| nettime's_rumormonger on Mon, 23 Jul 2001 18:11:10 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> genoa, sorta digest [tiziana, brown, dominguez] |
Tiziana <T.Terranova@btinternet.com>
Global police state
"Lachlan Brown" <lachlan@london.com>
'that fury that will shine'
"ricardo dominguez" <rdom@thing.net>
Is Italy governed by fascists? strano.net
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Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 09:42:47 +0100
Subject: Global police state
From: Tiziana <T.Terranova@btinternet.com>
I am in London, bound to take a plane to Italy in a couple of hours and
listening to news direct while watching BBC news and browsing indymedia, la
repubblica, bbc news and so on. The version of the Genoa events passed by
news direct, the ITN radio news service, was very disturbing: the violent
and brutal raid against the GSF is quickly hinted to, but as a kind of
regular police operation, and most of the feature is taken by Tony Blair
stating that demonstrators are obviously to blame. If the police was ever to
blame, apparently, the world would become incomprehensible to Mr. Blair.
Nothing on BBC news that I could see.
The police raid carried out on the GSF saturday night was horrifying and
needs to be of great concern for several reasons. The people in the building
were sleeping and unarmed and according to witnesses who listened outside to
their screams and saw the pools of blood inside after the police finished,
the violence was just very brutal, of a level and intensity that had not
been seen in Western Europe for decades. It has become clear to everybody
who has followed the events that Italy is living in a fascist regime to all
effects, a postmodern one where il duce is a man who thinks he can turn a
whole country in one of his TV programmes, a man incapable, as somebody
said, to understand the rules of democratic dissent and a government that is
playing with the fire of the fascist ghosts of the Italian past. It will be
up to the Italians to build a swift, massive and mature political defense of
their democratic rights.
But what is going on at a global scale? Who can put pressure on the Italian
Government so that they will have to accept that what they have allowed and
ordered is unacceptable, considering the level of documentation of the riots
that we have? Bush? Blair? Were we so concerned with the globalisation of
capital, that we haven't really noticed the globalization of the State, and
in particular of the police State? If such a level of police violence (the
comparison of witnesses is with seventies Chile under Pinochet) is
acceptable and justified at a global level in a major western nation, I
think we are crossing a threshold here. There is no level of street violence
that can justify such an attack. This is obviously a message to anybody who
believes in the necessity of organized democratic expression from below. For
whatever complicated reasons we are living in 2001 with at least three world
leaders Bush, Blair and Berlusconi (BBB as a friend made me notice) who are
reluctant to accept the notion of legitimate democratic dissent, as if
governing a country was just receiving a mandate for four years that will
give you absolute dispensation from the general framework of democratic
rights.
Please, keep an eye on Italy and support the Italian defense of democratic
rights by exercising pressure on your governments, corporate media and
Italian embassies. It does feel as if the country is stepping in a very
dangerous spot and this is a turn that has implications for the whole
anti-corporate globalisation movement but also for the whole globe itself.
tiziana
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From: "Lachlan Brown" <lachlan@london.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 17:25:59 +0800
Subject: 'that fury that will shine'
from: Tiziana <T.Terranova@btinternet.com>
to: Lachlan Brown <lachlan@london.com>, Tim Lawrence
<timlawrence@freenet.co.uk>, Jeremy Gilbert <jeremy.gilbert@ntlworld.com>,
Jo - Essex <jentwist@essex.ac.uk>, Ashwani Sharma <a.sharma@talk21.com>,
Pauline van Mourik Broekman <pauline@metamute.com>, patricia clough
<Stmart96@aol.com>, Andrew Ross <andrew.ross@nyu.edu>, Josephine Berry
<josie@metamute.com>, Timothy Bewes <timothy.bewes@btinternet.com>, ian
craib <icraib@essex.ac.uk>, Iain Chambers <i.chambers@tiscalinet.it>, Simon
Critchley <simonc@essex.ac.uk>, luciana parisi <l.parisi@btinternet.com>,
shawn lonergan <baldbeast1@yahoo.com>, "Canessa, Andrew L"
<canessa@essex.ac.uk>, Anthony Barnett <Anthony.Barnett@opendemocracy.net>,
Marc Bousquet <marc.bousquet@louisville.edu>, Jonathan Burston
<jburston@yahoo.com>, "carole@southspace.org" <carole@southspace.org>,
domietta torlasco <domietta@yahoo.com>, eammon carrabine
<eamonn@essex.ac.uk>, Gaetano Sassone <g.sassone@tin.it>, Gholam Khiabany
<khiabag@westminster.ac.uk>, herbert pimlott <hpimlott@uwindsor.ca>, Les
Levidow <L.Levidow@open.ac.uk>, Annamaria Morelli <morellan@tin.it>,
Raminder Kaur <raminder100@hotmail.com>, Silvana Carotenuto
<silcarot@tiscalinet.it>
cc:
subject:
date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 17:05:15 +0100
This is a message that just got to me from my friend Betti in Genoa. For
those of you who might have followed what has been going on through the
indymedia reports, this will be old news, but i thought it is worth
circulating. The Italian police, with the authorization and blessing of the
Italian government, has obviously crossed a very dangerous line, where they
think they can carry out violent expedition on civilians with no
accountability whatsoever. The killing of carlo giuliani, and the
indiscriminate attack on pacifist protesters, have been compounded by last
night fascist raid on the Indymedia headquarters and the headquarters of the
Genoa Social Forum movement, where over fifty young protesters, asleep in
their sleeping bags, were barbarously attacked and obviously very badly
beaten up by the police. No journalists or MPs were allowed into the
building while the beating went on, they were left outside to hear the
terrified screams of the young people in the building. Ambulances picked up
the injured protestors and drove them to the hospitals, again without
allowing any witnesses to monitor the situation. The centre (a school in
normal times) was covered in blood, spots and pools as somebody has
described it. The news this morning is that many of those sleeping at the
Centre have been arrested and taken straight from the hospital to jail with
no legal advice. Berlusconi has promised the police a pay rise for their
performance (www.repubblica.it). This behavior is intolerable and an insult
to basic civic and political rights. Do e-mail, fax or write to the Italian
Embassy in London to show your opposition to political tactics that are more
than reminiscent of fascist days...
