Italian Letter Bombs - An Excuse for Repression?

by Chekov Wed Dec 31, 2003 04:10

The Italian anarchist organisations all seem to feel that this is a 'black-op'. In the absence of any other information, it's best to trust them as they certainly know the situation locally and would be in a good position to judge whether it is likely that people who believe that they are anarchists could have carried it out. In addition to their condemnation and denials of these acts, there are several facts which lead one to further suspect that somebody else is behind it.

- The Prodi bomb was wrapped in a book by a fascist poet.
- Bologna (from where the 'bombs' were sent) happens to be the site of the most famous bombing of the 1970's, attributed to communists, but eventually proved to be the work of the state acting through a fascist group.
- Prodi seems a very strange target. He is an important European bureaucrat, and a nasty one at that, but neither he nor the other bureaucrats targetted are anywhere near as unpopular among anarchists as a lot of figures closer to home: Berlusconi and the handful of oligarchs who run the country spring to mind. European bureaucrats don't tend to have a very high profile in their home countries as media coverage of politics is overwhelmingly national and are not particular figures of hate to anarchists. On the other hand the far right nationalists are generally virulently anti-EU integrationists and they Prodi would figure way higher on their list of hate-figures.
- The 'organisation', the informal anarchist federation, which claimed the bombings has never been heard of before as stated by the statements of the Italian anarchists. Imagine if 'casual Fianna Fail' started claiming responsibility for bombings, how much heat would Bertie get?
- The 'bombs' appear to have been fairly small fireworks, unlikely to cause any serious of injury. Prodi was holding his when it went off and the only injury was a slight burn to the carpet. Why an insurrectionist would go to all that trouble to give Prodi and his chums a scare is beyond me.
- The Italian state has a long history of using fascist groups to carry out such actions designed to blacken the name of revolutionary groups. Most recently there were all those small bombs found during the run-up to Genoa as the Italian state cranked up the tension which they used as cover for their attempt to physically destroy the protests.
- There is no history of Italian anarchists, even insurrectionists carrying out such actions, or even advocating this sort of thing.

So on balance I'd say that it's 99% likely that this was carried not carried out by any anarchist. I'd guess that it was a fascist job, perhaps remote-controlled by the state. It could just be some bored office worker having a laugh and that would explain the curious political references to the poet and Bologna.

On the other hand, it is just about possible that it is the work of somebody who considers themselves to be an anarchist. If so it is the most idiotic, counter-productive action imaginable. Giving the media the chance to shout 'anarchist terrorists' to the high heavens all over Europe for the prize of giving a few euro-bureaucrats a scare is a bad deal by any measure. Even here in Ireland the media has been giving huge airtime to the story, full of scurrilous lies about anarchists.

Although I don't know enough about insurrectionism to comment on it, I'd say that if such an action was part of an insurrectionist strategy, then it is authoritarian in the extreme and very distant from anarchism. The state's reaction to such tactics is to attack the whole working class, particularly the left, and to provoke such a reaction is to impose a war on the class which it does not support yet must pay for. In addition it is a recipe for quick defeat. If the state succeeds in painting the anarchist movement as a bunch of bombers, which such actions obviously make far easier, anarchists will be totally isolated if they move to crush us.

by matrak Wed Dec 31, 2003 04:28

Whether this bomb was carried out by an anarchist group or not the fact remains that there have been, are and will be anarchist groups that persue a tactic of individual terror.

This tactic is elitist, undemocratic and couter productive. It is elitist as the individual carrying out the act believes that the people should put their trust in him and not take liberation in their own hands through mass action of the workers movement. It is undemocratic because they are not accountable to the people they are claiming to represent. It is counter productive because these individual terrorist acts can be used by the establishment as an excuse to clamp down on all left wing and workers organisations.

I am not a pacifist. I think that the force should be used if neccessary. But it needs to be done on a mass scale with all armed organisation democractically accountable to the workers movement. The tactics persued by these italian anarchists should be condemned, their tactics are dead end.

by p Wed Dec 31, 2003 04:34

this seems to be for ireland!
just as you guys are getting the presidency, this thing is targetting the EU....

to stop folk coming out on the big day later this year i guess?

by unapologetic socialist Wed Dec 31, 2003 10:56

anarchists are always blaiming socialist for all the crimes of stalin, lenin, trtsky, kronstad, etc., but they don't like to take responsibility for anarchist crimes. talk about double standards!!!
if some socialists kill someone it's because they are socialist, nasty, authoritarian, etc.
if some anarchists do the same, it's got nothing to do with anarchism!!!
you must take responsibility for your ideas chekov. if anarchist ideas lead people to become terrorists you must question those ideas. it's too easy to say, they are not anarchists! they say they are, you can't order people not to be anarchists! that is authoritarian!
problem is that because anarchists reject accountable leadership they must face the consequences. nobody is in charge and they are infiltrated by terrorists. that's their fault. if you have a party, the democratically elected leadership can control the actions of the membership.

by David Wed Dec 31, 2003 14:05

it should be obvious by now. the media doesn't know what anarchism is.
It is not any stretch of the imagination to suggest that Fascists in Italy might want to discredit Anarchism..

Anarchism, unlike many other political ideologies does not promote violence against people as a revolutionary tactic. In the late 1800s there were some political assasinations by anarchists, they failed miserably and ever since almost all anarchists agree that the people are not the targets, the institutions are.

by unapologetic anarchist Wed Dec 31, 2003 14:42

Just because socialists allegedly have accountable "leadership" doesn't render them immune from infiltration.
And it also means that they can be more easily controlled and manipulated.

Remember that when Hitler seized power in Germany, the socialists and communists were a powerful political counter-force (with their own armed militias and trade unions).

However, when the orders came from Uncle Joe in Moscow not to resist, they meekly tugged the forelock and obeyed.

I believe it was Erich Mühsam who once referred to the German communists as "well-drilled pseudo-revolutionary marionettes controlled from Moscow".

A chapter of communist history often glossed over in the official hagiographies of the movement.

