Genoa: 10 years on

Statement on the 10th anniversary of the Genoa G8 massacre

Ten years have gone by. The very day after those tragic events of July 2001, along with Carlo's parents, we were demanding the truth and justice for that body lying on the ground in Piazza Alimondi, that young life ended by two shots from a pistol fired by those who are supposed to be the protectors of "law and order". We also demanded truth and justice for the hundreds of women and men during those days in Genoa who were maltreated, beaten and humiliated by those who are supposed to be the protectors of law and order. Ten years have gone by, but we have still had precious little truth and even that has been thanks to alternative media sources. Of justice we have still yet to see any at all. [Italiano]

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Genoa: 10 years on

Ten years have gone by. The very day after those tragic events of July 2001, along with Carlo's parents, we were demanding the truth and justice for that body lying on the ground in Piazza Alimondi, that young life ended by two shots from a pistol fired by those who are supposed to be the protectors of "law and order". We also demanded truth and justice for the hundreds of women and men during those days in Genoa who were maltreated, beaten and humiliated by those who are supposed to be the protectors of law and order.

Ten years have gone by, but we have still had precious little truth and even that has been thanks to alternative media sources. Of justice we have still yet to see any at all.

It is bitter, though not surprising, to think that in this country - known throughout the world for its unsolved massacres - State officials found guilty of abuse against defenceless citizens do not have to answer for what they have done and go on wearing their uniforms and indeed, in many cases, get promoted; it fills us with indignation but comes as no surprise that here, in this unfortunate country, a killing on the streets in broad daylight at the hand of members of the forces of law and order should be hushed up without even a hint of a trial. Neither is anyone surprised by the fact that the person who as it were politically directed the activities of the armed forces in those days in Genoa should still be a member of parliament, with one of the highest positions in the State. Someone who certain areas of the "left" even consider a credible political partner!

Italy is a country where with each budget more and more is stolen from the poor and given to the rich, a country where dying in workplace accidents no longer makes the news, where it is only too easy to spend your working life flitting from temporary contract to temporary contract and be derided by a Minister of the Republic for your troubles, a country where foreigners who seek a better life are committing a crime and are expelled (or even shot at while they are still at sea), where common goods (i.e. those goods which belong to all citizens) are sold off or simply given to Capital. A country whose political class has fully adopted the neo-liberal ideology and infused it with racist and xenophobic overtones.

The Italy which hosted the G8 in Genoa 10 years ago is not much different than today's, or that of the past. Faced with tens of thousands of people from all over the world who wanted to show that another world was possible, to debate questions of common interest, to shout out their opposition to neo-liberal economic policies, the State could only do what it always does: it offered armoured vehicles, provocation, repression, with some wire mesh and a red zone thrown in for the occasion. In other words they sought to reduce the demands of that wide, variegated, intelligent and determined popular movement into a simple matter of public order.

But that worldwide, visionary movement that died in Genoa in 2001 with Carlo did leave its social and political testament, which in time was adopted once mroe by those who fight against the destruction of the environment, the privatization of common goods, for the right of free movement of people, against war and military spending, against racism and xenophobia, for dignity and safety in the workplace, for the right to work and against casualized work, for the redemption of all the Souths in the world.

We anarchist communists, we libertarians, were there in Genoa in 2001 just as we have always been present wherever we need to defend and allow humanity to progress in the face of barbarity. We are still here today and we will be tomorrow, in the social, political and labour struggles, bringing with us our ideals, our ideas and our vision.

"We have a new world in our hearts"

Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici

21 July 2011

Meeting point for demonstration: 4.00pm in Piazza Settembrini. March to Piazza Caricamento at 5.00pm leaving from Piazza Montano in Sampierdarena.