Titel: Fascism in Genoa
auteur: Starhawk / ZNet
datum: 26 juli 2001

Fascism in Genoa

I was there when the carabinieri raided the IndyMedia Center and the
Diaz school, in Genoa, at the end of the protest against the G8
meeting. We heard the shouts and screams, couldn't get out the door,
ran upstairs and hid, fearing for our lives. Eventually the cops
found us, but we were the lucky ones. A Member of Parliament was in
our building; lawyers and media arrived. There was some obscure
Italian legal reason why the police could be deterred. They withdrew.

But nothing could save our friends across the street, at the school
where people were sleeping and where another section of the
Independent Media were located. The police entered: the media and the
politicians were kept out. And they beat people. They beat people who
had been sleeping, who held up their hands in a gesture of innocence
and cried out, "Pacifisti! Pacifisti!" They beat the men and the
women. They broke bones, smashed teeth, shattered skulls. They left
blood on the walls, on the windows, a pool of it in every spot where
people had been sleeping.
When they had finished their work, they brought in the ambulances.
All night long we watched from across the street as the stretchers
were carried out, as people were taken to the jail ward of the
hospital, or simply to jail. And in the jail, many of them were
tortured again, in rooms with pictures of Mussolini on the wall.
This really happened. Not back in the nineteen thirties, but on the
night of July 21 and the morning of July 22, 2001. Not in some third
world country, but in Italy: prosperous, civilized, sunny Italy. And
most of the victims are still in the hospital or in jail, as I write
this four days later.

I can't adequately describe the shock and the horror of that night.
But as terrifying as it was to live through it, what is more
frightening still are its implications:

That the police could carry out such a brutal act openly, in the face
of lawyers, politicians and the media means that they do not expect
to be held accountable for their actions. Which means that they had
support from higher up, from more powerful politicians. According to
a report published in La Repubblica from a policeman who took part in
the raid, when the more democratic factions within the police
complained that the Constitution was being violated, they were told,
"We don't have anything to be worried about, we're covered."

- That those politicians also do not expect to be condemned or driven
from office means that they too have support from higher up,
ultimately, from Berlusconi, Italy's Prime Minister, himself.
- That they could beat, torture, and falsely arrest Italians means
that they do not expect to be held accountable by their own people.
- That they could beat, torture and imprison internationals shows
that they do not expect to be held accountable by the international
community. And indeed, who is going to hold them accountable? George
Bush, the unelected, unmandated heir of a coup? Sweden, which just
used live ammunition on protestors? Canada, builders of the Wall of
Shame?
That Berlusconi could support such acts means that he must be certain
of support from other international powers, and that these overtly
fascist actions are linked to the growing international escalation of
repressionagainst protestors.

That the Italian government used tactics learned from Quebec: the
wall, the massive use of tear gas, and that the RCMP had observers in
Genoa in preparation for next year's meeting in Calgary, means that
police repression is also a global network. As we learn from each
action, so do they.

That the Italian government are now targeting the organizers of the
Genoa Social Forum shows where their agenda was heading all along:
the discrediting of the antiglobalization network, the discouraging
of peaceful and legal protest as well as direct action. The leader of
the Forum has lost his job. Others are fearing for their freedom and
safety.

It's hard to make sense of all that happened in Genoa. So much
happened so fast, and in the middle of it it was hard to know what
was going on.
The Black Bloc suddenly appear in the midst of a square that is
supposed to be a safe space for peaceful gatherings: the police gas
and beat the women and the pacifists and let the Bloc escape. We are
having a quiet lunch in the convergence center by the sea, when
suddenly tear gas cannisters are flying into the eating area and a
pitched battle begins directly outside, not a hundred yards away from
the main march.
Prisoners report being tortured until they agree to shout "Viva il
Duce!" The police rationale for the attack on the school was the
supposed presence of members of the Black Bloc-but they never
attacked the actual Black Bloc encampment, and by the night of the
attack most of the Black Bloc had left the city. I'm not an
investigative reporter-I'm an activist and once upon a time when life
was not so overwhelming I was a novelist. I don't like conspiracy
theories but I make sense of the world through stories. Genoa makes
sense to me if this is the plot:

"Memo: Italian Security to Italian Government/U.S. and International Advisors:
"Subject: Covert Security Plan for Genova
"Top Secret!

