The referendum of 8 and 9 June was spoken little and nothing, despite having been established for a while. Now that there has been on May 1st and that a month is missing on the date, he communicates to citizens. Until now this question of primary importance has been buried by the thousand daily controversies on – almost literally – any other theme.

That the theme of work does not attract is absurd, given that directly concerns the daily life of people, but well known; The political class should therefore fulfill its role, that is, to make citizens known to citizens concerning them. How can people be demanded that people go to vote if it is communicated more or less as “tomorrow the bill expires”?

Political participation is built over time

There is no serious job, which is not done in a month, primarily to educate the workers themselves what rights have lost and can claim. This is of course because a real political work is missing. On the other hand, it is also true that the political part that should be most interested in promoting the referendum is also the same that wrote the laws that we would now like to repeal. This certainly does not help to create a sense of trust and determination in voters. In fact, remember that the first question asks to overcome the rules introduced by the Jobs Act of Renzi, restoring the possibility of reinstatement for the dismissed without just cause.

In short, the goal of the referendum is to ask for more protections for employees, eliminating the maximum ceiling to compensation for illegitimate dismissal, limiting the abuse of fixed -term contracts and strengthening the responsibility of companies. All questions that should influence us a lot, whether we are favorable, whether we are against, and on which there should be a large and noisy debate.

As usual, if politicians did not think as an influencer would not choose the topics based on what the clicks attract. Especially since this does not seem to lead to a particular profit then in terms of “consensus”, that word that is now chasing each other, as if the purpose of politics was to win, and not improve the situation of the state and the life of those who live there.

The trap of social mode

Moreover, it is also difficult to behave differently if you want to have visibility, which, unfortunately, everyone is almost forced to chase. We are very close to social dynamics, all of them: we tend to talk about the topics that others are talking about, also because we know that the algorithm will not show us if we do not follow the trends. Since the majority of communication and the dissemination of news today takes place through social media (even television channels must take care of social presence by promoting their broadcasts), it is unlikely that new issues emerge.

We know that there is also a certain will to propose more light than demanding content, and that somehow bring to the platform. In general, then, it seems that it gives us much more satisfaction to be marched and making noise around secondary things (marginal phenomena, misfit issues, news on the lives of the VIPs, etc.) than to form a weighted opinion on difficult themes.

This is not a justification for disinterest, but a difficulty taking into account if you want to build something.

An almost hidden question

The last question of the referendum concerns another urgent theme, which may not seem to have also to do directly with the work, but is deeply connected: you ask to reduce the minimum period of residence necessary for non-EU citizens from 10 to 5 years to obtain Italian citizenship. This would facilitate the integration path, also from a working point of view.

It is clear that this is a thorny theme, which in part is now out of fashion because it is outclassed by gender issues, and on which the right has a certain predominance. This too, although obviously a problem of racism, should also be described in terms of class: the least wealthy people are always put back, and this, as is obvious, generates further ethnic conflicts. We certainly do not need, to face it, the moralist rhetoric and the slogans already heard.