Further reply to Prof. Tomaso Montanari, against law 92/2004, establishing the Day of Remembrance and in favour of which the same Senator of the Slovenian minority Miloš Budin, elected in the ranks of the DS, voted.

 

To all those who would like to abolish the Day of Remembrance, with Prof. Montanari at the forefront, we must always remember the voting data expressed in the Chamber: out of 521 deputies present, 502 in favor, 14 against, 4 abstentions. The political groups that voted in favor were National Alliance, Democrats of the Left DS, Forza Italia, Northern League, Margherita, Union of the Center UDC, Mixed Group. The Communist Refoundation Party and the Italian Communists were against the law. Very important for the representatives of the 'short memory', who speak inappropriately of a "fascist" and conspiracy law, is the statement by Senator of the Slovenian minority Miloš Budin in the Senate; I quote verbatim:

"The merit of the bill is to make it a common heritage of the entire country and therefore to make a dramatic historical event a SHARED MEMORY NO LONGER EXPLOITABLE FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES. This is a DUTY ACT FOR THE LEFT, which for many years has maintained a justificationist and reticent attitude, HIDING BEHIND THE VIOLENCE COMMITTED BY FASCISM"

The Julian-Dalmatians cannot but agree with Budin's words and thank him for his vote in favor. The Julian-Dalmatian exile associations celebrate law 92/2004 with extreme dignity and with the awareness of performing an act of civilization, of belated justice and democracy.

A law, as the President of the Republic Mattarella said in 2016, – is an opportunity to arrive at a shared history, to strengthen the conscience of our people and to contribute to the construction of a European identity aware of all the tragedies of the past –

So if for over 60 years the history of the suffering of the Julian Dalmatian people has been censored in school history books there must be reasons, and it is on these omissions and censorships that those against a law of great civility and identity such as the Day of Remembrance should reflect, make mea culpa and not advance undocumented hypotheses of conspiracies and reactionary revisionisms. This is not how you build a constructive climate, but by remembering and openly supporting a bipartisan law that the results of the parliamentary votes are proving.

Marino Micich

Director Archive Historical Museum of Rijeka