Two more letter bombs go off today and Anarchists blamed again.
Jo | 05.01.2004 17:57 | Indymedia | London | World
Anger spreads among Anarchists today that the media take for granted the idea that Anarchists are behind letter bombs.
Four letter bombs have been sent to various European Union dignitaries throughout the Europe in the last week, all of them, according to government officials, originating from the Italian city of Bologna. A group calling itself the Informal Anarchist Front ("F.A.I.") has claimed responsibility in a letter printed by an Italian newspaper. Although no known Italian anarchist groups have ever heard of this association, the acronym matches exactly that of another above-ground, revolutionary organization in Bologna: the Italian Anarchist Federation (F.A.I.) The F.A.I. has denounced these attacks, and consider the Informal Anarchist Front "imaginary," invented to justify the repression of anarchists in Bologna and throughout Italy.
This suspicion harkens back to similar incidents in the recent past, such as 1997 in Milan when a series of letterbombs were used as a justification to raid squats, social centers, and make sweeping arrests. Anti-globalization activists may also recall the letter bomb scare in the days leading up to the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. In fact, the use of such a tactic by fascist forces in Italy has been historically documented. During the 1970's, when electoral support for communists was at an all time high, Fascists engaged in a deadly bombing campagin they described as part of a "strategy of tension." By blaming the bombings on the communists, the Fascists hoped to incite a breakdown of public order to justify the imposition of military rule. The most horrific bombing took place in Bologna in 1980, in which a bomb was detonated at a rail station killing 85 people and injuring over 200. Bologna was a communist stronghold at the time. The Italian Secret Service was later implicated in the bombing and high ranking officials in the organization were made to stand trial ten years later. Their convictions were overturned.
One twist in the latest incidences is that the bomb addressed to European Commissioner Romano Prodi in Bologna was wrapped in a book by Gabrielle D'Annunzio, a supporter of Fascism in the 1930's. Prodi remarked that the choice of the author was probably meant to be ironic. Whether ironic or not, these incidents have created considerable tension among Italian anarchists in general, and members of the Italian Anarchist Federation in particular. As one reader on Infoshop commented, "Imagine if the 'casual repubican party' started claiming responsibility for bombings, how much heat would the Republicans get?"
The possibility remains, however, that such bombings have been carried out by self-proclaimed "anarchists" that are disconnected from groups such as the FAI, who struggle to promote autonomy, social and economic justice in Italy. It seems questionable whether anarchists working in communities of struggle would knowingly place their comrades in danger for such imperceptible gains. The letter bombs in question have been poorly made, causing no injuries even when detonating in the hands of their recipients. > The history of Fascism in Italy has demonstrated that the "strategy of tension" is served equally well by the brash actions of "useful idiots," whether their ideology is purported to come from the extreme Left or the extreme Right.
The Commission for the Correspondence with the Italian Anarchist Federation has issued a communique in which they suggest that, far from promoting revolutionary consciousness, "letterbombs are more useful for provokation and the criminalization of dissent." The arsenal of the F.A.I., on the other hand, includes the weapons of social organizing, local autonomy, trade unions, opposition to state terrorism and the creation of a new and free society.
There are reports that raids of squats have already begun taking place in Bologna, though no arrests have yet been made.
[ IMC Bologna | Federazione Anarchia Italiana (F.A.I.) ]
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/01/110259.shtml
Here is BBC report of latest attack on MEP in Manchester.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3369129.stm
This suspicion harkens back to similar incidents in the recent past, such as 1997 in Milan when a series of letterbombs were used as a justification to raid squats, social centers, and make sweeping arrests. Anti-globalization activists may also recall the letter bomb scare in the days leading up to the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. In fact, the use of such a tactic by fascist forces in Italy has been historically documented. During the 1970's, when electoral support for communists was at an all time high, Fascists engaged in a deadly bombing campagin they described as part of a "strategy of tension." By blaming the bombings on the communists, the Fascists hoped to incite a breakdown of public order to justify the imposition of military rule. The most horrific bombing took place in Bologna in 1980, in which a bomb was detonated at a rail station killing 85 people and injuring over 200. Bologna was a communist stronghold at the time. The Italian Secret Service was later implicated in the bombing and high ranking officials in the organization were made to stand trial ten years later. Their convictions were overturned.
