Violence against women, Leghorn councillor: 'I know what it's like, I've suffered it'
The councillor recounted the violence she suffered as a girl - Regional Observatory on the phenomenon voted unanimously
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Key points
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He took the floor, as he said, after thinking about it for a long time 'to put it on a practical level. Because it's hard to say, but I experienced this when I was a girl'.
Silvia Cestaro, class of 1972, a degree in architecture and town planning, a political career that has seen her first as mayor of the municipality of Selva di Cadore since 2016 and now in the regional council (Lega - Liga Veneta), chose to speak in the first person despite her voice trembling: "I know what violence means, I know why it comes at you unexpectedly, from those you don't expect, from those close to you and from those who should defend you outside the home. I have also seen it with many friends and what I can personally say is that there is no safety net, because those who should be close to you very often don't listen to you, or you feel guilty, impure, and you don't speak out.
Even Giulia 'must have tried to ask for help', but how often women are told: 'he must be in love: he's not. These people think of you as their object. And it doesn't depend on the family, it can happen to anyone and by anyone, often people who have wonderful parents to whom you don't have the courage to tell what their children have done. And often it is people who are considered terrible who listen to you and take you in'.
The reactions
.Cestaro also dismissed the suggestion of his Leghist colleague Marco Andreoli and his reference to fairy tales: 'I thank him, but nobody here is looking for a prince charming. There are normal men, husbands, fathers. Let's open our eyes to a phenomenon that is there: people talk about disadvantaged people or people with mental problems, but it's not like that, it happens all over the world, even in ours'.
No direct reference was made to the controversial words of Minister Valditara, who at the Fondazione Cecchettin had downplayed the role of patriarchal culture and attributed the increase in violence to immigration. Only later, in the wake of the uproar caused by his words, Cestaro explained in an interview: 'For me it was a kind of liberation. It was not easy, I waited until the last moment. I could hear the speeches of others and my heart was pounding. After so many theoretical speeches it was right to bring the discussion back to the concrete. One always thinks that violence can come from a foreigner living on the street, but it is a stereotype. The foreigner is the first to end up in the newspapers, but how many other cases of Italians remain submerged?'. As for his own political affiliation, 'these must be everyone's battles, not just one side's. I think there are arguments that are not easy to deal with. You can decide to think as the party tells you, or you can act according to your own ethics. We are lucky because President Zaia gives us great freedom'.