The Embassy of Italy
14 Three King's Yard
London W1Y 2EH, England
T: +44 (0)171.312.2200
F: +44 (0)171.312.2230
Tx: 051 23520 ITADP
emblondon@embitaly.org.uk
For those of you who are in London there is a demo organized in front of the
Italian Embassy tomorrow at 10 am and 6pm. More info on www.indymedia.org.uk
This is Betti's report from Genoa
Sunday morning helicopters still above what are they looking for I wonder
more blood?
there were 200thousands people yesterday probably more and no leaders one
word only echoed in the unreal deserted city: murderers.
police Friday killed a young man, 23 years old. A 'carabiniere' shot him in
the FOREHEAD. The minister of internal affairs and the government
immediately spoke of legitimate defence. Carlo Giuliani, the man killed, was
armed with an extinguisher. The cop had a gun, loaded, pointed against his
head. To kill.
You must have seen the photo sequence of the hand of the cop coming out of
the police van to shot Carlo. Immediately after he fell the van reversed
fast trampling his body twice. We only hope he was already dead.
Berlusconi and the president spoke of the necessity of MORE order in the
streets, and of their solidarity with all the police forces in action in
Genova. Their grotesque meeting went on in a city in which the only redzone
is now the abnormal calm little square where somebody's blood will stain
forever this city, this movement, this protest.
Yesterday it was the day of the huge authorised demo. The police brutally
cut the demos in two and for hours threw teargas on the protesters who were
all pacific. I was at the start of the second part of the demo surrounded by
pacifists of all sort, there were many very recognisable flags, green,
environmentalists, old communists, trade unionists, people on wheelchairs,
kids, nobody was armed, it was utterly pacific, nevertheless the police
threw teargas to push everybody back and did not allow the meeting with the
other huge group ahead.
In the middle of the two branches of the demo, the infamous few dozens so
called 'black bloc', destroyers, violent, urban fighters with molotov,
stones, sticks. Everywhere they passed the city has been tore apart, shops
looted, petrol stations and banks destroyed, cars burned, barricades
erected, glass smashed, fire and chaos. They even attacked Genoa Social
Forum HQ, the committee that organised the antig8 protest and that collects
all sort of protesters.
Police did nothing to isolate the responsible of the more evident violence,
while they used all their power to stop and arrest protesters who were
trying to reach Genova. What really happened and many witnessed it, was that
police stood back to watch looting+destruction only to attack the mass of
pacific protestors who were following and this happened both Friday and
Saturday. Witnessed report of suspicious collusion between people in black
and the police forces. There are pics of people in black taking a break from
throwing stones and finding shelter among the police, as well as some of
them coming out of the police station, also cops dressed in black and
disguised as protesters.
There is a history of institutional forces operating in this way to increase
the social+political tension, to have the pretext for tighter measures of
repression and we know how close can be this 'strategy of tension' with a
fascist government.
Forget any appearance of democracy: Italy is again in the grip of a fascist
regime. One that legitimate the public execution of those who claim the
right to protest, to disobey, to say no. There were so many tears in the
streets and only few of them were because of the teargas. People is
angry+sad. Very angry+very sad.
These Genova days must mark a threshold in the anticapitalist
antiglobalization movement and not only because of its first victim, but
because of the sudden shift in awareness these events caused. First of all,
the awareness that the movement is strong, and what the state, the organised
transcapital, and their armed guardians really fear is not a tiny group of
masked vandals but the immense multitude of people in the streets who do not
agree with this political situation. They will try to use black bloc as the
responsible, the scapegoat and the ultimate culprit for their actions of
aggression and violence against the people, but it will not work.
