ALLE ORE 18 DEL 20 MARZO OLTRE UN MILIONE E SETTECENTOMILA I VOTI, PARI AL 46,34% DEL CORPO ELETTORALE. DOMANI SARÀ DICHIARAZIONE DI INDIPENDENZA DEL VENETO?

Alle ore 18 del 20 marzo, penultimo giorno di votazione del Referendum di indipendenza del Veneto, i votanti registrati sono 1.729.933, corrispondenti al 46,34% del corpo elettorale. La tendenza che sta dimostrando l’affluenza al voto apre ora la concreta possibilità che domani, alla chiusura dei seggi alle ore 18, possa essere raggiunta la maggioranza assoluta dei votanti.

L’adesione popolare di massa al voto nel Referendum di indipendenza sta polverizzando il sistema della partitocrazia italiana facendo emergere uno scenario nuovo che sta alimentando una grande speranza in tutto il Veneto.

“Chi dice che questo referendum è uno stimolo a farne di altri manca di rispetto ai cittadini che stanno facendo la coda ai seggi con il proprio documento di identità. Dimostra di avere scarsa considerazione dell’espressione della sovranità popolare che dimostra un Popolo che sta dimostrando al mondo di alzarsi in piedi e di saper fare anche uno sforzo di apprendimento nell’utilizzo di nuove tecnologie. Ci sono anziani che non hanno mai usato un computer, ma che grazie alla ferma volontà di esprimere il proprio voto e la propria decisione sul proprio destino hanno voluto superare anche tale ostacolo.”

“Domani sarà una giornata straordinaria e a Treviso si vivrà l’atmosfera della storia. Uomini coraggiosi, capaci, determinati hanno saputo ridare fiducia al Veneto che si sta rialzando in piedi al cospetto delle Nazioni del mondo. Se vinceranno i sì, la Repubblica Veneta rivedrà la luce, com’è giusto che sia.”

In merito ad alcuni tentativi di disinformazione da parte dei media italiani sulle metologie di voto, si ricorda ancora una volta che la piattaforma digitale implementata è dotata di procedure di verifica e controllo dei dati in grado di scomputare dal conteggio i voti non corrispondenti ad anagrafiche elettorali del Veneto. Vi sono altre funzionalità evolute che conferiscono al sistema di tipo “esperto” le caratteristiche di autoapprendimento che ne permettono la “fortificazione” grazie alla individuazione dei tentativi di abuso.

Per quanto riguarda alcune illazioni di stampa circa l’affluenza al voto vale qui solo la pena ricordare quanto spiegato da Kahneman, ovvero che l’intuito statistico è dote rarissima negli uomini come taluni risibili constatazioni lette dimostrano con grande evidenza, confondendo alcune casistiche con un campione rappresentativo. Le code per votare nelle centinaia di seggi predisposti nel territorio dimostrano in realtà una  affluenza straordinaria e continuativa. Dopo la proclamazione dei voti, nei giorni immediatamente a seguire, sarà resa pubblica inoltre la verbalizzazione e certificazione dei risultati ad opera degli osservatori internazionali che stanno svolgendo il monitoraggio delle operazioni di voto.

La rivoluzione digitale in corso ha in ogni caso permesso di conferire al referendum di indipendenza del Veneto di godere dell’attenzione di molti organi di informazione tecnici di rilievo internazionale che hanno constatato il grado assoluto di innovazione tecnologica, che sta dando lustro al Veneto nel mondo.

Le prossime ore saranno in ogni caso determinanti per la finalizzazione del risultato, con un’attività straordinaria da parte dei volontari che stanno dando dimostrazione della volontà dei veneti di aprire un nuovo capitolo virtuoso della propria storia.

Ufficio Stampa
Plebiscito.eu

Alle ore 11 di giovedì 20 marzo sono 1.480.672 – pari al 39,67% del totale – gli elettori che hanno votato nel Referendum di indipendenza del Veneto.

Le procedure batch notturne di incrocio e verifica dati hanno inoltre consentito di scomputare finora 3.214 voti risultati come abusi del sistema e di mettere in quarantena 891 voti per verifiche puntuali sugli elettori, in corso di completamento. Tali arrotondamenti costituiscono lo 0,11% del totale dei voti.

Oggi a Silea, presso il seggio pubblico predisposto nella sala civica Tamai si è tenuta una partecipata conferenza stampa, con la partecipazione di Gianluca Busato, del sindaco di Silea Silvano Piazza, di Franco Rocchetta e dell’avv. Andrea Arman e con la presenza di molti organi di informazione e testate internazionali.

