Philosopher Regazzoni explains what the left doesn't understand when it talks about freedom of expression.

Schlein? “You should have raised an insurmountable barrier over Charlie Kirk's murder . Clearly state that the Italian left had nothing to do with the 'they were asking for it,' or 'those who sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind.' Bernie Sanders in the United States did that immediately. But you didn't. You were timid. You didn't grasp the significance of what happened .” And progressive public opinion? “So many 'buts,' so many 'howevers,' so many 'Martin Luther King was something else,' with Saviano saying that not all lives should be respected and Stefano Massini monstrously extolling from his pulpit, especially after his death, a young man who fought for his ideas in dialogue with his opponents.” Secondary victimization, they would have called it, if it had been a woman who was harassed and then forced to endure comments about the miniskirt she was wearing. “The left had the opportunity to take back the banner of freedom of thought, but instead it received lessons in liberal democracy from Giorgia Meloni.”

These are the words of Simone Regazzoni , a fifty-year-old philosopher, professor at the Research Institute of Applied Psychoanalysis, founded and directed by Massimo Recalcati, and a teacher at Alessandro Baricco's Holden School: in short, an intellectual of the upper left. The day Kirk was killed, shocked by the public reaction, he immediately wrote a post on Facebook titled: "What is happening to the left?"

He told Il Foglio: “Yes, it’s true, Meloni used the statements of some to attack the entire left. But the point is that they let her do it. Because they didn’t understand what happened . That day, it wasn’t just a man who was killed . A symbolic space was defaced. The space of the Academy. The space that from Ancient Greece to today has been the place par excellence for the free circulation of ideas. For this reason, they should have clearly stated that attacking Charlie Kirk is an attack on all of us. That they won’t pass. Not today, not ever. Instead, it went the way it went.” Today, however, it is Trump – not the left – who is threatening and intimidating the newspapers he opposes, the TV shows that don’t like him, the comedians who ridicule him. "And indeed, Trump is a dangerous president, and a strong president at that. But, as martial arts teach, when you're facing a strong and dangerous opponent, the first thing you have to do is focus on your weaknesses and correct them. Otherwise, if you attack with your flank exposed, you'll end up on the canvas, you risk being swept away."

Having studied in Paris with Jacques Derrida—one of those authors the new American left has embraced to deconstruct everything deconstructable: sex, gender, race—Regazzoni believes that self-analysis is already underway in America: "Liberals have understood perfectly well that they're no longer getting anywhere with those ideas. By dividing the weak into ever smaller categories—gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people, non-binary people, and then gay workers, immigrant lesbians, black transgender people, and so on—they've ended up surrendering to Trump's reaction. Ultimately, this is Trump: the return of the left's repressed. They attempted to build a world of schoolgirls, where an overextended masculinity was an attack on human dignity, and here he comes, with his vulgarity, his brusque ways, to redeem all those who could no longer stand it."

But here? “We're far removed from any critical reflection. Is the defense of Ukraine divisive? The topic is avoided. Is the issue of immigration driving the right-wing movement across Europe? The problem is sidestepped by screaming racism. Is the European Union considering rearmament? The topic is being dismissed because it's not conducive to unity. So, from Renzi to Fratoianni, the broad field is attacking Meloni on Gaza. Do you understand? On Gaza. Claiming there's a war going on between Israel and the civilian population. Or Israel and children. Not a single one mentions Iran. A real war. Without ever explaining why the Arab squares aren't filled with people shouting against Netanyahu. Pure moralistic-humanitarian positions. Which not only won't hurt Meloni, but are already triggering dynamics they'll no longer be able to control.” What does that mean? “Did you see the guerrilla warfare in Milan on Monday? There you go. It's just a taste. I'm afraid they've played with fire enough.”

But what do you think of Meloni? "That she's a great leader. If there had been a woman on the left with her background, who comes from a humble family, grows up without a father, and elbows her way through the men, well, I really think they would have sainted her." And of Schlein? "I don't think she has any chance of beating the right. But she has the chance to start a serious discussion. And that's what I hope she does."

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