Stories and News No. 1237
After being divided with only five players who took the knee - typical attitude of my countrymen - the Italian national football team, after much controversy, has agreed to not doing at all before the match with Austria.
This gesture, I recall, consists of a symbolic stance against racism remembering the Black Lives Matter movement and moreover Colin Kaepernick’s protest.
Up to now the debate on the opportunity to kneel has not been just an Italian quarrel.
However, despite being convinced that the mere symbolic act is worth little if not accompanied by a contextual daily, active and concrete action, I am not at all surprised by those in Italy who prefer to see the players standing before the kick-off. Because historically the average italian citizen never kneels before powerful ideals, unless he obeys them because he feels obligated.
On the contrary, he literally throws himself on the ground, even becoming a doormat, in front of the men he considers strong. Indeed, each time he does it for particular reasons:
Because he is afraid...
Because it makes him feel omnipotent...
Because it makes him believe that he can do whatever he wants and he is even acclaimed for it...
Because it convinces him that everything and everyone can go to hell...
Because it shows him that in Italy without studying and having any competence or merit you can do everything, even to rule a country...
In general, because it deludes him that he can stop being ashamed about the worst things and may even be proud of it.
At the same time, great ideas in the noblest and most human sense, capable of revolutionizing everyone's life, cast him out as the deadliest virus on the planet. Because they force him to look in the mirror, showing him those parts that he knows how bad they sucks...
My last book: A morte i razzisti (Death to racists)