Salvini, you have to know how to lose: the lesson of Emilia

If Stefano Bonaccini had lost on January 26 (I very much feared that this would happen) I would have had no difficulty in admitting that it would have been a historic defeat. After all, I have expressed such an assessment in many articles written before the elections. Jeremy Corbyn's defeat in constituencies where Labor had won uninterruptedly since 1935 went around the world. But a defeat in Emilia Romagna would have been much more sensational, for what this region represents in the political scenario, not only nationally.

Luckily Bonaccini won and clearly. I therefore consider it dishonest that centre-right parties and their supporters in the media persist in not admitting the defeat of the Captain (someone even went so far as to proclaim its substantial victory). And yet, Salvini had personally committed himself to the stated goal of winning in Emilia Romagna to bring victory in Italy by leaps and bounds. And the polls were in his favour, despite the inadequacy of Lucia Borgonzoni and the general recognition of Bonaccini's "good governance". Roberto Calderoli had gone so far as to say that January 26 would become Liberation Day.

Now the center-right and the League cannot get away with an aseptic reading of the electoral flows, the size of the split vote and the (important) number of votes obtained in the polls. To claim that the League was able to contest the red region and that this is an exceptional result is an ideological falsehood, because the goal was not to lose well, but to win clearly. Even asking the electorate to adhere to the referendum that Salvini had launched on himself and on his political project, even accepting to run the risk of being governed worse, at a regional level, in the coming years.

There will have to be a correlation between Stefano Bonaccini's ability to avoid - largely on his own - a catastrophe for the left and the political consequences of a failure to win by those who were convinced they could reverse a story that had remained unchanged for decades and thus became emblematic. We cannot say "until now we have always won, in 9 regions, it is not a tragedy to have lost well in a region traditionally located on the other side of the front".

Emilia Romagna is not a territory vaccinated by the national exploit of the League within a few years. The political and European elections had already sent unequivocal signals of non-existent power relations in the previous regional consultation. If the comparison is allowed (or si parva licet) Winston Churchill achieved important victories even when he managed to bring the "beached" army back home at Dunkirk (technically it was a retreat) and when he won the battle over the skies of England against the German Air Force. Hitler didn't get away with saying “we invaded half of Europe and defeated France in a few weeks, we didn't make it with the United Kingdom, but we bombed it well”.

Another proof of political dishonesty, in my opinion, lies in the attempt to demolish the sardine movement, attributing to a gray eminence (Romano Prodi?) to be the promoter and director. It is also ridiculous to suggest that it was the Democratic Party that created a parallel movement disguised as a blue fish. He would have had neither the strength, nor the resources, nor the organizational capacity. The sponsors (on TV and in the newspapers) of the League and its Captain they are doing everything to delegitimize sardines (with articles, essays, screen appearances, etc.) because they understood that these young people express real strength for a just goal.

To those who say they are together only against Salvini it must be answered like the words of General De Gaulle: an extensive programme. The Captain is Italy's first problem. On the other hand, those who invite the winners of January 26 not to get upset seem a little pathetic to me, because the Democratic Party has not solved its problems and the right is still powerful in the electorate. It is absolutely true, as it is true, however, that Salvini has begun to lose. In Stalingrad, the Red Army managed to stop the Nazi invasion. It was the beginning of a reversal of the front. But it still marked a turning point; even if, to get to Berlin, it still took years. And many battles.