And as for anarchists and terrorism, I am almost tempted to dig out the old Brendan Behan chestnut about the terrorist being the guy with the smaller bomb ........
(But then I remembered that orthodox Marxists don't have a sense of humour ......)

by unfunny iosaf Wed Dec 31, 2003 19:09

ok so that's a very bad taste joke, but in short, the web of conspiracy points at several hinges, (I hope you know that webs are made with hinges, sticky lines, support lines, lines of tension and other just for stability) one hinge is the proscribed "organisation" known as CCCCC.
Now I don't take this overly seriously, but a bit of background:

a very violent bank robber C. Lavazza (Italian) who shot a woman police officer during a foiled bank raid several years ago in Spain was imprisoned along with his accomplices for "life" and more. Since then, letter bombs have been delivered in both Spain and Italy, always with a book of poetry attached with demands for his release. and the techside appears to be very adhoc. Letter bombs are generally thought of as the lowest tech skill in terrorism. We may need only to consider the IRA letter bombing campaigns in the 1970s.

There is no sign of any organised activity in Europe in support of "anarchist" armed campaigns aimed at individuals.

There are undoubtedly some who feel that attacks on the "machinery" of capitalism are worthwhile, by which they generally mean bank machines and preceived colloborators with Capitalism "The Press". but I don't agree in the slightest and nor does anyone I know.

The "red brigade" card, is different.

I take this very seriously.


IT sits worryingly as counter balance to allegations that the Italian Carbioniari are harbouring organised fascist groups. And the evidence "flags, literature and emblems" is stronger for that accusation than that the red brigade has restarted. We need only remember the shock caused to decent Italians to see the Lago Republic flag [Mussolini's nazi state in the north of Italy 1944] in the police barracks in Iraq.

A gun toting murdering bank robber is a gun toting murdering bank robber, and if he reads anarchist poetry he is a gun toting murdering bank robber who reads anarchist poetry. And anyone looking at the evidence in the Lavazza case sees unwarrented psycopathic violence.

A gun toting murdering police man is a gun toting murdering policeman and if he reads nazi literature he is ..... "well more significantly worrying than dangerously marginalised teenagers who think burning banks is revolutionary".

That simple.

It was and is a source of pride to Italian anarchists and autonomists that the disobedience movement that developed in the last years did so, without a return to the "red Brigade" years of terrorism.
It was and is a sign of such commitment to "non-violent" "direct action" that disobedients stopped several troop carrying trains in the lead up to the War on Iraq, and di so without any loss of life. Every time I have been asked to condemn violence by Italians on this theme, and the most recent was about three weeks ago, I like to remind them of this:

Disobedients stopped trains peacefully.
in the early 70s Italian worker conflicts led to multiple deaths in such actions.

Disobedients morally break the law.
And since Genoa not a single protester has been killed or as seriously injured in Italy, disobedients are keeping themselves relatively "out of trouble".

I think it should be Ok to write:
I do not support these letter campaigns, and it is willful ignorance of a political movement to continue calling such actions "anarchist".
and I think most anarchists, libertarians and anrchosyndicalists and disobedients would agree
¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?

So ¿are they anarchist?
well who do we ask?
-the experts.
- will the Guardia Civil do?
well they are expert.

During the fortnight of "fight" in which the okupes in BCN did get really excited doing their non violent resistance stuff, the Guardia Civil did "break" one of these presumed cells.
So It was with a certain sense of "relief" than even the Guardia Civil decided to term these people " _radical_ and _insurrectionist_ presumed anarchist grouping", with links to Italian groups.
(what that meant as I explained in the Sunday Papers, was that they had a bloody big gun amunition which was made in Italy and we didn't know if they had the bloody big anti aircraft gun to with the bullets).
They very easily could have left out the "radical" reference, which is a very Spanish way of saying "extremist".
*****************************************

in 2003 in Spain of the 360 attacks termed to be "terrorist", 320 were related to Basque seperatism and 30 were attributed to such groupings.
of those 30, the most damage was caused one of the principle branches of Caixa Catalunya an savings bank, and saw it's lobbyh housing three automated cash machines burnt to a crisp. This meant that for several weeks I had to walk a further 100 metres to withdraw my wages which I get on account of being a "Worker".

http://www.lavanguardia.es/web/20030917/51144548004.html

by a commie Wed Dec 31, 2003 19:21

It would nice if you would supply the complete historical and political context for an "order for Stalin not to resist". Is there such an order? Please cite your source. An out of context quote by a disaffected anarcho-leninist won't do it. Just more idealist blame-everything-on-Stalin blather otherwise.

I think it would have been very interesting if the "anarchists" had been in charge of the Red Army that drove Hitler to destruction. We would all undoubtedly be singing some version of the Horst Wessel Song at public functions now.

by Milo Thu Jan 01, 2004 08:00

I think the term Anarchist Terrorist is a bit overkill.

Anarchists would already be classified as "terrists" by the right. Anarchism is the essence of opposition to their world of gluttony greed fear and hate.

Might as well call them "anarchist -terrorist -terrorists".

by David Thu Jan 01, 2004 13:28

I suppose anarchists could be terrorists but that's only after you sufficiantly redefine what that word means until it doesn't mean terrorist anymore.

by Chekov Thu Jan 01, 2004 16:00

To matrak: you seem very quick to believe that these bombs were sent by anarchists, do you have any evidence for this?

To unapologetic socialist: your point is pure twaddle. Anarchists criticise authoritarian socialists for their politics which have been proven again and again to lead to monsterous dictatorships. If you claim to be a follower of Lenin and Trotsky, of course we are going to use their words and acts to criticise your politics and hopefully show you the error of your ways (not bloody likely ;-)

There have been dozens of authoritarian leftist terrorist groups in the last few decades around the world, I don't remember anarchists blaming the SWP or the SP, or "all socialists" for the red brigades or the shining path. Most socialists do not claim to have the same politics as those groups and so it would be dishonest to attempt to make any connection. Of course dishonesty seems to be central to Trotskyism so they rarely seem to have any problem in blaming all anarchists with the actions of anybody who claims to be an anarchist.

Your point about an accountable leadership is incredibly stupid. An empirical examination of left-wing terrorist groups in the last 100 years would reveal hundreds of authoritarian socialist groups and perhaps a half dozen anarchist groups. So where does that leave your theories about a lack of accountable leadership leading to terrorism?

