Sardines, Santori: "Halt Salvini and all populisms"

"At a time when all of Italy is taking to the streets to revolt against right-wing populism, the 5 Stars have decided to take the opposite direction". Mattia Santori, the most famous sardine of a movement that has been enlivening the political scene for ten days with the cry of "Italy does not bind", rejects the vote of the Rousseau platform, which instructs the M5S to run alone in the regional elections in Emilia-Romagna and Calabria. Does a form of populism not only live in the League, but also in the 5 Stars? “Of course”, Santori replies to FIRSTonline, who met him to understand in which waters this new reality wants to navigate.

For the record, we make a brief portrait in the introduction of these "6000 sardines", which they look like the political version of the musical group “Lo Stato Sociale” because they are fresh, funny, popular. Genuine? Who knows, but does it really matter? It all started with three Bolognese boys (in addition to Santori, Roberto Morotti, Andrea Gerreffa), some from chic neighborhoods, some who grew up in the suburbs, and from a girl (Giulia Trappoloni), a so-called off-site, transplanted under the two towers. They had the idea of ​​summoning those who thought like them to cram themselves, like sardines, on the "crescentone" (a large square sidewalk) of Piazza Maggiore in Bologna.

They wanted to do something and actually, from the very first date, they managed to steal the show from Matteo Salvini, to parade him the red carpet on which he was walking in the capital in preparation for the very important elections in Emilia-Romagna on 26 January. Now, in a brilliant political marketing stroke, they are called "6000 sardines", and have a political manifesto that reads "Dear populists, the party is over, for too long we have let you have your way". The success of the initiative has been enormous and is being replicated like wildfire. After Bologna there have already been Modena, Sorrento, Palermo.

Now it's the turn of Reggio Emilia and Perugia, followed by Rimini and Marsala, Parma, Genoa, Florence, Naples, Ferrara, Padua, Avellino, Milan. Even New York appears on their site. If the Emilian elections represent a national watershed, the sardines are a godsend for Stefano Bonaccini, outgoing Governor and Pd candidate for the Region, especially now that the 5 Stars are turning their backs on him. The great fear of overtaking by Lucia Borgonzoni, a candidate for the Northern League strongly supported by Salvini, has partially subsided thanks to the intuition of these 4 thirty-year-olds, who are also cornering Luigi Di Maio. 

Mattia, did you imagine a success of this size?

“Absolutely not, but evidently there was a need for all this, we just removed the cap and the peaceful bomb exploded. As Gandhi said, 'there is nothing more powerful than passive resistance, non-violence'. We stick to this maxim and we have been rewarded. Because people are tired of being told that there is no alternative to the League, that populists are the majority in society, that violent and overbearing language is the only one that pays. The night that I had the idea, that I felt the need to call my friends to say that we had to do something, the polls for the Emilian elections gave the League an 8-point lead. I thought we couldn't just sit still, like nothing was happening."

Something has changed since that evening, because now Bonaccini has recovered positions in the polls and is playing it with a slight advantage, right?

"Fortunately! We had to stop the right-wing populist wave, which feeds on the rhetoric of hate. Everyone has responded to our appeal: let's put together gay pride and the homeless, social centers and voluntary associations, young people and pensioners, normal people, left and right, because even many moderates on the right can no longer bear a language like that of the League”.

Who could be an acceptable conversation partner for you, right? Silvio Berlusconi?

"Absolutely not. We are not interested in the Salvini, the Berlusconi, the Renzi. They are just narratives, something people are told as if they are great leaders. But it's not like that and people want to say that they understood it”.

Who do you look like? To the roundabouts or to the 5 Stars? After all, your success also comes from social media…

“We are different, because we are born at a different time. We feel fully involved in politics, in the sense that ours is a political movement which is finally taking back possession of the square. In two weeks we will bring something like half a million people to the streets. I don't even know if anything like this has ever been seen. Even Europe has noticed us. Journalists from Spain, Germany, Great Britain are calling us. We are the largest barrier to populism in Italy and we have put a stop to years of falsehood, hatred, deceit. If this isn't a revolution, I don't know what is. Even my father, tired of politics like many other good people, finally supported the newspaper, got up from his chair and found the desire to go to the streets".

You are accused of being a movement only "against", what is your proactive idea? 

“First of all there was a need to get involved against the current right-wing political rhetoric and we did so, starting from a land, Emilia-Romagna which, as we said in Bologna, is a land founded on inclusion, on study, work, volunteer. We don't want to lose all this and therefore we put our face on it, firsthand. This is already a political act. We are not representatives of anti-politics. On the contrary, if we like politicians we must help them. We are a social and civil model, which is why we are so powerful. Our means of communicating are Facebook and an email address, poor means yet sufficient when the need is great. So we extend, today there are 40 squares ready to react spontaneously to the rhetoric of populism with creativity and a smile. The fact that a multitude of people feel the need to express themselves shows that the contents are there. Of course, our first goal is to defeat populism and we are succeeding, in fact I would say that the season of lies is already over and if we want it, if we continue, politics will become a serious matter again". 

Don't you rule out your further passage in politics?

“We are not ruling out anything. Eventually, it will be the politicians who will ask us and tell us: are you this or that? We will see. Everything is going faster than our ability to keep up. It's a huge commitment, which is devouring the time of our lives. We are people who work, with a simple life to which we would like to return, but we move forward out of a sense of responsibility".

Speaking of work: do you have a stable job?

"Yes, I work for an energy research center."

Is it the center founded by former minister Alberto Clò? Are you also in contact with Romano Prodi in this way?

“Yes, it is Professor Clò's centre. No, I'm not in contact with Professor Prodi and I have no reason to meet him”.

You Sardines were born to have your say on the regional elections: do you think your movement will end on January 27, after the vote in Emilia-Romagna?

“On November 14, I believed that our initiative would shut down the next day and so I have thought every day until today. Instead we are multiplying visibly, so I don't think our time limit is the regional elections, I'm sure we will go much further”.

Journalists often ask you to define yourself. I see you a bit as a pop group, like the political version of the welfare state.

“It's a perfect definition and we really like their songs. Some members of the musical group, in a personal capacity, participated in our initiative ".

So your secret motto is “A life on vacation”?

"Let's hope! But no, I would say absolutely not”.