He compared Valditara to the “Black Death”, a new disciplinary measure against Raimo. The solidarity appeal of Nobel and artists

Another, the second, disciplinary measure against Christian Raimoalready hit by a censorship sanction for which he has appealed. The motivation is identical: the criticism, as a teacher, of the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara.

If the first time it involved some sentences about “neo-Nazis to be beaten” and a post in which Raimo complained about the minister’s silence regarding the threat banners posted around Rome, this time the measure came after the sentences uttered by the teacher and writer during the Avs national holiday: “Valditara – said Raimo during his long speech on the ideology which in his opinion is “retrograde, workist, ableist, sexist” which permeates Italian schools today – must be politically struck because it is a weak target, how to hit the Death Star in Star Wars.”

Words that provoked the indignant reaction of the minister who spoke of “violence”, of Maurizio Gasparri who called them “threats” and of Carlo Calenda who defined them as “metaphors of idiocy”. And so after two weeks the new disciplinary measure that risks provoking has arrived the suspension from Raimo’s teaching without salary, up to dismissal.

“I – says the professor today – am disconcerted by this decision for various reasons. Freedom of expression and criticism of the political choices of a ministry and a government is punished. In this second measure I would have committed various crimes, including having damaged the image of the ministry. These terms go against article 21 of the Constitution and article 33 which establish freedom of expression and teaching”.

“The criticisms I make – adds Raimo – are not made in class, as a teacher, but as a free citizen and as a journalist. I reiterate that I have never attacked Valditara as a person. I have never uttered any insult towards him. I have respect for the person. I only strongly criticized his ideas, his choices, his policies.”

Numerous artists, historians, teachers and even a Nobel Prize winner now stand with the professor, signatories of an appeal in solidarity also supported by the Fiom CGIL and the PD deputies in the Education Commission. Among the first names are the Nobel physicist Giorgio Parisithe singers Colapesce e Dimartinothe writer Nicola Lagioia and the historian Carlo Ginzburg. They are there too Zero limestone, Chiara Valerio, Matteo Garrone, Valeria Solarino, White Cataldo, Vasco Brondi.

They write: “In Italy a teacher risks being fired for criticizing the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara. This is serious and alarming news, which says a lot about the substantial democracy we experience in Italy today and the authoritarian twist underway. The situation is incredible, given that the teacher simply compared, with an immediately understandable pop quote, the policies of Minister Valditara to the “Black Death” which in the cult film Star Wars the rebel alliance strikes while construction is being completed. A popular way of saying that the government’s weak point is precisely the right’s idea of ​​school.”

“Now – add the signatories – those statements are being used to try to silence Raimo, threatening to expel him from schoolgiving the reason that it would have damaged the image of the school institution in public, moreover by doing so on social media. As a weapon of censorship, a code of conduct is used for teachers which, in article 13, requires the employee to refrain ‘from publishing, through the use of social networks, content that may damage the image of the Administration’”.

But, the names at the bottom of the appeal ask, “what do this article and this intervention by the ministry have to do with article 21 of the Constitution and article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union?”.

“We believe – they conclude – that Christian Raimo’s voice and passion are an important value for the debate on public schools, which is and must remain a place for discussion of ideas and democratic growth, and that for this reason Raimo must be defended from this attack. Above all, we believe that, far from being a personal case, this type of rules and provisions – of which the “Security” bill currently being approved is a sadly fitting example – resemble those of governments that we call democracies. Meaning what only formal democraciessuspensions, regimes, and non-liberal democracy that care about freedom of expression and criticism as a founding principle”.

The appeal is also signed by Marco Balzano, Cosmo, Daria Bignardi, Giulia Blasi, Giulia Caminito, Ascanio Celestini, Teresa Ciabatti, Francesca Coin, White Cataldo, Mario Ten, Paolo Di Paolo, Claudia Durastanti, Carlo Ginzburg, Vera Gheno, Fabrizio Gifuni, Paolo Giordano, Carlo Greppi, Nicola Lagioia, Vincenzo Latronico, Gad Lerner, Loredana Lipperini, Franco Lorenzoni, Luigi Manconi, Marco Missiroli, Tomaso Montanari, Claudio Morici, Valerio Nicolosi, Valeria Parrella, Alessandro Robecchi , Vanessa Roghi, Roberto Saviano, Tiziano Scarpa, Giovanni Scifoni, Giorgia Serughetti, Marino Sinibaldi, Adriano Sofri, Sandro Veronesi.