WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE ITALY - news journal UPDATE - (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #7-25: Class hatred. At the roots of war (ca, de, it, pt, tr) [machine translation]

 Once again, there are those who give numbers. 800 billion for the

rearmament of the European Union, this is the ReArm Europe plan decided
by the European Council last March 6. But it is not just about money.
300 thousand new soldiers to swell the ranks of the armies. This is what
the Bruegel (Brussels European and Global Economic Laboratory) says in a
publication drafted together with the Kiel Institute for the World
Economy. And then 1400 tanks, 2000 combat vehicles, 700 cannons, 2000
drones per year, as well as 1 million 155 mm artillery shells, ideal for
bombing. A real shopping list, to completely militarize Europe after
having transformed it into a fortress.

It is not just about deterrence, or generically defense, but the ability
to face the enemy. Which enemy? Obviously Russia, which after Ukraine
would be ready to take over all of Europe. According to Danish
intelligence, Russia would be ready within five years to unleash a more
extensive war by attacking an EU country.

Clearly no one would want to live under the heel of the Kremlin. An
authoritarian and repressive system, where well before the invasion of
Ukraine, in 2020, three fourteen-year-olds were stopped in Kansk,
Siberia, for having placed leaflets in solidarity with anarchists
arrested on the local headquarters of the FSB - the Russian secret
service heirs to the KGB. The three very young anarchists were accused
of terrorist organization, risking up to ten years in prison. One of the
most consistent pieces of evidence against them was having built an FSB
headquarters in the virtual reality of the game Minecraft and having,
again virtually, blown it up. One of them was sentenced to five years in
a penal colony in February 2022.

An oppressive dimension that is not easy to imagine from here, even if
even in our parts the repression is becoming more systematic. Just think
that with the new laws that the government would like to pass, those who
protest by blocking a road or occupying a house risk years of prison,
while in recent months there has even been talk of a penal shield to
guarantee the impunity of police officers who can commit violence during
street demonstrations. But it is clear that those formal freedoms that
guarantee spaces of action in this part of Europe are currently very
fragile, and are easily set aside when the authorities have to deal with
foreigners, the poor, proletarians, political militants, marginalized
people. They are those subjects who are branded as enemies by social
institutions founded on privilege.

So what is inside the walls of this Europe? What freedoms and rights
must be protected from the threat coming from the East? The detention
centers for the undocumented, the modern concentration camps of Europe.
The pushbacks and massacres at sea. The social inequalities that have
increased in the last 15 years in two thirds of EU countries. The
privatization of public services. The militarization and the
increasingly pervasive social control. The liberticidal laws that limit
the freedom to strike, demonstrate and press. After all, in the speech
"We are entering a new era" held on March 5 by the French President, in
which Macron calls on the French to serve their country in the face of
the Russian threat, and puts his nuclear arsenal on the table of peace
negotiations, there is more talk of "security" and "prosperity" than of
"freedom" as conditions to defend.

The Italian government seems to be very cautious on the issue, but the
possibility of a European interposition force in Ukraine once an
agreement is signed between the parties in conflict seems to be the
majority orientation at the moment. This will have to be discussed by
the general staffs of the armies of the countries ready to intervene in
support of Ukraine, who will meet in Paris in the coming days. It will
probably be clearer in the coming weeks whether the conflict will be
stabilized with the use of an interposition force or whether the war
will enter a new phase. But if there is no clear signal of opposition
from below, it is likely that Italy will also end up aligning itself
with a European intervention, also because the war party now embraces
the entire parliamentary spectrum. Even M5S and AVS have in fact joined
the chorus, because their position is practically superimposable to that
of the PD, which by saying "no" to weapons but "yes" to a European army,
only wants to distinguish itself in words from the government.

What security and prosperity should we go to defend? That of those who
exploit us every day, of those who already want us to die of old age at
work, of those who have destroyed public health and are making the
education system increasingly exclusionary and classist?

After all, we know how much we love the governing class that could call
us to arms.  A few weeks ago, the Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanchè
was subjected to a vote of no confidence in the Chamber due to yet
another legal proceeding involving her. In her speech in the chamber she
defined herself as a free woman, as an emblem of wealth, and responded
to the opposition with an eloquent phrase "you don't hate poverty, you
hate wealth".

Certainly an insult to poverty and to those who take to the streets on
March 8 because freedom must be conquered day after day. But the
opposition's attack is also significant. For those who are calculating
how to support European defense policies without losing too many votes,
it is evidently an excessive display of the privileges of the ruling
class, for Bersani in fact Santanchè gave "the idea of despicable
wealth". We need to be a little more sober these days.

But sobriety is fortunately not a distinctive trait of the members of
this government, who in line with tradition, never cease to remind us
who holds power and privilege in this country. Just think of the
official oyster tasting event held at Palazzo Madama. To support
producers, the Minister of Food Sovereignty Lollobrigida declared that
oysters will no longer be considered a luxury good, as is already the
case for truffles. Therefore, VAT on the prized mollusc will be reduced
to 10%. There was a real need for it, especially since VAT on sanitary
towels and diapers rose from 5 to 10% in 2024.

These are just a few examples from recent media cases, we could cite
many more. But the reality of the misery created by this social order is
part of the lives of most people, there is no need for anyone to explain it.

 From this point of view, it is easy to give an answer to the question
full of contempt that has been tormenting commentators, editorialists
and experts for three years: how come - according to the polls - in the
face of this war, the majority of Italians continue to say they are
against sending weapons, increasing military spending, sending troops?

Perhaps because many know from experience how much those in power hate
the people.

D.A.

https://umanitanova.org/odio-di-classe-alle-radici-della-guerra/
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