A 20 ore dal termine del voto secondo gli organizzatori del Referendum comincia a delinearsi come possibile l’obiettivo della partecipazione al voto della maggioranza assoluta degli elettori veneti. Ciò implicherebbe l’automatica esecutività del referendum stesso, in quanto espressione della volontà popolare e democratica.

Domani dalle ore 19 a Treviso, in piazza dei Signori, si terrà l’evento che si preannuncia di grande richiamo, con la proclamazione dei risultati, l’insediamento dei dieci delegati all’indipendenza del Veneto e, nel caso in cui vincessero i sì, la dichiarazione di indipendenza del Veneto.

Data il previsto affluso di migliaia di persone, a chi arrivasse si consiglia di parcheggiare nei seguenti parcheggi:

• parcheggio Miani
• parcheggio Dal Negro
• parcheggio presso centro Appiani
• parcheggio presso Foro Boario – Stadio di Treviso

Si segnala infine che la stazione di Treviso, per chi arrivasse in treno, è molto vicina al centro storico.

Ufficio Stampa
Plebiscito.eu

By Prof. Romano Toppan

University Professor – Philosopher and writer

                                                                                      “A ghost upon the sands of the sea, so weak – 

                                                                                   so quiet – so bereft of all but her loveliness,

                                                                                          that we might well doubt, as we watched her

                                                                                       faint reflection in the mirage of the lagoon,       

                                                                                       which was the City and which the Shadow”

                                                                              (John Ruskin, The stones of Venice)

Why Venice and its surrounding territories deserve to be independent again

To come to Venice means to enter into a city world, which encompasses the footprint of the East and West, of Rome and Greece, of the feelings of Christianity and the respect for Islam, a town which loved always a steady approach to the freedom, cross-cultural vision and pragmatic tolerance.

Therefore, our approach to Venice can be transformed in cultural experience and enlarge our horizons to the “core” facets of Venice and its magnificent and extraordinary history.

The dignity and prestige of Venice, in all its aspects (artistic, architectural, urban, beauty) are firmly founded on the Most Serene Republic.

Venice is a window on the best practices of the civilization, where to look for the secrets of the prosperity of our region, the well-being of our life: Venice, before the American Constitution, aimed at the happiness of its citizens.

Venice as cradle of renewed European Civilization in the past

As far as the first reason is concerned, the motivations which justify the candidature of Venice, are connected with the role played by that town in the capacity building of European Recovery Strategy, after the fall of Roman Empire, working in favor of the European prosperity and joining finally, around year 1000, the same level of well-being was enjoyed at the time of 300 AD, after seven centuries of scarcity, poverty and not rarely long famines..

Many factors favored this recovery: the crisis of the feudalism, the birth of the “Free Communes” and their new social classes of merchants, entrepreneurs and especially craftsmen or skilled workers with their own statutes and corporations. But one of the rare “Communes” that were able to keep the typical and specific “Commune’s governance” was Venice, without any hesitation or going in reverse: merchants, entrepreneurs and craftsmen remained the rulers of the town for ever, until the extinction of Republic in 1797.

Venice was a symbol of the new Europe and society, according to Adam Smith and other Enlightenment’s thinkers: a society founded on the merits and competencies, not on “divine right” and social state.

According to the doctrine of “divine right”, only God can judge an unjust king. The doctrine implies that any attempt to depose the king or to restrict his powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute a sacrilegious act.

At contrary, in Venice, the Dukes were submitted to the election and approval of people. The few of them, who tried to become “sovereign” with hereditable right, were decapitated. Their power was strongly restricted by a very complex balance between the different powers and roles.

A world city

Venice was defined by Fernand Braudel, the great historian of the Europe, “City-World”, because it (she) played a central role in the economic, cultural and social development of all Europe. It (she) was, for long time, the hearth of all the European culture, with a cross-cultural approach to all other existing cultures in many centuries: it was a network, a lean organization, more than a territorial or continental state, more emporium than imperium, with an original political system, being the unique Republic in a world dominated by absolute forms of governance.

