Venice Votes To Secede From Italy
Last week, Plebiscito.eu, an organization representing a coalition of Venetian nationalist groups, held an unofficial referendum on Venice breaking with the central Italian government in Rome. Voters were first asked the main question — “Do you want Veneto to become an independent and sovereign federal republic?” — followed by three sub-questions on membership in the European Union, NATO, and the eurozone. The region’s 3.7 million eligible voters used a unique digital ID number to cast ballots online, and organizers estimate that more than 2 million voters ultimately participated in the poll. On Friday night, people waving red-and-gold flags emblazoned with the Lion of St. Mark filled the square of Treviso, a city in the Veneto region, as the referendum’s organizers announced the results: 2,102,969 votes in favor of independence—a whopping 89 percent of all ballots cast—to 257,266 votes against. Venetians also said yes to joining NATO, the EU, and the eurozone. Nothing is going to happen with the results, but it does make me wish, as I have my whole life, that New York would become an independent city state. I want secession!
