Socialist Action /September 2001
Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: The Real Meaning of Genoa
When one mentions the very name of Genoa these
days, the historical significance of its Columbian roots mixes with its
new-found renown as the site of the G-8 Meeting, and the state killing of
a young, anti-globalist demonstrator, Carlo Guiliani.
It is now an historical marker of another kind
- one of the state's brutality. The images from the tear-gas-streaked streets
of the ancient Italian city mark a transformation in the growing anti-globalist
movement.
It marks a new low in the violent savagery of police,
who will go to any lengths to protect those they are sworn to really protect:
the rich, the wealthy and the established.
Much less is known or reported about the vicious,
unprovoked attacks on young people who were working out of the Independent
Media Center in Genoa. Squads of hooded Genoan cops unjustly raided, beat,
brutalized, and terrorized independent journalists covering the massive
protests. Some bystanders reported hearing screams emitting from the building
for hours.
Others on the scene reported that activists were
taken to a room, shown a picture of the late Italian fascist dictator, Benito
Mussolini, and ordered to shout, "Viva Il Duce!", at a nearby
police station ("Il Duce" was a term of respect accorded Mussolini
during Italy's fascist, World War II period, similar to the Nazi honorific,
"Der Fuhrer" for Hitler; "Viva" means "Long Live.")
This is a scene that reflects the hidden, fascist
heart of Genoa.
Where were the millionaire star reporters, who
love to gather in 5-star, ritzy hotels to lament what happens to their brother
journalists in the Third World or Bosnia? When have you heard a peep out
of the corporate punditocracy about the assaults on poor, independent, or
radical journalists who were at the front lines of Genoa?
When young activists who were peacefully assembled
to write, to interview, to report, to prepare, and to broadcast what they
witnessed at the Wealthfest (G-8 Summit), their persons were attacked, their
freedoms were shattered, and their terrorization at the hands of a repressive
state was all but ignored. Their shocking treatment at the hands of neo-fascist,
hooded cops for capital was simply not news.
"So sorry," the gentle corporate press
sniffs. "We don't see a story here."
And, in truth, there is no story, simply because
it is not in the interests of their bosses to do such a story. That way,
they can continue to engage in useless prattle about "freedom of the
press," or the "right to peaceful assembly," or even the
"right to dissent," and the like. For aren't the G-7 (plus Russia)
"industrial democracies"?
They cannot afford to report what happened in Genoa,
for it tells us too much about what really happens in democracies. The terror,
the torture, the brutality-that lies at the heart of all "industrial
democracies."
"Viva Il Duce!" indeed, for great dictatorships
have ever been great bedfellows of capital.
The Nazi state worked with a cruel efficiency that
used Jewish, Romani, and other unter- menshen (German for subhumans)
as slave labor that earned healthy profits for the wealthy ruling, industrial
class.
Genoa, which sent forth the greed of Columbus to
pilfer and colonize and enslave, unleashes her corporate army upon those
who now look unkindly upon the neo-colonialization, and exploitation hidden
under the rubric of a New World (Economic) Order.
The anti-globalist movement, so young, so precious,
spawned just a few moments ago in Seattle, must now come of age.
That is the gift of Genoa.
© 2001 MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
To communicate directly with Mumia, please write
to him at:
Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI-Greene,175 Progress
Drive, Waynesburg, PA 15370
Socialist Action /September 2001 |