One twist in the latest incidences is that the bomb addressed to European Commissioner Romano Prodi in Bologna was wrapped in a book by Gabrielle D'Annunzio, a supporter of Fascism in the 1930's. Prodi remarked that the choice of the author was probably meant to be ironic. Whether ironic or not, these incidents have created considerable tension among Italian anarchists in general, and members of the Italian Anarchist Federation in particular. As one reader on Infoshop commented, "Imagine if the 'casual repubican party' started claiming responsibility for bombings, how much heat would the Republicans get?"
The possibility remains, however, that such bombings have been carried out by self-proclaimed "anarchists" that are disconnected from groups such as the FAI, who struggle to promote autonomy, social and economic justice in Italy. It seems questionable whether anarchists working in communities of struggle would knowingly place their comrades in danger for such imperceptible gains. The letter bombs in question have been poorly made, causing no injuries even when detonating in the hands of their recipients. > The history of Fascism in Italy has demonstrated that the "strategy of tension" is served equally well by the brash actions of "useful idiots," whether their ideology is purported to come from the extreme Left or the extreme Right.
The Commission for the Correspondence with the Italian Anarchist Federation has issued a communique in which they suggest that, far from promoting revolutionary consciousness, "letterbombs are more useful for provokation and the criminalization of dissent." The arsenal of the F.A.I., on the other hand, includes the weapons of social organizing, local autonomy, trade unions, opposition to state terrorism and the creation of a new and free society.
There are reports that raids of squats have already begun taking place in Bologna, though no arrests have yet been made.
[ IMC Bologna | Federazione Anarchia Italiana (F.A.I.) ]
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/01/110259.shtml Here is BBC report of latest attack on MEP in Manchester.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3369129.stm
Jo
Comments
Hide the following 9 comments
Hmmmm....
05.01.2004 18:09
anarchoteapot
They're unbelievable
05.01.2004 18:25
Lucan
Who might Mr Titley have upset?
05.01.2004 18:36
News Release
"BAR-ROOM BRAWLER" BERLUSCONI DRAGS EU PRESIDENCY INTO DISREPUTE, SAYS
TITLEY
Speaking yesterday after the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
provoked outrage amongst MEPs in Strasbourg when he likened a German
MEP to a Nazi concentration camp "commandant," Gary Titley MEP Labour
Leader in the European Parliament said: "We have just seen the Italian
presidency self-destruct on day two. Berlusconi, today, exceeded our
worst expectations."
"We always had serious concerns about the lack of preparation for the
Italian Presidency, about Berlusconi's tendency to shoot from the hip
and the inconsistent statements coming from within his own Government.
But as a very minimum, we assumed that the Italian Prime Minister
would show leadership and diplomacy worthy of the office of President
of the European Council"
"Berlusconi has dragged the office of the Presidency into disrepute
and provoked a serious institutional crisis within the EU. With his
comments today, Berlusconi has acted like a bar-room brawler. He has
destroyed the Italian presidency in its infancy. I cannot see how he
will recover from this."
Mr Titley added: "Berlusconi has revealed the true Jekyll and Hyde
nature of his character and showed how unreliable he is under
pressure. How can we send this man to represent the EU in discussions
with George Bush or on the Middle East when we don't know what he's
going to do or say from one minute to the next?"
"Clearly the rest of the EU will now dig in. We shall try to save this
Presidency from itself and keep it afloat, if only for the sake of the
370 million people we represent. Our major concern is, though, that we
are now in for six months of embarrassment, gaffes and people being
antagonised."
ENDS
Source:
A google search for: "gary titley" berlusconi
gives lots more similar links.
Ravachol
Not the first time
05.01.2004 18:50
One thing I don't get is why. Are Italian Anarchists that much of a threat in Italy (not a rhetorical question - I don't know!)? I know the F.A.I (the proper one) is biggish as is the Anarcho-Syndicalist union but are they really that threatening?
Sammy
BLIMEY! SOLIDARITY!
05.01.2004 19:07
Jo
If you understand this, you understand 9/11!
06.01.2004 05:13
Dancing Dave
e-mail:
davidk@oz-online.net
Homepage:
http://www.soundclick.com/pro/default.cfm?BandID=112610&content=interview
THE ITALIAN ‘STRATEGY OF TENSION’ AND NATO’S ‘STAY BEHIND’ NETWORKS
06.01.2004 09:29
Recent events in Italy have led certain people to ask if we are witnessing the implementation a new ‘strategy of tension’ by Italy’s bourgeoisie. Unfortunately, many seem either completely unaware of the history of state manipulation of terrorism in Italy, or only vaguely so. The obfuscators in the bourgeois media of course encourage this unfortunate ignorance, for by rewriting recent history they hope nobody will be able to put more recent events into historical context in order to understand the present spectacle of terrorism.
