Generation Z 'partisans', the boat dedicated to Hind and drawings for peace

From the Resistance flotilla dedicated to Hind, the five year old girl killed in Gaza, embarking children of all ages with their drawings for peace, to the testimonies of those who were there in 1945 Thousands of people gathered in Rome under the Pyramid Cestia to take part in the demonstration called by the ANPI to celebrate 25 April.

On the little wooden boat, built by Mario, a 70-year-old carpenter with the help of some colleagues, stands the word Peace on a tricolour background, and the name Hind. On board are children of all ages, the youngest is only 2½ years old, his name is Pavel and he is Slovenian. Valentina, actress and presenter, has taken her 9-year-old son on board. 'I am the granddaughter of a partisan,' says Valentina, 'I have brought my son with me so that he knows he was born in a free country, thanks also to his great-grandfather. Emanuele is 18 years old, he studies mechanics and, for the occasion, helped by a certain resemblance, including his beard, he has dressed up as Che Guevara "I wear Che's uniform, because he was an anti-imperialist - explains the young man - and I am here to remember the importance of freedom, those who forget how much it cost lose it".

Daniela and Sergio, aged 72 and 76, are from the Martiri delle Fosse Ardeatine section, marching behind the banner in defence of the Charter 'Ours is a march and not a goose step,' stresses Daniela, 'thanks to the partisans and our constituent fathers, who gave us the tablets of the law in defence of a freedom that, to us who have white hair, seems ever more precious. But the subject is also close to the heart of Generation Z, as Eva, who, at 15 years old, has very dark hair, is keen to point out. She tells of her studies at the language high school and of her desire to leave the school desks to make her 'debut' in society. 'I am here to testify that we are not the 'slackers' that many people portray,' she says. 'In three years I will go to vote, I have time to understand, to inform myself, for now I know that there is much to be done for a fairer world. And we are ready to make our contribution'.

For the same cause, 85-year-old Graziaformer literature teacher and former student at the Visconti high school in Rome has made and continues to make her contribution. The teacher, vaporous grey hair, quotes the song by Lucio Dalla "L'anno che verrà": ""Vedi amico mio come diventa importante che in questo istante ci sia anche io" - she hums - . I owe my passion for the Resistance to a gymnasium teacher, who was a member of the Italian Women's Union. I come from a fascist family, my father did the march on Rome. He was a good man, but history must be seen in perspective. For him, my brother and I, a doctor at San Camillo and a member of the PCI at the time, were a disappointment. Dad felt a foreigner in his homeland after 1945, we children felt liberated'. David, 33 years old with long curly hair and black glasses, studies engineering, but to justify the long time it takes to graduate, he clarifies that he also works. He is keen to call himself a'zenellial', the generation straddling the millenials and the Z's. 'We are perhaps the most forgotten of all, we don't feel represented by anyone,' says Davide, 'but I am here to represent those who are more forgotten than us, all the 'colonised' peoples of the world.

Albino Amodio of the national Anpi explains why today democracy is considered an evil that is no longer necessary. 'The socio-economic structure of all countries today is mercantile capitalism,' he says, 'the tensions are all on the commercial level. Democracy is of no use to these power structures,' he points out. 'In order to put the production of goods and services back into the hands of industrialists and not into those of investment funds, the prohibition that prevents states from financing industry, except for military industry of course, should be lifted. All Confindustria members from steel to wood are asking to invest. Then it will be possible to increase salaries'.