PRESS RELEASE 1 April 2026
LCI invites everyone to take part in “Scateniamoci” (Let’s break free from our chains) on 25 April for a new and essential liberation
Lista Civica Italiana invites civil society organisations, civic lists and citizens to take part in “Scateniamoci”, a revolutionary, non-violent, simple and cost-effective initiative, which will take place on 25 and 26 April to mark Liberation Day.
The aim is to disseminate, by every possible means, a new way of interpreting reality: most of today’s problems – such as mistrust in institutions, wars, climate change and authoritarian tendencies – are caused by the pathological way in which the West has organised politics, rendering it weak and powerless.
We must rediscover the profound meaning of Politics, restoring its dignity and autonomy as a great human invention designed to limit power and define a common horizon for human communities without resorting to violence.
It is well-organised politics that produces ethical behaviour and peace, not the other way round!
Those who join the initiative will receive from LCI a sample leaflet summarising this press release. The text can be personalised with your group’s logo, adapted to your specific context, and should be distributed locally during the events on 25 April (and beyond…).
LCI recommends leafleting because it allows you to speak directly to people, conveying emotion and passion. Alternatively, there is the ‘old’ method of the internet, which is certainly useful but mediated by a screen…
LCI addresses in particular the youth who are being ground down by the logic of pure profit, all those “not-so-young” people who are still fighting for a better world, families struggling to make ends meet and who no longer trust the current way of doing politics, networks and groups fighting for sacrosanct goals and finding a brick wall in politics.
The strikes on 5 March by German students fighting against compulsory military service, the victory of the ‘NO’ vote in the referendum on 22 March (Editor’s note: the NO confirmed the independence of the judiciary from the executive), and the ‘NO Kings’ movement on 28 March are signs of a global society that is waking up. For now, this awakening is a reaction to clearly unacceptable situations such as the genocide in Gaza, the disregard for international law, rearmament instead of welfare, and the attack on the very foundations of our Constitution.
Unfortunately, there is still a lack of awareness that societies around the world are steeped in a way of thinking that dates back 2,400 years and stems from Aristotle’s assertion that ‘Politics must do good’. (For further understanding, see here ). This old paradigm, which at first glance appears obvious and reasonable, conceals the true cause that is leading the West and humanity towards the risk of disappearing from the face of the Earth.
Politics is organised to entrench the same people in positions of power, and indeed the current holders of power are often very elderly: there is a missing link between civil society—which brings forth problems, visions and solutions—and those who make the laws for everyone. We need to create ‘social politicity’ by organising spaces and establishing rules to allow civil society to produce political action. The current state of affairs is the epitome of hypocrisy; it frustrates the younger generations and generates a massive waste of human energy and ideas. We need to move towards a new paradigm that breaks this deadlock.
Fortunately, such a paradigm exists and is based on forty years of research by the Italian philosopher Giuseppe Polistena: in a nutshell, it holds that politics CANNOT be regarded as a lifelong career and therefore institutional posts must be limited in duration; that those in a party’s leadership CANNOT stand for parliament; and that those elected CANNOT hold any power within the party. Only in this way can the party serve the interests of the public. Only a party that adopts these rules can demonstrate a sincere desire for change.
LCI is attempting to put these new ideas into practice.
To understand the effects of the old paradigm, one need only compare two referendum scenarios from 2026 and 2024.
2026. The referendum concerned the independence of the judiciary. The opposition parties took part.
2024. Civil society attempted to collect signatures to call a referendum aimed at amending the Rosatellum (This is the nickname given to the current electoral law) and allowing citizens to exercise their constitutional right to choose their own representatives. The parties, the trade unions, and even CGIL and ANPI, refused to cooperate, causing the collection of the necessary 500,000 signatures to fail.
These two experiences clearly indicate that when a referendum initiative touches upon organisational structures linked to the interests and positions of ‘friendly’ parties, logics prevail that do not favour the public and sideline the Constitution.
The Left, the M5S, but also parties of opposing political persuasion, should reflect deeply on this point if they wish to gain public support, bring people back to the polls and, above all, avert the systemic crises that lie inexorably ahead.