A study of the economic staff of the OECD, leaded by Angus Maddison[1], made a compared evolution and position of the different forms of state in the past: Venice was the richest state with its GDP, from 1250 to 1510. No other state, since the fall of the Roman Empire, occupied the first place so long in this rating. Braudel said that “the wealth is a mobile house, which moves now this way and that”: he is the author of the famous boutade that “when Venice was the world centre of the finance and trade, Manhattan was a field of potatoes”. After Venice, the centre of the European Economy and Wealth production moved to other countries or city-state, Antwerpen, London, New York (and now perhaps Shanghai and China): but the duration of those placements was not so long as in Venice Republic.

Its governance, with a carefully shared power and balance between the roles, allowed a steady continuity of the state, with all the competitive advantages of such a model. For these reasons and other motivations in the art, cultural exchanges with all the known world, within Mediterranean sea and out of that area, towards the East, until China for the first time in the European History, economic prosperity, effective waters and territories management, peace keeping, social dialogue with hospitality, the candidature of Veneto Region to its own independence seems a form of explicit acknowledgement for all the contributions Venice gave to the evolution of our Continent towards democracy and dialogue. Venice is much more Europe than Italy, world than a local place.

A shuttle for the modern society and well-being economy

United States were born before the French Revolution and Jefferson did not find, in his European journey and investigation, a political system conform with the new American inspiration for equality and happiness: he found only in Venice a proof of the feasibility process towards a Republic, and the “Most Serene” suggested the content of the first section of the Independence Declaration: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness “[2]. The new vision of a state was to ensure the happiness of the citizens. Thomas Jefferson, in his notes on the separation of Powers, wrote: “All the powers of government, legislative, executive, and judiciary, result to the legislative body [in the Virginia Constitution of 1776]. The concentrating these in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic government. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one…Let those who doubt it turn their eyes on the republic of Venice. As little will it avail us that they are chosen by ourselves. An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others”[3]. Even if criticized as “aristocrat senate”, Republic of Venice was a source for the rising new state of America, both for the “form” (republic) of the governance and for the divided and balanced power among several bodies of magistracy. And some years later, in his letter to Joseph C. Cabell, in 1816, Jefferson wrote:  “No, my friend, the way to have good and safe government, is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to[4]”. However, in this elective despotism of Venice, there was a “preventive action”: many Government duties were not paid and their duration rarely was beyond only 1 year.

The motivations of its role in the European historic evolution

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Venice was the only political and social experience of “continuity” with the great and unequalled level of Rome: Venice kept the competencies of the Romans in the key sectors: governance (republic with Senate), know how for building, crafts, ships and trading.

Founded in 697 A.D. and fell down in 1797 A.D., The Most Serene Republic has been 1.100 Years old, with the most durable form of continuity of the state in Europe, perhaps in the world.

Sea was its land, not to create an “imperium”, but an “emporium”: a network in profitability and quality and a modern example of “lean organization” and innovative civilization.

The main components of the identity of Venice and its modernity are:

Governance: the unique republic in its times and citizens involvement (citizens, not subjects). Venice was a Republic founded on “citizens”: Petrarch, one of the greatest poets of Italy and founder, with Dante and Boccaccio, of our Italian language, in a letter to a friend wrote this meaningful judgement about Venice governance: « Venice, unique hospital town in these days for the freedom, justice, peace, unique refuge of the good people and port where the ships of the men who are looking for a serene life can be guested, after the storms of tyranny and wars everywhere in Europe; a town rich of gold, but much richer of dignity and fame, powerful in forces, but much more powerful in virtues, founded on steady and solid stones and marbles, but much more on solid civic grounds of its social cohesion, protected and surrounded by the sea, but much better fortified and ensured by the careful wisdom of its sons».

Elective roles: all the trials to modify the constitution in favour of hereditary dynasty, were cut off.

Refuse of the feudalism: the state before everything and everyone. The motto of the Venice Government was: “Salus Rei Publicae ante Omnia”. : Venice had no kings, no princes, no dukes, no counts, no barons. Only an egalitarian aristocracy, independently from the actual wealth (there were rich aristocrats and poor aristocrats).

Freedom: all the Romans who fell under the domination of the barbarian invaders lost their freedom and their wealth was severely reduced at the level of the 5° century before Christ: to join the same level of prosperity and pro capita wealth of the 3° and 4° century, before the decline, European had to wait until 12° century, that’s more than 800 years. Venice rises from a deed, an action, a decision of the roman and Venetic communities for freedom, escaping from the disgusting oppression and barbarian invaders. Venice was the first community in the Western Europe to join the prosperity, thanks to the “memory” of the Roman Empire competencies.

