Vandalism at the Italian Cultural Center in London

It appears that on 24th February, something unfortunate happened to the Italian Cultural Institute in London.

At this sophisticated outpost of the Italian state, guests are invited to enjoy a current series of lectures, from handpicked academic experts, on the great social and political issues of the day, with the ambassador in attendance. The previous week, the audience was treated to a discussion of the energy transition, and next week the theme was to be Justice.

All this makes it so regretable that the building’s romanesque facade, with elegant white columns and heavy wooden door, seems to have been soaked in paint by some vandal[s] clearly without the capacity to appreciate such things.

Maybe it was some disbeliever[s] in capitalism’s ‘sustainable’ future? Unhelpful people looking to provoke, always making trouble for sensible plans.

It would be a particular shame if the act casts a shadow on next week’s lecture. A gathering of cultured and cosmopolitan persons to hear about such a delicate subject as Justice surely calls for a glass of Italian wine and a canape consumed in peaceful contemplation.

Could it be that the irresponsible[s] wanted to pour scorn on the Italian State for its massacres in the prisons during the 2020 lockdown? Or for its dependable and bloody role in securing the border of europe against the pressure of irregular migration?

But another troubling interpretation remains. After all, Alfredo Cospito, whose struggle by hunger strike against the notorious isolation regime of 41bis is in its last critical stages, had yet another appeal rejected later that same day, by the wise members of the Italian judiciary.

This struggle, having stirred a whirlwind of action sweeping beyond the walls of the prison, even accross national boundaries, is becoming so severe that it is SUPPOSED to have increased the security around diplomatic buildings of the Italian State internationally for some time now.

Whatever the truth, we can be sure that the impulses behind such an act can only contribute to the general atmosphere of indignation and lack of dialogue with power that Alfredo Cospito’s struggle, against the terms of life and death set by authority, seems to have enflamed everywhere.