Politics · Italy · 10 hrs ago
D’Alema backs youth protests and criticizes government response
Massimo D’Alema defended recent youth protests in Italy during a television appearance.
The former prime minister said young people are protesting against what he sees as a wider political and social regression.
He linked their concerns to insecure work and an uncertain future, as well as wars and the situation in Gaza.
D’Alema compared Gaza’s significance for today’s young protesters with Vietnam’s for his generation in 1968.
He urged protesters to avoid violence, saying it would be counterproductive and could fuel repression.
He criticized Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government for treating the protests mainly as a public-order issue, and said politicians should respond to the reasons behind them.
He warned that protest and repression could escalate, but the report gives no specific next steps.
Massimo D’Alema defended young people protesting in recent weeks and criticized the Italian government’s response.
He said treating youth mobilization as a public-order problem showed cultural, human and political poverty.
D’Alema urged protesters to avoid violence, calling it wrong and counterproductive.
He said young people were concerned about precarious work, the future and wars, including the situation in Gaza.
He criticized European governments and the European Union for failing to act to stop wars or promote peace.
- Who
- Massimo D’Alema and young protesters.
- What
- D’Alema supported the protests and criticized the government’s response, while urging demonstrators to avoid violence.
- When
- D’Alema spoke on La7; the article was published on 2 November 2026. The protests had taken place in recent weeks.
- Where
- The protests took place in Italy and other countries; D’Alema spoke on La7’s In Onda.
- Why
- Young people were responding to what D’Alema described as a social regression, concerns about precarious work and anxiety over wars.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Young people took to the streets in protests, beginning with Palestinian flags, according to D’Alema.
D’Alema spoke on La7’s In Onda in support of the protests and criticized the government’s response.
- Speaker
- Massimo D’Alema, former Italian prime minister
- TV programme
- In Onda on La7
- Article publication
- 2 November 2026
- Protest period
- Recent weeks
- D’Alema’s warning
- Avoid violence, which he called wrong and counterproductive
What people are saying
Reducing youth discontent and mobilization to a public-order problem is a sign of cultural and human poverty, as well as political poverty.
Violence is wrong, it is counterproductive. Violence plays into the hands of others, and so it must be avoided.
Going out into the streets is healthy.
These young people have many reasons to protest and to try to open up a different path.