Italian Election Game - ROUND 3

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Could I reserve Popular Area?

I'd like to play, and I can fill out anything official within exactly sixteen hours.

That's ok with me!

So I don't need anything filled out?

No. The first round will start on the day after tomorrow. Then you'll have to post your schedules and other stuff that I'll explain soon

Isn't that today? But I thought the first round started on the nineteenth...

[Senator Cris]

Looks like palandio will not join us. So we'll start today/tomorrow.

[Intell]

Looks like palandio will not join us. So we'll start today/tomorrow.

I guess I'll take conservatives and reformists then?

[Senator Cris]

Looks like palandio will not join us. So we'll start today/tomorrow.

I guess I'll take conservatives and reformists then?

Yes

And Kingpoleon will take Popular Area - Act!

[Senator Cris]

Round 1

Introduction:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

September 17, 2015.

* Enrico Mentana is the italian Wolf Blitzer. He is noted for his big coverages of political events.

Mentana: "We'd like to remember to our viewers what happened yesterday. The Senate has passed the Senate reform, but only by a 2-votes margin. The left-wing of the Democratic Party decided to vote against it. Prime Minister Renzi resigned and now he's speaking with Republic President Sergio Mattarella. We'll have he in a few mom...
The door is now open. We have Prime Minister Renzi speaking."

Renzi: "The Senate reform passed and I'm proud of it and I'm happy for Italy. But we can't go ahead with a 2-votes margin in the Senate. I doesn't want to be the 2nd government of Romano Prodi. There is a clear split in my party, the Democratic Party. The people of my party that decided to vote against the reform are self expelled from the party. They have betrayed the mandate of the electors and they will not have any role in the Democratic Party's leadership and will not be candidates on the lists of the Democratic Party for the next election.
Yes, a new election. I resigned in the hands of President Mattarella and now he'll have to call a new election, considered that other majorities are not possibles and that our party is not open to form another government.
We'll go to the election with a clear message of reform. That's our leadership. That's what we want to do for Italy."

2 days later...

Mattarella: "After various meetings with other party leaders, I have decided to dissolve the Parliament and call a new General election on November 29. Another government is not possible and now we have an electoral law that will assure the winner a clear majority in the House."


Real-life news: (these aren't game news, but real-life news might help the players).

Grillo: "Di Maio, you are the leader". But then Grillo says: "The web will decide our candidate"-
Salvini: "If we want to beat Renzi, it's time for a centre-right primary".

Rules:

You can find the informations about your party here.
You can find informations about the electoral system, the rounds and the rules here.
You can find first polls here.

This round will cover the period between September 19-25. In this round, North League and Brothers of Italy will have to make clear their intentions about their partecipation in the primary. Also various players will have to select their PM candidates. The deadline for selecting PM candidates for all parties (except centre-right parties because of the primary) it's October 20, so it's Round 5.

What you have to post?
- A summary about your party strategy. That means what will be the principal points of your campaign, what will be your message.
- A summary on the person that will be your PM candidate (either to primary or general election).
- Campaign schedule of your PM candidate. Remember that your performance in the polls will be affected by how your campaign is active. That means if you want to have more success, you'll have to post a detailed campaign schedule of your PM candidate, at least one speech of your PM candidate (or extracts of speech), you'll have to do at least one TV appareance of your PM candidate (and that's very important in Italy), a campaign ad (yes, it's possible in Italy too but it's not so important) and, if you want, an interview on a daily.
Also... if a candidate or more than one will attack you, you can reply to them. So I have no problem with interactions outside of schedules/TV appareances.
- For parties that will not pick their PM candidate on this round: You can still do speechs, TV appareances, interviews and schedules for the major figures of your party. But I'd like to advice you to pick your PM candidate soon, even in this round, so that you can start a real campaign.

I know that it's literally impossible doing all of that and I'll perfectly understand if you won't do all of that, because Italy is not familiar to you and it would require a lot of time.
I'll appreciate your work and more work you'll do, then you'll have more success.

Italian Daily:
Neutral: La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, Il Messaggero.
Centre-left leaning: L'Unita (that's the official Democratic Party daily).
Centre-right leaning: Libero, Il Giornale.

