Press release

Un Ponte Per: 'Let 2 June once again become a celebration of democracy'

The Italian NGO committed to building peace in the Middle East and Ukraine recalls the civil character of Republic Day. 'We know what war means, our Republic repudiates it'

Rome, 1 June 2023 - On the occasion of 2 June, Republic Day, we witness once again the occupation of this public civil space by the military parade.

This year, what's more , aggravated by the Ministry of Education and Merit's circular to Italian schools on the "Celebrations for the Republic Day of 2 June" (in particular in Lazio with outgoing protocol no. 24490, dated 9 May 2023), with a singular request: an invitation to schools to apply not only to attend the military parade along Via dei Fori Imperiali in Rome, but also to parade together with the various branches of the armed forces.

It is useful to remind our political class that no military battle took place on 2 June 1946 . Instead, there was a referendum, in whose vote women also participated for the first time in the history of Italy, in which the Italian people filed away the tragic page of the Savoy monarchy, choosing the Republic.

Un Ponte Per has always supported the need to give back its civil character to the feast of 2 June, so that it can be a day of encounter between all Italians and Italian women, in which the values of the democratic and anti-fascist Constitution are celebrated together.

We have always maintained that the military, instead of parading in uniform, should instead be put on a free-for-all and join the celebrations in civilian clothes together with all other citizens.

We of Un Ponte Per, who know what the roar of fighter-bombers over bombed-out cities and the bewilderment and fear of people fleeing war means, cannot help but feel disturbed by the displays of the Frecce Tricolori that will once again streak the skies over Rome.

May 2 June once again become the Feast of Democracy, of the Republic that repudiates war.