Walter Tobagi was brutally killed because it represented what the brigatists denied and wanted to erase. He was a free journalist, who investigated reality beyond stereotypes and prejudices, and terrorists did not tolerate narratives other than their ideological schematism. He was a Democrat, a reformer, and this was unbearable for extremist fanaticism. He was a courageous man who felt the duty to defend constitutional values: precisely this coherence led him to expose himself and become the target of a violence whose inhumanity does not diminish with the passing of the years.
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In one of his last articles Tobagi wrote about the brigatists, describing their frailties and contradictions, even in a season in which so much blood continued to flow. They are not “invincible samurai,” he stressed. Perhaps this too moved the cruelty of the killing hand.
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Tobagi died very young. At thirty-three he had already shown extraordinary skills, he was trade union leader of Lombard journalists, he had studies, historical essays, social and cultural investigations to his credit. He was killed in those months, when other men of the state, other civil heroes, fell in Milan and throughout Italy for loyalty to those principles of coexistence that revolutionary mythology, subversive plots, criminal organizations of different nature wanted to hit.
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Forty years after that May 28, 1980, I would first like to express my feelings of closeness to the Tobagi family. Forced to endure the greatest pain, she contributed, with strength and dignity, to keeping that testimony alive.
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For his newspaper, Walter Tobagi is more than a symbol: he is an example of journalism free, who does not bend before the threat, who does not renounce the critical spirit in narrating reality, who lives in pluralism. This day of remembrance is important for the “Corriere della Sera”, which had one of its most prestigious brands in Tobagi, and it is for the entire Italian press: society has changed in these decades, but the challenge of freedom, of autonomy, the authoritativeness of the journalistic profession is always vital. The desire to dig into reality to unearth hidden elements, as well as being good journalism, also helps to find seeds of hope. We need this.
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May 28, 2020 (change May 28, 2020 | 00:17)
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