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Solidarity with Franco Turigliatto

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Thursday 22 February 2007

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Announcing he would resign rather than vote for the government motion in the Senate re-financing the military mission in Afghanistan, Franco Turigliatto declared, "I am against the war in Afghanistan and against the U.S. base in Vicenza." The loss of his vote meant a loss for the government leading to Romano Prodi offering his government’s resignation. The Rifondazione leadership is now threatening to take immediate action to expel Franco from the PRC. This international appeal for solidarity with Franco has now been launched:

Franco Turigliatto in the Senate

“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".

A first list of signatures will be added soon

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

con-turigliatto@libero.it