Happiness economy: The most serene republic would be the most appropriate definition of the “happiness economy” proposed by the Nobel Prize Daniel Kahneman.

Human rights: the power of the Inquisition against the heretics, the treatment of the Jews and other minorities, the rules for the immigration, the forms of welfare (public and private),the treatment of the poor people and diseased, the parity of the women. Moreover, the power of the Inquisition against the heretics was severely limited, but avoided, the treatment of the Jews and other minorities was much better than in the rest of Europe (to protect them from the “progroms”, Venice ensured to the Jews a quarter, named Ghetto, that was not a “prison”, but a “compound” with security measures), the rules for the immigration were clear and a certain number of “temporary hospitals” for them was provided by the State,

Hospital and cosmopolitan civilization, open to the diversity and cross-cultural approach. The proofs of this cosmopolitism are the long and fruitful relationships with Byzantine Empire of the Eastern Europe, with Arabians’ high civilization of the Middle East, with Ottoman Empire. Even with China.

The bureaucracy: rigorous and responsible (corruption was severely condemned, even with the capital punishment,

Welfare: the forms of welfare (public and private) were ensured through a mutual pact between the “private” corporations (the “Schools”) and the State, especially about the treatment of the poor people, widows and diseased, the parity of the women was evident and celebrated by the literature (e.g. Goldoni). Other Charities were for the pilgrims, immigrants and diseased: in Venice there were 68 Hospitals. Health was organized with many preventive measures, like quarantine, isolation of the infected people in the islands and in the boats around the island (Lazzareto Nuovo), far from the city: when new people came to the site, all gave welcome with applauses and loud cheers: “You are coming to the land of Cockcaigne“, because they were well-fed by the Republic for all the time of quarantine (quarantine is a terminology introduced by Venice, because the word “quarantine” originates from the Venetian dialect form of the Italian quaranta giorni, meaning ‘forty days’). This is due to the 40 day isolation of ships and people prior to entering the city. The original document from 1377, which is kept in the Archives of Dubrovnik, states that before entering the city, newcomers had to spend 30 days (a trentine) in a restricted location waiting to see whether the symptoms of Black Death would develop. Later on, isolation was prolonged to 40 days and was called quarantine.  Medicine doctors had their own “corporation”, and the Venice policy was to define very precisely their emolument fees, every royalty on the medicines was forbidden, the most important doctors, coming also from Padua and Bologna, were “invited” to Venice for free consultation in the case of poor people,. Also for the poor people: one of these charities was very famous and exists even today: Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for poor and illegitimate children where Vivaldi worked between 1703 and 1740.

Intercultural dialogue: Civilization was hospital and cosmopolitan, open to the diversity and the cross-cultural approach,

Venice: the justice: The courts: also the nobles were condemned, all the Dukes who tried to change the elective system into hereditary or dynastic one, were killed, immediately, always,

The political leadership and governance profile

The main institutions of the Republic was The Signoria of Venice. It was constituted of:

• the Doge (Duke): the election of the Doge required 10 steps, with several (ten) steps through casual extractions and ballots (the word “ballot” comes from the election of Venetian Duque), just to avoid every trial of conditioning election (e.g. through the corruption of the electors)
• the  Minor Council (Minor Consiglio), created in 1175, which was composed of the 6 advisors of the Doge, who could not take any decision without consulting the Minor Council
• the 3 leaders of the Quarantia the supreme tribunal, created in 1179
• College of the Wise Men (Collegio dei Savi): Council of the Ministers
• Senate (Consiglio dei Pregadi): Senate was composed by a class of merchants, entrepreneurs and nobles, but not by feudal classes
• Council of Ten or simply the Ten, was, from 1310 to 1797, one of the major governing bodies of the Republic. Although its actions were often secretive, it was generally considered to be fair and effective by the citizens of the Republic
• General Assembly of Patricians (Consiglio Magior): responsible of the election of the Doge and all the most important roles of the state.

The Signoria was considered a very important body of government, more than the Doge himself. The sentence si è morto il Doge, no la Signoria (The Doge is dead, but the Signoria is living) was ritually said during the ceremonies set for the death of the Doge.

A very rare traits of the venetian leadership was the independence from the clerical power: perhaps the only state In Europe that in Middle Age was not submitted to the two main powers of those times: the Roman Pope and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire: Its political philosophy was inspired by pragmatic approach, without any trace of fanaticism or dogmatism.

