Liberation Day, aka April 25th

April 25th, aka Liberation Day, is a national holiday in Italy.

We (Italians) celebrate the victory of the partisans over the nazi-fascists and the end of the fascist regime, which eventually led to the newer democratic Italian republic. But we also remember those who died to bring us the freedom we have today.

For the first time, I marched in the April 25th parade in the small city by the lake I am now.

It felt more than just celebrating Italian freedom; it was marching against any regime. We are going through challenging times worldwide. Democracies and rights we have so long fought for are at risk.

Some fundamental human rights are being slowly removed from us.

Free national health services, which should be a fundamental part of any civilised country, are stripped of their funding, struggling to provide decent essential services to the population. Women are stripped of their rights to own their bodies, for example, by making abortion either more difficult or even illegal. LGBTQIA+ people are even more marginalised for their right to be who they are or to love who they want. Many big corporations are laying off people who want to fight for their fundamental work rights.

We are heading to a direction I don’t like that much. Although I usually don’t join marches, it felt like the right time to remember the resistance of the Second World War.

Singing “Bella ciao” was eye-watering because it had a broader meaning to me.

Buon 25 Aprile
(Happy April 25th)