Naples. Climate, rights, school-work related deaths, politics: student movements, environmentalists, and unions join forces for the Fridays for Future mobilization.
A call to politicians to keep the climate emergency at the top of the political agenda, along with slogans against the government and political parties, were raised by protesters who took to the streets of Naples this morning, from Piazza Garibaldi to the maritime terminal at the port of Naples. The climate emergency and unjust deaths due to school-work alternation were the two main themes at the center of the colorful and ironic slogans and placards carried in the square this morning.
The demonstration was particularly fueled by the upcoming general election and the need to place climate justice and human rights at the center of the next government's agenda.
Over two thousand young students demonstrated in Naples alongside environmental groups and trade unions. The goal of the Global Climate Strike is to bring the climate crisis back to the forefront of public attention by promoting climate justice under the slogan "People not profit."
The Neapolitan demonstration concluded, with a crescendo of slogans and music, at the Port of Naples maritime terminal, where students in particular chanted "No to megaships," sparking dissent from port workers. "The battle for the climate crisis," said Michela Spina, national spokesperson for 'Fridays For Future' and an activist in the Naples branch of the movement, "is a priority now more than ever. The debate on gas is completely distorted: there are those who would like to push us to build regasification plants and treat gas as green energy, when we know this isn't the case at all, all while the big polluters enjoy their extra profits and the citizens are asked to make sacrifices."
"We have no problem with those who, legitimately or otherwise, decide to participate in the electoral race," he explains. "Simply put, 'Fridays For Future' is a youth, political, and nonpartisan movement. September 23rd is not a place to campaign."
"It goes without saying that, beyond anything else, we cannot tolerate the presence of those who in recent years have simply greenwashed, or worse still, have fished out of a hat the need to build incinerators, nuclear power plants, and more generally, dangerous and polluting facilities."
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A nonpartisan, bipartisan movement marched through the city streets chanting slogans against the center-right and center-left parties, guilty of failing to put the climate emergency and human rights at the center of their election campaign.
The demonstration in Naples, like those in 70 other Italian squares, was also characterized by protests over workplace deaths and, in particular, over school-work alternation.
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Among the most emblematic initiatives is the mud collected from the recent floods in Senigallia and spread by 300 activists on the steps of Palazzo Raffaello, the seat of the Marche Region, in Ancona. Preventing hydrogeological instability is one of the "Fff"'s priorities.
Messages of support came from politicians and trade unions. Angelo Bonelli, co-national spokesperson for Europa Verde, and Nicola Fratoianni of the Green Left Alliance, participated in the Rome march. "Our priority is to address the major issues of social justice and climate justice, which have been overlooked by everyone in this election campaign," Bonelli explained.
For Fratoianni, "it's time to save the planet, no more empty promises. It's time to act." "We're already behind schedule; we need to change the development model," "make investments and launch a real process of just economic transition," said CGIL Secretary General Maurizio Landini, who also attended the rally in the capital.
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