Almost always, when an Italian citizen is imprisoned abroad, people’s most common reaction is “he could have stayed at home”. We are annoyed by the idea that money has to be spent to save someone who has gotten himself into a complicated situation; after all, it is our money (a thought that does not occur to us when it is stolen by those in government, for example).

The many vile comments about Cecilia Sala, therefore, are unfortunately routine, as are the insinuations about the falsity of what she reported to her parents in the very brief phone call she was given: it is certainly not true that they treat her so badly, they even allowed to call and in the end the package even arrived! Another thing that Italians are very passionate about is in fact the scent of conspiracy, the tantalizing idea that things are different from what they say.

In Sala’s case, however, there are other, much more petty implications. Many enormous issues revolve around his figure and his case, which we experience (for a change) in a Manichaean and violent way: Israel, Palestine, Iran, the United States, but also Russia and Ukraine; and consequently support for one cause or another, sympathy for one government or another. And we must say, sadly, that neither party is safe.

The story bounces between pro-Palestinians and pro-Israelis

There are those who support Israel’s policies against Palestine (whether they do so openly or half-heartedly) and have always used Iran as an excuse to reinforce the idea that Palestinians are all terrorists who lock women in their homes (you know how ‘is, I know’ Muslims, what do we expect?). It doesn’t even seem true, now, to these not-so-disguised Islamophobes, that they can triumphantly say “we told you so”, as if the whole world didn’t know that Iran is a liberticidal state. Obviously, this is a further excuse to attack opponents (therefore supporters of Palestine – who are not necessarily supporters of Iran, thank God), accusing them of taking the side of a regime.

The problem is that there are also those who really defend this regime, at least in part. Certain left-wing extremist areas, having obviously always been anti-American, are forced by their ideology to sympathize with the enemies of the United States. Now that it has been discovered that there could actually be US interference in this specific affair, the Iranians, for some, have even become “comrades”. It is the same reason why these same political areas support Putin and brand all Ukrainians as Nazis; and since Sala told slightly different things in her reports from Ukraine, she was never a particularly welcome character. Indeed, OttolinaTV had the terrible taste of publishing a post in recent days about the journalist’s father and his work for an American financial multinational; always with the premise “we ask for the release of Cecilia Sala”, however, so we are not disrespectful.

Let’s also add the United States…

The ball passes once again to the other side: those who ask that Italy ignore the wishes of the USA and do everything necessary to bring Sala home can only be a secret admirer of Mohammad Abedini, a supporter of terrorism and so can you see that those who are pro-Palestine actually send donations to Hamas? It’s obvious. According to the same logic, therefore, if you try to say that maybe the guy really is a terrorist and you have to think about it carefully (no one says that the authorities have to think about it, because we are all experts in international crises), you are evidently pro-American, eager of being colonized, and therefore instead of talking about the fact that an innocent person is in prison in conditions that disrespect human rights, we argue about who is better and believes in the right cause.

Now, it is normal that an event like this opens other windows and provokes other reflections. Nothing wrong, in fact, if they are reflections, even if perhaps it would be more decorous to wait for calmer times to dedicate themselves to them. But what we are witnessing is the use of Sala’s personal drama (which is also collective and political, of course, but not in these terms) to discredit his opponent, insult him, attribute statements he never made and describe him as a single shapeless block made up of people who are all the same. And of course to talk about themselves: the compulsion that drives certain people to write something every hour on the same topic has nothing to do with anything other than egocentrism. Added to this is the usual terrible habit of scrutinizing things we don’t know a thing about, and the absolute lack of empathy that always characterizes us in these situations: don’t tell me that an article that uses Sala’s imprisonment as connection to talk about something else is motivated by a sincere sympathy for the injustice she suffered. And the fact that you write as a premise or conclusion “We demand immediate release” does not exonerate you from the exploitation you are putting into practice.