The story of the mayor of Riace Domenico Lucano should make us reflect on a series of profound political and social issues. Unfortunately, however, the majority of our current politicians, whether they are in government or in opposition, have relaunched some extremely approximate keywords on Twitter or at most on Facebook. We therefore find ourselves, as has happened too many times in recent years, in the position of being barricaderi supporters who are inclined either towards those who accuse Roberto Saviano of using double standards in his analyses, or towards those who field a series of vague arguments defense of the mayor Lucano, who knows if dictated by considering himself superior from an intellectual or even anthropological point of view.
Instead, I believe that the point should be another and start from a different analysis, certainly never neglecting what we know of the story to date.
We are faced with a mayor who has made, or seems to have made, the reception and integration of immigrants his reason for living, openly declaring in private conversations that he is aware of having broken more than one law, as deemed unfair.
The theme of justice as opposed to that of legality has always fascinated more than one philosopher and the question that is asked is roughly always the same and sounds more or less like this: when a law is considered unjust from an ethical point of view, it is right not respect it?
In these hours the theme of civil disobedience has come back into vogue and more than someone has compared the mayor of Riace to Gandhi.
Now, if my memory serves me right Gandhi practiced a form of civil disobedience in the light of the sun, fully aware of what could have been the consequences he was facing because he had broken or was breaking a law deemed unjust. Today we have a mayor, a first citizen, who, while aware of what he is doing, talks about it in private conversations and on the telephone. So of a representative of the institutions who has decided to break the laws as they are not fair, but who does not want to directly assume responsibility for what he is doing, perhaps because of the fear of being arrested. As if, allow me the awkward analogy, Marco Pannella for his campaign in favor of the legalization of light drugs had decided to consume them at home, only talking about it with a few friends, and not instead distributing it for free in front of Palazzo Montecitorio after having warned the printing of the initiative he was about to undertake.
The difference is exactly this and it is not insignificant.
The feeling therefore is that what is happening in Calabria cannot be classified as civil disobedience by a mayor, but by someone who has decided to break the law because he is "the most just".
In a state of law this cannot be tolerated, especially by those who represent the institutions. Laws, if they are not just, must be changed and those with government responsibilities should be publicly at the forefront.