From the late 1960’s through to the early 1980’s, Italy witnessed waves of social upheaval and class conflict. Alongside these conflicts, Italy also witnessed the phenomenon of ‘terrorism’, ostensibly carried out by extra-parliamentary groups of the far left and far right. However, the spectacle of Italian terrorism concealed powerful interests, both domestic and international.
In addition to the more ‘mundane’ terror that Italy’s various neo-fascist groups dished out on the streets to their enemies, far right organisations were involved in the most spectacular and devastating episodes that frame the ‘years of lead’ (as the period in question came to be known): the bombing of a bank in Milan’s Piazza Fontana in 1969, and the blowing up of Bologna railway station in 1980. However, the neo-fascist groups that were ostensibly behind these attacks were well integrated into the state apparatus, via the so-called Gladio Networks. Beyond this, the fact that the objectives of far right organisations are broadly identical to those leading the state, and that many of their supporters and activists were drawn from the states apparatus of repression, makes it very easy for them to be infiltrated and manipulated by the state. As always, there have been various attempts to explain state involvement in far right terrorism in terms of ‘infiltration’ of the state by the far right, the actions so-called ‘rouge elements’, etc. Liberals and leftists are particularly keen on this sort of apologetic obfuscation. A more accurate picture of events would been provided by the neo-fascist terrorist Vincenzo Vinciguerra: “every bombing in Italy after 1969 was linked to one group…The orders are given by an apparatus belonging to the state, specifically by a secret parallel structure of the Interior Ministry.”
The Gladio Network was set up during the 1950’s as part of a wider “stay behind” network established throughout European countries aligned to NATO at the end of WWII, to go into action in the event of an Eastern Bloc invasion or domestic Communist ‘subversion’, using secret arms caches. They were under the overall control of US intelligence, involving domestic intelligence groups and committed ‘anti-communists’. The latter group inevitably contained a large number of neo-fascists. Lucio Gelli, Grandmaster of P2 – the establishment Masonic lodge and at times effective parallel government of Italy – confirmed this, reporting that many Gladio members in Italy were drawn form the ranks of fascist veterans of Mussolini’s last stand, the Salo Republic. The US also pumped huge amounts of money into the coffers of far right organisations, supposedly as a bulwark against the left, especially the large Italian Communist Party (PCI).
The Gladio networks, and the extra-parliamentary far right in general, were utilise by ruling class elements to carry out actions as part of what became known as the “Strategy of Tension”. The general aim of this strategy, developed in the face of working class militancy, was to create a heightened sense of disorientation, fear and atomisation amongst the general population, leading to an increased identification with authority. While some initially hoped that this would lead to a military take over, this strategy became a more general response in periods of social unrest and political crisis. The Pizza Fontana bombing illustrates this perfectly, taking place as it did at the height of the social upheavals of the ‘Hot Autumn’ of 1969. As the Situationist Gianfranco Sanguinetti observed, writing in the late 1970’s about the spectacle of state manipulated terrorism, the aim of such events as the Piazza Fontana bombing was to “make the whole population…believe that it has at least one enemy in common with this state, and from which the state defends it on condition that it is no longer called into question by anyone.” In other words, the ‘war against terrorism’ – the bourgeoisie has been running this racket for quite some time now! – was meant to inject a sense of common national interest into the population (particularly the working class) at times of social crisis. Immediately after the Piazza Fontana bombing in 1969, Sanguinetti, in a short flyer entitled ‘Is the Reichstag Burning?’ denounced the bombings as state provocations, unlike the vast majority of the left at the time, who generally took police and media lies at face value: ‘THE BOMB IN MILAN EXPLODED AGAINST THE PROLETARIAT, it was intended to wound the least radicalised categories in order to ally them with power, and to tighten the ranks of the bourgeoisie for the witch hunt…’
Partly in response to the grim spectacle of state organised ‘far right’ terrorism, along with more general attacks on the working class by the ruling class and its state apparatus, 1970 witnessed the formation of the Red Brigades (R.B.’s). While the main impetus for their creation largely came from genuine workers and Leftist intellectuals, inspired by the PCI dominated anti-fascist partisans of WWII, the organisation was based on a rigid Leninist ideology and structure, and a militaristic conception of the class struggle. During 1974, the original leadership of the R.B.’s, including Renato Curcio and Alberto Franceshini, were arrested, which paved the way for Mario Moretti and his strategy of constant military escalation. There were suggestions at the time, and subsequently, that Moretti was an agent provocateur. Marco Pisetta and Silvano Girotto also infiltrated the group, along with the ex-Franciscan friar Salvano Girotto (known as “Brother Machine Gun”), amongst many others.
