Extreme right power grab attempt in Italy

This 9 December 2018 video says about itself:

Demonstrators gathered in Turin on Saturday to protest against the high-speed train connection between France and Italy.

The so-called ‘No TAV’ activists called for the government to stop the infrastructure project, which they say would cause extensive damages to Susa valley.

“We are against the TAV because as inhabitants of the Susa Valley we would find ourselves involved in an environmental disaster. The tunnel would bring huge problems, especially for materials and rocks that are extracted,” said Mauro Rolando, one of the protesters.

‘No TAV’, the group behind the demonstration, is a movement set up to counter the construction of various high-speed railway lines in Italy and France. The name comes from the Italian acronym for Treno Alta Velocita (high speed train). The movement questions the usefulness, cost, and safety of the project and its actualisation, which they believe is being driven by European construction lobbies.

Italian construction lobbies are connected to the mafia. Susa Valley people fear that with this construction, the mafia would come to their region.

In the present Italian coalition government, the extreme right Lega party of Salvini supports the construction; while the Five Star Movement opposes it.

By Marianne Arens:

Italy: Salvini seeks coalition with fascist Fratelli d’Italia

10 August 2019

The leader of the far-right Lega, vice-premier and interior minister Matteo Salvini, is looking to end the governing coalition with the Five Star Movement (M5S). Under conditions in which no political party represents the interests of the working class, the Lega is mobilizing its right-wing radical base to take another step towards fascism.

On Thursday, Salvini visited the head of government, Giuseppe Conte. He called on him and President Sergio Mattarella to put an immediate end to the government coalition and to initiate new elections. In the European elections at the end of May, the Lega had doubled its votes to 34 percent. It is currently polling around 37 percent.

Now it wants to get rid of its weakened coalition partner, M5S, with the aim of forming a joint government with the Italian fascists Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy). This party, whose roots—through various branches—go back to the National Fascist Party of Benito Mussolini, is currently polling around 7 percent. A coalition with Forza Italia, led by former head of government Silvio Berlusconi, is also under discussion. It also stands at 7 percent.

Speaking to followers on the beach of Pescara, Salvini said on Thursday evening: “I ask the Italians to give me full power so that things can be done the way they have to be done.” In order to end the government by a vote of no confidence, he continued in a deliberately coarse tone, the elected deputies would have to be willing to get off their asses and return from vacation to parliament.

Salvini is seeking to take advantage of the present situation to prepare fascist forms of rule in a surprise coup. This goal was already strengthened by the adoption of the new, stricter security law in the Italian Senate on August 5. The Decreto Sicurezza bis has once again significantly amplified the features of the previous Salvini Decree, which has already driven tens of thousands into illegality.

While the NGO ship Open Arms has been waiting nine days on the open sea for 121 rescued migrants to be allowed to land, the Senate has once again drastically tightened the penalties for rescue at sea. The new law provides for fines ranging from €150,000 to €1 million and the immediate arrest of captains of ships sailing in Italian waters without permission. The state may now immediately seize and expropriate the vessel concerned. In addition, the law requires hotel owners and other accommodation providers to inform the authorities of newly arrived migrants within 24 hours under threat of severe penalties.

The obligation to report the presence of migrants shows that the bans and police-state measures of the new law are directed against the entire working class. This is also made clear by Article 5, which refers to public demonstrations and sporting events. It imposes heavy penalties on any “destruction, plunder and damage” in public spaces and makes the organisers liable for it. This is also directed against strikes, demonstrations and rallies by workers fighting for their wages and jobs, whose leaders can now be held liable for all damages, even if caused by provocateurs.

The new law also provides for prison sentences of one to three years for those who evade the state authorities at public events or oppose the police with “signs or other passive objects of protection” or projectiles. Funds for the police and covert investigations are also significantly increased. Here, too, the law serves to promote a police state.

Salvini owes the passage of this law in parliament to Lega’s partner M5S, as it could not have passed in the Senate without the votes of the M5S MPs. Although some of them had argued against it, in the end all M5S senators voted for it or abstained.

It was not until Wednesday, during the vote on the TAV high-speed rail project, that the government camp was openly split. The rejection of this railway project, which connects the cities of Turin and Lyon, France, by means of a mountain tunnel, was one of the central election promises of the Five Star Movement and won the votes of many environmentalists.

