Italy and the politics of blood

Press, 14 August 1980, Page 16

Italy and the politics of blood

PAUL WILKINSON, professor of international relations at Aberdeen University, writes on the result of the Bologna railway station explosion.

Italian police chiefs now strongly suspect that the neo-fascist group, the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei (N.A.R.), was .esponsible for the massacre at Bologna railway station. They are also investigatir., the possibility that the group was behind the sabotaging of an Italian airliner. The N.A.R. surfaced in 1978 and committed a number of acts of indiscriminate terrorism in 1979. The Bologna bombing is the most catastrophic individual incident in the history of terrorism in Europe since 19451. It is in keeping with the N.A.R.’s record of callous brutality. For instance, in January, 1979, an N.A.R. group burst into a Rome radio studio firing sub-machine-guns and hurling bombs. Listeners could hear the screams of five housewives taking part in a radio discussion on feminism. All five were injured, one shot in the stomach, and another badly burned. Having lined the women up and opened fire, the terrorists then poured petrol over the studio and set fire to it. N.A.R. has a reputation for setting off huge bombs. For instance, on April 20, 1979, it exploded a huge bomb on Capitoline Hill, Rome, blasting the main door of the Capitol, designed by Michel Angelo. That explosion was probably intended to create confusion in the lead-up to the Italnian general election. The N.A.R. has also firebombed a Left-wing bookshop filled with customers,

including. children, and bombed the headquarters of the Communist Party in Rome, injuring . 23 people. What lies behind this recrudescence of neo-fascist violence after a lull of eight years? Some commentators blame poor economic conditions. No doubt these do not help, but they are not a sufficient explan ion. One can think of many areas in Portugal and Greece, . for example, where there r - is much mor6 grinding poverty but little of no ' terrorism. The most' powerful' explanation’ lies in the continuing strength of anti-demo-cratic beliefs among the young. Paulo Rossi, president of the Italian Constitutional Court, put his finger on the spiritual malaise of the young Italy when he quoted from Plato “When the sons no longer respect their parents, when teachers tremble before their scholars, and prefer praising them to leading them, when laws and authority are no longer respected or tolerated, then that is a signal that tyranny is about to begin.” And what else is political terrorism in a democracy but an attempt to impose, a brutal tyranny at gunpoint, or to provoke the authorities into suspending democracy in an over-reaction to violence? Both these motives may underlie this new campaign of massacre by neo-fascists. Almost certainly, revenge is another important factor. This is their savage method of “punishing” the authorities for their decision to

put neo-fascists on trial for the bombing that derailed the Italicus Express between Bologna and Florence six years ago, when more than TOO people were killed or injured. ’ T ■ In part it is a desire to create a climate of fear and collapse in which neo-fascist leaders would hope to stage a Mussolini-type; coup. For the-young neo-fascist terrorists, as for the extremists of the terrorist Left, they are also expressing their thirst’ for publicity: and conveying a threat; against the authorities that, if. they continue to hunt' down'-their members, further mayhem will ensue. This, nauseating belief in the politics of 1 blood brings the terrorists of Right and Left strangely together. ; ‘inevitably a debate is now raging in Italy about the need fbr fresh measures against terrorism. As so often after a -terrible outrage, there is a demand for capital punishment for terrorist crimes. Understandable though this demand may be, the observer should beware of assuming that the death penalty has even a remote possibility of curing the infection of terrorism in Italy. The only really effective measures are those which bring about a- greater success rate in the apprehension and conviction of terrorists. Last December a very tough package of laws was introduced to combat terrorism. It included life imprisonment, without chance of parole, for terrorist killings and the . murder of

judges and . policemen. Realties fbr wounding were doubled when such acts were committed by terrorists. Those accused of terrorism are no longer eligible for provisional liberty pending trial. . Anvone . suspected of preparing acts of terrorism can be questioned by the police for 48 hours before the judiciary is informed. With permission -of a judge this period can be extended a further two days. ■ln a democracy which is literally at war with escalating terrorism of Right and Left, these severe laws are surely' justified. But it is clear that the Italian repub- : lie cannot go any further with anti-terrorist legislation without putting the democratic rights ‘of its citizens in jeopardy. . .. The most pressing need is not more emergency legislation. It is a drastic improvement in the efficiency of the police. Despite recent attempts to improve co-ordina-tion, there are still at least five agencies responsible for combating terrorism.. Under the circumstances of this nightmare problem of co-ordination and the notorious slowness of the judicial process, it is remarkable that the Italian authorities have had considerable successes in arresting leading Red Brigade terrorists over the last few years,What is needed now is a continuing improvement in the professionalism of the Italian police and intelligence services, and a concerted drive against the neo-fascist groups which threaten the republic with an unprecedented wave of terror. ■ Copyright London Observer Service?