On the 16 March, 1978 Christian Democratic Party leader Aldo Moro was kidnapped by the Red Brigades, in an operation notable for its brutality and military precision. Moro was an advocate of a ‘history compromise’ in Italian politics. This would involve the opening up of the state to the Communist Party (PCI). Moro correctly perceived the completely reformist nature of the PCI. He hoped that this policy would diminish the radicalism of the working class. Powerful factions of the Italian ruling class, as well as American ruling class, were totally opposed to PCI participation in government. Moro became increasingly preoccupied with US opposition to his policy of historic compromise with the PCI. During a 1974 visit to America as Italian foreign minister, Henry Kissinger warned Moro off his policy of compromise with the PCI. After he was kidnapped, the CIA refused to co-operate in the hunt for Moro. On the 9 May, Moro’s body was found in the trunk of a car on Rome’s Via Caetani, symbolically halfway between the headquarters of the Christian Democratic and Communist Parties’. Significantly, during the 1960’s a secret coup plot called “Piano Solo”(Plan Solo) organised by fascist-sympathiser, intelligence chief and carabinieri leader General De Lorenzo called for the assassination of Moro, who had promised an “opening to the left” - i.e., letting the Italian Communist Party (PCI) into government, a precursor of his “Historic Compromise”. The planned coup was called off at the last minute due to a compromise between the Socialist Party and right-wing Christian Democrats. De Lorenzo went on to create a secret organisation named “La Rosa Dei Venti” (Rose of the Winds), aimed at grouping together those sympathetic to De Lorenzo and his plan. This conspiracy was a direct precursor to the strategy of tension and P2.
On 2 August, 1980 a powerful bomb exploded in the second class waiting room at Bologna railway station, resulting in 85 deaths and 200 injuries. Fascists ostensibly carried out the bombing, a series of right-wingers later being convicted and then acquitted for carrying out the attack. However, it soon became clear that more powerful interests lay behind the attack. It is established that the explosives used were from a NATO Gladio arsenal, and subsequent investigations implicate Gelli and P2 as being those behind the massacre. (When interviewed by British television upon his release from prison and asked if he had any part in the bombing, P2 boss Gelli simply smiled and stated that ‘the Communists had to be kept out of the government’!) In January of the following year, Gelli attends Ronald Reagan’s inauguration. He would later spend a whole week with George H.W. Bush, the ex-CIA director (1970’s), vice-president (1981-88), and future president (1989-93) (also the father of the present cretin inhabiting the White House, in case anyone didn’t know). In 1990, Dick Brenneke, who claims to have been a CIA operative, makes a series of allegations concerning American involvement with P2 and the strategy of tension. Amongst these was that George Bush not only had knowledge of CIA involvement with P2 and the strategy of tension, but that the one time director of the CIA was one of the masterminds of these events.
In December 1981 the US General James Lee Dozier is kidnapped by the Red Brigades, sparking the largest manhunt in Italian history. The Mafia aids the manhunt, which is far larger than that for Moro. The successful location and release of Dozier by the authorities spells the ‘beginning of the end’ for the Red Brigades. However, during the late 1990’s, the organisation re-emerged with the assassination of Massimo D’Antona, a government advisor on labour law. In a 28-page document, the killing is claimed by the R.B.’s (full name now ‘Red Brigades for the construction of the fighting Communist Party’!). D’Antona’s widow – amongst others – voices doubts about the motives of her late husbands supposed killers, suggesting that he may have been killed at the behest of “conservative forces”. The supposed re-formation of the R.B.’s takes place in the wake of the upsurge of the Italian Right, and the emergence of the billionaire media magnet and football club owner Silvio Berlusconi and his ‘party’ Forza Italia (a football slogan) as a political force in Italy – Berlusconi is a onetime member of the P2. During the early 1990’s, at the time of the entry of Berlusconi's Forza Italia into Italian political life, a series of bizarre bombings take place. These include attacks on an art gallery in Milan, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Rome cathedral of St John's in Lateran, which are rather implausibly blamed on the Mafia. In 1999 it would be claimed that Berlusconi was in fact behind the bombings, which occurred shortly before his election as Prime Minister at head of the so-called Freedom Alliance (which included Forza Italia, the regionalist-xenophobic Northern Leagues and the ‘post-Fascist’ National Alliance).