Italian TV politics shows:
Ballarò (all tuesdays at 9 PM), Di Martedì (all tuesdays at 9 PM), Porta a Porta (all days at 11 PM/0 AM), Otto e Mezzo (all days at 8.30 PM), Quinta Colonna (all days at 8.30 PM), La Gabbia (all wednesdays and sundays at 9 PM).

Players:

Democratic Party - darthebearnc
Five Stars Movement – Politicus
North League – Cranberry
Forza Italia - Barnes
United Left - Antonio V
Brothers of Italy – National Alliance - FredLindq
Popular Area – Act! - Kingpoleon
Conservatives and Reformists - Intell

If palandio wants, we can still bring him into the narration.

Round 1 begins now and will last for at-least 4 days, but you can ask for extentions if you want.

If you have doubts/thoughts/questions, please post them here or via a PM to me.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'll try to get something out tomorrow, but I'm really busy these days, so I might need an extension. I promise to do my best.

[Senator Cris]

To help you, tomorrow I'll post how parties stand on various issues.

[/]

To help you, tomorrow I'll post how parties stand on various issues.

[Barnes]

To help you, tomorrow I'll post how parties stand on various issues.

I'm either updating today or tomorrow.  I'm very excited for this game!

[Cranberry]

LEGA NORD
Round 1

" Renzi a Casa! Avanti con l'altro Matteo... "

Lega Nord Rally at Parco Sempione, Milano - September 19

Salvini: ... It is here, today, that we say - Go home, Renzi! We have had just about enough of you and your stile of government, that has brought our country just further down the road. We say, we are ready for a new government, a government that will rebuild our nation and bring back Italy on the road. We say thank you to all the communitsts on the left, and all the weak choices on the right. We are ready, ready for a government that finally is worth the name; be it here in Milan, or in Venice, in Rome, in Naples. Everywhere in Italy, people come to us, and join our movement - just as you have done. We all together will bring our nation back on track, and the best way to do that, is to say "goodbye" to Matteo Renzi, and "welcome" to the other Matteo!...

September 20
Rally in Brescia - Bring Italy back on track!

September 21
Rally in Parma - I am the other Matteo!

September 22
Rally in Palermo - No! to economic refugees

...We are flooded every day by legions of people coming across the mediterrenean, hoping of living the good life in Europe. And our government just looks by and lets them! This is just another reason to say go home to Renzi. We need a new government, a government that says "No!" to economic refugees and sends back the boats!"...

September 23
Rally in Rome - Bring Italy back on track!

Appearance at "La Gabbia" - talk about a Lega Nord participation in a centre-right primary

September 24
Rally in Siena - I am the other Matteo!

September 25
Rally in Genova - No! to economic refugees

[Senator Cris]

@Cranberry

Your campaign schedule is very good. Campaign schedule + speech + TV appareance in one post.
You only need to write about your party strategy (if you'll join the primary, the issues of your campaign) and if you want a TV ad and an interview on a daily.

[Cranberry]

I will add something tomorrow or Wednesday, then.

[Senator Cris]

Issues:

Senate Reform, Electoral law:
Supporting it: Democratic Party, Popular Area
Opposing it: all the others

Gay marriage:
Supporting it: Democratic Party, Five Stars Movement, United Left
Opposing it: North League, Brothers of Italy, Popular Area
Mixed but leaning toward opposing it: Forza Italia
Not clear: Conservatives and Reformists

Immigration:
Open positions about it: Democratic Party, Popular Area, United Left
Opposing it: North League, Forza Italia, Brothers of Italy, Conservatives and Reformists
Mixed: Five Stars Movement

These are the major issues of an Italian election campaign, but some parties will privilege some issues.
Democratic Party, for example, would run hard on Senate reform and electoral law.
North League would run hard on Immigration. United Left would run hard against the Senate reform and against the Labour market reform of Renzi.

[Barnes]

Forza Italia
Round I

"Berlusconi le dimissioni come capo ... chiede una nuova generazione"


Forza Italia rally in Genova, Liguria - 19 September 2015

Berlusconi: I will always be with you in heart and in spirit, but we must have a new generation, a new generation to save Italy, to save our people, our culture, and our future!  Our new leadership comes from a man who is like my son, he is the son of all of Italy, he is our savior.  I give you a man who has delivered hope and change to Liguria, and will do the same when he sweeps away the Renzi mob.  Forza Italia's candidate for the future: Giovanni Toti!

