The removal of Left MEP Mimmo Lucano (Sinistra Italiana, Italy) as mayor of Riace is not just a legal decision, it is a political attack on the very idea of solidarity. Mimmo Lucano’s only real “crime” was having the courage to build a different model of society, one that welcomes rather than excludes, that integrates rather than marginalises. In Riace (Italy), he showed that another world is possible: one where migrants are not treated as threats, but as human beings with dignity, rights.

This vision is intolerable to the rising tide of far-right politics in Italy and across Europe. These forces are not only targeting migrants, but also those who dare to protect  them. Through the criminalisation of humanitarian acts, the state is sending a clear message: solidarity will be punished. Laws are being twisted into tools of repression.

Left MEP Mimmo Lucano (Sinistra Italiana, Italy) commented: “My only real “crime” was proposing a human model of welcome and of social, political, economic, and moral growth, one that completely overturns the xenophobic narrative pushed by the right to fuel fear and harvest votes. The resistance continues: I will not stop.”

He has announced he will appeal this decision. His struggle is not over, and neither is ours.

We must resist this normalisation of cruelty, this institutional dehumanisation. Solidarity is not a crime. It is now an act of resistance, of hope, and of humanity. The Left stand with Mimmo Lucano, and with all those who refuse to look away in the face of injustice.