General Vannacci did not violate the military code. Magistrate word
The controversy over the "World upside down", the book written by General Roberto Vannacci, commented by Salvatore Sfrecola, magistrate of the Court of Auditors, author of the blog "An Italian dream"
The least that can be said is that around via XX Settembre, and also in the Minister's staff, the Code of the Military Order (legislative decree 15 March 2010, n.66) is ignored or, at least, they have skipped the art. 1472 (Freedom of manifestation of thought) according to which “1. The military can freely publish their writings, hold public conferences and in any case publicly express their thoughts, except in the case of topics of a confidential nature of military or service interest for which authorization must be obtained”. Otherwise General Roberto Vannacci would still be in his post.
There is nothing else to add. Not even to refer to the sacred texts of liberal democracies which explicitly recognize, among the fundamental rights, that of expression of thought. Even in the "Declaration of the rights and duties of man and of the citizen", at the opening of the constitutions of the end of the 18th century, as in the Constitution of the Cispadana Republic of 19 March 1797: II. "no one can be prevented from speaking, writing and publishing his thoughts, even in print". Or in the Neapolitan constitution of 1799 in art. 4: “Freedom of opinion is a human right. The chief of his faculties is reasoning. So he has the right to develop it in all possible forms; and therefore to nourish all the opinions that seem true to him".
In the meantime, the Constitution of the Republic intervened with its art. 21 which states that "everyone has the right to freely express their thoughts in speech, writing and any other means of dissemination". And it is to this principle that the Code of the Military Order conforms with the provision referred to at the beginning of these brief considerations. Which I must necessarily extend to some aspects of the debate that has inflamed newspapers and television. Starting, to ease the tension, with a joking phrase that is often heard repeated at every book presentation. Which people who haven't read it would provide to illustrate it to others who won't read it.
Well, that's certainly only partly true today. In fact, I doubt that many of those who sparked the controversy against the general for his "The world upside down" have read it in its entirety. But it is certain, in this case, that many will read it, as evidenced by the surge in purchases on Amazon.
I haven't read it yet but, used to reviewing books, I got the idea that those who have sparked the controversy over some sentences have extrapolated them from a full-bodied text and interpreted them ignoring the entire context, the complex of thought that has inspired the author. Which, of course, can be shared or not. But the issue is not to comment on individual expressions, but the right of an Italian citizen to express his thoughts with a courage that undoubtedly deserves recognition for being clearly aware that he wrote about politically correct topics for which he would have received fierce criticism. All the more in the awareness that what the General wrote is largely shared by the majority of Italians. Otherwise, if he had said extravagant things, few would have written and asked for his head. Instead it was not enough that the General Staff removed him from his post. "It's not enough," we heard. In short, but it is known, one can only say what, for an evident minority, is good and right.
But this – if General Vannacci's critics get over it – is not admissible in a liberal regime. Because, whether you govern the right or the left, the Constitution applies to everyone and the freedom of expression of thought is unanimously held to be one of the fundamental principles of our legal system. A principle which, if invested by the General when challenging the transfer, will undoubtedly be reaffirmed by the Administrative Judge.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/il-generale-vannacci-non-ha-violato-il-codice-dellordinamento-militare-parola-di-magistrato/ on Sun, 20 Aug 2023 06:38:47 +0000.