President Sergio Mattarella and
Premier Giorgia Meloni expressed solidarity on Thursday for
Family and Equal Opportunities Minister Eugenia Roccella after
mostly female high-school pro-choice protesters forced her to
abandon a speech she was about to give at a conference in Rome
on reversing Italy's declining birth rate.
When Roccella took the floor, members of the audience raised
letters to form the word: "I decide".
The Italian government recently passed a measure to allow
pro-life activists access to abortion clinics.
After the protest erupted, organizers of the States General of
Natality conference allowed a representative of the protesters
to speak.
But when Roccella tried to continue her speech, she was shouted
down and so she decided to stop.
The collective of high-school students call themselves Arachne,
a "trans-feminist" movement campaigning "against a patriarchal
government" and its watchword of God, Motherland and Family.
They say "women's bodies should not just be seen in a
perspective of motherhood".
The president's office said Mattarella called Roccella to voice
his solidarity for her. "Wanting to silence those who think
differently is at odds with the foundations of civilization and
of our Constitution," the president said.
Meloni expressed "full and unconditional solidarity" for
Roccella.
"The show staged this morning was shameful," the premier said.
"Once again a minister was prevented from intervening and
expressing their ideas.
"Those to blame are a group of protesters who fill their mouths
with the words about the freedom, respect and self-determination
of women, but then love censorship and prevent a woman from
speaking because they don't agree with her ideas.
"I hope that all the political parties will have the courage to
express solidarity and condemn this, without ifs or buts. "It's
time to say enough is enough".
The minister expressed anger at the way she was treated
afterwards and chided the centre-left opposition, suggesting she
did not expect it to condemn what had happened.
"I am certain that PD (Democratic Party) Secretary Elly Schlein,
the entire left, the intellectuals...- will have unequivocal
words of solidarity for me after the act of censorship that I
was subjected to this morning," Roccella quipped in a Facebook
post.
"The 'great press'... will have unequivocal words of solidarity
with me after the act of censorship that this morning prevented
me from speaking at the States General organised by the
Foundation for Natality to give my speech and also to respond to
the protester-censors and to debate with them".
Despite what Roccella said, several members of the opposition
centre-left did condemn the protest.
"The right to criticize should in no way prevent a person from
speaking," said PD Senator Annamaria Furlan.
"I want to express my solidarity with Minister Roccella for
today's events in Rome. "I feel distant from her ideas, but it
is only by debate that one that can affirm the strength of our
positions".
However, Angelo Bonelli, an MP for the Green-Left Alliance
(AVS), refused to abide by Meloni's call for all Italy's
political parties to condemn the shouting down of Roccella.
"President Meloni, I will not condemn it," Bonelli said.
"Protest is the basis of democracy.
"After you have occupied every public media space with your
rallies broadcast on networks, after you have allowed
religious-fundamentalist organizations to enter counselling
centres to sabotage Law 194 (legalising abortion), I am on the
side of the women students who displayed signs saying 'We decide
about our bodies'".
Veteran feminist writer Lidia Ravera, best known for her 1976
bittersweet critique of the 60s counterculture Winged Pigs, told
ANSA that "protesting against authority is a right, and politics
should stay out of private lives".
Speaking to ANSA before leaving the event, Roccella said the
protests were not just targetting her and the government but the
whole issue of trying to boost the birth rate.
"I left to keep that conference panel discussion going," she
said, adding that she had stayed on stage for two hours when she
faced similar flak recently in Turin, but stressing that on the
occasion "the protest was directed only at me.
"'I did so out of respect for the others (taking part), thinking
that the protesters would leave in my absence and that is what
happened and the others were able to continue," she said.
"The protest was not just against the government, but against
the issue of (boosting) the birth rate, as shown by the booing
the eight-month pregnant mother who was on stage with me was
subjected to".
Pro-life groups have hailed being allowed into abortion clinics
to persuade women there are alternatives to abortion.
Members of Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party have
backed pro-lifers' calls for women wanting abortions to be made
to listen to their foetus' heartbeats, so far unsuccessfully.
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