Thread by @EmpireinWinter

'ROME...a group of university professors, human rights activists, politicians & public intellectuals gathered at the Norman Palace in Palermo, seat of Sicily’s regional parliament, for a conference titled “Democracy to Dictatorship, the role of memory.”'
politico.eu/article/mario-…

'Those attending the debate...compared COVID-19 regulations in today’s Italy to the totalitarian states of the 1930s...The conference organizer...has rebaptized Italy “Draghistan” in light of these developments'

'prominent historian Alessandro Barbero, has argued that the government should be upfront about what is effectively mandatory vaccination instead of “blackmailing” its citizens.'

'“They say, ‘the vaccine is not mandatory, it’s just that if you don’t have it, you can’t live, you can’t go to work or university.’ Dante would have been able to fill the circle of hypocrites in hell with politicians from today,” said Barbero at a festival in Florence.'

'Guiseppe Cataldi, a professor of international law...& a human rights expert: “If a worker doesn’t want to get vaccinated, & at least formally retains the right to not get vaccinated, but in the end is forced to because he supports his family...”'

'“The constitutional right to work cannot be dependent on having a certificate of obedience to the government"'

'Daniele Trabucco, a constitutional law professor who also signed the petition, argues that by creating an indirect obligation instead of legislating to enforce vaccination, the government has “surreptitiously bypassed the constitution.”'

'Beyond the vaccine passport, philosophers & intellectuals have also begun to express concerns at the chilling effect that the government’s modus operandi is having on democracy — in particular, the practice of governing by decree, the prolonged state of emergency...'

'...the disregard for minority rights and the silencing of dissent. In the city of Trieste, established as the capital of the resistance against the green pass by striking port workers, protests have been banned for the rest of the year.'

'In universities — by definition institutions meant for the exchange of views — groupthink has taken over, according to these academics, with anyone who speaks out about their concerns getting canceled or demonized as anti-vaxxers on social media.'

A-list philosopher 'Giorgio Agamben is among the more alarmist critics — his work has long focused on biopolitics and the negation of rights during states of exception, including the creation of institutions like Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp.'

'He was widely criticized last year for suggesting the pandemic was a convenient invention by the government. Last month, he addressed the Senate’s Constitutional Affairs Commission, claiming the vaccine passport was a tool for greater state surveillance. '

'Philosopher Massimo Cacciari, a former mayor of Venice, has observed that successive emergencies — terrorism, economic crisis and immigration — have provided justification for governments to be appointed by the president rather than chosen by the electorate.'

'While the official state of emergency, which was declared by the government on January 31, 2020, cannot be extended beyond two years, the government is already signaling it intends to extend it, which would likely mean declaring a new, different emergency'

'“If cases go up, they can say we haven’t reached 90 percent vaccinations, we haven’t got herd immunity, we haven’t defeated the virus...'

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