Toti: We have a chance now to finally change Italy to make a real new beginning after years of drift and abuse of the Italian people from technocrats, communists, and opportunists.  I look out to this movement, and I see the future of Italy, and the future of Italy does not include Mateo Renzi!  This is a truly exciting time to be in Italy - this election is an opportunity that will decide the future of our country.  I will not be like those others on the right and scare you with fear and division, and I will not be like those on the left who abuse your trust and faith in our institutions.  Our movement, our party, our vision is one that will be inclusive for all Italians...and that is the key to our victory: we are fighting for all Italians!  Not just the radicals on the left and the right, not just the fringe, or the special interests, or the men in the shadows.  We are fighting for all of you, I am fighting for all of you!  To victory!

20 September 2015
Rally in Milano: "The right must be united, we must be united for all Italians!  My victory in Liurgia was by uniting the people, by uniting the right, that is the only way to victory and prosperity for our movement and for Italy.  I call on the parties to join with me in a single primary to deliver a clear alternative to Renzi's regime.

21 September 2015
Rally in Roma: "Here at the center of our government, at the heart of our institutions, Renzi has dealt a blow to the very foundation of our Republic.  We cannot allow his robbery of the democratic institutions of Italy to succeed - to save democracy, we must use democracy to throw him out!"

22 September 2015
Rally in Palermo: "Here on the edge of Europe you have been on the front lines of this catastrophe in the Mediterranean.  The response has failed everyone.  Our borders have been compromised, and we are allowing people to journey across the sea to a near certain death.  We cannot allow this travesty to continue for it endangers the stability of our goal for the future by having this constant uncertainty.

Satellite interview on Quinta Colonna: "I will be fighting every day of this campaign to unite Italy around a common movement for the future; the right must unite behind that movement as well.  I call on Salvini and Lega Nord to commit to a primary.

23 September 2015
Rally in Napoli: "Look at the choice on the left: we have the communists on the far-left who will do all they can to tear Italy apart.  But what is shocking is even THEY could no longer abide the rule of Renzi.  This is a man who plays every tick and manner of deceit known to man to preserve his own survival and political interests.  But what about Italy's survival, what about the interests of Italians?  Renzi will never care for them unless they align with his own goals, and then they will only be used for short-term political gain.  He has no vision; you can see it here, all Italians can see it, the Communists in the UL can see it, even Renzi sees it but to him it does not matter!"

24 September 2015
Rally in Bari: "Renzi acts as if he is the only man in Italy that cares about the future, about progress, but we all know very well that all Renzi cares about is his own survival, about power!  Our country is so much greater than Matteo Renzi, so much greater than the gang of opportunists that are his party.  My passion, my drive, comes from you, I feel it throughout this country in every place that I go.  We do not need Matteo Renzi to change Italy, we need the people!"

Appearance on Porta a Porta: "I speak about a movement in my campaign because I firmly believe that this country is best when it is united around a common goal a common purpose.  To me that goal is to refocus Italy and and ensure that it can continue to function and to thrive into the future for the security of our children and their children."

25 September 2015
Rally in Bologna: "In this first week of this election I have crisscrossed this country and learned two things.  First, sleep is no use for a politician!  Secondly, every Italian knows that this election will be a decisive choice for our future.  It will be a choice for a new way and a new vision.  We must present to Italians a movement that is positive, that respects them, and treats them as adults.  As politicians, the people are our masters, and anyone who forgets that does so at his own peril.  We must get Italy moving towards the future, and we must do it together!"

[Barnes]

Campaign Strategy
Branding himself as the right's answer to Renzi's "new generation," Toti's goal is to build a movement among the right and center united around a common goal of action for the future.  The most significant step to achieving this will be a center-right primary with as many parties as possible; until they commit he will focus on trying to get the other parties to participate. 

This week, Toti traveled around most of the country in an effort to portray himself as the front-runner for the primary and show that he has a message for all of Italy.  Later weeks will show a focus on more rallies in a single area.

