Witch hunt against non-aligned professors: the political trial of Marco Bassani
The crackdown on freedom of expression in the name of politically correct, but also in tetragonal defense of the left-wing powerhouses – from the highest institutional leaders to cultural and academic centers – continues practically undisturbed (unfortunately undisturbed by the center-right as well ).
Here on Atlantico Quotidiano , we have dealt with the threat to freedom of expression represented by the Zan bill . The week opened with a home search, carried out by none other than the special anti-terrorism departments, of Professor Marco Gervasoni, who found himself under investigation for insult to the President of the Republic via Twitter , and closed yesterday with the attack censorship of the secretary of the Democratic Party and an undersecretary of Più Europa on a RaiDue broadcast, guilty of having broadcast a "black" service that mocked the latest EU whimsy on the subject of food, and with a new attack on free speech , the second in a few days to hit a university professor. This time not a conservative but a liberal.
The limitation of free speech in the academic field and the climate of intimidation of professors who are not aligned with politically correct, trends that are affirming themselves in many of the most prestigious universities in the Anglo-Saxon world, are beginning to manifest themselves to a worrying extent also in our country.
Yesterday, the board of directors of the State University of Milan approved a disciplinary sanction against Professor Marco Bassani for sharing on his Facebook page, last November, a meme deemed "sexist" about US Vice President Kamala Harris: suspension for one month from teaching and salary.
Disturbing that you have to fear for your reputation, and for your work, not even for an original post, but for sharing a meme , the social equivalent of a satirical cartoon, one of those images that is now commonplace on social media that mockery of a political nature, more or less in good taste, is entrusted. This is the text:
“She will be an inspiration to young girls by showing that if you sleep with the right powerfully connnected men then you too can play second fiddle to a man with dementia. It's basically a Cinderella story ".
It should be remembered that Bassani, realizing that could have offended the sensitivity of some, he had promptly and spontaneously deleted the meme , already a few hours after it was shared, by publishing the following message:
“I recklessly shared a meme that I thought was a mere political mockery. I then realized it was in bad taste so I took it off. Everything is coming on me. If anyone is hurt, I'm sorry. For the rest I do not know what to say … I will not really post anything that is not my thoughts. If I really have to be covered in mud, let it happen on my own words ”.
But the quick and spontaneous removal did not spare him first the public pillory, then the disciplinary procedure, pursuant to Article 33 of the Statute of the University where he works.
The defensive brief presented to the Rector Elio Franzini, in which the professor contested the imprecision and vagueness of the accusations, was useless.
In fact, in its communication pursuant to art. 33 of the Statute, the Rector referred to the meme "with a sexist and highly offensive content, not only of the directly concerned but of the entire female gender", complaining about the "general indignation" that followed, failing however to identify the provisions, statutory or regulatory, which would have been violated, beyond a generic reference to the Code of Conduct of the University and the rules of good conduct, "in order to avoid damage to the image and reputation of the University".
According to art. 33 of the Statute, Bassani should have received a head of indictment in which at least the source of the responsibility had to be explicitly specified ("in a detailed manner") (Statute? National Code? Employee Code of the University of Milan? Code ethical?) and the violated provision.
Instead of specifying, evidently sensing the weakness of the accusation, the Rector thought to make it worse with even more general charges, noting that "what happened does not constitute an isolated episode, since it is your habit to publicly express strong opinions, sometimes with extreme content, on social networks". A completely vague accusation, as these "opinions" are not even explicit, without any reference to the arguments, context, times, places or means through which they would have been expressed. Here we are even in the field of pure "opinions", whether they are "strong" or "extreme", fully protected by Article 21 of the Constitution.
It is proof that what he was starting towards Professor Marco Bassani was a trial of his political ideas.
Even the procedure envisaged, according to Bassani, would not have been respected. The art. 33 in fact provides that the disciplinary procedure is initiated "within thirty days from the moment of the news of the fact, on the basis of a written memorandum of the Rector who, at the end of a preliminary investigation, defines in detail the elements subject to dispute". Precisely to allow for the necessary investigations, the preliminary investigation is expected to take place within thirty days. But in the Bassani case, after only a few days, there was already a public pronouncement which, under precise pressure, already anticipated the contestation and the sentence of guilt. "An unworthy post – publicly declared the Rector – the university, within the limits of its possibilities, will intervene in the most severe way possible".
"Troubled" and "disturbed" by the "aggressive ways in which Professor Bassani was publicly attacked in the press and through social media by the top management of the University, as well as by various colleagues", and by the sanctions, "announced well before an investigation was initiated or a discussion with the person concerned was carried out ", the research fellow Francesco Mascellino communicated the decision not to submit the renewal application at the Milanese University.
In short, a summary and political process, for a case certainly not mounted by "general indignation", but following precise pressure from a group of left-wing students, some political exponent, in particular the municipal councilor of the Democratic Party Angelica Vasile ( who at the Statale had obtained a research doctorate on the presence of women in politics) and some colleagues, with the decisive contribution of the Rector, who will probably benefit from the support of the left for his reconfirmation.
It is not remembered, in the Republican age, that a university professor has ever received a disciplinary sanction of this gravity, the suspension of salary, for having expressed an opinion, indeed having forwarded a "cartoon" to his group of friends. It probably did not happen since the Fascist era with regard to Jewish teachers. But the impression is that the legal battle on the “Bassani case”, and the political one for the defense of free speech in our country, are only at the beginning.
The post Witch hunt against non-aligned professors: Marco Bassani's political trial appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/caccia-alle-streghe-contro-i-prof-non-allineati-il-processo-politico-a-marco-bassani/ on Sat, 15 May 2021 03:56:00 +0000.