I, the right-wing voter, voted for Tommasi in Verona. And not because I see the change in it
Just to dispel any uncertainty, I’m what they say a center-right voter. Like so many others, although, of course, I have never voted for this right, from Berlusconi onwards. They are among the very few left who believe that the Right is made up of ideas, rules and principles, not business and tactics. It goes without saying then that I made a bestial effort, yesterday, dragged by my daughters, I also voted for Tommasi. But I won’t sing victory, God forbid!
Verona, even more than Italy, comes from a disastrous economic, cultural and political crisis. Too long to narrate in full, but suffice it to say that it has lost two banks and the largest insurance company, no longer has the airport, the (opera) Arena is overwhelmed by debt and collapsed from a qualitative point of view; it is out of the regional political games (Treviso and Padua are in charge), local politics has been overwhelmed several times by the underworld.
In this way it is clear that Tommasi, the footballer, did not win because it is change. Because he does not fight with political opponents and for all those characteristics, more folkloric than amusing, that the newspapers attribute to him. Tommasi won simply because its predecessors they had made male, very male. Point.
The Veronese – those few who were not overwhelmed by disgust and resignation – gave a great test of maturity – not as the blind traditional parties would like: because they voted for the center-left – but because they have shown that they no longer look and trust ideological proclamations. It is no longer enough in Verona to tell people “you are one of us! vote for us “. The Veronese have probably understood that ideologies can be hidden underneath crap immemorial.
So the lawyer Federico Sborina, former mayor for a term, former councilor together with the hated Tosi mayor, exponent of a civic list, was sent home. But because in five years he had talked a lot and done little, certainly with the excuse of Covid.
He hasn’t started any of the big projects that the city has been dragging on for decades; it did not restore and relaunch the Arena Foundation as promised; on the other hand, he was prone to the usual “strong powers” at the expense of urban planning, he completely forgot and not at all listened to the needs of citizens. It has cleared the balance of culture, except presumptuously to try to compete for the capital of culture (prize to the Scaligeri?) and he also stumbled on some unpleasant personal affair with real estate sales. He did not reverse the line of Italian politics of the incompetent in power, especially in the millionaire municipal companies, which he was careful not to give to private individuals, even at the cost of growing inefficiencies. The people with whom he is surrounded – even if the Veronese have shown great capacity for endurance – are usually chosen from among friends of friends, replacing capable administrators for higher orders (see: Ente Fiera) and excluding women even against the law.
There would be a long cahier de doléances to remember about the five years of the Sboarina junta, where the only councilor who tried to resist, was neutralized, to the point that he did not even appear for the electoral renewal. Nobody will be able to deny that Tommasi won due to the obvious lack of opponents (and someone in the center-right at the time, to tell the truth, had tried to make it clear how weak the candidate was).
But provincial cities, in particular Verona, do not like competition and individual merit. They prefer win by keeping. Corporate newspapers should increase circulation by reducing information, the successor and banks should come by divine endowment. In the provinces, Power is conceived as something eternal, immobile like the Prime Mover, which nothing can heat up.
Instead, Verona reacted, Verona gave a sign. A sign that also applies to all those other areas of the country that still believe in the immortal principles of provincial conservatism. Because sooner or later something changes.
However, this is not enough. It is not enough to announce the change already, which is a heartfelt record. Because the relapses are not even worse, that is, because it is averted the return already seen of old tools even worse, whoever affirms change must then put it into practice, and this is a very difficult task that we have not seen for decades. Now Tommasi has the – very theoretical – possibility of going down in history. But he also has the probable risk of ending up in the company of the many political rejects that have governed and still partly govern this country.