The Ducal Palace: a symbol of “bottom up” policy

It is the unique palace of power which is empty downstairs and full upstairs: people had access and the Senate had nothing to fear and there was a facility for citizens to submit written complaints at what was known as the Bussola chamber.

The Ducal Palace offices (with officers) were completely hidden, between the external façade and internal walls: a long and secret interstice, where all the officers ruled without external pressures. A visit of this secret power with a guide through the so called “itinerari segreti” will be very instructive,

Venetian laws imposed that the names of  the officers, who robbed public money, had to be published in legible list outside for ever, until their death.

The Arsenal

It was the biggest company of those days: it was organized with the same principles and systems of the modern kaizen (involving everyone in the organization, in the processes). One ship was completely produced in 1 day. Nevertheless, the management of the forests for providing wood was ruled according to the sustainability criteria

The environmental management

Frederic Lane writes that “the natural resources of the surrounding territories were of prime importance for the start-up of the development model of Venice”[5]. The management of the waters was particularly careful, especially for the rivers and lagoons: it was steady and permanent, even with effects until today, for the main infrastructural interventions of the Venetian Republic concerned. Lagoon was very carefully protected: hard punishments were inflicted to people who caused damages, rivers were diverted, in order to preserve the lagoon from tamping, drinkable water was provided with an original system of wells, visible even today.

The Schools

They were “confraternities” and charities (today mutual help associations and ONG).

6 of them were “Great Schools”: Scuola Grande di San Teodoro (1258), Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Carità (1260), Scuola Grande di San Marco (1261), Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista (1261), Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Misericordia (1308), Scuola Grande di San Rocco (1478).

210 (or even more) were “Minor Schools” for the Crafts and Professions, with their rules, patron saint, see, church and board of directors.

These “Schools” formed the basis of the “social capital” and social cohesion of the Republic, which recognized and praised them, especially those of labours and professions: all the Schools were invited to participate in honour place to the main ceremonies of the Republic.

Also the foreign communities of immigrants, workers and craftsmen had their own “schools” and zones (Albanese, Greek, Dalmatian, German etc.).

Foreign and immigrants’ communities: the cosmopolitism of the Serenissima is proved by many signs of its hospitality. Many sites of the city are devoted to representatives of foreign people, even the “nicest ones” like:

• Riva degli Schiavoni (Dalmatian and Slavonic site)
• Riva dei Ragusei (Ragusa, now Dobrovnic community site)
• Fondaco dei Turchi (Turks Trade Centre)
• Fondaco dei Tedeschi (German Trade Centre)
• Calle delle Turchette (Turkish women site)
• Calle dei Tedeschi (German site)
• Calle degli Albanesi (Albanese community site)
• Ponte dei Greci (Greek Community site)
• Fondamenta degli Ormesini (Ormesini means someone or something coming from Hormuz, between Oman and Persia: in Venice “ormesino” was a type of wool coming from that land)
• Campo dei Mori (3 brothers, coming from Morea: Toni Rioba, Alfani and Sandi, merchants, immigrants in Venice in 1112): They bild Palazzo Mastelli, named also Camel Palace, to underline their “Levantine” origin (near the Palace, there is also a little fountain named “Arabian fountain”)
• Palazzo Labia della famiglia catalana dei Labia (provenivano da Girona), accepted as member of the Venetian Aristocracy in 1646
• Palazzo Grassi (of the family Grassi, coming from Chioggia or perhaps Genoa) accepted as member of the Venetian Aristocracy in 1718)
• Ca’ Rezzonico (of the family Widmann, a noble family coming from Carinthia, who was accepted as member of the Venetian Aristocracy in 1646.

Denominations of the roads and “calli” dedicated to Crafts and labor, much more than personalities or other abstract names

Crafts and labour were honored and also for them city named streets, squares and sites.

We can find in Venice roads and call dedicated to Crafts: Fuser (weavers), Fabric (blacksmiths), Furtado (fruitier), Cirri (wax-chandlers), Tint or (dyer), Pastor (baker), Cored (rope-maker), Tagiapiera (stonemason), Calegher (shoemaker), Cerchieri (hoop-makers).

Some roads and calli are dedicated to Labour: Carbon (coal site), Olio (oil site),Vin (wine site), Lana (wool site), Masena (mill site), Squero (boatyard), Orti (vegetables site), Frezzerie (arrows’ site), Spadaria (swords’ site), Mercerie (clothes’site), Fiuberia (buckles’site), Pestrin (milkman ?),

Many streets and squares (calli and campielli) are devoted much more to crafts and labour than to the saints and famous men

It is an example of the relevance and priority of the “labour” in the history of the ancient Venice Republic.

