The executive of the PRC (Party of Communist Refoundation) has declared that the behaviour of Senator Franco Turigliatto is incompatible with the Party due to his abstention on the vote on the government’s foreign policy.

For us this is a serious and erroneous decision.

First because this parliamentary act is completely consistent with the historical programme of the PRC as well as with the demands of the peace movements over the last few years. That a centre-left government can try to impose on its supporters a war mission such as that in Afghanistan or the doubling in size of a military base such as that in Vincenza seems to us to be a sign of myopia and the main cause of the current crisis.

But also because Turigliatto’s behaviour was accompanied with a spirit of seriousness and rectitude that should not be underestimated. In a political context in which a parliamentary seat is considered to have a value above all others, to resign from the Senate after forty years of political activity alongside the workers and after having participated in the construction of the PRC from the very beginning, seems to us to be an act which is both unprecedented and morally correct, even if we think that he should withdraw his resignation.

In parliaments, we need representation of the positions of a peace movement with “no ifs and no buts” : we need such a representation now on the threshold of the spring offensive in Afghanistan and against subordination to the foreign policy of the US. We need acts like this, even if they are complicated and difficult, in order to reduce the gap between established politics and society.

We express all our solidarity with Franco Turigliatto and our willingness to build with conviction a peace movement with “no ifs and no buts”.

To express your solidarity with Franco Turigliatto, send your signature to:

con-turigliatto libero.it

More than 2000 signatures already arrived, among them:

Matteo Bartolini (consigliere Prc provincia Massa Carrara), Riccardo Bellofiore (economista), Salvatore Cannavò (Direzione Nazionale Prc), Cristina Corradi (autrice di Storia dei marxismi in Italia), Danilo Corradi (Associazione Sinistra critica), Daniele D’Ambra (Coord. Naz. Giovani Comunisti), Flavia D’Angeli (Esecutivo Nazionale Prc), Gianni de Giglio (Coord. Naz. Giovani Comunisti), Nicoletta Dosio (Segretaria Prc Bussoleno-Mov. no Tav), Barbara Ferusso (Centro Sociale Gabrio Torino), Umberto Gobbi (presidente Radio Onda D’urto), Cristina Gramolini (ArciLesbica), Gruppo Prc Provincia di Rimini, Joseph Halevi (economista), Aurelio Macciò (Capogruppo Prc Provincia di Genova), Piero Maestri (Cons. Prc Provincia di Milano), Luigi Malabarba (Associazione Sinistra critica), Tatiana Montella (Coord. Naz. Giovani Comunisti), Luciano Muhlbauer (cons. Prc regione Lombardia), Luigia Pasi (Segreteria nazionale SDL), Corrado Patuzzi (Coord. Naz. Giovani Comunisti), Fabio Raimondi (Tavolo migranti), Maurizio Ricciardi (Tavolo migranti), Chiara Siani (Coord. Naz. Giovani Comunisti), Nando Simeone (vicepres. consiglio provinciale Roma Prc), Gianna Tangolo (Cons. Prc Provincia Torino), Stefano Tassinari (scrittore), Gianni Vattimo (filosofo), Giovanna Vertova (Univ. di Bergamo).

Noam Chomsky (linguista), Ken Loach (regista), Tariq Alì (scrittore), George Galloway (Deputato Respect), Gilbert Achcar (università SOAS Londra), Christophe Aguiton (sindacalista e militante altermondialista), Daniel Bensaïd (filosofo), Olivier Besancenot (candidato alle presidenziali francesi), Alex Callinicos (Kings College London), Lindsey German (Coordinatrice di Stop the War Coalition), Kiama Kaara (Nairobi, Kenya), Fredric Jameson (Duke University), Jo Lang (Conseiller national Vert, Suisse), Michael Löwy (sociologo), John Rees (National Secretary Respect), Fernando Rosas (Deputato Bloquo de Esquerda), Catherine Samary (Univ. Paris Dauphine), Pierre Vanek (Conseiller national solidaritéS-A Gauche Toute!, Suisse), Michel Warschawski (scrittore), Howard Zinn (scrittore), Josef Zisyadis (Esecutivo della Sinistra Europea), Slavoj Žižek (filosofo).

Solidarity messages were received from:

Associazione Dhuumcatu (Roma), Piero Bernocchi (Cobas Scuola), Luca Casarini (Global Project), Collettivi studenteschi di Sc. della Formazione e Sc. MM.FF.NN. Univ. di Bari, Collettivo Angelo Mai (Roma), Collettivo Precari Atesia, Comitato Immigrati in Italia (CII), Comitato di lotta per la casa (Roma), Coordinamento dei collettivi universitari della Sapienza Di Roma, Giorgio Cremaschi (Segreteria Nazionale Fiom), Emanuele de Nicola (Fiat Melfi), Fabio Frosini (Univ. di Urbino), Olol Jackson (Ass. No dal Molin), Alberto Perino (Comitati no-Tav), Daniele Sepe (musicista), Alex Zanotelli.

The complete list of signatures can be consulted on the website: www.sinistracritica.org