Because you can’t help but be pro-Zelensky
Federico Guiglia's notebook
A King, a Pope and a Patriot. Only three times the Parliament, which grants the President of the Italian Republic himself the sole opportunity to speak at the moment of his inauguration, have foreign heads of state been welcomed and heard.
But, unlike the applause for Juan Carlos in 1998 and for Karol Wojtyla in an unforgettable speech in 2002, this time the ovation of the deputies and senators standing in the Chamber after Volodymyr Zelensky's 12-minute video-conference was full of emotion. dramatic: what can be done, still and more, to help this man thrown into history by Putin's war and by his and his people's courage in resisting him for love of country and freedom? What does the West have to invent, besides sanctions and economic and military support for the defending Ukraine, to induce the aggressor to cease fire and the parties to negotiate? How, then, to arrive at a peace that today is elusive, but tomorrow the only solution to this "repugnant" conflict, as another Pope, Francis called it?
Yes, Zelensky's intervention, dignified and poignant at the same time, was one of those things that ordinary citizens, regardless of their thoughts on this unspeakable tragedy, felt as unmissable.
Yet, hearing the cry of pain of the Ukrainian president under the bombs, there were between 300 and 350 honorable men missing. If the absent are always wrong, according to a maxim of common sense, it is inconceivable for a legislator not to have presented himself to such an appointment. There are no ideas or ideological positions at stake here.
One can challenge the EU strategy and even consider NATO as the source of all evil in order to "explain" Putin's tanks. But in the darkest hour, listening to the victim's story is an act of elementary respect. That good institutional education that fortunately the entire Parliament is "present", and the harsh but right words of the Prime Minister, Draghi, communicated to all Italians glued to the TV. And it is irrelevant to find out if those who have chosen to desert did so out of conviction, protagonism or extreme pacifism.
Just as between Zelensky and Putin you have to choose which side to take, and no third way is admissible between those who make war and those who suffer it, we believe that the great majority of Italians have appreciated the reasons of those present and not the wrong of those who do not c 'era.
(Published in The Arena of Verona, Il Giornale di Vicenza and Bresciaoggi)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/perche-non-si-puo-non-essere-filo-zelensky/ on Tue, 29 Mar 2022 16:39:41 +0000.