The capitals of the Ducal Palace show the values table of the Republic: many of them represent the major arts and crafts, in honour of the labour as foundation of the wealth and strengths of the state, especially from the capital 17 to 25.

Conclusion

From all the considerations I exposed, a question arises strikingly: Venice, with its history and long independence, with its governance style, can be compatible with the rest of Italy, dominated a long time by kings and feudal governments, unified with false plebiscites, occupied by the Reign of Piedmont with depredation, with many regions still oppressed by criminality and mafias, which are invading even the rest of the nation and penetrating in our region to plunder and raid the wealth created by our past generations and to damage the quality of our social capital? Our state is weak, often even complicit with all these criminal associations, coming from south Italy and abroad (Nigeria, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Russia, Morocco etc.). If we stay inactive, in a few years we will witness the decline and destruction of our great civilization and its beauty will be disfigured for ever. If Venice and our cities of Veneto Region will look like some cities dominated by the mafias, we will find waste everywhere and people will be submitted to the fear industry. Our social capital will disappear: Veneto region at present is the first region for the quality of its social capital (composed by social cooperatives, associations, voluntary communities, industrial districts, religious and ethic attitudes, civic responsibility etc.): the Campania is the last one, together with all the regions dominated by mafias and corrupted political and bureaucratic classes. Even if corruption and the predatory, avid politicians and bureaucrats are increasing also in our regions (Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia elect.), even in Südtirol and Trentino, with a huge waste of the public money, exaggerated and unjustified payments, lifelong pensions, a lot of privileges etc., nevertheless an autonomous approach to the spending policy can be a brake for these bad practices: if each region can count only on its resources, with an independent strategy, a central state will have not the means to favour more the dissipative regions or towns than the virtuous ones.

PRESS OFFICE OF “PLEBISCITO.EU”

— PRESS RELEASE —

LOS ANGELES                March 19, 2014

OVER 1.3 MILLION VOTES ON VENETO’S INDEPENDENCE
MASSIVE RALLY ON FRIDAY IN TREVISO TO DECLARE SOVEREIGNTY

“THE AVALANCHE HAS FALLEN: IT’S TAX REVOLT” IMMEDIATE TOTAL TAX EXEMPTION DURING TRANSITION PERIOD. ITALY DELEGITIMIZED AS TAX COLLECTOR

Los Angeles – At the end of the fourth day of the referendum for independence of Veneto, 1.3 million Venetians have cast their vote on whether to secede from Italy. The final tally will be announced Friday, March 21, during a massive rally in Treviso. Prior to the vote polls indicated a 65% approval for the rebirth of the Venetian Republic, and the ten delegates who will be elected as part of this popular vote are ready to sign a declaration of independence and take immediate executive actions.

“If a majority of citizens participates and the Yes vote wins, we will immediately exercise a total tax exemption,” declares Gianluca Busato, leader of the independence movement. “Reaching an absolute majority of 2 million votes is a concrete possibility, and Italy will no longer have sovereignty over Venetians. During the initial period of transition we will not pay a single cent of taxes to the Italian state.”

Busato’s statement can be read without if’s, as independence is expected to win with a wide margin. Even the issue of reaching an absolute majority becomes secondary. There is no quorum threshold established by Plebiscito.eu to consider the referendum valid, and even with a large minority people are expected to put into practice what would then be a tax revolt.

“Of course higher the turnout, greater the legitimization, no matter what Italy and its constitution have to say,” comments Lodovico Pizzati, spokesperson for Plebiscito.eu. “We are not talking about a forceful takeover, but people have sovereignty over their wallets. Already a critical mass does not recognize the Italian state as a legitimate tax collector anymore, and the avalanche will fall on Friday, no matter what the final vote tally is.”

The five million inhabitants of the Veneto Region pay each year 70 billion euro in taxes, of which 21 billion are direct taxes, 22 billion are indirect taxes, and 21 billion are social security contributions (source Italian Treasury’s CPT database) Details on how Venetian firms must refuse to pay social contributions, income taxes for their employees, and VAT taxes will be exposed during Friday’s rally in Treviso. Even if a fraction of people who voted in favor of secession participate in this total tax exemption, the impact on Italy’s tax revenues will be deadly.