Genoa 2001 - Genoa 2007: there is no such thing as powers for the good

italy / switzerland | repression / prisoners | press release Thursday November 15, 2007 21:14 by Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici - FdCA internazionale at fdca dot it

Statement by the FdCA

The Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici will be participating in the demonstration to be held in Genoa on 17th November, using the mobilization to denounce and protest against the latest reactionary decisions by the Italian government regarding the parliamentary inquest on the tragic events of Genoa 2001.

Genoa 2001 - Genoa 2007:

There is no such thing as powers for the good

The Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici will be participating in the demonstration to be held in Genoa on 17th November, using the mobilization to denounce and protest against the latest reactionary decisions by the Italian government regarding the parliamentary inquest on the tragic events of Genoa 2001.

Prosecutors in the trial of 25 people for "devastation and pillage" have demanded a total of 225 years in prison and millions of euro in compensation for their "moral complicity" in the events of 2001. Some of those on trial were also injured by the State forces either at the Diaz school or at the Bolzaneto police station. To make matters worse, it has been decided that demonstrators will not be compensated for their injuries received at the hands of the police.

Instead, the various police chiefs involved in those days have all been promoted and there no inquiry has led to these "protectors of law and order" being held responsible.

It must be clear to everyone now that the institutions continue to operate with the sole intent of demonizing the movement, always placing the emphasis on the rioting in Genoa and ignoring the many serious episodes of physical and psychological violence against so many unarmed demonstrators, not to mention the obscure manoeuvres in the corridors of power, which at the time were in the hands of a fascist power that was perfectly aware it was being unconditionally protected and supported.

The only thing they want to talk about today (and at the time) are the ones who were allowed to run riot in the streets, not the huge movement, including anarchists, who peacefully marched through the streets of Genoa with their flags and banners and their legitimate demands and who, while the nebulous "black bloc" set calmly about their methodical devastation, found themselves up against ranks of police intent on armed repression against the bare hands of thousands of women and men, old and young, repression which only became even worse when people started to arrive in Genoa after news of Carlo Giuliani's death emerged.

We did not let them forget the shameful things that happened then and we will not let them forget them now.

That movement now demands the truth on the political responsibility of those who were in control during those days.

It demands admission of the disgraceful violence that was unleashed by the police forces and their chains of command.

It demands justice for the repression and abuse suffered by the city and by all those people who were dealt such unspeakable violence.

As part of the international mobilization against the G8 in 2001, as participants in the demonstrations in Genoa at that time, we anarchist communists, while not expecting any sort of justice from State institutions, fully recognize ourselves as being part of the movement that will take to the streets today to demand the truth, that will not forget those days, that will remember that armed violence belongs to the State and is always directed against the weak.


Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici

14 November 2007