caused by the pandemic was by containing the disease, and there was no real long-term advantage to sending people to work during the peak of the epidemic.

“The stock market is collapsing,” shouted the economic powers in those days. But 15 months later, it had already returned to pre-Covid levels. Meanwhile, none of the people who died to save the stock market had returned to their families after 15 months.

• Alessandro Gilioli

  Nato a Milano nel 1962, laureato in Filosofia alla Statale. Giornalista dai primi anni 80, ho iniziato a Rp da ragazzo poi ho girato per diversi decenni tra quotidiani, settimanali e mensili. Ho scritto alcuni libri di politica, reportage e condizioni di lavoro, per gli editori più diversi. Tornato felicemente a Radio Popolare dall'inizio del 2021.

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Lies, omissions, silence, and refusal to take responsibility. Piantedosi ‘s speech in Parliament yesterday was cowardly, despicable, and insincere, contradicted by data, documents, Frontex’s electronic records, nautical charts, sea bulletins, and everything else.
The only argument left that’s worth discussing, and which even Meloni used, is “no one can think we wanted a massacre”. And of course, no one believes that the over 70 deaths in Cutro were the result of a deliberate massacre.
That’s not the issue, that’s not the accusation. The victims died because of something else, something called indifference.
The same cold indifference that transferred the 60 survivors of the shipwreck to a dilapidated structure without beds, without heating, only one shared bathroom.
The same inhuman indifference that forces NGO ships to travel an extra four or five days to land migrants in northern ports and then bus them back to the south.
The same bureaucratic indifference that leaves foreign police offices understaffed, forcing asylum seekers to wait endlessly in freezing night queues, like in via Cagni in Milan.
The same cynical indifference that led Vittorio Feltri to write, “leaving is a bit like dying”. The same mocking indifference of Salvini when he calls migrants “gym buffs”.
From indifference to contempt and from contempt to massacre, as we’ve seen, the road is not that long.

Piantedosi, Salvini, Meloni, and their accomplices are guilty of this.

• Alessandro Gilioli

  Nato a Milano nel 1962, laureato in Filosofia alla Statale. Giornalista dai primi anni 80, ho iniziato a Rp da ragazzo poi ho girato per diversi decenni tra quotidiani, settimanali e mensili. Ho scritto alcuni libri di politica, reportage e condizioni di lavoro, per gli editori più diversi. Tornato felicemente a Radio Popolare dall'inizio del 2021.

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