In the lead up to the anti-G8 mobilisation in Genoa during July 2001, a parcel bomb that is sent to a police station explodes, injuring a cop. No one claims responsibility for the bomb, but the media speculate that the bomb is the work of “militants on the fringe of the…protesters” (Guardian), failing to mention the historical context of the Italian states’ manipulation of, and heavy involvement in terrorism in the recent passed. During the massive anti-G8 demonstrations of July 2001, police subject demonstrators to systematic brutality, attacking the demonstrations organisational headquarters and the Independent Media Centre. Hundreds are arrested, many being subjected to intimidation and torture. One protester, Carlo Giuliani, is shot dead by the carabinieri. Following the Genoa repression, a Venice court is bombed hours before Silvio Berlusconi is due to visit the city. Twenty groups claim responsibility for the bombing! ‘Anti-terrorist’ police search the homes of two neo-Nazi sympathisers. In addition, a bomb explodes at the headquarters of the right-wing Northern League in the Italian town of Vigonza, near Venice. No group claims responsibility. Early this year, the Berlusconi government launched a series of raids against the network of social centres, which are connected to the ‘White Overall’ movement. In March 2002, Marco Biagi, an advisor to the Berlusconi government on labour law reform, is assassinated. The police suggest that the same gun was used to kill Massimo D’Antona three years previously! The killing, which takes place on the eve of a massive anti-government mobilisation against labour ‘reform’, is claimed by the Red Brigades over the Internet. The statement also praises the attack on the World Trade Centre in the USA on ‘anti-imperialist’ grounds. The planned anti-government mobilisation goes ahead, but the media portrays the massive demonstration as an anti-terrorist mobilisation (much of the Left and the Trade Unions play along with this, to some extent).
State involvement in the very terrorism our rulers so loudly declared war against has become an increasingly apparent phenomenon across the world. The example of the so-called Nijvel gang in Belgium could be cited here. This gang carried out a series of bizarre and brutal armed robberies on supermarkets in the province of Brabant between 1982 and 1985, which led to the deaths of 28 people with very small amounts of money being stolen. When it was revealed that the weapons used to carry out these murders, which have become known as the Brabant massacres, came from police arsenals the gang became linked to the far-right organisation Westland-New Post who in turn linked to the Belgian police and security apparatus. It has since come to light that the Nijvel gang were operating as part of a "strategy of tension" similar to that carried out in Italy during the early seventies, connected to NATO’s “stay behind” networks. One of the most blatant cases of this state involvement in terrorism was the bombings of working class apartment blocks in Moscow during 1999. These bombings took place during a period of acute economic crisis in Russian. They were blamed on Chechen terrorists without a shred of evidence. Suspicions at the time that forces closer to home were really behind these attacks appear to have been borne out, with detailed allegations that Russian intelligence carried out the attacks being made. The bombings created a massive sense of fear in Russia, resulting in a marked upsurge in racism, the election of the senior Russian intelligence chief Vladimir Putin as head of state, and the launching of a second murderous war against the Chechens. All this acted as a distraction from a very serious domestic crisis.
‘STRATEGY OF TENSION’/GLADIO NETWORK SOURCES:-
• ‘Operation Gladio’ – a very short summary of Italian aspects of Gladio
• ‘Operation Gladio’ - Not particularly good short summary of Italian aspects of Gladio
• Namebase anti-spook database on Gladio -
• Statewatch Italian ‘Strategy of Tension’/Gladio press-cuttings archive
• Philip Willan’s Guardian articles (see book and note below concerning this useful idiot):
‘Three jailed for 1969 Milan bomb’
‘Paolo Emilio Taviani’ ‘…was among the founders of the Gladio stay-behind network…’
‘Terrorists 'helped by CIA' to stop rise of left in Italy’
‘US supported anti-left terror in Italy'
‘Bomb trial may call Bush Sr’
‘Andreotti cleared for second time’
‘Andreotti's acquittal puts Italy's supergrass system in the dock’
‘Andreotti walks free as court clears him of murder plot’
‘Professor wins retrial for killing of police chief’
‘Infiltrators blamed for murder of Italian PM’ – ‘Spies working for the Italian secret services who infiltrated the Red Brigades were the masterminds behind the kidnapping and murder of the former prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978, according to one of the group's founders.’
