Repression in Italy

from LUTA SOCIAL No.5/6

In Italy, the repression against dissidents and anarchists has never stopped - it is simply being more or less intense according to the circumstances and/or the political and propaganda needs of the various governments.
An Italian comrade reflects on the current situation of anarchists in Italy.

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Repression in Italy

In Italy, the repression against dissidents and anarchists has never stopped - it is simply being more or less intense according to the circumstances and/or the political and propaganda needs of the various governments. Genoa G8 certainly represented a higher level of repressive intensity in this country, and repressive activity is at present threatening all those who fight in different struggles, whether they are against specific structures, or against the system in general: environmental struggles (particularly those against planned high-velocity trains with devastating ecological consequences), anti-militarist, animal rights, against the "temporary detention centres" for clandestine immigrants, against capitalist globalisation, etc.

The successive waves of house searches and arrests against anarchists and anti-globalisation activists have taken place using vague pretexts and "theorem"-building by prosecutors who later try to make such claims sound reasonable with a series of proofs being found or constructed.

In large part, it is something we are no strangers to, right since the end of the '60s: the plot is always the same, the actors are new, as well as some details of the story, but not the director. This time the sit-com presents another episode, that has allowed the government to sound the alarm over the anarchist danger: it’s about package-bombs and letter-bombs sent to politicians (among others to Romano Prodi) and to "carabinieri" headquarters, by a phantom - and hitherto unknown - Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI).

This police attempt to stir up the waters is all the more grotesque and ridiculous due to the fact that this "FAI" uses the same initials as the Italian Anarchist Federation (also FAI). It would be laughable, if: a) it didn’t bring tougher repression, still going on today, and b) if it didn’t bring on stage dangerous and dark manoeuvres and connections between a so-called anarcho-insurrectionalist sector (dating back from the '80s) and the police, with some infiltrations performed by the later.

In the most recent affairs, the posting of explosives allows for strong doubts:
a) It is something new, something that doesn’t fit in with way the various components of the anarchist galaxy work in Italy;
b) The initiative seems very much like an imitation;
c) Its name is ridiculous for anarchists, whatever their tendency.

Naturally, some small fish are caught in the net - on the pretext of fighting subversive forces - without really being involved in such a "postal service".

In his six-monthly report, the minister for internal affairs, Pisanu, defined the Informal Anarchist Federation as "...the most dangerous subversive component at present [...] a central core for orientation, in charge of a programme of violent and, in some instances, potentially lethal initiatives related to a pre-defined theme; a network that is not circumstantial, but functional, aimed at carrying out a subversive project; a common strategic vision that regulates timings, a progression of the level of violence and spread throughout the territory".

And all this on account of informality! If one takes into account that in the Italian anarchist milieu no-one knows anything about this phantom Federation, the good Berlusconi minister (who is an ex-Christian Democrat) is showing that he knows too much after all.

Nevertheless, the repression is not stopping the anarchists and all those who oppose the system from fighting against it. And this is the important aspect.

To find out more about this:
http://www.ainfos.ca/it/
http://www.fdca.it/
http://www.federazioneanarchica.org/

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This article is translated from "Luta Social" no.5/6