Salvini is aiming to hold new elections and to become the leader of a far-right government. His party received 34 percent of the votes in the recent European elections and has since recorded stronger polling results. He wants to form a coalition with the fascist Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, or with both. On Tuesday, Salvini had talks with Fratelli d’Italia leader Giorgia Meloni and with Berlusconi. However, the decision on what steps to take next lies with President Sergio Mattarella of the opposition Democratic Party (PD). If the government falls next week, he has three options: to find a new majority in the existing Senate, call new elections or appoint a “technocratic” transitional government: here.

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Italian government deportation of Sinti, Roma

This 19 July 2019 video says about itself:

Italy Prepares to Round Up Sinti and Roma

Evoking memories of the Holocaust, when so-called “Gypsies” were targeted, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini uses his authority to call for demolition of settlements of Sinti and Roma minorities in Italy, and rounding up those who do not carry Italian identification papers for mass deportation.

Italian neo-fascist weapons firearms cache discovered

This 29 April 2018 video says about itself:

Hundreds of neo-fascists travelled to former Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini‘s tomb in the Italian town of Predappio on Sunday, to mark the 73rd anniversary of Mussolini’s death.

One of Mussolini’s grand-daughters, Edda Negri Mussolini, addressed the crowd.

Mussolini ruled Italy from 1930 to 1943. He was an ally of Nazi Germany during the World War II.

His legacy continues to influence a number of groups in Italy. Every year, neo-fascist and far-right groups hold ceremonies and parades to pay their respects.

The video shows foreign fascists were also present, eg, veterans of the French Charlemagne division of Adolf Hitler’s SS.

After the discovery of a German neo-fascist policemen’s weapons cache …

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

Missile found at right-wing extremists‘ in northern Italy

During house searches in northern Italy, the police found an arsenal of right-wing extremists. Three arrests were made. …

The investigation started when a special police unit overheard people last year who wanted to sell a French missile for 470,000 euros. This rocket has now been found in an airplane hangar.

Furthermore, at the premises of one of the detainees in Gallarate town police seized thirty shotguns, pistols, bayonets, ammunition and antique Nazi paraphernalia.

According to the police, this is a man who was a candidate for the Senate election for the extreme right-wing Forza Nuova party in 2001.

He is Fabio Del Bergiolo, a former border security inspector.

According to the Turin police chief, “hardly any weapon finds have ever been found in Italy equaling the quality of these weapons of war and their deadly power”.

Italian fascists found with ‘combat-ready’ war weapons: here.

Italian workers stop Saudi weapons import again

This photo shows Italian activists holding up a banner which says ‘Disobey Salvini’ (right-wing Italian minister favouring selling weapons for the Saudi war on Yemen) as they protest against the Saudi Arabian freighter Bahri Yanbu docked in Genoa’s port in May. On the right, a peace flag.

By Steve Sweeney in Britain:

Working class solidarity stops second Saudi ship from receiving its deadly war cargo in Italy

Thursday, June 20, 2019

A SECOND Saudi ship has left Italy without deadly cargo for its war on Yemen as trade unionists and protesters form a “broad popular front” for peace.

Workers from the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGiL) union at the port of Genoa in north-west Italy refused to load the cargo of arms onto the Bahri Jazan yesterday.

It was forced to leave minus its deadly shipment despite warnings from Liguria region president Giovanni Toti

Toti started his political career as a follower of the Blairite right-wing ‘socialist’ Bettino Craxi, convicted for corruption. Later, he joined Silvio Berlusconi‘s right-wing Forza Italia party.

that the action could affect local jobs and damage trade.

He came under fire for a scathing attack on the dockers, urging them to load the weapons.

They refused and said they condemned “the arms trade with Saudi Arabia, a state that implements the death penalty without a fair trial, where torture and oppression of religious and political minorities are commonplace and has been waging military aggression against the Yemeni population for the past four years.”

A union statement appealed to Foreign Affairs Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi and Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta to
stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia and contributing [to] a conflict that has been described by the UN as the “most serious catastrophe in the world”.

