Smile, young, bright and have a career. The new vice president of the Tuscan regional council, Mia Diop, is only 23 years old, but has been involved in politics in the Democratic Party since she was a minor. Mia, a resident of Livoron but originally from Senegal, a Political Science student, has seen her stock in the Democratic Party rise since Elly Schlein arrived at Nazarene. Although Enrico Letta already wanted him, at the age of twenty, in the constituent committee of the new Democratic Party, it was his new secretary, two years ago, who called him to the national directorate of the Democratic Party. And Elly again after the Tuscan vote – will support Diop’s prestigious position alongside Giani.
On the other hand, this young Tuscan politician embodies the beliefs of the new “Schleinian” generation, between freshness and interculturality. But his meteoric rise, along with his birth record, has also brought with it several episodes from the past that have stirred discussion, even within the Democratic Party itself.
Two years ago it stumbled first, as often happens through social media. Mia, a few days after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, published a story on Instagram. “Always on the same side,” he wrote, accompanied by a sentence with a picture of the Palestinian flag: “Thank you to the Livorno-Palestinian association which remains attentive to the condition of the Palestinian people. To Khaled and all political prisoners detained illegally.” The Democrat Party member also uploaded a picture of another flag with the words “Anti-fascism-anti-Zionism”. A storm occurs. Even in his own party. Livorno PD Deputy Alessio Quintavalle, who is also a member of the Jewish community in the city of Livorno, was furious. And he? He defended himself. He explained that the post was related to a demonstration he took part in on 7 October for the release of Italian-Palestinian student Khaled El Qaisi and spoke of his “unacceptable exploitation”, although he recalled condemning the “unprovoked” Hamas attack only on the occasion of clarification, after the controversy generated by his stories, which he instead forgot about after the attack occurred. From then until today, no other statements regarding the Palestinian issue have appeared in the news or on social media, despite the war and much bloodshed.
In November 2023, his name appeared in the media again due to a controversy that indirectly concerned him. Fuori dal Coro, Mario Giordano’s program on Rete4, discovered that Mbaye Diop, the long-time leader of the Senegalese community in Livorno and Mia’s father, also once a member of the Democratic Party, had occupied a council building in Livorno for twenty years without paying rent and racked up debts of more than 27 thousand euros with the city government. When asked about the matter by the program’s correspondent, Mia Diop denied her parents: “I saw the report”, she said, explaining that she had “no relationship with that man” and that she “never lived in that house with my father”. “Whoever makes a mistake, he is the one who suffers the consequences”, he added, and later said: “If I had known, I would probably have been the first to report it”. To then clarify: “The father’s mistakes should not befall the child, don’t choose who you will be born to, at most you can choose to be a better person.” Everything is alright.
Even so, remembering those events, what the new vice president wrote yesterday on Instagram makes you smile a little: “My generation lives amidst impossible rents, precarious jobs, parents we don’t want to burden but can’t let go of. I’m part of it too.” However, he was able to separate himself from his father and from the very low house rent.