• A Situationist view:
Is the Reichstag Burning? - Sanguineti’s immediate response to the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing - ‘THE BOMB IN MILAN EXPLODED AGAINST THE PROLETARIAT, it was intended to wound the least radicalized categories in order to ally them with power, and to tighten the ranks of the bourgeoisie for the witch hunt…’
Prefaces to Gianfranco Sanguinetti’s On Terrorism and the State (unfortunately, full text not available on-line. Available in English translation from: B.M.Chronos, London, WC1V 6XX.):
-1979 Italian Edition -
-1980 French Edition -
Sanguinetti archive -
• Autonomist intellectual Tony Negri’s reflections on the period (‘Reviewing the Experience of Italy in the 1970’s’)
• ‘Fascism and the Establishment: Italy – the Strategy of Tension’
• Extract from Chomsky
• The following material that is in varying degrees useful, but unfortunately not available on line (nearly all out of print):
Anon. The Italian State Massacre (London: Libertaria Books, 1972)
Bale, Jeffrey M., ‘Right-wing Terrorists and the Extra-parliamentary Left in Post-World War 2 Europe: Collusion or Manipulation’ in Lobster (18) 1989.
Christie, Stuart, Stefano Delle Chiaie: Portrait of a Black Terrorist (London: Refracts/Anarchy, 1984)
Ginzburg, Carlo, The Judge and the Historian: Marginal Notes on a Late-Twentieth-Century Miscarriage of Justice (London, 2000). On this case, see
Sanguinetti, Gianfranco, On Terrorism and the State (London, 1982)
Willan, Philip, Puppet Masters: the Political Use of Terrorism in Italy, (Constable, London, 1991) - This book should be handled with care, due to the author’s pedalling of outrageous Italian Communist Party inspired disinformation directed against the Autonomist Marxist intellectual Tony Negri. See review by Larry O'Hara, ‘Blinded by the Light’, in issue 23 of the British para-political magazine Lobster
• Of related interest:
Statewatch archive on Belgium Gladio/ "Nijvel gang”/ "Brabant massacres" of the 1980’s:
‘Two academics appointed to lead an investigation into the "Nijvel Gang" enquiry have resigned after just two months. Professors Fijnaut and Verstraeten of Louvain University claim that lack of cooperation from Government institutions was a major reason for their abandoning of the enquiry. The Nijvel gang carried out a series of brutal armed robberies in the province of Brabant between 1982 and 1985, which led to the deaths of 28 people. When it was revealed that the weapons used to carry out these murders, which have become known as the Brabant massacres, came from police arsenals the gang became linked to the far-right organisation Westland-New Post who in turn had deeply infiltrated the Belgian police and security apparatus. It has since been suggested that the Nijvel gang were operating as part of a "strategy of tension" similar to that carried out by the Italian extreme-right in the early seventies, connected to the "GLADIO" programme.’
UK Parliamentary question on Gladio Networks: ‘Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his policy on the public disclosure of information on the activities of and United Kingdom support for Operation Gladio since its inception. Mr. Archie Hamilton : It has been the policy of successive Governments not to comment on matters of this nature. This remains the policy.’
Gianfranco
German victim also trod on the wrong toes
06.01.2004 18:39
Jules Bonnot
CORRECTION TO TOP ARTICLE
06.01.2004 18:58
"A group calling itself the Informal Anarchist Front ("F.A.I.") has claimed responsibility in a letter printed by an Italian newspaper"
IS INCORRECT.
The previously unknown group Informal Anarchic Federation, claimed responsibility for rubbish bin attacks in a letter to an Italian newspaper and promised more at the end of last year (2003). Some corporate press have mentioned this, but on the whole it's now changed from "being linked" to the december letter bombs to "being behind" them and the latest ones. Most of the world's media however simply refers to "Italian Anarchists".
It's at these times that media monitoring is important.
CORRECTION