Forza Italia will make a significant theme out of Toti's youth and the idea of the election being the option to start a new path for Italy - one that has been elusive for a very long time.  Failures on immigration policy, an inclusive vision for preserving Italian heritage and securing the economy of the future, and the perceived arrogance and opportunism of Renzi are major themes.

Toti also requests an interview with Libero.

[Antonio the Sixth]

United Left
Round 1

Results of the September 20, 2015 primary to choose SU's PM candidate:

Maurizio Landini (FIOM/Coalizione Sociale): 57%
Pippo Civati (Possibile): 16%
Gianni Cuperlo (L'Ulivo*): 13%
Marco Furfaro (SEL): 9%
Paolo Ferrero (RC): 5%


Maurizio Landini will lead SU in the 2015 elections:



Landini's victory speech at the SU Congress in Terni, Umbia:

Comrades, Citizens, Friends,

I come before you honored by the mandate I have received, but humbled by the task that lies ahead. Holding a political office has never been a career goal for me. I am, and will always be at heard, a metalworker. But if I am here today, it's because the every worker, every citizen of this country face a threat more terrible than any threat I have faced in my decades of militantism. This threat is the threat of seeing politics confiscated, taken away from them, by the powerful forces that lie behind our modern leaders. The forces of money. The forces of greed. The forces of corruption.

These forces have been behind every government of the past four years, forging unnatural coalitions to prop up governments never elected by the people. And these forces have a clear agenda: they want to take away the basic rights that workers have earned through years and years of relentless struggles. The right to be protected against unjustified firings, protected by Article 18, is already a thing of the past. The right to strike is under permanent attack. The right to a dignified employment, enshrined in our very Constitution, has long been gutted of all of its substance.

Can we accept that one in two of our modern young people is out of work? Can we accept that the rich keep getting richer, while the immense majority of Italians slide further and further into misery? Can we accept that politicians, rather than serving the people, work to undermine it on behalf of lobbies and bosses? No, no and again no! We will not go back! We will not surrender any more rights! We will reclaim politics as something that belongs to all of us, not to a caste of politicians and financiers!

To defend our rights against the ruthless assaults of moneyed interests, we need to fight every days, with all the tools that our democracy and out Constitutions gives its citizens. We must organize, we must strike, we must spread our message, and, eventually, we must vote. The current government has worked hard to reduce the opportunities for citizens to express themselves through the ballot box, making of this election one of the only remaining safeguards against the absolute dominance of the caste. Let us not waste this opportunity, let us use it to stop the butchering of labor, and to promote a new political project!

If Sinistra Unita wins these elections, we will work together - not as a leader and his followers, but as a group of equals - to forge this project. We will restore and expand labor rights. We will invest in our own future, by repairing our decrepit schools and providing teachers will a stable employment. We will guarantee a basic income to all our citizens. We will stop the dismemberment of Italian industry, and protect jobs. We will end sectional privileges and the impunity of big business. We will fight corruption and criminality wherever they nest, starting at the very top. We will make politics inclusive, rather than reserving it to the elite. Such is our mission.

This is the project I believe in. I have decided to dedicate all my energies to it, for as long as it will take to make it a reality. If you, too, believe in rights, in equality, in citizenship, then you too must throw all your efforts into this struggle. In a little more than two months, we have the opportunity to prevent the dire future that some have prepared for us. This might be our last opportunity. Together, we will prevail, and reclaim our rights and our dignity!

Campaign Strategy:

Slogans:
- "La politica è di tutti" (Politics belong to everyone)
- "Lavoro - Giustizia - Diritti" (Labor - Justice - Rights)
- "Cittadini a testa alta" (Citizens holding their heads up high)
- "Insieme per il lavoro" (Together for labor)

As the above speech highlights, Landini's message focuses on a passionate defense of worker's rights and on the need for common citizens to reclaim their place in the political process. It forcefully denounces the elite groups that have controlled the governments of the past and have pushed forward neoliberal policies. It is directly in continuity with Landini's uncompromising style as leader of the metalworkers union FIOM, when he led the fight against efforts to restrict the workers' benefits. At the same time, he seeks to expand beyond the boundaries of industrial workers. He hopes to rally the unemployed and precarious workers whose livelihood has been destroyed by the crisis, and who have largely lost hope in politics.