Anarchist organisations, just like Trotskyist organisations, have decision making mechanisms that bind them to certain courses of action, the difference being that the decisions are actually democratic with everybody having an input, rather than just a few people. You seem to be suggesting that all anarchists are responsible for all actions carried out by anybody who claims to be an anarchist. Would you accept responsibility for the Sparts? The Shining Path? Pol Pot...?

Of course I can say who I think is an anarchist and who is not. There is nothing authoritarian in this. People will listen to my argument on its merit and make up their own minds as to whether they agree with me. Maybe if I had some special right to define exactly who was allowed to be an anarchist, and could back it up with force, then it'd be authoritarian. Sadly the anarchists are unlikely to ever give me this power ;-)

Finally, it is interesting to note that once again Trots are happy to believe the smears of the right wing media whenever anarchists are targetted. Despite the extraordinarily dubious nature of these bombs, and the evidence pointing to provocateurs, the trots dance to Berlusconi's tune as they did with Genoa and as they do every time the black block is smeared in the media. With revolutionaries like you, who needs loyal citizens?

by Lone Gunman Thu Jan 01, 2004 18:26

He seems awfully worried about it going by yesterdays Indo.
Good!Might wake those complacent fools up abit around here.

by PVG Thu Jan 01, 2004 20:41

Heh, heh. I've seen so much foolishness in this thread to last me a lifetime.

Black ops! Stalin! Silly children playing at being revolutionaries.

There's some anarchists nutcase sending bombs in the post and not one of you have condemned it.

Double standards...

by an anarchist of good conscience. Thu Jan 01, 2004 22:17

I will never ever send a letter bomb.

[¿does that make it better?]
and has it not struck anyone as "odd" that this supposed extremist anarchist grouping have links and ehem access to extremist Leninist Red Brigade grouping bullets?

The SWP won't let the WSM use their printer.

come on, get this in like "realworld" perception.

by ec Thu Jan 01, 2004 22:28

A WAVE of letter bombs targeting high profile EU officials has sparked a new security alert for the Government as it takes over the EU presidency tomorrow.

A Dutch bomb squad in The Hague disarmed a package yesterday at the EU's judicial co-operation agency, Eurojust - the fourth since Saturday.

Letter bombs were also sent to the Commission President Romano Prodi; the European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet; and the director of the EU's police agency, Europol.

Only one parcel was opened - by Mr Prodi at his home in Bologna - but it failed to fully ignite.

Investigators believe an Italian anarchist group, the Informal Anarchic Federation, is behind the attacks in three countries.

All the parcels were posted from a false address in Bologna.

The same group claimed responsibility for planting two small bombs, which caused no injuries, outside Mr Prodi's home shortly before Christmas.

In a letter to an Italian newspaper it stated that Mr Prodi was being singled out for his European, not his domestic, political role.

"We have hit at the apparatus of control that is repressive and leading the democratic show that is the new European order," the letter states, "so the pig knows that the manoeuvres have only begun to get close to him and others like him."

Although the EU has frequently been the target of violent anti-globalisation protestors, it's the first time terrorists have focussed on its leading figures.

For the next six months, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will chair meetings of EU leaders and become the public face of Europe, increasing the possibility of attention from the attackers.

The president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, who is also a potential target, said he deplored the attacks.

He has already received warnings from the Basque terrorist group, ETA, which Spanish authorities have confirmed were authentic.

Last night an Irish presidency spokesman condemned the attacks and pointed out that procedures for opening post have been changed in Government Buildings in Dublin since the events of 9/11.

He urged anyone in authority who has not already taken precautions to seek garda advice.

"In Government those precautions are already being taken, but anyone receiving post at home should think again," he warned.

In Brussels, officials stepped up their security procedures at the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of Ministers.

EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, last night expressed his solidarity with those who have been targeted and said checks were being increased.

In Bologna, local police have seized documents and computer equipment in raids, which appear to show that the attacks aim to "destroy the state and capitalism".

Conor Sweeney
in Brussels

by unrepentant Fri Jan 02, 2004 14:15

QUOTE: "There's some anarchists nutcase sending bombs in the post and not one of you have condemned it."

What exactly are we supposed to condemn ?
That some unelected, unaccountable EU-Technocrat has received some junk mail from an unelected, unaccountable (alleged) "anarchist" weirdo ...

And anyway if Mr. Prodi objects to the message he has received, he can always request the perpetrator to send it a second time without the explosive content ....

Sure isn't that what he did with the Irish people when they gave him their opinion of the Nice Treaty (Part I) ?

by -may 1 2004 sloppy big hugger. Fri Jan 02, 2004 18:36

Because some academic nutter so they say decided to send Congressmen and Senators of the Democratic Party indeed finely milled Anthrax, that indeed they thought could only be produced in a State lab the week after September 11, when everyone was very peaky, nervous and jumpy.

Thereafter the Irish Government changed like everyone else who enjoys a great and positive really two way huggy sloppy relationship with the USA, their opening post rules.

If they opened their post and they found anthrax within, they were to send it to the FBI, so they could tell us all who was responsible for such an act of terror against the priniciple democracy of our civilisation.

And the Irish State even looked into cheapo anthrax vacines for all the really important members of the Irish State. They of course regretted even considering such a contingency because it would be terribly badly thought of by the Irish People, if it transpired that Bertie had an anthrax vacine and his constituents didn't.
Which indeed it might like just slip out, but it didn't becuase of course they never looked into it.

by Chekov Fri Jan 02, 2004 21:29

Which covers the background and history of the bombings very well.

by Cabhog Fri Jan 02, 2004 22:46

Every time a few anarchist do something illegal, the nice legit anarchists go about whinging that it was the 'right' and the state trying to blacken their (good?) name.

Could anyone please post one good reason why anyone would attempt to undermine and discredit the anarchists, considering the fact that I can not think of anytime in reent history when anarchistic ideas even remotely threatened the establishment.

by Silver lining Sat Jan 03, 2004 00:36

Will all this cause some of our politicians to refuse to accept brown paper bags?

by compagno - none Sat Jan 03, 2004 12:26

Unlike paramilitary violence in Ireland, where there is usually (with some exceptions) agreement on the responsibility for major acts of violence, the situation in Italy is considerably more complex and has been so for several decades.

