Despite the spring, at the time of the Maddalena Republic, the village
of Chiomonte was gray, dark, and silent. Beyond the river that narrowsin the gorge, in the open space of vineyards, barricades, shared food,
and assemblies, there was the sound of the lives of the resisting
community-a community of choice, not of land, not of blood, not of
exclusive identities and their terrible burden of violence. There we
learned to walk in the night. Together and alone, stumbling and getting
up again. Many people in those years, ever since the Venaus uprising,
had discovered that rewriting a history already written was possible,
that the times we were given to live in were not an inescapable destiny.
Then came the occupation, the repression, the trials: our community lost
its creative force, resistance was reduced to a worn-out ritual, and
institutional delegation prevailed. Right now, the police are seizing
homes in Susa.
But. Those nights of vigil, having been part of that chosen community,
continues to remind us of a possibility we must embrace. Today more than
ever.
We live in dark times, times of war, times in which the shadows of a
starless night are lengthening. The powerful reemergence of nationalism,
religion, authoritarianism, and patriarchy is one of the hallmarks of a
century that is unable to come to terms with the deepening environmental
and social crisis, because the logic of capitalism dictates the pursuit
of profit at all costs. Over half the world's population lives by
digging in landfills, the concrete symbol of a subjugated humanity, of
people whose lives are worth less than the waste they dig through to
survive.
In every corner of the planet, there are governments in which
authoritarian, religious, and racist demands prevail, perfectly
compatible with capitalism and its poisonous fruits.
The movements that at the dawn of this century dared to attempt a
transnational alliance of the oppressed and exploited have been swept
away. The failure to oppose the "wars of civilizations" in Afghanistan
and Iraq spelled their end far more than repression or their
reabsorption into spheres compatible with the existing order. The
failure to grasp that the Afghan war was not about liberating women from
slavery but about settling scores with historic Cold War allies makes it
even today difficult to grasp that religious wars are useful for
recruiting aspiring martyrs, but they fail to explain a reality in which
alliances are geographically variable and subject to constant shifts.
In the last month, we have witnessed the promotion of Al Jolani, the new
lord and master of Syria, to a reliable partner of the United States.
Much to the chagrin of Syrian Christians, Alawites, and Druze, who are
subjected to a ferocious repression. Al Jolani is the head of the Syrian
branch of Al Qaeda, the same organization led by Osama bin Laden. On the
other hand, in 2021, the United States handed the future of Afghan women
back to the Taliban in exchange for a promise not to allow jihad to spread.
Alliances between states, beyond the rhetoric used to garner consensus,
have no other ethic than that of affirming the objectives of the power
blocs that support the various governments. It is not trivial to recall
this, because unfortunately, many movements opposing wars and rearmament
remain anchored to campist dynamics. The push for a transnational
alliance of the oppressed and exploited struggles to (re)gain traction
when support for BRICS prevails, an economic network whose pillars are
champions of freedom such as Russia, China, India, Egypt, the United
Arab Emirates, Iran...
The ferocious, large-scale ethnic cleansing carried out by Israel over
the past two years has been and continues to be a huge humanitarian
catastrophe for the Palestinian population. In our latitudes, the
powerful wave of indignation over the genocide that filled Italian
streets, with impressive numbers and radical protest practices, was
unable to break free from stolidly campist logic. Calling the butchers
of Iranian women, the Assad regime, and their Lebanese allies the "axis
of resistance" was an unmistakable sign of this.
The push for decoloniality is an important tool for liberation paths
that highlight the prominence of marginalized and racialized populations
and social groups, but it backfires if it turns into the cultural
relativism already so dear to the differentialist right.
Yet now more than ever, the growth of a radical antimilitarist movement
has been necessary, capable of derailing the arms race and war that
threatens to overwhelm us all.
The Antimilitarist Assembly, founded three years ago, has focused on the
fight against borders, armies, and wars, supporting deserters,
conscientious objectors, and those who oppose massacres and racism in an
internationalist and supportive spirit.
The Assembly has stood alongside comrades committed to building free and
equal social relations, even amidst the rage of war and genocide.
The Assembly has promoted initiatives against military missions abroad,
military bases, shooting ranges, and weapons factories, in the knowledge
that the roots of wars are embedded in the very soil on which the homes
we live are built. Eradicating them is our duty.
The Assembly took to the streets to protest the Aerospace and Defense
Meetings, the biennial aerospace weapons trade show held in Turin, with
the clear goal of shutting down the war industry.
This year, too, on the occasion of the tenth edition of the arms fair,
it promoted the march to be held on Saturday, November 29th, and the
blockade on December 2nd.
We know these are dark times. A good reason to do everything we can to
keep control of the helm, despite the storm, the confusion, and the fear
of failure.
We have learned to walk through the night without losing our way,
stumbling and supporting each other.
Saturday, November 29th in Turin
Antimilitarist march
2:30 pm, Corso Giulio Cesare, corner of Via Andreis
Against war and those who arm it!
Away with the arms dealers!
Tuesday, December 2nd
Blockade at the Oval Lingotto at Via Matté Trucco 70
No to aerospace and defense meetings!
ma.ma - Antimilitarist Assembly
https://umanitanova.org/via-i-mercanti-darmi-torino-contro-aerospace-defense-meeting/
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