A troublesome referendum

A troublesome referendum for the government. A tricky referendum for those private interests waiting to get their hands on common property. A damaging referendum for energy bosses and for the military that protects nuclear sites.

A referendum where a YES vote can cancel legislation introduced solely for the benefit of these gentlemen.

A class-based referendum, where the right to live in a de-nuclearized land and the right to enjoy collective access to publicly-owned water must be defended and reaffirmed against those who have produced laws which — were they to be confirmed by the only thing that can stop them now, that is if a quorum in the referendum is not reached — would produce enormous damage to the environment, health and freedom of choice of the majority of the population in Italy.

The privatization of water and the re-introduction of nuclear power are not planned laws — the laws approving them have already been passed and are ready to be passed, once they clear the hurdle of the referendum. They were passed by a parliament that is being held hostage by a freedom-killing government, and feebly fought against by the centre-left opposition that has no problem in selling off the management of public water to private hands and certainly cannot be accused of having an anti-nuclear past.

They come at a time of deep economic crisis, when the government and most of the mass media have no difficulty falsifying information about the true situation. So now we are being told that nuclear power today is safe and that the privatization of water will lower its costs. That both will produce jobs and wealth for those areas who have the courage to embrace them.

So, it is a referendum which sees a clash between the interests of the social bloc represented by the government and Italian capital on the one side, and the interests and rights of the other classes who are being dragged through the vortex of the crisis and forced to witness the plunder of its collective property on the other.

It is a conflict of interests that is all too clear to civil society as a whole, which is using the partially-blunted weapon of the referendum in order to build and expand throughout the community an all-inclusive mobilization which is proving to be quite capable of unifying the various partial objectives in a campaign that has a real possibility of success despite the dirty tricks being employed by the other side, such as creating confusion and providing partial information and disinformation.

But we must go on and work and ensure victory for a YES vote.