In particular, far right groups and elements within the Italian security forces have repeatedly carried out acts of violence which were either unclaimed or falsely attributed to the left, as part of a "strategy of tension" designed to discredit left-wing movements and build pressure for repression or the possible conditions for a coup.

Certainly there are and have been in the past Italian left groups who have used violence as a political strategy. However it takes considerable on-the-ground knowledge to achieve any real (as opposed to rhetorical) clarity about the actual responsibility for particular events.

For those interested in following up the issue seriously, Alessandro Mantovani's article in *Il manifesto* is a good starting point. But without real knowledge of the Italian scene the rest is just speculation.

by Krlll Sat Jan 03, 2004 13:34

we always knew that anarchism and terrorism were linked now we have proof.wake up book worm and stop hiding in your books.

by Chekov Sat Jan 03, 2004 14:47

"Every time a few anarchist do something illegal, the nice legit anarchists go about whinging that it was the 'right' and the state trying to blacken their (good?) name."

Such as when? The black blocs? Shannon? The Anarchists Against The Wall in Israel?

Oh yeah, we're always denouncing illegal acts by anarchists (sarcasm). On the other hand when a non-existant group which just happens to have the same initials as Italy's biggest and oldest anarchist organisation (FAI) starts sending bombs around the place, we are quite rightly sceptical about the 'facts'. If the Socialist Workers People started sending bombs in Ireland, we wouldn't be jumping on that bandwagon either.

Still, if it was carried out by some individuals who consider themselves anarchists, we have no problem in pointing out to them how stupid it is and how little to do with anarchism too.

by cabhog Mon Jan 05, 2004 09:49

It is interesting to note that nobody had actually bothered to post either a) a reason why someone would try to discredit the anarchists b) evidence of something positive that the anarchists have done that has benefited the working class EVER.

at least with silvio you wouldn't have that problem

by hs - sp Mon Jan 05, 2004 17:02

The general belief around here seems to be it's a lone lunatic sending the bombs. But the state has taken advantage by trying to blame anarchists and communists, prodi himself reckoned the fascist book was supposed to be "ironic". The police have used the BR excuse to raid the radical trade unions and some social centres over the last two years. And the big arrest of the BR somehow just happened to happen on the day of the general strike (although the investigations have been going on since Biagi was shot two years ago). It knocked the strike off the front of the Berlusconi controlled news. (ie all of it!)
But for the left's side they BR were a real leftist terrorist group made up of people from the left traditions, communists and anarchists influenced by movements in South America which of course had nothing in common with Italy. And of course with the partisans of WW2 which really again had little to do with Italy in the seventies and eighties.
There wasn't one BR in the sense of the IRA but alot of autonomus groups with little contact between themselves. Some just beat of bosses others went further.
The Black terrorism on the other hand was a definite attempt to seize power and in its biggest outrage killed eighty people in Bologna train station. The MSI presently National Alliance were definitely on the finges of this movement (there's many theories about other prominent italians!).
One last quick point the PCI were the party most opposed to the BR, the socialists wanted a deal after the BR kidnapped Aldo Moro the Prime minister and so did most of the christian democrats. But the "friends of Moro" group seemed happy to let him die and anther faction took over.
But italian terrorism has smokes and mirrors everywhere and it's almost impossible to figure out really who's who.

by Hal Silk Mon Jan 05, 2004 17:09

It should not be forgotten that the Red Brigades followed a Leininist Ideology. this styems from the Leninist contempt for the masses and their belief in the need for vanguards be they Parties or Red Armies.

by hs - sp Mon Jan 05, 2004 17:22

That's debateable really, leninism and especially Italian leninism and communism put "il partito" above other movements and "the italian road to communism" was about building a mass communist party and culture and through both united front goverments and if possible their own goverment bring in structural changes to the Italian state which would make public enterprise much more important then private and see the mass industrialisation of Italy. Then Italy was supposed to peacefully become a communist country. They held back mass movements for example the peasents movements in the south with this stratagey. Remebering tyhe PCI had 2 million members who would have considered themselves leninists, the BR on the other hand never had more than a few thousand (if even) and were generally more influenced by south america than russia.
There is nothing I ever read of Lenin which would have called for the setting up of autonomus terror (not even guerilla) groups instead of a mass party. The BR goal of "building the contradictions" also had little to do with leninist writings. They may have called themselves leninists anarchists or generally communists but they were a small minority of the movement. Remeber other left of PCI parties existed in Il Manifesto and Lotta Continua as well as Student power and hundreds of ex parlimentary revolutionary groups. But only the BR groups supported the idea of using assination to create communism. which lenin as well as most communist and marxists have always argued against.

by anarcho bombers Mon Jan 05, 2004 18:25

A letter bomb addressed to British MEP Gary Titley has burst into flames at an office in Manchester.
Earlier on Monday, a package sent to a German MEP at the European Parliament headquarters in Brussels also exploded.

No one was injured in either incident, which took place on the first day back after Christmas for many EU staff.

The packages, both sent from Bologna in Italy, are believed to be linked to a spate of letter bombs that were sent to senior European leaders in December.

Investigators are looking at the possibility that Italian anarchists are behind the mailings.

by (A) Tue Jan 06, 2004 01:09

"Ever"?
Well, just to take an example from Italy, have you heard of the red years?It was just before the fascists took over and the workingclass rose up against the goverment and almost overthrew it. Well this uprising was mostly made up of anarchists and grassroot communists, all while your partycomrades sat and waited for orders from Moscow on what to do (and they encouraged the communists NOT to take part ofcourse, like they allways do).

So, anarchists have done things for the workingclass and they have threatened the goverment of several countries.

by Badman Tue Jan 06, 2004 02:01

There was a thread on this a while back and it was a long, long list.

It included everything from Chinese Takeways and Getaway Cars to the first Trade Unions in much of the world.

As for why they might attribute it to the anarchists - well when they want to create a public scare they have to attribute it to somebody and anarchists are at least a credible source of danger in the eyes of the mainstream. On the other hand if they had claimed it was the trots, leftists all over Europe would have died of laughter!

by Anthony Tue Jan 06, 2004 03:14

These fireworks / bombs seem to be merely the latest in a campaign of smear tactics against anti-capitalists and the left in general - not just anarchists. There's little doubt in my mind that if Italian state forces are capable of killing prisoners in their custody or of conspiring to bomb train stations that they wouldn't balk too much at causing minor injuries to a few politicians and bureaucrats - particularly opposition politicians such as Prodi. According to an article in the Guardian a couple of months ago, the Italian state was blaming these incidents on "groups thought to be an offspring of the Molotov cocktail-hurling Black Bloc, who triggered riots at the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001".

