Farewell to Cecilia Contu, secretary of Psd'Az and president of the Province of Cagliari
She was born in Codrongianos but had Ogliastra roots
Cecilia Contu, national secretary of the Sardinian Action Party from 1994 to 1995 and President of the Province of Cagliari from 1992 to 1995 has died .
She was born in Codrongianos but had Ogliastra roots. He was 85 years old. She was the daughter of Anselmo Contu, born in Arzana, the first president of the regional council and leader of Sardinianism.
We re-propose the interview with Cecilia Contu, precisely in memory of her father , published in L'Unione Sarda in April 2021 on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of the Sardinian Action Party.
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“Not therefore patriarchal isolationism, the denier of every modern conquest, but the modern organization of social life within the Region which has become a fundamental institution of the federalist State. Once the Regions have been restored to their natural autonomy, the workers freed from exploitation and misery, the economy freed from customs barriers, the real state will be born, a synthesis of the history of a people free from despotism and need". The Sardinian idea of Anselmo Contu, first president of the Regional Council in 1949. He was born in Arzana in 1900. He wanted to be a journalist, he graduated in Law with a thesis on freedom of the press. Courageous thesis with fascism that brutally overwhelms democratic values. In the introduction he writes: “The issues inherent to my topic could be defined with a very common phrase of palpitating relevance. Never before has there been so much talk about freedom and authority. The modern constitutional documents all arose from the struggle against absolutism and consequently are a direct and indirect effect of the revolution”. The speaker is Umberto Cao, who had left the Sardinian Action Party, of which he was also a deputy, to join the National Fascist Party. Anselmo Contu becomes a lawyer. To gain experience, he frequented Emilio Lussu's studio. He does not neglect journalism: on two occasions he leads "Il Solco", the Psd'Az sheet. He experiences the dramatic experience of the fire and devastation of the Cagliari editorial office, in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, by a group of fascists. He, a very young director, fearlessly puts into practice the principles of freedom set out in his degree thesis. His daughter Cecilia, 84, who was secretary of PSD'Az and president of the Province of Cagliari, thus recalls her father, the public and the private dimension: "He is with me every day, he continues to be my point of reference . He was rational, generous and thrifty. To encourage me to study, he said: "No one has ever given me anything". He was a very loving and tender father. For me he made up fantastic stories, songs and nursery rhymes. He reserved the afternoon hours for the family. I remember long walks around Lanusei and also in Cagliari in the deserted streets of the city. He had a refined taste, but hated the show. He has always preserved and defended his values and his two faiths: Sardinianism and the Catholic religion".
Strongest memory?
“It dates back to a night in the summer of 1943. We had moved to the countryside, as guests of friends, for fear that the fascists might take my father and send him into internal exile. We heard a knock at the door and a confused shouting, he lifted me from the bed, held me tightly and kissed me. Then he took the rifle and went out into the dark. It was July 25th. Friends had come to tell him that fascism had fallen”.
He joined the Sardinian Action Party in the early 1920s. He and other young people together with the noble fathers gave impetus to the political force born from the fighters' movement.
“He joined the Sardinian Party at a very young age with profound conviction. Until his death in 1975, he kept the Sardinian faith alive. He hardly spoke to me about Party issues, nor did he ever let me understand the internal conflicts and envies he was the object of. He spoke of a great political project, of the redemption of the Sardinian people, of a different, federal model of state, like Switzerland, he told me. He gave simple and clear answers to my questions”.
Sardist and anti-fascist.
“Sardist, anti-fascist and anti-communist because he explained: “extremisms touch each other and in totalitarian regimes the freedoms that a man cannot renounce are suppressed”.
The arrest in 1928 "for having been the promoter of the anti-fascist association Giustizia e Libertà with the aim of fighting the regime for the municipalities of Lanusei and Arbatax di Tortolì".
“He was arrested, his house searched. He was taken first to Buoncammino prison and then, by ship, to Regina Coeli, in Rome, it was Christmas night. He remained in solitary confinement for three months. He wrote a detailed defense memo, which he sent to the "competent authorities". He was freed. It was his first victory as a lawyer. Every time a fascist demonstration was organized in Lanusei, we were forced to stay at home".
The passion for journalism.
“He would have liked to be a journalist but life circumstances didn't allow him, but he had all the qualities that a good journalist must have and above all an essential and direct writing. An articulated premise was followed by the discussion of the matter, following a stringent logic to then arrive at the conclusion. He taught me the famous "ladder" which allowed me to always get excellent grades in Italian".
What is sardism for you?
“What it was for my father: a dimension of the spirit and the only tool to achieve the independence of our land. Young people must study, deepen this political and ideal trend not out of personal interest, but to finally reach the goals that our fathers had already glimpsed and dreamed of since 1921".
