ITALIAN WORKERS: NO BUSH, NO WAR!

By Leslie Feinberg

Rome

When George W. Bush, the emperor of today’s imperial empire, visited the
capital of the old Roman Empire on June 4, some 200,000 anti-war
activists pro tested in the streets.

The lead banner of the massive march read "No war, no Bush." This was
the banner of the umbrella coalition that organized the demonstration:
Comitato Fermi amo La Guerra (The Committee to End the War).

U.S. Citizens Against the War was the second contingent in the line of
march.

The entire demonstration drew cheers and applause along the long route
from Italians and international tourists who lined the sidewalks and
filled the crowded plazas.

Activists in the U.S. contingent were especially exhilarated that so
many tour ists from the United States who were visiting in Italy cheered
for them. Some even joined to swell the ranks of the march.

Two such people, who were in Italy on their honeymoon, were standing on
the sidewalk as the march passed. They joined the demonstration and
helped carry the U.S. contingent’s banner.

The demonstration filled the wide avenues of Rome with its numbers and
with songs of political resistance. The large numbers that turned out
did so in spite of government and media warnings to stay away from the
event, which they said would turn "violent."

The rainbow flag of "pace"—peace—was everywhere in the march. It has
become the official symbol of the anti-war movement in Italy. And the
flag fluttered from balconies and windows, storefronts and newsstand
kiosks along the route of march and throughout the capital.

A PHONY PARALLEL

Bush’s visit was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the landing
of U.S. troops at the beaches of Normandy, France, in World War II.

The Commander in Chief tried to make a false historical parallel. Bush
painted the Pentagon war and occupation of Iraq as "liberation." He
likened this to U.S. military support to the Italian struggle against
fascism in World War II.

The June 4 anti-war demonstrators spoke out loudly against this
offensive comparison.

The organizers planned the route of the demonstration deliberately. They
mar ched in protest past monuments that have been co-opted as symbols of
right-wing nationalism. Police massed in rows three deep in front of the
"flame of eternal freedom" at the tomb of the Italian "unknown soldier."
They guarded the monument to ensure that no anti-war activist could
place the flag of "pace" there.

Across the plaza from this monument used to whip up nationalism by the
neofascists is the balcony from which Italian fascist Benito Mussolini
spoke throughout his reign.

John Gilbert, a U.S. citizen living in Florence, talked to Workers World
about Bush’s phony claim to be "liberating" Iraq. "The majority of
Italians want all the troops withdrawn immediately," including the 2,700
Italian troops the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi sent.

"Italians feel Bush is a threat to world peace. They feel very strongly
about the liberation of Italy from the Nazis and that Bush is not
appropriate as a representative of the U.S. part in liberating Italy
from fascism."

Gilbert, a trade unionist and anti-war organizer, concluded, "Instead,
there’s more of a parallel to the Nuremberg trials charge of the war
crime of deliberate instigation of a war of aggression."

BRIDGES OF SOLIDARITY

The June 4 protest united the Italian movement. Participants included
communists and social democrats, anti-imperialists and pacifists, trade
unionists and environmental activists.

North African immigrants marched in order to bring the struggle of
immigrant workers to the anti-war movement.

The metal workers of the CGIL labor confederation who recently won a
successful battle against their bosses at Fiat marched with their union
flags.

Another contingent marched with a big sign that read "Defend Cuba! With
Fidel and with Cuba; Liberty for the Five!" The Cuban Five are political
prisoners held in the U.S. for their role in trying to monitor right-
wing terrorism backed by Washing ton against their island nation.

The flags of Palestine, Iraq and Cuba flew at this march, as well.

The June 4 anti-war march ended at the Piazza di San Paolo, where anti-
fascist partisans—with communist leadership—waged one of the fiercest
battles against the Nazi German occupation.

Kurdish and Palestinian speakers addressed the final rally. Women in
Black, a group opposed to the Israeli occupation of Palestine,
performed.

An elderly Italian partisan fighter spoke. So did a U.S. soldier who had
fought with the partisans.

U.S. SPEAKER: ’RESISTANCE IS GROWING’

Minnie Bruce Pratt, a U.S. writer and anti-war activist visiting Italy,
spoke passionately to those gathered. Pratt is an organizer for the
International Action Center, which is one of the 11 organizations on the
steering committee of the ANSWER coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End
Racism).

Pratt’s remarks were cheered. "The U.S. government is trying to close
its iron fist on the Middle and Near East ... to make profits for big
business," she said. She added, "We in the U.S. stand with you to defend
immigrants’ rights, to defend workers’ rights, the rights of oppressed
nationalities—to build unity against the terror of transnational
corporations.

"Your opposition to the war—you, the people of Italy—inspires us in
the U.S. More and more people in the U.S. understand they have been lied
to, and that this war is wrong. Resistance is also growing. More and
more soldiers are refusing to serve, aided by groups like SNAFU, the
Support Network for an Armed Forces Union. As a lesbian, I’m proud to
say the first soldier to resist was Stephen Funk, a gay Filipino Marine
reservist."

Pratt concluded, "[T]he people of an occupied and colonized country have
the right to resist, and the right to defend themselves. Like the
Vietnamese. The Pales tinians. The Iraqis. Like the Italian partisans
who battled the Nazis right here in the Plaza of San Paolo.

"We also draw strength to struggle from their resistance."

ACROSS ITALY

In Milan on June 2, some 5,000 people demonstrated against militarism
and the war on Iraq. Protesters burned the hated U.S. flag. Twelve were
arrested.

Roberto Taddeo from Redlink told Workers World that on June 2 in Naples
a demonstration against the war drew many union members and unemployed
workers. SNAFU’s call for troops to resist the war was distributed in
Italian. This is especially significant because Naples is the
headquarters for the U.S.-Mediter ranean military command.

The previous week in Naples, activists protested at banks that provide
financial services for companies that are exploiting Iraq.

During Bush’s visit, numerous smaller demonstrations took place in
cities and towns. In Venice, professors and students from the university
lined the banks of the Grand Canal wearing hoods like Iraqi prisoners
are forced to wear. They held signs reading: "Out of Iraq! Everybody to
Rome against Bush!"

Anti-war organizing in this country is ongoing.

In Florence, anti-war events are held three or four times a week in the
form of discussions on tactics and strategy meetings, rallies and
educational forums.

John Gilbert emphasized that more than 80 percent of Italians are
estimated to oppose the war and occupation of Iraq.

This is born out by the "pace" flags visible in towns and cities across
Italy. This demand for an end to war flies even in the countryside from
the windows and roofs of farmhouses.