It seems that the anti-capitalist movement is now seen as being as much a threat as radical trade unions. The Red Brigade is still being used as an excuse to repress the left. But it doesn't seem to be useful enough so they are also using the idea of terrorist groups associated with the Black Bloc (which they perceive as being an organisation) as a stick with which to beat anti-capitalists.

Since hs is living in Italy, I'm sure his insight would be far superior to what I've gleaned from reading a second hand news source (The Guardian).

by conor ~(wsm personal capacity) Tue Jan 06, 2004 12:39

funny chekov sez: “if anarchist ideas lead people to become terrorists you must question those ideas. it's too easy to say, they are not anarchists!”

But the VAST MAJORITY of anarchists support large-scale democratic grass roots mobilisation.
Individual terrorist tactics are, almost always, COMPLETELY elitist
and authoritarian and its hard to see how they could be organised in any other way.

Therefore they have NOTHING in common with anarchist ideas.
Yes there were some anarchists ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
who turned to bombs mainly through complete desperation but when our ideas can mobilise thousands why would we need to start resorting to this crap?

iosaf makes this point well above

"It was and is a source of pride to Italian anarchists and autonomists that the disobedience movement that developed in the last years did so, without a return to the "red Brigade" years of terrorism.
It was and is a sign of such commitment to "non-violent" "direct action" that disobedients stopped several troop carrying trains in the lead up to the War on Iraq, and did so without any loss of life…..”

As for our reaction on the very low chance that it really was from some fool styling or thinking themselves an anarchist – we in the WSM any way – have clear policy on this issue and we would not support it in ANY WAY

“3. Terrorism is an attempt to substitute an armed vanguard for the class. The murder of individuals in no way weakens the system. Bosses, police and so on are all replaceable. What does actually happen is that the lives of working people are often put at risk, which makes it easier for the state to introduce more repressive measures with mass support. Such armed groups are only adventurists who have no confidence in the ability of ordinary people to make a revolution.”
http://www.struggle.ws/ppapers/terror.html

This round of mail bombings completely STINKs of state involvement

What its really about – I reckon- is justifying the millions of our tax money that the state will shell out to the gardai over the next six months
some sort of "terrorist threat" HAD to be created

conor

by statewatcher Tue Jan 06, 2004 13:05

(dark clouds?)
Here's the first article i've seen on the new EU task force set up and co-ordinated from Italy to combat "anarchist insurrection" / EU parliament letter bombs. It's also worth noting that at the Paris European Social Forum one of the two main campaigns proposed for mass co-ordinated international protests is against the EU constitution (demos set for May 2004)...
For reference The Irish EU presidency started on 1st January 2004 and runs until June 30th 2004. After that the presidency transfers to the Netherlands for the second half of 2004, and then Britain will assume the presidency in 2005 (during which time it will also host the G8 summit).

More on irish eu protest plans at: http://geocities.com/eufortress/
Anarchomedia

___________________
Here's the article:

Anti-anarchist force formed in Italy
http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=195886&n=34
09:57:02

Rome, Jan 5 - Italy's Interior Ministry on Monday announced the creation of a European task force to combat "anarchist insurrection" as security concerns mounted over a letter bomb campaign against EU leaders, apparently launched from Italy.

The force will gather data for two months on the "phenomenon of anarchist insurrection" -- the term Italy has used to describe those behind the letter bombs.

Italy will coordinate the task force, which is to help future anti-terror operations.

Experts from states including France, Greece and Spain, which like Italy have been affected in the past by anarchist unrest, will also participate.

Representatives from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands were at the Rome meeting, as were representatives from Europol and the Crime-Fighting Organisation Eurojust, whose top officials were both targetted by booby-trapped devices last month.

The European parliament on Monday launched a rapid review of security after two booby-trapped letters sent to Euro-law makers exploded.

The gathering in Rome of anti-terror police heads had been planned long ago, and their task force declaration made no direct reference to the letter bomb campaign. But it did cite the example of the Italian city of Bologna, which was the origin of most of the letter bombs sent to EU officials.

by Grey Block Tue Jan 06, 2004 13:17

So we can expect more dirty tricks then!

by Simon the pieman Tue Jan 06, 2004 13:58

I wonder would it be possible that these 'bombs' were set ups to enable Silvio and his rich buddies to get more and more protection basically ensuring their safety from whatever dirty deals they're involved in.

by David Tue Jan 06, 2004 14:09

Come on, Everybody with any sense can see that the letter bombs are a set up designed specifically to allow Italian storm troopers to get even more violent against anarchists without any public outrage. It's so obvious

by kokomero Tue Jan 06, 2004 14:10

This upsurge in attacks is another manifestation of the so-called "Strategia della tensione" (strategy of tension) which rears its ugly head whenever the status quo is threatened in Italy.

Examples of this were the bombs which killed magistrates such as Falcone in Sicily, the bombing of Bologna train station in 1980 etc.

The real trick the powers that be in Italy have up their sleeve is that none of these outrages have ever been solved and are in fact often used to deflect public attention.

http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2001/07/3323.php
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/freeearth/fe3_italy.html

by simon Tue Jan 06, 2004 14:19

any other sources on the 'EU Anti-Anarchist force' being set up?. any from the EU itself?

by Muppet Wed Jan 07, 2004 01:50

This is obviously a set-up so that the Fascist EU powermongers can take away even more of our rights. It's so obvious that anyone can see that. I mean, it's impossible that any anarchist group could be capable of sending explosives in the post.