This rhetoric is thus addressed primarily to the categories that plan to abstain or vote for M5S. These voters must be convinced that SU is the real solution to their difficulties, and that it can only triumph if they fully mobilize. In addition, Landini also target disgruntled PD voters. He argues that Renzi has betrayed the left (including his own 2013 primary voters) by coopting the agenda of Berlusconi and Monti. However, he will avoid mentioning Renzi's name directly unless the circumstance really calls for it, because he wants the campaign to be focused on ideas rather than people. He will continue to vehemently criticize the Job Act, the constitutional and school reforms, and the rest of Renzi's policies.

Landini will tour Italy, with a preference for industrial sites where he can be among his fellow metalworkers (the choice of Terni for the party's congress was already done in that spirit). In the South, he will also talk about legality, and organize events with people like Roberto Saviano or Luigi Ciotti (if they accept). To better connect with young voters, he also plans to make use of the social media, and will launch a website which will work as a public forum where people can submit their policy proposals.


Full campaign schedule (rallies, TV appearances and interviews) to be published tomorrow.


*Note: L'Ulivo is the name chosen for the party formed by PD dissidents led by Bersani and Cuperlo, in reference to the name of past left-wing coalitions.

[Senator Cris]

The 4-days period expired, but I'll let you another 2 days to post or complete your work.

Your schedules really impressed me. Great work.

[Intell]

The 4-days period expired, but I'll let you another 2 days to post or complete your work.

Your schedules really impressed me. Great work.

I'll get mine to you tomorrow, don't expect much Italian though.

[Cranberry]

LEGA NORD

Campaign Strategy:

Lega Nord's campaign is completely geared towards the persona of Matteo Salvini. Leading a united party, he will appear in campaign events across the country, following his personal "Giro di Salvini d'Italia", with at least one stop in every region, starting next week. His rallies will be set under one of the following slogans, with others being added throughout the campaign:

"L'Italia a corso!" (Bring Italy back on track!)
"Sono l'altro Matteo!" (I am the other Matteo!)
"Renzi a Casa!" (Go home Renzi)
"NO! ai rifugiati economici" (No! to economic refugees!)

Salvini's campaign will follow these basic slogans as well. Furthermore, it is announced that Lega Nord will take part in a centre-right primary.

The rallies will furthermore follow a message that only Salvini is the best leader for the centre-right, and the only one capable of defeating Renzi. He tries to capitalise on his big name recognition, his relative youth but still sizeable experience.

[Senator Cris]

The 4-days period expired, but I'll let you another 2 days to post or complete your work.

Your schedules really impressed me. Great work.

I'll get mine to you tomorrow, don't expect much Italian though.

It's not a problem. I'm 100% ok with English

[politicus]

The Five Star Movement will hold a web based primary by registered members of Beppe Grillo's Blog to find our candidate for PM. The champion of the movement that will break the stranglehold of the political caste on our beautiful Italy and allow the Italian people to thrive and again show the world that Italians are the most creative and spirited people on Earth.

Manifesto: "Justice, sustainability and freedom"

- Italy does not need growth! Italy needs transformation to a sustainable society where we share the resources and focus on cultural and intellectual development and setting the creative genius of the Italian people free. Degrowth, the creation of green jobs and a stop to megalomaniac infrastructure projects as incinerators and high-speed rail lines will allow us to live a simple, productive and happy life. Italy is a land of plenty. Unemployment is only a problem because we do not share the work. A 25 hour work week should be mandatory for all ordinary jobs, housing costs reduced through nationalisation of apartment blocks and an end to property taxes for ordinary homeowners. Public transport made free for all with an income below 30,000 Euro a year.

- By adopting a simpler life style, cutting waste and making a 100% transformation to renewable energy while protecting our beautiful land and cities from overbuilding we will be able to enter a new economic equilibrium where the people will prosper and blossom. New and improved internet connections will make teleworking and a web based economy replace the old and stale consumerist society.

- Ban all parties! They are antiquated and corrupt influence peddlers between a dysfunctional state and the political caste, that serve only the interests of lobbyists and high finance. The collective intelligence and brilliance of the Italian people will replace these crooks through a fully fledged digital democracy.

