“A question for Elkann: What kind of world do you live in? We are seriously wondering.” The President of the M5S writes it on Facebook: Joseph ConteComment on the article by Alain Elkan and published in the Republic. “The current vulgate – according to the Pentastellato leader – is that some leftists have now locked themselves in the stronghold of the ZTL. But here we are really far beyond that.”
Elkann’s intervention has sparked a lot of controversy, especially on social media. Addressing the article’s author, a journalist, writer and former TV host, Conte says, “You don’t look down on these guys. Have the patience to put down your portfolio, your readings in the original language, try to listen to these people, to exchange a few words with them. Put aside your prejudices and surly haughtiness and stop and talk to them. Maybe, who knows, it can help us to better tell their world, their fears, their dreams. And allow me, the young people you describe don’t strike me as “landsknechts” at all. Because they have nothing to do with mercenaries in the service of the powerful and criminals.”
On the other side of the fence Vittorio Sgarbi, defends Elkann: “He made literature,” is the opinion of the Undersecretary for Culture, reports Open. “Have you never read Léautaud, Ceronetti, Delfini, Tito Balestra, Testori, Parises Primer? “A writer expresses his dissatisfaction,” wrote Sgarbi in a chat at the Ministry of Culture, in which he was surprised that, on the contrary, nobody cared about “the dissatisfaction of many”.