(Social peace)

The State is weak

The decision of the supervisory court in Rome’s made public on 19 December confirming the detention of the anarchist Alfredo Cospito under 41 bis is in fact a death sentence in view of the comrade’s decision not to break the hunger strike to the bitter end that he began on 20 October. The State is flexing its muscles and preparing for the showdown. Its motto could be summed up as kill one to arrest one hundred, aiming at the liquidation of the anarchist movement, at least that of our generation. What it is actually giving is proof of is its weakness. We have been telling ourselves for two months that this is not the time for analysis and reflection, that the situation is urgent, that action must be taken. Yet, if it is true that for anarchism theory is never separate from practice as they are inextricably intertwined, then perhaps this is precisely the time not to stop and reflect, but to reason while continuing to act.
In a nutshell. We believe that the Italian State has made a big mistake by deciding to apply 41 bis to an imprisoned anarchist for the first time. This mistake has led to the occurrence of the largest mobilisation of denunciation and struggle, concrete and international, against the 41 bis since this infamous regime of annihilation and torture was inaugurated in 1992. This movement is not led by sincere democrats, but is driven in its propulsive essence by the individual action of an indomitable comrade, who is risking his own life in this struggle, and by the many actions and initiatives, individual and collective, of an anarchist movement that has been able to regain its anger and vitality.
In the face of all this, paradoxically, today the State might consider that – since the mistake has now been made and it will have to be paid for – killing Alfredo Cospito could be the least painful option.

The alternative would be defeat and having to take a major step backwards, not least because the international anarchist movement does not, for its part, promise to take steps backwards in exchange for the life of a comrade. Anarchism is not bartering (nor could it ever), a kind of disarmament in exchange for Alfredo’s declassification. Thus the State has no guarantee that the anarchists will stop. On the contrary, it fears they will be invigorated by a victory against 41 bis.
It is a risky bet. And Alfredo’s life today rolls on the dice of these vile gamblers.

Anarchists in 41 bis: genesis of a political-military

Breakthrough attempt It is spring 2022. The country is supported by the government of Unità Nazionale [National Unity] led by what many believe is the most influential man of the European political and economic elites: Mario Draghi. Social peace is suffocating. On the other hand, there is war, real war, on Europe’s doorstep. The Draghi government, particularly its centre-left component, is a fervent supporter of NATO policy. By far one of the most warmongering governments in the alliance. This causes enormous sacrifices for the population. Draghi knows this well and he knows equally well that social peace is a fragile marriage that can collapse at any moment. Draghi knows this well precisely because, as head of the European Central Bank, he is one of those responsible for the social butchery in Greece.

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The homeland of Beccaria? A homeland of gravediggers

So many people are digging for a corpse, but no one takes the responsibility of being the executioner. At the same time, it’s full of gravediggers ready to throw shovels of mud preparing the grave for the anarchist. A confused and dishevelled ballet around the gallows with many bit players: ‘zero tolerance’, institutional blame-game, audience depending changes of course, the spectre of anarchy that keeps the government, or rather the state, ‘under checkmate’, and then the ‘mass-murdering’ anarchists colluding with the mass-murdering mafiosi, with the appearance on stage of the PD [Partito Democratico, “Democratic Party”].

A poorly written and poorly acted theater, a scramble of ignorant ‘experts’, of professional and compulsive liars, of low journalism, sloth and cowardice that does nothing but reveal what is the potential of an individual waging a struggle alone against the state moloch. A moloch, by the way, that by its own makers claim must be very fragile if a few writings on the walls, broken shop windows and a few burnt cars are enough to put it in ‘danger’.

Whichever way you look at it, the struggle of an anarchist thrown into a torture regime has broken the prevailing narrative. Despite the ridiculous attempt to credit him as colluding with (or, even worse, directed by…) the Mafia, despite the ridiculous attempt to misrepresent his acts and words, it would seem that a little critical sense prevails, and that the attempt to undermine his credibility and integrity achieves the opposite effect of bringing out the linear coherence of anti-authoritarians and revolutionaries who continue to defend their ideas and practices without being distracted by the fireworks of post-modern media politics. And that unite, whereas repression would divide.
Continue reading The homeland of Beccaria? A homeland of gravediggers by Anarchist Anna Beniamino (Italy) →