It's got to be made-up.

by David Wed Jan 07, 2004 12:04

Its just that most anarchists wouldn't do something like that because of the zero benefit and huge drawbacks. The only way these letter bombs make sense are if they're an attempt to stitch up anarchists

by FAI Wed Jan 07, 2004 17:07

The Coordinating Committee of the Italian Anarchist Federation (FAI),
referring to the phantom-like appearance of a "FAI (Informal Anarchist
Federation)" claiming to be the authors of the explosions in Bologna:
- denounces the serious and infamous nature of attributing this
kind of facts to initials alluding to the monogram of FAI - Italian
Anarchist Federation: - whoever points out a group of comrades
to repression is a police or one that cooperates with them;
- recalls the historical issue of the anarchist organization as it
took features in St. Imierís Congress in 1872 down to the
founding acts of the Congresses of UAI (Italian Anarchist
Union) in 1920 and FAI (Italian Anarchist Federation) in 1945:
AN ORGANIZATION IN NO WAY INFORMAL, because in
transparency and collegiality of the charges relies the guarantee
of a libertarian and egalitarian method of assuming decisions;

- asserts once more its condemnation of bombs, exploding
parcels and such devices, that may strike without
discrimination, and in any way look - at best - to be functional to
logic of provocation and criminalization of dissent through the
media, in a moment in which anarchists are among the
protagonists of social conflicts - from strikes, to initiatives
against war, etc.;

- once more asserts that the instruments of federated
anarchists are employed in open street confrontation, in social
struggle, in grass roots and self organized syndicalism, in all
movements, in the dozens of localities in which we run clubs
open to the public - always in outspoken opposition to the logics
of dominion and Stateís terrorism, for the construction of a
society of free and equals.

Reggio Emilia, Dec. 28, 2003

The coordinating committee of the Italian Anarchist Federation

by kokomero Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:06

This is not an attempt to stitch up anarchists, although they are definitely the scapegoat in this picture. What is really going on is what has been going on since 1948.

The "christian-democrats" and their successors, aided by a loose network of deviant elements in the secret services and neo-facists funded by the Mafia and industrial interests seek to discredit the broad left-wing in such a way as to maintain their grip on Italian society, politics and the economy.

These actions have ranged from the kidnap and murder of Aldo Moro when he was close to a deal which would have seen the Communists under Berlinguer in government, to the Uno bianca attacks in the early 90s, to the agents disguised as black-blocks in Genoa to name but a few.

There is also a formal institutional element to the strategy of tension as evidenced by:

http://www.ffi-weilheim.de/pdf-files/analys-eng.PDF

"The first non-Christian-democratic minister of the Interior, Mr Roberto Maroni reported in July
1994 that he had found some 300,000 files on political figures, parties and movements in the
Sisde's archives, which were presumably intended for blackmail.214 Still, although the Italian situation may be unique in size and depth, security services in some other West European
countries on occasion have also shown an unhealthy curiosity for the inner affairs of legitimate
political parties."

Much of these 2 strategies derives from the American sponsored stay-behind/gladio network established at the height of the cold war

http://www.copi.com/articles/guyatt/gladio.html
http://www.misteriditalia.com/servizisegreti/gladio/gladio.html
http://digilander.libero.it/inmemoria/gladiosicilia.htm

It is also alleged that Gladio leadership issued an order to assist in the liberation of Aldo Moro 2 weeks BEFORE he was kidnapped by the "BR"

http://www.almanaccodeimisteri.info/gladioottobre2002.htm

by cabhog Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:46

Considering the fact of the strenght of italian Communism and the threat of Italy falling behind the Iron Curtain, it would have been a direlection of duty of behalf of the Italian state not to keep an eye on the left. Would people here have preferreded if the Italian Communists activities went totally unobserved by the state and the communists gained national control bringing Italy behind the Iron curtain?

That was the choice each Christian Deomcratic Government faced.

by more.info Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:55

European Parliament urged to tighten its security - 07.01.2004 - 17:34

The European Parliament is being called upon to tighten its security measures after a series of letter bombs have targeted euro-parliamentarians.

Article >> http://euobs.com/\?aid=14033&rk=1

by Yossarian Thu Jan 08, 2004 11:35

I don't think that anyone has a problem with observation. Surely any political group would be keeping an eye on their rivals.

What is not OK is terrorist attacks which are pinned on others. There is a history of the right wing forces in Italy carrying out such attacks. This latest letter bomb attack looks like it might be something similar, designed to allow the EU to introduce further repressive legislation. This is pure speculation on my part, I agree, but there is precedent.

by - Thu Jan 08, 2004 12:26

Why not just legalise terrorism? A reminder that Bertie Ahern thinks so too....

http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/terrorism.html

by Bakunin Thu Jan 08, 2004 14:48

i'm suprised nobody has made the connection but the unabomber when he was sending out and planting bombs all over the US was doing it as an Anarchist and released an anarchist manifesto

http://www.panix.com/~clays/Una/index.html,

now he was was clearly not an anarchist but
he was acting as one in an attempt to send the search off in the wrong direction which worked as he was'nt caught for 9 years (i think)

Related link
http://cat.tao.ca/a4a/una.html

by kokomero Thu Jan 08, 2004 16:50

Cabhog is living in cuckoo land if he thinks the "Christian"
democrats were doing this to defeat communism.

It is pretty obvious that the unscrupulous in Italy seized the
opportunity affoarded by copius amounts of CIA cash to grab
power in the late forties and maintain control until now.

The real problem is that more than 10 years after the collapse
of institutional communism those forces are still in control in
Italy and what's more show no signs of wanting to surrrender
that power.

If anything they are strengthening their grip through P2 lodge
member Silvio Berlusconi, who now has a complete monopoly
on broadcasting in Italy. He also proposes bailing out
Parmalat using a few Billion euros of government money.

