What's going on? Have we really reached the point where someone decides who can listen to De André and who can't? Who can attend a concert and who can leave? I'm also used to protests and insults; it happens sometimes, no big deal. I've been involved in politics all my life: that's not the problem. That girl also had the right to challenge me (even if she disturbed the artist, Dori, and the rest of the audience), just as I have the right to respond to her. That's how it works; it's called democracy. But no one—and I repeat, no one—can decide which singers I can listen to, which books I can or can't read, which films I can watch.
Lega leader Matteo Salvini wrote this on social media following the controversy surrounding his participation in Diodato's concert at L'Agnata, Fabrizio De André's historic villa in Gallura.
"But you know," he emphasizes, "what really worries me? Not what happened to me. But the world we're leaving to our children. A world where you're free, but only if you have the 'right' ideas? Where you can listen to an artist, but only if you have the right political license? No. It doesn't exist. Our children don't have to ask anyone's permission to be free."
Salvini adds: "I've loved De André since high school, thanks to my parents' records. I was fortunate enough to hear him live many times, and in 2003, as a Milan city councilor, I had the honor of contributing to the awarding of the Ambrogino d'oro in his memory. When I pass through Genoa for work, I try to find time to bring a prayer to Staglieno. I don't know what Fabrizio would say today. And above all, I don't want to let the dead speak to prove the living right. I would never dare. I know what his songs, his music, his voice mean to me. They move me, they make me think, and sometimes they even make me question myself."
"Let's talk to each other. Let's discuss, even argue. Let's try to convince each other. Without going any further. Because in a democracy, your opponent is defeated with ideas. You don't muzzle, you don't censor, you don't erase. Long live the free musician Jones," he concludes, "who liked to be heard. By everyone."
(Unioneonline)