This awareness of strenght despite the blood is spreading fast and furious,
everywhere, from the teenager of the social centres to the old genovese men
and women who were helping protesters opening their doors during the police
assaults, and that with no hesitation connected these days with their
memories of nazi occupation and brutality. This awareness is here spreading
fast and furious, among the anarchists, whose name is constantly associated
with the worst of violence, the pacifists with their hands painted white and
raised up, which didnšt save them from the police batons, the drop the debt
activists, the environmentalists, the women, the refugees, the Kurds, the
migrants, the greens, the anti-hiv, the autonomen, the communists, the free
spirits, the 'loose dogs', well everybody who was here regardless of their
flag and their grouping.
But awareness on its own is not enough. Talking with other people at the
meeting point of Indymedia, which was in the night assaulted by the police
searching for the black bloc, the main thing emerging is really how to
negotiate forms of collective action able to address violence in its
senseless and gratuitous forms. This is not an easy task. The Bern activist
I was talking with and myself ended up debating testosterone and male
education by women as a root action to channel violence, but really it is as
much about solidarity and testing communal living and action.
I leave with a great sadness in my heart, because somebody was killed and
the 8 most revolting people didnt even have the dignity to suspend their
lavish dinners, and I will not be able to look at my city in the same way
after thsi. But also I have a great fury in my soul, of that kind that can
move rocks and achieve the impossible. That kind of fury that wants action,
direction, and great focus, that fury that will shine and find its action,
direction and focus even more if togehter with other similar furies.
love to all of you
be
betti marenko
>
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From: "ricardo dominguez" <rdom@thing.net>
To: <nettime-l@bbs.thing.net>
Subject: Is Italy governed by fascists? strano.net
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 08:06:28 -0400
from: <macchina@kyuzz.org>
sent: Sunday, July 22, 2001 8:40 PM
subject: Please forward
Is Italy governed by fascists?
If you come to an affirmative answer for this ominous question after
reading our comment, then the second question that your conscience must
answer to is 'what to do to change the state of things'.
We ask such questions after Genoa's facts, particularly following the
annihilation and massacre of the Genoa Social Forum's communication centre.
After three days of street massacre and one shot dead man, the young
demonstrator Carlo Giuliani, on a scene where -keep it in mind for the
future times- police referred to the hundred of thousands of pacific
demonstrators ONLY on a military basis ('black block' being just an escuse
to do it), after hundreds of wounded, many serious, here come the news on
saturday night of an illegal assault to an independant information centre,
news which all uf us must reflect on, news that brought us to ask such
questions.
Infact the procedures of repressive actions against the demonstration -from
Giuliani's death to the demostrant-looking-like infiltrated groups which
succeeded in mixing themselves with the crowd just in order to setup
provocations-, and moreover the procedures of the last extremely serious
act of assault the Genoa Social Forum headquarter, led us to the conviction
that Italy has become a fascist State. Before it's too late we must
strongly denounce and set up a political reaction on an international
level, to get out from this renewed dictatorship climax.
Luckily the largest part of official media, even amongst nauseating
political analysis and absolutely distorting press articles, are focusing
on the real facts just the way they happened. Anyway, we invite you to have
a look the following indipendant sources, to find correspondences, reply
and confirmations of what we are going to say in the next lines:
http://www.italy.indymedia.org
http://www.radiogap.net/it/index.html
http://www.ecn..org/g8
http://www.tmcrew.org
http://www.carta.org
http://www.genoa-g8.org
An innovative and exciting 'autonomous information' experiment -covering
the Net (where images, audio and video materials have being arriving with
more-than-professional quickness and quality, ready to start a worldwide
trip) but the real world too (radio boosting real-time information)- was
terminated in BLOOD.
Radiogap from Genoa stopped transmitting after the brutal police attack ,
while the last words spoken on air were 'like Chile, just like Chile...'.
Then silence from Genoa. A silence which is like a punch in the stomach.
We intend to denounce what happened last night, July 21, in the operative
headquarter of the pacific demonstrating movement Genoa Social Forum, being
also a place where indipendant information regarding counter-demonstrations
were broadcasted. The assault was clearly organized in the aim of stopping
the independant media operations thorugh fascist repression:
- ALL the people of the Centre were wounded and arrested
- Deputees and lawyers kept away from the scene with violent actions
- Searches, confiscations of all the informative documents
- (Obviously) illegal damages to all the equipments and stuff in the Centre.
This all is not only incredibly serious, uncostitutional, illegal,
unacceptable. It is also a clear warning saying that Italy has become a
fascist State, unable to grant democratic and costitutional freedom to its
citizens, and this is why we invite the journalists and political parties
to move on and denounce the state of things (we expecially invite those
who are NOT italian, as we don't know how long the italians can act freely
in the sunlight).
sTRANONETWORk www.strano.net
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