Only the foolish and naiive would believe this is a healthy
situation.

by profrv@kaazalite.org Thu Jan 08, 2004 18:10

Okay now we have all covered our well padded butts - the anarchist period of 'propaganda of the deed' lasted a lot longer than just the 1800's, arguably it simply died down with the rise of the yellow and jingo press. Well we have the internet now and if some anarchists (or impersonators) want to practise it that is fine with me. We can defend and explain why a few of us are not pacifists and have reached the end of our patience.The Unabomber cost the USSA state millions and millions of dollars and the IRA did some fine work on boats, posh hotels and stores. Bomb bomb - under diversity of tactics doctrine you have the perfect right to do so... whatever the official anarchists, the cowards and the stupidly unprepared say. There will never be a perfect attentat and there will never be a perfect revolution, but bring back propaganda of the deed. DYNAMITON'S DYNAMITON'S!

by ipse legit Sun Jan 11, 2004 16:00

appears on today's selection of articles offered by editors from other indymedia collectives for like everyone's attention.

with lots of links and info.

it's in english:
http://italy.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=1221&category_id=10
and it it's in italian:
http://italy.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=1220&category_id=20

and it has a neat illustration.
which I shall not upload. sorry. go see it yourself at the italian page. -

by anarchists against ochlarchy Sun Jan 11, 2004 19:22

All of you smug assholes who are dumping on the poor anarchists should read this article before you post any more uninformed comments ......

by nestor - Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici Thu Jan 15, 2004 10:20 internazionale at fdca dot it

MASS STRUGGLES, REPRESSION AND ANARCHISM

Over the last 3 years, the capitalistic tendencies who are seeking to increase and concentrate all the economic and political-military power - both on an international and State level - have muscled in on those other tendencies who instead are trying to create a multilateral power system, based on a style of statist neo-reformism which could assure greater profits for capitalism together with a lower welfare protection.

Imperialist wars, financial crises, deregulation of the institutional and legislative framework for the protection of the weaker classes, the destruction of the fabric of solidarity of the world of salaried labour and attacks on the environment and on health are all directly or indirectly affecting the people, who are finding it ever more difficult to organize and express any form of dissent, objection or struggle by which they could try to change the current situation. A situation which is the result of the economic, political and military choices made by the powers-that-be, who govern in the name of laws they themselves produce, designed to enable them ... to govern.

The drastic reduction and erosion of any possibility for debate and negotiation, or its transformation into fake negotiating tables whose only purpose is to preserve capitalism, has revealed the grim face of militaristic capitalism and the pathetic refusal of its neo-reformist tendencies to safeguard even the minimum interests of the subordinate classes.

This is the backdrop to the development of a large composite, international opposition movement which has played a leading role in vast popular mobilizations which are significant due to their size, their obvious potential for self-organization and self-management and their ability to contrast on the streets with the repressive violence of the State.

In Italy, these last three years have marked the definitive breakdown of the social setup which dates from the last decade of the 20th century, but which proved inadequate in the face of the present conflict. On the one hand, the plunge in the buying power of wages (-9.3% for manual workers, -11.1% for office workers, -27% for pensioners), on the other hand the failure of incomes policy. On the one hand, the bosses' arrogance in company planning (laws on mobility and dismissals/redundancies) and in the renewal of labour contracts (laws providing for wage increases on the level of figures for planned inflation which are lower than official inflation figures, not to mention the figures for real inflation!!), on the other hand the failure of the policy of partnership between unions and governments. On the one hand, the continual restrictions on labour rights (the changes to Article 18 of the Workers' Statute, Law 30/2003, the anti-strike Law 83/2000, separate labour contracts without consultation), on the other hand the crisis in the representativity model imposed by the self-proclaimed majority unions.

The inevitable and consequent radicalization of conflict in the world of labour has enabled the working class to re-discover its long-lost (but not forgotten) autonomy both in struggle and in organization - from Fiat employees to temporary workers, from industrial workers to transport workers. With the destruction of the policy of partnership, we see a rise in importance once more of power relations, the capacity for struggle and for the defence of the workers' specific interests, freed from the neo-corporativist cage. Though the battle for wages in certain sectors remains hard and difficult, the question regarding the right to strike is once again open is struggling free of the straightjacket imposed on it by anti-strike laws and union self-regulation.

The interconnection of labour struggles with social struggles (for the rights of migrants, for the protection of the environment, for peace and against prohibitionism) has come about in a social scenario which has been expertly manipulated throught the disgraceful use of the term terrorist applied to anyone who dares oppose the supreme designs of the executive.

There has been no phase of the clash of the classes over the last three years which has not seen the social movements subjected to repressive treatment, in the full blaze of media publicity - hundreds of searches, arrests, stops, injuries, with a noticeable increase in intensity from Genova 2001 and the strikes of 2002 on.

By now, there is no part of Italy where investigators do not have an open file on political or radical union militants. Every area and tendency has members under investigation, from the anti-war movement to the anti-globalization movement, from environmental groups to anti-prison groups. Police preventiive measure in the name of "national security", repression of demonstrations in the name of "national security", the criminalization of dissent and of self-managed struggles - these are the elements of a strategy whose aim is to intimidate mass movements which are potentialy able to act on the contradictions of capitalism to the extent of becoming a danger above all for the very existence of capitalist domination.

Given that capitalism today can no longer make do with less visible, more "structural" forms of repression (disciplinary sanctions, uncontrolled mobility, dismissals, wage reductions, widespread temporarization of labour, etc.) which directly hit the class in the crucial point of the contradiction between capital and labour, it therefore uses the State as a repressive armed extension of itself with al its laws, police apparata, places of imprisonment in order to select and strike, individually and separately, any transgressors of their laws. They use the threat of illegality to discourage mobilizations, those declared "guilty" are given full media treatment so as to provide an example of what can happen to those who fight. And it is at the very moment that there is a break in the struggles that the repression intensifies and there is an arbitrary spread in the net which is laid out to catch supposed subversive groups and terrorists, thereby locking up an ever-growing number of people and extending the circle to include their acquaintances.

When the social climate hots up and forms of mass self-management start to appear, it is then that, now as in the past, it is the anarchists and libertarians who are the worst hit and who appear most frequently in the investigators' lists, not to mention the traditional journalistic/judicial charges of anarchist plots (witness the equation of "parcel bombs = anarchist movement").

Anarchists are targetted because their stands against capitalism, authoritarianism, militarism and prisons are immediately obvious and result in their repression at the hands of the State apparatus. We know that the love of anarchists for freedom and self-management attracts the noose of the organs of control and government.

We are conscious that our action within the social movements and our continued agitation for the class struggle and its autonomy, disturbs the mechanisms of consensus of a capitalism that is ever darker and exploits more and more. We recognize that what we want, what we do, our theory and our needs are radically opposed to anything which is based on the State and on Capital.