Union members remained in the port to monitor the ship and ensure that the equipment was not loaded.

It is the second time “Genoa said no” after strike action last month forced the Bahri Jazan’s sister ship, the Bahri Yanbu, to leave without its war shipment.

Docker and USB union member Giacomo Marchetti told the Star that it was more difficult to organise this time in the face of attacks by the regional president.

But he said that the victory was “an important step in a longer battle.”

The union was pressed into strike action, which he said was “vital in winning this kind of battle.”

Coming as the “US is pressing for a new war against Iran” he explained that working-class action can stop wars in their tracks.

“We did it”, Mr Marchetti said: “They won’t load. We won!

“We need to discuss internationally what is going on. But we send the message to the Italian government to close the ports to war and open them to refugees.”

We Won’t Load Your Ships of Death. An interview with Giacomo Marchetti: here.

Italian workers against Saudi war on Yemen

This 23 May 2019 video says about itself:

Italian unions protest against the war in Yemen, demanding a Saudi Arabian vessel leave Genoa.

Italian dock workers stop Saudi anti-Yemen weapons

This photo shows Italian activists holding up a banner which says ‘Disobey Salvini’ as they protest against the Saudi Arabian freighter Bahri Yanbu docked in Genoa’s port. On the right, a peace flag.

By Steve Sweeney:

Monday, May 20, 2019

Italian dock strike blocks deadly cargo headed for Saudi Arabia

ITALIAN dock workers halted a deadly cargo of weapons bound for Saudi Arabia from being loaded in Genoa today as they demanded [home affairs minister in the right-wing coalition government] Matteo Salvini “open the ports to people and close them to arms.”

Trade unionists and activists hailed “working-class internationalism” as they stopped the Saudi ship Bahri Yanbu from loading with drones and other equipment that would be used in its devastating war on Yemen.

They called their action a “historic act of solidarity”.

Members of the CGiL union united with activists from Potero al Popolo (PaP) anti-fascist and pacifist groups saying: “We will not be complicit with the civilian deaths in Yemen,” as they blockaded the port.

In the face of the strike action, called by the local branch of the CGiL, and mass protest, the Port Authority confirmed the ship would only be allowed to embark with civilian material, leaving a stockpile of deadly equipment unmoved in the dock.

Workers refused to trust the words of the authorities and the strike action went ahead as planned with a blockade preventing the loading of its cargo.

In a joint statement the groups said they were making a “small contribution to [tackling] a big problem for a population that is being killed daily.”

It is the second time the ship, whose journey started in the Tilbury dock in Essex, has failed to load its cargo. Earlier this month French activists launched a legal bid to block the ship loading with eight Caesar cannons in the port of Le Havre.

While the challenge was unsuccessful, the vessel left France without the weapons and made its way across the Mediterranean to Santander in Spain.

It was rumoured that the cannons were instead loaded secretly on to a train that made its way to a military base near Genoa, but workers said they were ready to stop this from happening.

France is keen to play down its role in the devastating war on Yemen, with President Emmanuel Macron insisting that French weapons are only used in “defensive circumstances.”

In a shocking bid to silence criticism and an attack on press freedom, three French journalists face five years in jail for exposing the reality of France’s deadly arms trade.

Disclose Media journalists Geoffrey Livolsi and Mathias Destal and Radio France journalist Benoit Collombat face prison for refusing to reveal sources after publishing “secret” reports that showed that 35 civilians died during 52 bombings between March 2016 and December 2018, when French Caesar cannon fire operated.

The devastating Saudi-led war on Yemen, which started in March 2015, has caused at least 50,000 deaths and pushed the country to the brink of the worst global famine in a century.

Despite allegations of war crimes with the deliberate targeting of infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, Saudi Arabia continues to be supported militarily and armed to the teeth by Western countries including Britain, France and the United States.

All three have insisted that jobs would be at risk as they face domestic pressure to end their deadly arms trade.

PaP activist Giacomo Marchetti, who works at the docks and is a member of the USB union, told the Star that the action was a “historic moment” for Genoa.

“It is not the first time the workers and activists have denounced what is happening [the bombing of Yemen] but it is the first time that there has been a strike and demonstration,” he said.

