Turin, 20 Oct. (LaPresse) – “Right, I’ve had a load of shit thrown at me – I was expecting it. Putting yourself out there literally means this: sticking your head out of the window and taking it all on the chin. I don’t mind the headlines in the national newspapers, and the tabloid-style papers that cherry-pick two soundbites for their sensational headlines are just part of the game. I can live with the hundreds of insults, pointless comments and threats I’ve received over the last few days; they’re proof positive that social media isn’t the right place to discuss politics.” This is how Marracash’s latest outburst begins in an Instagram post, the day after he took a stand on the weekend’s riots in Milan. “There are a couple of things I don’t agree with, though. The first is that I have never glorified violence. We all agree on condemning violence. But when this violence occurs, we need to ask ourselves some questions. What drives minors to pull up their hoods and go out to risk being beaten with truncheons or arrested in the city centre? Even in the madness of the act, they are a symptom of something. Of a failure of our society for which we are ALL responsible.” According to the Milanese artist, “a growing resentment is building up in everyone – a sense of rejection, a feeling that life in this country has become unbearable, and not just here. For now, it affects the most vulnerable and marginalised groups, the suburbs and second-generation immigrants, but it is also growing amongst the middle classes who are demonstrating peacefully, and the comments under every post are a sign of this unease. Don’t say you didn’t see it coming, because this wave has been growing for a while now and we’ll all have to face up to it,” concludes Marracash. “Another thing I cannot tolerate is the most stupid of all comments: the rhetoric that ‘you’ve got money, so you can’t speak out’. Making money doesn’t erase more than half of my life, and above all, it doesn’t stop me from wanting a fairer and more just world for everyone, nor from fighting for it.”
Clashes in the streets, Marracash: ‘Insults and threats are fine, but I’ve never glorified violence’
Turin, 20 Oct. (LaPresse) – “Right, I’ve had a load of shit thrown at me – I was expecting it. Putting yourself out there literally means this: sticking your head out of the window and taking it all on the chin. I don’t mind the headlines in the national newspapers, and the tabloid-style papers that cherry-pick two soundbites for their sensational headlines are just part of the game. I can live with the hundreds of insults, pointless comments and threats I’ve received over the last few days; they’re proof positive that social media isn’t the right place to discuss politics.” This is how Marracash’s latest outburst begins in an Instagram post, the day after he took a stand on the weekend’s riots in Milan. “There are a couple of things I don’t agree with, though. The first is that I have never glorified violence. We all agree on condemning violence. But when this violence occurs, we need to ask ourselves some questions. What drives minors to pull up their hoods and go out to risk being beaten with truncheons or arrested in the city centre? Even in the madness of the act, they are a symptom of something. Of a failure of our society for which we are ALL responsible.” According to the Milanese artist, “a growing resentment is building up in everyone – a sense of rejection, a feeling that life in this country has become unbearable, and not just here. For now, it affects the most vulnerable and marginalised groups, the suburbs and second-generation immigrants, but it is also growing amongst the middle classes who are demonstrating peacefully, and the comments under every post are a sign of this unease. Don’t say you didn’t see it coming, because this wave has been growing for a while now and we’ll all have to face up to it,” concludes Marracash. “Another thing I cannot tolerate is the most stupid of all comments: the rhetoric that ‘you’ve got money, so you can’t speak out’. Making money doesn’t erase more than half of my life, and above all, it doesn’t stop me from wanting a fairer and more just world for everyone, nor from fighting for it.”