We become the object of preventive, repeated repression, of limitations on our freedom. In this way, it becomes easier to target us and set up provocations and instrumentalization (such as the recent case of tampered bottles of mineral water, attributed to anarchists). But above all, we become a disturbance and annoyance to the State and to authority of all types when anarchists place themselves firmly within the realm of mass struggles and refuse the adventurism and vanguardism of individual clashes with the State and armed terrorist struggle. When anarchism legitimizes itself as a self-managed social and political component of mass struggles, in visible, public mass organizations and with faces uncovered, when it presents itself as an authentic interpretation of the autonomous drives of social self-organization, that is the time when anarchists become cumbersome and dispensible.

But it is in these circumstances that anarchism can best express its organizational abilities, where it can best devote its resources to provide the yeast for the social struggles, in the belief that the organisms of struggle have no passive need for exemplary gestures, social detonators or stirrers of conscience, but rather of horizontal, anti-authoritarian, mass organization. And of the federated political organization of anarchists.

Continuing with our existing struggles, continuing our presence within the organisms of struggle, may not be enough to avoid repression. It therefore becomes necessary to create structures of solidarity and legal defence which can gather the gretest possible support. It becomes necessary to examine the old structures of the anarchist movement (for example the National Committee for Political Victims) which could be used side by side with the specific defence committees which are formed around the country.

Freedom is a social fact which needs the help of everyone in order to be won and has no need for prisoners or warders but for the action and the thoughts of organized and federated conscious individuals.

FREEDOM FOR ALL !

NO TO THE CRIMINALIZATION OF THE SOCIAL STRUGGLES !

CLASS UNITY AGAINST REPRESSION !



FEDERAZIONE DEI COMUNISTI ANARCHICI
31st December 2003


http://www.fdca.it/fdcaen

internazionale@fdca.it

by .:. Thu May 26, 2005 14:08

5 arrests -Danilo Cremonese, Valentina Speziali, Claudia Cospito, Stefano De Moro and Massimo Leonardi, all between 28 and 36 years of age and resident in the area between Pescara and Viterbo in the north of Italy.
http://www.unita.it/index.asp?SEZIONE_COD=HP&TOPIC_TIPO=&TOPIC_ID=42811
http://redazione.romaone.it/4Daction/Web_RubricaNuova?ID=66285&doc=si
http://ilgiorno.quotidiano.net/art/2005/05/26/5377335

They are accused of comprising an armed group of insurrectionists and having attacked the tribunal in Viterbo in january 2004, and of a failed attack on an adult social services office the 23rd October 2003.
There have been seizures of material in Torino, Latina, Napoli, Trieste, Caserta, Firenze, Verona and Bologna.
Indications are of links to the letter bomb sent to Prodi and all of the story above and thus I presume a re-opening of the festering sores, as so many petals of "sub rosa" come up for attention again, been a while, i suppose the table is still laid...

The dissobedienti are going on picnic-
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2005/05/798466.php

Accordingly (coz I sit @ the effin big table) link you to an organisation and forum started by Umberto Eco, (a writer you may have heard of) in reaction to the last time, the strings that jerk the extremes of Italian society were pulled so dramatically.
It's been you know - getting on with it. Talking the talk. Asking the ethical questions.
With a certain underlying metal, so far the "anarcho-insurrectionist blitz psy-op" has not featured in their "blogs", rather they are focussing on the effects of the post-electoral failure of Mr B, the crises at heart of the Italian state, and the legacy of the mafia and how it undermines democracy.
http://www.libertaegiustizia.it/

by ~ Fri May 27, 2005 13:14

come in many different hues, a long tradition, not all of it pleasant, and so it has been interesting to see the reaction of the last days to the "clamp-down" on what the authorities term "insurrectionalist anarchy", its a curious term, the spanish in their own way say "counter system anarchists" or "radicals" to distinguish those individuals and groups who think it worthwhile or desirable, to go into conflict with institutions of localised or regional power. The vast majority of people who subscribe to the libertarian socialist tradition, don't think its tactically beneficial to the needs of the poorest to do so. And indeed it is interesting to note that every time the Italian state "clamps down" on such individuals, indentifying them as politically motivated, rather than just fans of violent rock music, or so, there is an obvious crises in the centre left of italian democracy.
So it was that in these last days, arrests of unknown people from unheard of groups from the north to sardinia, accompanies yet another crises for Prodi. As it was the last time there were arrests in Sardinia for a letter bomb attack on the same Prodi and indeed a letter bomb on a Barcelona newspaper, I recall we all thought it so odd, that in this day and age a letter bomb could get through the airmail from Italy to BCN, but it did they say...
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2005/05/799107.php
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2005/05/798979.php
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2005/05/798958.php

Anyway-
A new site to the memory of Renzo Novatore (the pen name of Abele Ricieri Ferrari) has been launched.
Novatore was killed by the carabinieri in an ambush November 29th 1922. In the post WW1 climate Italy briefly freed herself from the Mafia clans in the south but saw increasing polarisation between the poorest on the traditional "fascist" v. "bolshevik" lines. Italian anarchosyndicalism lacked the inherited experience of its mediterranean counterpart, the Catalan variety, and for a variety of reasons never really got past the elementary stages "of being angry".

the site is online here-

http://www.novatore.it

Meanwhile most Italian anarko~ groups are enjoying the sunshine and engaging in Santo Precario and Cycling protests this weekend and campaiging for their oppressed brothers and sisters in humanity the migrants who are as always victims of human rights abuses as the Italian state attempts to transfer the primary centres of detention and internment beyond the borders of the EU to Libya and Tunisia. There is a crises at the heart of Italy, the same as ever, but history never ever repeats, that's it beauty. "practise makes perfect".

by hmmmmmmm Tue Jul 12, 2005 15:23

One member of the bomb squad was injured and a police dog was killed in the explosion. Italian anarchists are being blamed by some the police officially are not ruling out any suspects, and "the threat has yet to be specified".
http://actualidad.terra.es/nacional/articulo/explosion_barcelona_artefacto_hiere_agente_398094.htm
http://www.economista.com.mx/online4.nsf/0/105D837C37F676A30625703C00497D42?OpenDocument

One of those curious things about "you-know-who" (you-don't-know-who) islamic evil doers is the "we can do that too" response they get.

Accordingly the "non-related" birmingham and of course yawn yawn several ETA bombs at an eletricty plant today complete with warnings of all descriptions. Isn't that what makes them different?

I think they're trying to tell the fundamentalist evil doers how to be less terrorising terrorists. aint that nice?