“Genoa has a long history of solidarity. It was the first to block US ships headed to Vietnam and dock workers here also refused to allow war equipment to disembark for the Chile coup or its ships to dock.

“There are so many parts here that will be used for drones in the Yemeni war…this is the first time we have seen this kind of action since the strike before the Iraq war in 2003.”

He said the action sent a message to the racist Mr Salvini: “Open the port to migrants and close it to arms.

“What happened today in Genoa, what happened in Le Havre and Santander showed the importance of international working-class solidarity, especially in stopping wars. And it showed the strength of the dock workers.

“We are winning because the arms will not be loaded here as was planned.”

Migrant rescue NGO defies Salvini

MIGRANT RIGHTS activists proved Italy’s ports are not closed for refuge on Sunday, defying the far-right Interior Minister
Matteo Salvini.

German NGO Sea-Watch International (SWI) successfully disembarked 65 people on the Italian island of Lampedusa after being harangued by the EU-funded Libyan coast guard and ignored by Europe for days.

The NGO had rescued the passengers off the coast of Libya last week.

Locals and activists welcomed the ship’s migrants and crew as they waved banners that read: “Welcome to Lampedusa” and “Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world.”

SWI’s ship, the Sea Watch 3, is currently being held in “probationary confiscation.”

Mr Salvini’s plans to charge NGOs €5,500 (around £4,820) per migrant brought to Italy’s shores was condemned by the UN’s human rights office.

For more on this story, visit mstar.link/SeaWatch3.

Saving refugees’ lives, criminal in Italy?

From daily News Line in Britain:

RELEASE MIGUEL ROLDAN! Spanish firefighter faces jail for rescuing refugees

11th May 2019

UK FIREFIGHTERS protested outside the Italian embassy in London on Thursday in support of a Spanish firefighter facing prison for rescuing refugees.

Fire Brigades Union (FBU) activists called on the Italian government to drop its investigation and end its anti-migrant crusade.

Spanish firefighter Miguel Roldan faces 20 years in prison for helping to rescue drowning refugees in the Mediterranean. Italian authorities have accused him of aiding illegal immigration and working with human traffickers, amidst pressure from far-right politician Matteo Salvini.

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: ‘The charges against Miguel must be dropped. Firefighting is a humanitarian profession and Miguel was carrying out humanitarian work.

‘We cannot stand idly by while one of our own is punished for trying to save lives.

‘Across Europe, Salvini and politicians of his ilk are spreading hatred. We will not allow racists and fascists to divide us. We stand with those fleeing war and terror who seek safety, refuge and security.’

Nottinghamshire firefighter Brendan Woodhouse was previously held off the coast of Italy for 10 days in a refugee-rescue vessel, as port authorities refused to let the boat land.

The FBU called on Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to aid in his release. Brendan spoke at Thursday’s protest.

Brendan Woodhouse said: ‘The criminalisation of humanitarian rescue has become all too commonplace. It’s a stain on European politics to see rescuers threatened with prison.

‘In January, I was part of a rescue crew threatened with prosecution for saving lives at sea. We had done nothing wrong. In the same way, Miguel is being taken through the courts. His crime? Saving lives!’

Italy has stepped up its hard-line stance against migrants since the appointment of far-right politician Matteo Salvini as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior.

In response to pleas from humanitarian groups, the leader of the anti-immigrant League party tweeted that ‘The ports have been, and remain, closed.’

CAPTAIN COULD BE JAILED FOR RESCUING MIGRANTS A German boat captain who claims to have rescued more than 1,000 migrants stranded in the Mediterranean Sea could face up to 20 years in an Italian jail on charges of aiding illegal immigration. [HuffPost]

Carola Rackete, 31, the German captain of the refugee rescue ship Sea Watch 3, was arrested at the Italian port of Lampedusa on Friday night after safely landing 42 people rescued at sea. The Italian government ordered her to be taken away in handcuffs and threatened her with heavy custodial sentences and fines: here.

The acting Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is threatening the migrant rescue charity boat Proactiva Open Arms with huge fines if it continues rescuing migrants. It is part of the mounting assault on migrants throughout the world by capitalist governments, which, facing mounting domestic political opposition, are promoting nationalism and xenophobia: here.