- Immigration creates pressure on vulnerable resources. Italy should help protect refugees, but we should not shoulder the bulk of the burden of refugees coming to Europe. A just distribution of refugees within the EU is crucial. Italy should be at the forefront of the struggle to force the rich egoists in Northern Europe and the thinly populated countries to the east to take their fair share! We should also strive to work with North African governments to halt the horrors of human trafficking and create better conditions for refugees in Africa, so they are less tempted to cross the Sea and land on our shores.

- No one who has been elected more than two times at any level (local or national) should be able to hold public office again. Politics is not a career!

- WE promise to abstain from all campaign contributions and decline all public electoral refunds. Our campaign will be financed solely by crowdfunding by the people.

- Mafiosi, economic criminals, crooks and their cronies do not  belong in politics. We must cleanse Italian public life of these parasites. Ban all persons with a criminal record from running for public office for life!

- Death to bureaucracy! We need simplicity and transparency in our public sector and empowering local people. Centralizing everything in Rome leads to nepotism and clientilism. Che schifo!

- Legalize same-sex marriage now! Italy needs to become a truly secularized country where the Church knows its place.

- Reduce the absurd payment for deputies and senators to a third. Politics is not a career!

Never give up the fight for real democracy and sustainability and the rebirth of our beloved Italy. Only those who hate Italy and her beautiful soul are against us. Boia chi molla!"

[politicus]

Our campaign will be a mix of social media based grass roots activities and mass rallies. When the have elected our Champion he will visit all the provinces and hold mass rallies, where he will spread our message. Youthfulness, straight talk and the enthusiasm of our grillistas will carry us through.
In addition there will be 3 rallies in Rome and 2 in Milan and Napoli each.

Our message will be centered on three core themes:

"Only M5S can save Italy!"

"Degrowth is an opportunity, not a problem"

"Let the people rule. Destroy the decrepit political caste"

[FredLindq]

- A summary about your party strategy. That means what will be the principal points of your campaign, what will be your message.

Immigration and refugee crisis. Since the party's principles are Italian nationalism and conservatism it will be critical to immigration. The party will also camping on a Eurosceptic sentiment (mainly against the treaty of Lisbon) and economic liberalism.

- A summary on the person that will be your PM candidate (either to primary or general election).
Giorgia Meloni (born on January 15, 1977) is an Italian politician. Giorgia Meloni was Minister of Youth in the IV Berlusconi government and president of the Young Italy. Co-founder of the party Brothers of Italy with Guido Crosetto and Ignazio La Russa, on March 8, 2014, she was elected president of the party. She's a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy since 2006.

- Campaign schedule of your PM candidate. Remember that your performance in the polls will be affected by how your campaign is active. That means if you want to have more success, you'll have to post a detailed campaign schedule of your PM candidate, at least one speech of your PM candidate (or extracts of speech), you'll have to do at least one TV appareance of your PM candidate (and that's very important in Italy), a campaign ad (yes, it's possible in Italy too but it's not so important) and, if you want, an interview on a daily

-The campaign will kick off with One major speech on immigration and Italian social conservative valus. There will be a lot off flag waving mainly Young people in the backgrund. The theme will be future looking and the importance off values for the future.

-An ad camping in Libero (50%) and Il Giornale (50%) starting after the same day as the speech

-attending the talkshow in La Gabbia on a Sundby leasing out at the communist Renzi

-The campagin will end with a major speech critizining the left, Talking about right-wing unity and the pushig for a new Young leadership for Italy

-FDI will take part in the centre-right primary campagning on the popularity and new Young leadership off Meloni "The only candidates on the centre-right that can beat Renzi and push the communist out off power"

[Antonio the Sixth]

United Left
Round 1 (Cont'd)

Campaign Schedule:


09/21 - TV Appearance at Otto e Mezzo



- Focus: Introducing himself and SU to the Italians, exposing his ideas, responding to attacks.
- Highlights: "I don't want to talk about Renzi. One of the problems of this country is that everybody is talking about Renzi and nobody talks about the real issues. I want to talk about the fact that one in 8 Italians is out of work! I want to talk about the fact that most workers have barely enough to feed themselves! And you ask me to talk about Renzi? Renzi doesn't give a damn about workers, just like Letta before him, just like Monti and just like Berlusconi! They all followed the same neoliberal policies dictated by bankers and bosses, stripping away the workers' dignity! That's what I want to talk about!"


