Minister of University and Research Anna Maria Bernini called today, Tuesday March 26, Police Chief Vittorio Pisani. Both, he said Handle, will discuss the situation within universities in the coming days. The meeting will in fact serve both to carry out an investigation into the level of alarm reached by universities throughout Italy and to evaluate the most appropriate methods of intervention to reconcile freedom and security within them. Neither militarization nor laxity: this should be, according to what the press agency tells us, the approach that the Meloni government will adopt in response to the episodes that have recently occurred in universities. The latest at La Sapienza in Rome where there were moments of tension between students and police in the morning. And where the Rectorate, occupied since yesterday evening to demand an end to collaborations with Israeli universities in support of Gaza, has been liberated. The students said they will not return to the main room today “because we wanted to speak to the Academic Senate and we were not allowed to, nor were we able to speak publicly with the rector Antonella Polimeni,” explained Filippo of Changer la Rotta. The appointment is set for the next Academic Senate on April 16 and 9 at Farnesina, “the day before the deadline for the Maeci Italia Israel 2024 call for tenders”.
“Disqualifying actions”
The rector of La Sapienza University, Antonella Polimeni, after reiterating “the strongest condemnation of all forms of violence and illegal and undemocratic action”, indicated that the University is “available, as it has always been, to present any request from the student community will be discussed, provided that these arrive in a shared way through their representation in the Corps and do not harm the democratic principles and the rights and freedoms of others”, declared Polimeni. “La Sapienza recognizes as communication and decision-making tools those defined by laws and regulations, informed by the rules of civil coexistence that guide the country. The Sapienza Statute provides the University with decision-making bodies composed of elected representatives of the different components of the academic community, who bring to the bodies the voice and opinions of the subjects represented.
But what happened at the University of the Capital aroused Bernini's anger. The latter in fact defined the occupation of students as “disqualifying actions which go well beyond the free expression of thought or peaceful protest”, declared the minister, also condemning the attack against the rector of the University of Genoa. “Universities – continued Bernini – are not free zones where intimidation or crimes can be committed. The violence that certain groups impose on the entire university community is intolerable and makes students the main victims. I strongly condemn what is happening and I thank the police for their support,” he concluded.
The reactions
For Elisabetta Piccolotti of Alleanza Verdi Sinistra, Bernini's decision to implicate the police chief is “out of this world”. “Since today, many student demonstrations and moments of tension – said Piccolotti – have not crossed many universities in our country, not only because of the material and study conditions in which university students are forced , but also because of another question that needs to be addressed. addressed: the militarization of the world of education, a theme on which we, at the Alliance of Greens and Lefts, have been mobilizing for months alongside numerous associations which have reported dozens of episodes to us.” For the red-green parliamentarian of the cultural commission of Montecitorio, “the time has come for the entire world of public education and research to stay away from projects that involve collaboration with the arms industry or with the armed forces.
According to the Green Left Alliance, “courses given by representatives of the army in schools are not necessary, and the presence of rectors and academic authorities in the foundations of arms producing companies is not necessary. not necessary. Italian universities and schools must resume promoting the culture of peace and the non-violent resolution of political conflicts. Academic structures should instead make their expertise available to our diplomatic corps, international law institutions, independent research centers on geopolitical issues and the entire world of international cooperation, including third sector entities that work to provide humanitarian aid and save human lives. Seeking the path to peace, this must be the mission that we entrust to the best minds in the country. This has been the task of our universities since the distant Middle Ages. » It is also for this reason – concluded Piccolotti – “that we find the request that the Minister of the University addressed to the prefect of police to intervene in the universities completely out of this world and irregular. Increasing the level of tension on the part of institutions is a serious mistake and a profoundly erroneous signal. »
The Democratic Party's comment is in the same tone that “it is unacceptable that Minister Bernini contacted the police chief directly to request intervention within universities!”, declared the head of security of the Democratic Party, former Deputy Minister of the Democratic Party. Interior, Matteo Mauri. “And this is unacceptable – added Mauri – for two reasons. The first is that the police chief responds to the Minister of the Interior and not to the minister who picks up first. It would be interesting to know what Minister Piantedosi, who has clearly been overwhelmed, thinks about it.” And the second reason “is that it is very dangerous that the first response that comes to mind from the government towards those who protest is the intervention of the police – the Democrats underlined -. The Minister of the University is undoubtedly confusing her role and her tasks which certainly do not involve the militarization of universities.
Read also:
