Davide died on 16 March 2003 as a result of a neo-fascist attack.
Davide, called „Dax“, and two of his friends came from a locals bar, usually frequented by political left-wingers, Punks and antifascist Skins. And so did Dax and his comrades of the squat O.R.S.O. that night. Shortly after they left, they got ambushed by three fascists armed with knives. Dax and one of his friends were injured perilous, the third one was „simply“ severely injured. Dax was stabbed 13 times and, when he fell to ground, six times more. Probably, he would have survived, if it wasn't for the police: they delayed Dax' transport to the local hospital for about half an hour. When friends of Dax and his comrades from the squats arrived at San Paolo hospital, they were informed that one of the injured was having an emergency operation, but Dax had died on the way to the hospital. An argument about the delayed assistance after the incident between friends of Dax and the police forces quickly turned physical, resulting in attacks against the friends of Dax by the police, which beat up them brutally. The police also used baseball bats to hunt the comrades through the hospital wards, corridors, examination- and sickrooms. Many of the comrades suffered serious injuries.

In remembrance of Dax and the events of the night, a concert was held on 15 March 2008 in Rozzano, the suburb in which Dax grew up and was politically involved in the local communist party, Rifondazione Communista.
The following day (16 March) another commemorative event took place in a park near Piazza Vetra. After a short HC-concert a protest march moved past the bar in via Brioschi, where Dax and his friends stayed before they were attaeck, to the street where Dax was murdered. There, the march stopped. Music was played on a brought-along stage and friends and comrades of Dax talked about him and recited poems. Afterwards the demonstration moved on to the place, where Dax had lived. There, the commemoration ended after a minute's silence.

The following day the public authorities of Milan removed a graffiti, made several months ago to commemorate Dax. As a response to that, a flat was squatted the same day.
Now a family of Romanies lives in the squatted flat.


Personal report:

The antifascist groups AJB (Antifaschistische Jugend Bochum/Antifascist Youth of Bochum) and Azzoncao from Bochum, Germany took part in the commemorative events for Davide Cesare. By means of a flyer and a banner written in Italian, we intended to express our condolences for and our solidarity with the bereaved family, friends and comrades of Dax and bring to mind other recent neo-fascist murders in Europe.

On Saturday evening, we went to the youth center “Aurora” in Rozzano and handed out our flyers to the visitors. The place was extremely crowded and the mass of 600 to 700 people well exceeded the center's capacities. We also offered German antifascist flags, buttons, CDs and brochures.

Three bands played that night: RFT, a hardcore-band from Miland, Arpioni, a ska-band from Bergamo and Banda Bassotti, a redskin-band from Rome. The bands, especially the latter one, played very passionately and generated a great atmosphere. The audience sang along many songs with their fists raised. We left the center about 4 o' clock in the morning, beat and sweat out.

On the way back from the concert some of us had to undergo a stop-and-search operation by the police. Their car was stopped on the street and the police searched the car and found the antifascist stuff we offered at the concert. As a result we were treated with special care: while waiting outside the car we where fired questions at: Why? When? Where? What for? ect. Then the coppers sent for the DIGOS, the political police. But threatened with our attorneys and the German embassy, they let go of us – after 45 minutes in heavy rainfall with about 5° Celsius. Well, that made us cool off a little.

The next day a concert was planned for Dax near Piazza Vetra. Subsequently there had to be a demonstration. But the concert was interrupted by a sudden hailstorm. The 600 punks, skins, and other lefties ran and searched for cover. 20 minutes later, when the hailstorm was weakening and turning to rain, the comrades pushed the crowd to begin with the demonstration, yelling “Corteo! Corteo!” (Demonstraion! Demonstration!). About 200 people joined the protest march. Another 200 waited for the end of the cloudburst and joined the rest at via Brioschi, where the march stopped near a bar, where Dax and his friends used to go to, and where a plaque in memory of him is installed.

After a few minutes, the stage-truck arrived and an the concert went on with the hardcore band “OFC HC” from Como and the redskin-band “Los Fastidios” from Verona.

Amongst the 400 people in the crowd, we met the mother of Dax and had a short talk with her. She was very pleased to see us (she had read our flyer on the online-blog of Milanese antifascists) and was shocked to her that neo-fascist murders are regarded with the same ignorance in other European countries as in Italy. But, she told us, there are always two truths: a official one, dictated by the government and the leading political and financial class, and a truth and history of the street.
Well, we couldn't agree more.

After the concert, poetry was recited and several comrades and friends talked to the crowd about Dax and of other victims of neo-fascist murders. Afterwards, 150 antifascists moved along the quarter where Dax lived. The crowd passed the local police post and the attending DIGOS were pelt with firecrackers. The demonstration ended after a minute of silence in front of the squat that Dax had occupied.

The news of another neo-fascist murder in Russia on the day of the protest march induced some comrades from Milan to spray a graffiti the same night (see photo). This act of spontaneous solidarity in a time of a growing fascist threat, is an impression we like to take home with us.

Antifaschistische Jugend Bochum (AJB)
Azzoncao – ein Polit-Café


PS. Please excuse the mistakes made – we are only second-language speakers.