  "The overt Security Plan for the Genova G8 meeting has been covered
in a separate memo. The subject of this memo is the covert plan.

"Phase One: Lead up to the action: This phase is characterized by two
major aspects: the creation of a climate of fear and anticipated
violence by the stockpiling of body bags, deployment of missiles,
etc.And second, a concerted effort to undermine the popularity of the
stronger, radical groups such as the 'Tute Bianca' or White Overalls
through smear campaigns, accusations that they cooperate with the
police etc. If necessary, we will plant actual bombs to increase the
climate of fear.

"Phase Two: Recruitment and infiltration:
We will concentrate on infiltrating the Black Bloc and strategically
placing provocateurs who will be in positions to instigate attacks,
violence, and destruction of private property which will turn the
population against the protestors.
In addition, we will encourage Fascist groups to run as segments of
the Bloc which will then give us an excuse to attack the main body of
protestors

"Phase Three: Friday, 20 July.
We arm the police and carabinieri with live ammunition rather than
rubber or plastic bullets. With luck, deaths will result. Our 'Bloc'
can appear strategically near any group we wish to attack, giving us
the excuse to gas and beat the 'nonviolent' demonstrators. Protestors
should be severely beaten and arrested protestors tortured to deter
them from further demonstrations.
In addition, our Bloc will instigate the destruction of property,
particularly small shops, private cars, and will attack and beat
other demonstrators, perhaps even a nun or two, further discrediting
the anarchists. A high level of violence and destruction should
lessen the numbers expected for Saturday's march.

"Phase Four: Saturday, 21 July.
Our strategy here is directed to undermine, divide, and disperse the
march. We instigate more property damage and police battles in the
morning near the assembly point of the
march.
One of our factions will attack the Tute Bianca during the march itself.
Shortly after noon, we begin a battle just outside the convergence
center, near the corner where the march turns north, giving us the
excuse to gas the convergence center. We attempt to drive the battle
into the march, splitting or disrupting it, and providing the
rationale to attack the march with tear gas and other dispersal
agents.

"Phase Five: Post-march.
We continue the climate of fear with a midnight raid on the main
communications center and sleeping quarters of the protestors. Severe
force is justified by rumors of Black bloc presence. We uncover
'evidence' of connections between the Genova Social Forum and
the bloc, thereby discrediting them. Beatings, arrests and torture
willdiscourage future involvement with protests.

"Phase Six: Sunday, 22 July and beyond:
We continue harrassment and random arrests of foreigners and
suspected protestors. We begin a campaign of accusations against the
Genoa Social Forum, connecting them
with the Black Bloc, moving against their employment, their
credibility, and possibly taking legal action against them. This will
also force them to disavow the Black Bloc, further splitting the
movement.

This memo is fiction, but I believe it's essentially true. Like a
mathematical proof, it has a simple internal consistency that makes
sense of the known facts. And there is more and more mounting
evidence that the 'black bloc' in Genoa was significantly composed of
organized fascist groups working in collaboration with the police.

If it is true, even partly true, what does it mean to us?
It means that the response to the events in Genoa will determine what
level of force can be used against future demonstrations, whether we
will see smashed skulls and more deaths in Calgary, and blowtorches
in the armpits in the third world.

There are signs, however, that their strategy may backfire. On Monday
all over Italy 250,000 people took to the streets. The pressure is on
for the Minister of the Interior to resign; Berlusconi's government
is threatened.

There were demonstrations at Italian embassies all over the world. We
need to keep the pressure on, to make sure the issue doesn't fade
away. Keep calling and writing the embassies. Get your political
organization, union, workplace or group of best friends to write and
call. Ask your local news media why they are not telling this story.
Now is not the moment to be idealogical and purist; now is the moment
to call in all our allies, set aside our differences, and act in
solidarity. For if this level of repression goes unchallenged, no one
is safe, not the most legal NGO, not the most reformist organization
with the mildest demands. If we don't act now, when a political space
remains open to us, we may lose the space to act at all.

Continue to organize and mobilize for the next one. Fear is their
most powerful weapon. The fact that they must resort to fascist
violence shows that we are a serious threat.
If we want to continue to be a threat, we also need to look
critically at our own movement, to identify what we do that leaves us
wide open to infiltration and manipulation.

And we need both better preparation and better networks of support
for these actions.