«From today I am not in class for three months. Now I will try to defend myself with the union and the lawyers.” As Christian Raimoteacher at the Pacinotti-Archimede institute in Rome and writer, communicated and commented on the suspension order received from the Lazio Regional School Office which stipulates that he cannot teach for three months and that he receives a salary reduced by 50 percent. The reason? The criticisms expressed against the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara during a public debate. To better understand what the point is in this matter, it is useful to read the full speech given by Raimo on the occasion of that public debate, at the Alleanza Verdi e Left party, last September. «I think that from a political point of view Valditara should be hit because it is a weak target and summarizes many of the weaknesses of this government. I think that a demonstration should be held against Valditara but not for the school, against Valditara because its ideology contains all the worst.” And he continued: «If it is true that he is not the adversary, it is true that he is the front of the stage of that world that is against us and therefore he should be hit there as one hits the Black Death. And since he poses as the Black Death, I think it’s not difficult to hit him because everything he says is so blatant, obvious, arrogant, scoundrel, filthy, I’d say this is a word that fits what Valditara says, it’s easy see it.” The Death Star that Raimo refers to is the Death Star of Star Warsor a space station and a weapon of mass destruction as well as an artificial planetoid that appears in the science fiction film saga Star Wars. So a popular reference to explain his thinking.
The suspension comes after two sanctions. The premiere on 5 April 2024 followed the statements made on television by Raimo on the Ilaria salis case, in which the professor had said that neo-Nazis “must be beaten”. The second sanction came after the statements made at the Alleanza Verdi and left party. «The offensiveness of the statements takes on a particularly serious character when they are addressed to a representative of the institutions»commented Anna Paola Sabatini, General Director of USR Lazio. «The situation is further aggravated by the fact that these statements were made by a teacher. Teachers play a fundamental role in the education of young generations and should represent an example of ethical and civil behavior for students. Encouraging respect and tolerance is an integral part of their educational mission.” But the question to ask is: why didn’t Minister Valditara turn to a judge? Why was the disciplinary route preferred? What does all this say about the state of health of freedom of expression in Italy? And in doing so, in how many other contexts does one authorize the silencing of people?
«Three months of suspension for an opinion»we read on a banner. In these hours the Archimede high school where Christian Raimo teaches has mobilized with a self-convocation of an assembly by the students of the institute who ask to speak to the school directors. “Perhaps there is no difficulty in admitting that centers of power exist, but then surprisingly we refuse to recognize that their objective effect is violence”, Christian Raimo wrote yesterday on his social profiles, quoting one of the greatest Italian pedagogists, Francesco De Bartolomeis, in the essay Research as anti-pedagogy. «It is a violence defended by the law, by democratic systems, by universal suffrage. The roles are institutionally polarized in the sense that there is a clear division between those who possess power and those who suffer it, that is, some decide in place of and to the detriment of others not for the sake of violence, but simply to preserve and increase power.”
While great solidarity has been shown in recent hours to the writer, whose support had already started in recent weeks with a collection of signatures in which names such as the Nobel prize winner Giorgio Parisi, the writer Roberto Saviano, the historian Carlo Ginzburg, Zerocalcare, Paolo Giordano participated , Nicola Lagioia, Daria Bignardi, Adriano Sofri, Vasco Brondi, FLC CGIL and FLC CGIL Roma Lazio have announced that «they will implement all legal and trade union protection actions for challenge this provision and invites all staff to participate in the initiatives that will be implemented to defend freedom of expression”.
Source: Vanity Fair
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