ROME (ITALPRESS) – “I believe in communication that unites, not divides. But we are both ‘sons of the people’: before studying we worked and we know the toil of the factory and the fields.” Thus, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, Cisl secretary Luigi Sbarra, who communicatively speaking stresses that he feels different from CGIL leader Maurizio Landini: “Very different in the choice of words” and says he would never use the expression “social revolt” in a rally. “Never,” he declares, “I much prefer ‘social participation.’ Compared to the French existentialists, I like Karl Popper and his defense of the open society better. There is a short circuit that does not convince me in the rhetoric of these months, a certain confusion that superimposes antagonism on conflict, a sacrosanct mode of union action. “When asked how one relates to the square and whether it is so difficult to speak to workers, he replies, “More than difficult, it is a great responsibility. Words can be seeds to grow or gasoline on fire: you have to choose them well because they produce effects even beyond intentions. I think that at this stage we also have a pedagogical task: we should convey the sense of a common belonging to the same destiny. It is wrong to set fire to the squares, to point to institutional interlocutors as enemies, to raise the level of confrontation in workplaces. He who sows wind, reaps storm. “When he is about to begin a rally, he says he thinks “of the words of Ezio Tarantelli (the economist killed by the Br in Rome on March 27, 1985, ed.): ‘Never be afraid to tell the truth to the workers. ‘ And then I look at the eyes of the people in front of me.” And on the incidents in Turin, he says, “In a country that has seen P38s in the streets, we should measure words very carefully. We should all get our act together and nurture a climate of cohesion, concord. That does not mean canceling tough confrontation.” Regarding the statement that he wants to “turn Italy inside out like a glove,” he explains, “I don’t like the metaphor: I find it ugly as an image and ambiguous in its aims. Italy must be reformed, not turned inside out. It is done through dialogue.” And on the Landini-Salvini clash, he comments, “Radicalization helps no one, neither workers nor the country. To speak of an ‘authoritarian turn’ of the government as Landini does, however, seems to me really out of place. “According to Sbarra, the country is “tired, worried, but we are not in a post-war scenario and there are great energies and potential to be seized. We need a social pact for growth and work and to address reforms with balance and justice.” If Landini changed course “it wouldn’t hurt, but unity is done on content. Ours is a way of being a union that is based on certain founding values: autonomy from parties, participation and bargaining, responsibility and pragmatism, concerted protagonism and personalism. Come to think of it, they are also words. We hope to hear them soon to start building together again.” The relationship with Landini, Sbarra adds, “is frank and direct, as they used to say. We don’t always agree, that’s obvious, but when we need to we hear each other and institutional and personal respect has never failed.” And then, turning to the CGIL unionist, he says, “Let’s not waste time and energy on sterile conflicts. Let’s work on a new ‘social contract’ to really change Europe and the country.”- Photo Agency Photogram -(ITALPRESS).
