Above : "Members of the 'New Right' pose as a ‘black bloc’ and stand in the same spot for an hour or two so that they can relate the story of this adventure at parties they will never be invited to." Source : CrowdedWorld
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The beating heart of the nation, Canberra, came alive recently, with spirited Chinese and Tibetan protest. Alongside of the Tibetans were their comrades, a group of perhaps a dozen or so members of the 'New Right', once again bravely facing down the Communist hordes. In Italy, the far right has also been protesting:
The demonstrators who’ve been disrupting the progress of the Olympic torch around the world have found an unwelcome ally in the Italian far right. Last month, Forza Nuova cashed in on the popularity of the ‘flame of shame’ protests to organise a rally of their own outside the Chinese embassy in Rome. Their leader, Roberto Fiore, expressing outrage at the treatment of the Tibetans, called for the immediate severing of diplomatic relations between China and Italy and a boycott of the games by Italian athletes. The ulterior motive for his unlikely concern for Tibet isn’t hard to make out: one of his campaign slogans calls for ‘un’Italia senza extracomunitari’ (an Italy without non-Europeans, which would mean getting rid of the 200,000 or so Chinese immigrants who live here).
~ Thomas Jones, Short Cuts, London Review of Books, April 24, 2008
In terms of the recent Italian election, the 'extreme' right (the Italian Social Action Party), with Alessandra Mussolini, the Fascist dictator's granddaughter and Sophia Loren's niece, as its mascot, did even worse than the 'far' left, collecting two per cent of the votes and winning no seats. (See The collapse of Rifondazione Comunista in Italy: The price of opportunism, Peter Schwarz, wsws.org, April 25, 2008.) Of course, that doesn't stop fascism from expressing itself more directly: for example, following the Corrupt Knight's return, fascists staged an attack on the Mario Mieli Centre in Rome.
---- Solidarity with the "Circolo Mario Mieli" ----
Fascism is not only an authoritarian superstructure, used from time to time by capitalism: it is also the spearhead of an ideology that is sneaking its way through our society. An ideology that can be seen in the rising arrogance of men, in the rising arrogance of the bosses, in the rising authoritarianism of the State and in the slimy paternalism of the Church.
Several days ago, the Circolo di cultura omosessuale Mario Mieli ["Mario Mieli" homosexual culture club] in the San Paolo neighbourhood of Rome was attacked by a fascist squad shouting "fucking poofs!" and praising Mussolini, who damaged the club's entrance while some activists were meeting in an upstairs room.
We would like to express our solidarity with the club and we denounce this latest attack in a long series which has seen the fascist squads engaging in an escalation of violence, including the death some time ago [August 26, 2006] of Renato Biagetti in Focene, near Rome.
[Renato was actively involved in the social center movement in Rome and visited the “Acrobax" often, where his brother was also active. His hobby was music. On August 26, 2006, he went to a reggae party in Fiumicino, near Rome. After the party, while heading home, he was stopped by two young men and attacked. They stabbed him several times in the heart and lungs. He died at age 26.]
These attacks by squadristi, a practice consolidated over the years, never abandoned by the fascists, are usually directed against social centres, occupied houses, associations, against "leftists" and other individuals who do not conform to their hateful ideology.
So in this climate of intolerance and rising racism, the 25th April, when Italy remembers the Liberation from Fascism, takes on a new and special importance.
The struggle against fascism, whose greatest moment was the war of liberation fought by the partigiani, was not then, and is not now simply a struggle against the purest form of capitalist authoritarianism. It is also the struggle of aspiration towards a society of social justice and equality. Today, more so than ever, class-struggle anti-fascism must remember that.
Today more than ever because now it is clear that both the centre-left and the centre-right are attempting to rid the 25th April of its class significance and its militant anti-fascism, turning it into a mere ceremony of "democracy".
Against this, we say:
Fascism is not only an authoritarian superstructure, used from time to time by capitalism: it is also the spearhead of an ideology that is sneaking its way through our society. An ideology that can be seen the the rising arrogance of men, in the rising arrogance of the bosses, in the rising authoritarianism of the State and in the slimy paternalism of the Church.
Fascism is the strong arm of the State that kills you when you get home late or kills you in prison because you were growing a couple of marijuana plants.
Fascism is the arrogance of landlords, the arrogance of entrepreneurs who gamble with your life, and the homophobic obsession of the Church.
If we want to honour the struggle of the many comrades who fought in the Resistenza, who paid with their lives for their desire to see a world free from fascism, a world of justice and equality, then we must make sure that the 25th April is a day when we actively remember the struggle against all forms of authoritarianism...
Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici
"Luigi Fabbri" Branch, Roma
21 April 2008
Speaking of which, check 'Alive and Kicking: Review of Anarchy Alive! Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory', by Uri Gordon (Pluto Press, 2008), reviewed by Alex Prichard, Anarchist Studies 16:1; also the Anarchist Studies archive.
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