Power to the People: In Italy, Potere al Popolo, a new left-wing movement is born

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In Rome on December 17, the first national meeting of Potere al Popolo (Power to the People), a new grass-roots left-wing movement aiming at running for the next general elections in March. But the new group also aims at giving new lifeblood and a new perspective to Italy’s radical left.
The meeting, attended by thousands of people, was thrilling and inspiring; all Italian communist parties and organisations, as well as environmentalist groups, social and community centres and workers associations took part in it. Moreover, many international guests were present at the meeting, including a Palestinian delegation, the Spanish Communist Party and Izquierda Unida (United Left), the Party of European Left and France Insoumise (the party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon). Plus, Mélenchon himself saluted the meeting with an enthusiastic official announcement on his website.

The vital core of Power to the People does not lie in the power games of the older generation of politicians, but rather in the strength and enthusiasm of the new generations of workers, students and activists. That’s the reason why one of the core issues of Power to the People’s political agenda is to set up a long-term political project. The aim is not only to run for the next elections, but to allow the Italian people to permanently and actively become the main decision-making organ within Italy’s political life.
This political movement, indeed, is based on the principles of social justice, solidarity and equality. Moreover, Power to the People is the only political group whose agenda openly and clearly includes the defence (and, in some cases, restoration) of the workers’ rights, which have been constantly attacked and reduced by the government.
Power to the People also refuses to scapegoat migrants and refugees, calling for a more human and fair reception system. In particular, it firmly refuses to legitimise the current agreement on migration flows between Italy and Libya, under which, in order to prevent migrants to reach Europe, those attempting to migrate are jailed in Libyan detention centers and deprived of their human rights.
Human and civil rights are a crucial point of Power to the People’s agenda: it also proposes to fight discrimination against LGBTQI community and to definitively legalise marriage equality.
Furthermore, Power to the People aims at winning disarmament and peace, in compliance with the Italian Constitution, and making education free and accessible to everyone. Free education is part of the process of redistributing wealth and rejecting of austerity policies, which are fundamental principles of the new political movement.