Genoa, mayor Salis: compensation for social insults to anti-violence centres

The first compensation demanded, and obtained through her lawyers, has arrived for the mayor of Genoa Silvia Salis, who has started filing lawsuits against those who, lacking any substantial argument, attack her with insults and vulgarity. And the first citizen's choice is to allocate the amounts received as compensation to anti-violence centres.

"In the last few days we have settled the EUR 5,000 compensation from the first of many lawsuits against those who used violent and degrading words against me on social media. It is time to get a very clear message across: those who spread hate on social media must be punished. Hate must be turned into good,' the mayor commented in a post on her social channels.

"I have decided that the sum paid by the first 'keyboard lion' will go to the Mascherona anti-violence centre, the Per Non Subire Violenza association, and Casa Pandora Margherita Ferro. The other sums, which I am sure will arrive, will be paid for similar purposes,' Salis writes. 'We cannot pass the message that verbal violence against women is a social goliard, because we women are always subjected to a double violence: a woman is never challenged on the role she plays, but on how she dresses, how she appears, what choices she makes in her private life. It's a way to delegitimise us continuously within society'.

'Denouncing can and must be done, reacting can and must be done, and,' Salis adds, 'today's results are tangible and prove it. Even if this violence passes through a screen, I will continue to react and denounce. I will continue to turn hatred into good for our community'.

The Mascherona anti-violence centre, in thanking the mayor, emphasised that the gesture 'goes beyond the economic value and takes on a powerful meaning: transforming hatred into support, the violence of words into concrete help for the women who every day find in us a place of listening, protection and rebirth. It is a clear and courageous signal, strongly affirming that hatred cannot remain without consequences, but must be brought back to responsibility, awareness and solidarity'.