09/22 - Rally in Torino, in front of the FIAT industry of Mirafiori



- Focus: Denouncing FIAT and other companies that have been laying off workers to increase profits.
- Guest Speakers: Paolo Ferrero, Susanna Camusso
- Highlight: "Marchionne, whom the current Prime Minister so often praises, has made the fortune of his shareholders, but has ruined the lives of countless workers in Italy! I have stood up to him and his antisocial policies when I was the leader of the FIOM, I am standing up to him now as SU's candidate, and be sure, comrades, that I will stand up to him and his corporate friends when I am Prime Minister!"


09/22 - TV Appearance at Ballaro'



- Focus: Laying out the basics of his economic and social program, criticizing the government for its anti-worker politics.
- Highlight: "We will undo the damage done by decades of assaults on worker's rights. If SU wins a majority this November, I can make the promise today that Article 18 will be reestablished in full, as it was before Monti and Renzi gutted it of its substance."


09/23 - Launch of the "Citizen Assemblies" in Rome

The Assemblee Cittadine (Citizen Assemblies) are conventions that will be held by SU in every major cities in the country, where everyone, by paying 3€ and adhering to left-wing values, can come to propose and discuss the policies that will be incorporated into SU's platform. The process will last for about a month, with the official SU platform (no more than 20 proposals) to be unveiled on October 19). The proposals will be selected by a vote of the participants (though the party's leadership reserve the right to veto proposals that go against the party's core values). People can also participate online, through the website assembleacittadina.it (which will be severely moderated to prevent trolling). Pippo Civati will coordinate this project.

- Highlight (by Pippo Civati): "We in SU believe that democracy goes beyond voting every once in a while, that it requires a direct participation of citizens in the decision-making process. The time when policies were decided through backroom deals is over! With the Citizen Assemblies, each of our supporters will have a voice in determining SU's political program. No party, not even M5S, has ever gone so far in promoting direct democracy. This is nothing short of a revolution, and if SU leads the new government, we will extend this revolution to the political system itself!"


09/23 - Interview with Il Fatto Quotidiano

- Focus: explain how the Citizen Assemblies will be organized and why they are an essential component of SU's agenda.
- Highlight: Q: "Aren't you afraid that SU will lose focus and end up with an incoherent program?" A: "One should never be afraid of democracy. The people are much smarter than what the caste thinks. They know what they want, and what they need. Through the power of civic deliberation we will get an agenda that is much better and more faithful to the people than anything I or my colleagues could have come up with alone. Of course the leadership has an important role in coordinating the deliberation, but the ultimate decision belongs to our followers."


09/24 - Rally in Taranto



- Focus: Denounce the criminal activities of large industries that have exposed their workers to poisonous product and polluted the environment (such as Taranto's ILVA).
- Guest Speaker: Nichi Vendola
- Highlight: "The people can no longer accept the impunity in which these well-dressed criminals have lived! We will no longer let them destroy our lands, poison our lungs, and ruin our workers! For decades, every government has closed their eyes and looked away while the Riva family turned Taranto into a wasteland. I am not afraid to call these governments for what they are: accomplices in a criminal organization! But the time of impunity is over. Criminals will have to answer for their actions! And the State must show no mercy to these cold-blooded murderers!"


09/24 - TV Appearance at Servizio Pubblico



- Focus: Justice issues.
- Highlight: "The issue of legality cannot be separated from the issue of economic power. Corruption goes hand in hand with neoliberalism, because the bosses need the protection of their political cronies to preserve their privileges and allow them to continue exploiting workers and polluting our lands. This means that by attacking corruption, we can deal a fatal blow to the economic power structure, and protect workers from further abuses.


09/25 - Rally in Livorno

- Focus: Double down on industrial issues and workers' rights. Also talk about why the left needs to reconquer the workers' vote, which they lost in the most recent municipal election.
- Highlight: "The Left's role is to protect and defend the working class from the continuous assault of moneyed interests. The modern PD has completely forgotten this simple idea, and that's why it has lost a city like Livorno. I want to say to the workers and citizens of Livorno, that SU will never turn their back on them! Throughout Italy, workers need to know that there is a party that stands for them!"

[FredLindq]

Better dead than Red!