Solidarity with the "Circolo Mario Mieli"
25 April 2008, Rome anti-fascist march for Liberation Day
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 come 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 of Renato Biagetti in Focene, near Rome.
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 25 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.
The Rome branch of the FdCA will therefore be participating in the march from Porta San Paolo at 10.30am organized by the Rome network of anti-fascists.
Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici
"Luigi Fabbri" Branch, Roma21 April 2008