2020 (EN)

THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF BETTINO CRAXI CELEBRATED

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Hammamet  ||  | 19 January 2020
Tutte le Attività (EN) - Anno 2020

"My freedom is equivalent to my life".
"This is the inscription on a simple whitewashed tomb facing Italy, in memory of a great statesman: Bettino Craxi".
With these words, President Michele Capasso paid tribute to the statesman and the socialist who shared a long period with his father Raffaele, among the founders of the Socialist Party, a friend of Pertini and Nenni.
President Capasso visited Hammamet a few days before to be present at the Museum of Peace - MAMT where a ceremony took place with a moment of debate on Gianni Amelio's film "Hammamet".
And on this day, January 19, 2020, many people, almost 1000 people, accents from all over Italy, the desire not to feel veterans but part of history. A few tears of ladies with dark glasses.
At 10.30 the commemoration of Bettino Craxi, on the exact day of his death 20 years ago, took place at the Catholic cemetery of Hammamet, Tunisia, a tongue of sand in front of the tombs of Muslims obviously in a much larger space. The widow Anna Moncini Craxi arrives, escorted by her children. Stefania is embraced by Benedetto, the son of Bobo, the grandson who bears the name of his grandfather even if no one calls him Bettino, a sign of reconciliation between the brothers who experience pain and this long wound never healed in two different ways.
There are no political speeches, only many leaders or militants of the old PSI, such as Ugo Intini, or of the new, such as Senator Riccardo Nencini and secretary Enzo Maraio, and some Forza Italia MP, who leave the carnations on the white tomb, repainted fresh, of the socialist leader. A single voice rises from the silent group: it is that of a baritone friend who sings Schubert's Ave Maria. Claudio Martelli arrives with a slight delay and this makes the old socialists smile because it was like that even then, when everything seemed to revolve around a red carnation. Now that flower is on a white tombstone, on the relief of an open book as seen in the ancient symbol of Italian socialism. There is a magnificent sun and the sound of the sea, "Nostro Mare Nostro": divided by us and not among us!
"A thousand have come, like Garibaldi's. The testimony that Craxi is alive, as opposed to the many dead who claim to discuss his mistakes before even theirs," said his daughter Stefania. While his wife Anna added: "I am very moved, the trust of these friends and companions is greater than I thought, 20 years have passed and Bettino is still in the hearts of many".
"The Democratic Party and the League absent here in Hammamet? Many Italians do without both the Democratic Party and the League and perhaps we Socialists too can do without both," said his son Bobo instead. He added: "There is a double reading, we are obliged to remember and remember, but also obliged to remember that he was the victim of unparalleled persecution, as the President of the Republic said 10 years ago.