Sacco & Vanzetti: vigil against the death penalty
Dedicated to Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh
Federazione dei Comunisti AnarchiciOn 23 August 2008, on the occasion of the 81st anniversary of the killing of Sacco and Vanzetti, the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici will be participating in a vigil organized by the Associazione Sacco & Vanzetti together with Amnesty International, Nessuno Tocchi Caino and the World Coalition Against The Death Penalty.
The vigil is dedicated to Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, an Afghan journalist sentenced to death for blasphemy, and will be held in Piazza Papa Giovanni Paolo II in Torremaggiore (Apulia, Italy) from 8.30pm on 22 August until 1.00am on 23 August. On that date, 81 years ago, Nicola Ferdinando Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti died in the electric chair in Charleston at 12.19 and 12.26am respectively, after a show trial which was the result of racism and the climate of hatred and intolerance in America in the 1920s against immigrant workers, particularly anarchists.
Not only the sad case of Sayed in Afghanistan, but also all the other sad stories of violated rights in China, Myanmar, Iran, the USA, Iraq, Somalia and the war and hunger in Darfur, are all witness to the continuing importance of keeping the memory of their sacrifice alive in our collective memory.
Almost 60 after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948, in an Italy which has always declared its respect for human rights, episodes of racism and intolerance (including institutional racism and intolerance), the violation of the human rights of asylum-seekers and Roma, the violation of human rights in prisons and immigrant detention centres, the day work and untrammelled exploitation on farms, all testify to the importance even today of the fate of the two Italian anarchists murdered in America, of their cry for freedom, dignity and social justice.
19 August 2008
Vigil against the death penalty
On Thursday 22nd August in Torremaggiore in the province of Foggia, Apulia, the birthplace of Ferdinando (aka Nicola) Sacco, an event was held to mark the 81st anniversary of the death by electric chair of Sacco and Vanzetti, organized by the Association which bears the name of the two Italian anarchists, in cooperation with Amnesty International, Nessuno Tocchi Caino and the World Coalition Against The Death Penalty.
At 8.30pm, the town square at Torremaggiore was filled with over 100 people and a forum for debate and reflection was held on the Sacco & Vanzetti affair and the death penalty today.
The event was chaired by Matteo Marolla and there was a series of speeches by guests, including Fernanda Sacco who presented her book, and Lia Didero of the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici. There was a strong accent on the struggle against the death penalty in the world; the past and present role, presence and significance of anarchism and of Italian and anarchist emigrants to the USA was recorded in the video on the Torremaggiore initiative, prepared by RAInews 24 and presented by Corradino Mineo. There was also significant reference to the situation of immigrants in Italy today.
At the end of the forum there was a musical performance and readings of some of Sacco's letters and articles by the anarchist Carlo Tresca, who was at the time editor of the New York anarchist newspaper, "Il martello". There then followed a showing of Montaldo's famous film on the Sacco & Vanzetti affair; during the interval, a candlelight procession led to the tomb of Nicola Sacco at the moment when the two Italian anarchists were murdered in the electric chair on 23rd August, 81 years ago.
The Sacco & Vanzetti Association was formed a year ago. It has in front of it the important and difficult task of avoiding rhetoric and the pointless beatification of Sacco and Vanzetti while at the same time seeking to renew their memory in promoting initiatives inspired by the same values of equality and freedom that inspired Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
National Secretariat
FEDERAZIONE DEI COMUNISTI
ANARCHICI
23 August 2008