Reading the Walls of San Lorenzo: The Story of Ilaria

 

This wall of signs and posters is at the entrance to the tunnel under railroad tracks that lead to Stazione Termini, not far away. On the other side of the tunnel is the beginning of via Tiburtina and the leftist community of San Lorenzo. The Palestinian flag is prominently featured, and Romans will recognize the Rai poster of their Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, astride an arm in full Fascist salute. But who is Ilaria? And why does Ilaria need to be "free" (libera)?

Ilaria is Ilaria Salis, a 39-year-old Italian woman activist, arrested in Budapest, Hungary in February, 2023 for having attacked some militants of Hungary's extreme right who were participating in a demonstration. What actually happened is unclear, but Rome's daily newspaper Il Messaggero reports that those presumably attacked never filed charges and were judged to have been recovered from their injuries within 5 to 8 days.

The legal process against Salis was initiated in January, 2024. She appeared in court in handcuffs and ankle chains, setting off international concerns about the way she was being treated. At the time, right-wing Meloni intervened with her even more right-wing Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán, as did other Italian officials. (Given Meloni's reputation as the "Orbán whisperer," it's surprising to us she wasn't more successful in freeing the leftist politico.) 

But Salis's request to be allowed to leave jail for house arrest was rejected--for the third time. In May, 2024, her request was approved, and she now resides in Budapest in the apartment of someone she doesn't know who volunteered to host her. Although her Italian and Hungarian attorneys hope for her release in the near future, she risks a sentence of up to 24 years, and her time in domicile counts for only 1/5 of the same time in prison.

Under house arrest, Salis will be able to communicate quite freely with contacts in Italy and will be able to participate in an electoral campaign, an important consideration because she is a candidate for the European parliament, as a member of the Avs party, a federation of the Italian left and Green Europe. If she is elected--voting is next weekend, June 8 and 9--it appears she would be granted immunity from prosecution and presumably be released.  Postscript: Ilaria Salis was elected to the European parliament. Her release is anticipated, though it is not guaranteed. 

Bill 

Poster Wars

The elections to the European parliament are finally over, amid much hand-wringing (and, in England, abject apologies) on the part of central-left liberals, who lost everywhere, the victims of powerful nationalist and anti-immigrant sentiments sweeping the continent.


We followed the campaign mostly by the posters that the candidates had plastered around the city--smiling politicians, hoping to convince Romans of their determination and sincerity by looking directly out with a look of--well, determined sincerity.

It was hard not to notice the competitive nature of this poster business; sometimes one candidate's poster would be up only a few minutes before that of another appeared. So we were pleased when La Repubblica did a piece on the business. The "attachini" (the "attachers," those who put up the posters) carry a long brush and a bucket that contains paste made of flour, caustic soda, and water. Each poster guy or poster squad is assigned a specific route and for the 40 or so days of the campaign follows that route for the same candidate. They're paid by the day or by the route: 100 to 180 Euro per day or route (and about half that amount if they don't have a car--though why that should matter we can't figure). Although the attachini say that anyone could be hired to do this work, they're all men, mostly in their 20s or 30s. The newspaper describes them as "precarious" workers, previously employed in call centers and as temporary teachers; the majority are Italian, others foreigners.

Because there's such fierce competition among the political parties (and therefore among the attachini), the poster guys sometimes agree among themselves that an opponent's poster will remain up and uncovered for a minimum of 20 minutes. Then it's fair game for the attachini of another party and candidate. Despite these agreements, it's a stressful occupation, known to bring grown men to tears--most recently a new crew of emotional Peruvians--when their posters are covered within minutes of going up.

Much depends on who is paying for the job. The Peruvians were postering this year for Martin Avaro, whose Nazirock/right wing views on immigration didn't sit well with the poster company he hired or with the latinos wielding the brushes. And early on Avaro was known as a cheapskate, offering 18 centesimi per poster rather than the customary 30.

Laziness among attachini is tolerated (and why not, if payment is by the route?) and waste is predictable, but there is one unforgivable act: to cover one's own poster, La Repubblica reports, "is to cover oneself and his company, with shame." To prevent posters ending up in the trash rather than on the boards, every company has "spies" that travel the territories of their crews, sometimes taking a pen knife and cutting through the stratum of posters (as if they were the growth rings of a redwood), looking to see that the company's posters are there, and that one "Antonini" doesn't cover another "Antonini."

My mother always told me I should have been a sociologist. Bill