Special Convention Fever Issue -- Chicago '68
Pasolini: Fragments Of 1968
From a Poem (Il PCI ai giovani) to Young Communist Students
by Pier Paolo Pasolini
Translated by Guido Monte
Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) |
(Swans - June 2, 2008)
|
...Quando ieri a Valle Giulia avete fatto a botte coi poliziotti, io simpatizzavo coi poliziotti! Perché i poliziotti sono figli di poveri. Vengono da periferie, contadine o urbane che siano. [...] Hanno vent'anni, la vostra età, cari e care. Siamo ovviamente d'accordo contro l'istituzione della polizia. Ma prendetevela contro la Magistratura, e vedrete! I ragazzi poliziotti che voi [...] avete bastonato, appartengono all'altra classe sociale. A Valle Giulia, ieri, si è così avuto un frammento di lotta di classe: e voi, amici (benché dalla parte della ragione) eravate i ricchi, mentre i poliziotti (che erano dalla parte del torto) erano i poveri... |
...When yesterday at Valle Giulia you and the policemen were throwing blows, I symphatized with the policemen! Because policemen are sons of the poor, they come from urban or rural outskirts. [...] They are twenty, your age, dear friends. We agree, of course, to be against the police institution, but try to fight against the Judges, and you'll see what happens! The young policemen you were hitting, [...] are from a different social class. At Valle Giulia, yesterday, there was a fragment of class struggle: you, my friends, (although in the right) were the rich, and the policemen (although in the wrong) were the poor... |
Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) was a very famous Italian poet, writer, and film director. In 1949, he was expelled by the Italian Communist Party. In most of his works, he describes poetically the terrible conditions of the poor proletarian people of Rome's suburbs. He was uncannily murdered on November 2, 1975, at the beach of Ostia, near Rome. To learn more about him, please visit Wikipedia in English, or Italian, or French.
(Guido Monte thanks Annie Huth.)
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