WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE ITALY - news journal UPDATE - (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #29-25 - Selling Off the San Siro Stadium (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Let's start with a consideration: sport in general and especially

football, considered the national sport par excellence has betrayed its
origins and become nothing more than a business. The most talented teams
win, but that talent is bought with euros, in the specific case of
Milan, with dollars. Teams are merely flags on empty boxes, filled by
the buying and selling of players. It is precisely over their attachment
to the flags on the empty boxes of the various teams that the most
ardent fans, often linked to mafia-like logic, clash fiercely. But this
doesn't bother our institutions, which consider it a suitable outlet for
social distress; indeed, it is adequately protected. In this climate of
inverted values, it's not even scandalous that important teams, like
Inter and AC Milan, have been purchased by companies with American funds
to profit from football. So it's no surprise that these overseas
businessmen are planning a deal that involves the purchase in reality, a
sell-off of the Meazza Stadium in San Siro by the City of Milan.

The project calls for the demolition of a historic stadium of
international importance for its characteristics and the reconstruction
of a new stadium nearby, in the Parco dei Due Capitani, reclaiming green
spaces from the surrounding area, surrounded by shopping malls that are
suffocating Milan. A major business operation that, among other
developments, also paves the way for the construction of residential
housing for the wealthy in the surrounding areas, while housing for the
working classes is lacking, driven out of the city and pushed into
suburbs that have been deliberately left to decay.

There has certainly been no shortage of action to counter the City's
plan. In response to this speculative plan, various civic committees
with different characteristics were formed, united in the goal of
preventing such a devastation. They responded with mobilizations,
counter-information, and protests both under the city hall and in spaces
adjacent to the stadium, such as the Parco dei Due Capitani. Legal
action was also taken. Furthermore, the "Spazio Micene" committee, in
collaboration with the "San Siro Città Pubblica" committee, initiated
protests in the same neighborhood, including non-profit popular sports
events, from boxing to soccer, for both men and women. These events were
held in the same park where the new stadium would be built, with
counter-information purposes and by participating in joint initiatives
with other committees.

This plan to sell off and privatize the Meazza Municipal Stadium, driven
primarily by the will of Mayor Sala, a center-left administration, faced
a very short-lived obstacle: November marked the 70th anniversary of the
stadium's construction. After that date, the San Siro Stadium could no
longer be removed. Therefore, it was essential and urgent for the City
Council to promptly approve Sala's plan to sell the stadium to Inter
Milan and AC Milan. The mayor was aware that the project was causing
considerable discontent, even within his own majority, which was the
main reason he had avoided such a discussion until now. However, the
time came when the matter could no longer be postponed, so the decisive
City Council meeting was held on September 29th. The vote was held late
at night, with several councilors from the majority voting against it.
However, the project passed anyway thanks to a backroom deal between
Mayor Sala and Forza Italia's Letizia Moratti, who persuaded her members
to vote in favor. The final result was 22 yes votes, 20 no votes, and 2
non-participants.

We publish the Offtopic collective's statement on the matter. "The
mockery of the gray-orange councils unfolded overnight... After last
night's vote at Palazzo Marino, we can unfortunately confirm: with the
support of Forza Italia, the former Mayor of Milan Letizia Moratti and
her manager Giuseppe Sala have reconstituted the old alliance with a
definitive shift to the right. We're not surprised, but we're still
perplexed by the reactions of the Greens and the "dissidents" of the
Democratic Party, who seem to have only discovered in recent weeks the
arrogance of the city's real power. Slowed but not threatened by
investigations and grassroots mobilizations this summer, the San Siro
affair has revealed its worst side... Sold off to two US funds whose
ownership structure is unclear, not only the stadium but the entire
surrounding area, in a financial and commercial speculation operation.
The demise of Europe's largest equestrian district represents a concrete
threat to Milan's ERP district and a final blow to a municipality that
has virtually no property or assets left. But there is still a chance to
stop the process: ...as the No Tav movement in Val Susa has taught us,
"It's not over until it's over."

What is most outrageous is the city administration's policy, which,
instead of acting as a regulator of profound social injustices for the
most disadvantaged segments of the population, exacerbates social
inequalities by promoting a policy of privatization and real estate
speculation that benefits only the powerful. Therefore, we will continue
to fight to ensure that Milan becomes a city based on the interests of
the working classes, workers, students, low-income families, and the
unemployed.

Enrico Moroni

https://umanitanova.org/svendita-dello-stadio-san-siro/
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