{"id":34628,"date":"2013-05-20T05:58:08","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T04:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/tens-of-thousands-march-in-rome-against-austerity\/34628\/"},"modified":"2013-05-20T05:58:08","modified_gmt":"2013-05-20T04:58:08","slug":"tens-of-thousands-march-in-rome-against-austerity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/tens-of-thousands-march-in-rome-against-austerity\/","title":{"rendered":"Tens of thousands march in Rome against austerity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

\n By
\n Stefan Steinberg
\n
20 May 2013
\n <\/h5>\n
\n

Tens of thousands took part in a demonstration in Rome on Saturday in protest against the\u00a0austerity policies of the Italian government. The demonstration was called by the\u00a0metalworkers federation FIOM, affiliated to the country\u2019s largest trade union central, the\u00a0CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour), long affiliated to the Communist Party.<\/p>\n

Pensioners opposing the undermining of their benefits were particularly prominent on the\u00a0march through Italy\u2019s capital. The protest was also supported by the SEL (Left, Ecology,\u00a0Freedom party), led by Nichi Vendola, and backers of the Five Star MoVement (MoVimento\u00a05 Stelle, M5S) headed by Beppe Grillo.<\/p>\n

Slogans on the banners included: \u201cThe main problem is jobs, not the IMU [property tax]\u201d.\u00a0Another issue raised at the demonstration was the disastrous situation facing Italian youth,\u00a0whose jobless rate officially stands at 38.6 percent. Other banners attacked the role of the\u00a0European Union and the role of Germany in the implementation of austerity measures\u00a0throughout southern Europe.<\/p>\n

Union leaders used the demonstration in Rome to cover their tracks for supporting the\u00a0austerity coalition government led by Prime Minister Enrico Letta, formed in late April.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The main union slogan on the demonstration\u2013\u201cWe can wait no longer\u201d\u2013inadvertently\u00a0referred to the role played by the unions in recent years, i.e. the demobilizing of the working\u00a0class to allow successive governments to slash jobs and social spending in Italy.<\/p>\n

The main speaker at the final rally was FIOM\u2019s general secretary, Maurizio Landini. His\u00a0speech to the crowd in Piazza San Giovanni was an exercise in political duplicity. After\u00a0pleading with the government in power \u201cto stop the lay-offs and put jobs back at the centre\u201d\u00a0of the political debate, Landini criticized the fact that the Democratic Party (PD) did not\u00a0participate in the demonstration. PD officials had left it up to individual members to decide\u00a0whether to participate or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not understand how you can govern together with [right-winger Silvio] Berlusconi\u201d,\u00a0Landini continued, addressing himself to the leadership of the Democratic Party, who are in a\u00a0coalition with the former prime minister. Calling upon Letta to increase investment in\u00a0industry, Landini pleaded with the government to \u201cbreak with the policy of [the previous\u00a0prime minister Mario] Monti and undertake a new policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landini\u2019s lamentations at the failure of the PD to attend the Saturday demo are ludicrous. The\u00a0PD did not attend the demonstration because it is the main party in the current coalition\u00a0government, along with Berlusconi\u2019s People of Freedom (PdL).<\/p>\n

After declaring during the negotiations that followed the February 2013 elections that it\u00a0would never enter into a coalition with Berlusconi\u2019s outfit, the PD did precisely that, in order\u00a0to create the best conditions to continue with austerity measures.<\/p>\n

Not only was the PD absent from the demonstration, the leader of the parent body of FIOM,\u00a0the CGIL, Guglielmo Epifani, was also absent. The reason for his absence is easily explained\u2013he recently shed his trade union cap to participate directly in government. Just a week ago,\u00a0Epifani, the long-time general secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour, was\u00a0appointed general secretary of the Democratic Party. The appointment of Epifani was a\u00a0deliberate move by Letta to integrate the unions fully into his coalition.<\/p>\n

Replying to criticisms of his absence from Saturday\u2019s demonstration, Epifani told La\u00a0Repubblica<\/em> on Sunday that he had spent a lifetime demonstrating in the streets, but things\u00a0were different now that he had government responsibility. He also praised the course taken so\u00a0far by the Letta government.<\/p>\n

Epifani and Landini have undertaken a definite division of labour. Epifani\u2019s role is to offer\u00a0his services as a long-standing trade union leader and advise the government how best to\u00a0implement the austerity program demanded by the banks and the EU.<\/p>\n

Landini has the job of covering Epifani\u2019s posterior with toothless protests aimed at letting off\u00a0steam and preventing growing social discontent developing into a threat to the government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

At the same time, the cynical game played by the union leaders is taking place under\u00a0conditions where social tensions are reaching the boiling point. After less than a month in\u00a0power, approval ratings for the Letta government are already falling sharply. According to\u00a0one poll published Friday, the government\u2019s approval rating has dropped to 34 percent from\u00a043 percent at the start of this month.<\/p>\n

And at the heart of the government, the PD itself is disintegrating. Leading members of the\u00a0party resigned after the defeat of two of the party\u2019s candidates for the post of president, and\u00a0the party is currently polling at less than 20 percent.<\/p>\n

Faction fighting is rife in the party. One group of PD deputies is already collecting signatures\u00a0opposing Letta\u2019s decision to set up a technocrat commission to prepare certain constitutional\u00a0amendments. And Epifani, with just a week on the job, is under intense pressure from two\u00a0sides: from Christian Democrats in the coalition who want to replace him and from leading\u00a0PD member and mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, who is also keen to take over his post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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This article originally appeared on : World Socialist Web Site<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 By Stefan Steinberg 20 May 2013 Tens of thousands took part in a demonstration in Rome on Saturday in protest against the\u00a0austerity policies of the Italian government. The demonstration was called by the\u00a0metalworkers federation FIOM, affiliated to the country\u2019s largest trade union central, the\u00a0CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour), long affiliated to the Communist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}