The new paradigm entails painful consequences for those who make a living from politics, and this will slow its establishment. LCI believes that this is such an exceptional revolution to correct a historically flawed process that it requires a ‘humane and non-violent’ approach, particularly towards elected representatives but also towards all those ‘appointed by politics’: that army of some 90,000 people whose appointments are beyond the control of the public and who operate at the top of institutions, sometimes even useless ones, but which are an integral part and complement of pathological politics.
In this regard, LCI proposes that civil society organise, in due course, a general assembly of politics that will allow everyone to explore the new paradigm, because it is a sort of necessary step for the survival of humanity on the planet and could be launched precisely from Italy, the cradle of law.
Once it is understood that the West stands at a crossroads and that the decision to change the paradigm is of vital importance, those currently living off politics should pass two laws simultaneously.
The first to secure a pension for a peaceful life: the costs of this operation are far lower than those of the damage caused by the persistence of the old paradigm. LCI’s stance is not one of collusion; it is simply a choice made by those who understand that we are facing a historical process so vast and profound that it requires a realistic, conciliatory and non-violent approach.
The second is to establish a constituent assembly representative of the whole of civil society which, as in 1946, puts into practice those three rules we have mentioned and rethinks how political activity should be structured to harmonise the dictates of the new paradigm with the human needs of those who temporarily engage in politics.
PROPOSALS TO CIVIL SOCIETY
In light of the referendum result and the “Scateniamoci!” campaign, LCI proposes three short-term objectives for civil society:
1) to organise an open, inclusive and egalitarian network to enable civil society to campaign on shared issues and to react within hours to emergencies such as an attack on the Constitution or a freedom-destroying bill, etc.
The unifying values of this network could be the same as those of LCI: non-violence, respect for the planet, and the founding principles of the Constitution. The working method could be the “consensus method” already tested by the Lilliput Network in the early 2000s: “we work on what unites us, we continue to discuss what divides us”. This network should provide internal training on the new paradigm and commit to the creation of the Constituent Assembly. Civil society organisations have every interest in making this a priority, because otherwise they condemn themselves to an endless struggle against the effects of dysfunctional politics without ever addressing the root cause of the very problems they are fighting. Being part of the network does not mean abandoning one’s statutory objectives. It means networking with other organisations, publicising one’s own projects whilst learning about others’, fostering a climate of mutual trust, and circulating and supporting campaigns within a much broader sphere in accordance with jointly agreed priorities.
2) Establishing schools of politics to foster civic awareness and understanding of the new paradigm. These schools, organised in a simple and cost-effective manner, will be aimed at the general public, particularly the most vulnerable. Only those who understand the value of our Constitution can defend it without being swayed by trite slogans. A widespread constitutional culture would render crude proposals for amendment inadmissible, and thus the time spent on the schools would be recouped, saving months of campaigning to block destabilising legislative initiatives.
3) organise a post-referendum initiative to call on all parties that have declared their intention to ‘make justice work’ to take concrete action, thereby sending a strong signal to those who no longer believe in the institutions.
To resolve the long-standing problem of the justice system, we need to increase staffing levels and invest in training court clerks responsible for entering data into the various complex IT systems. Competitive examinations for the appointment of new magistrates must be accompanied by recruitment processes for clerks to support them.
Finally, the state should ensure the enforcement of court rulings, especially when the winners belong to vulnerable social groups and lack the financial means to enforce the judges’ decisions. It is socially devastating to win formally but not in practice.
We note that to date, regardless of the political leanings of governments, funds are found for large-scale, unnecessary projects but not for enabling the justice system to function properly.
Anyone interested in joining LCI in the “Scateniamoci” campaign should contact us info@listacivicaitaliana.org and fill in this form We will shortly be organising an online meeting for everyone, and on 26 April in Concorezzo (Monza and Brianza) there will be a social gathering with the philosopher Giuseppe Polistena and Professor Tiziano Telleschi of the University Network for Peace.
Anyone wishing to help us should sign up and invite their contacts to register to receive the newsletter and press releases such as this one
We would like to thank https://it.freepik.com/ for the opening photo
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