WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE ITALY - news journal UPDATE - (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #11-26 - Initiatives against war trains between March 23 and 29 (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Below are reports of some of the initiatives launched in various locations in response to the Antimilitarist Assembly's call for a week of protests—from March 23 to 29—against war logistics and the militarization of rail transport (see U.N. No. 9). Because war also travels on rails. Let's oppose the transport of weapons. Let's oppose the militarization of railways and war logistics.

LIVORNO
On March 25, at 12:00 p.m., a demonstration organized by the Livorno Antimilitarist Coordination Committee against war logistics on the railways was held at Livorno Centrale station. Several dozen people attended and distributed 500 copies of the leaflet supporting the Antimilitarist Assembly's call regarding the growing European spending on the militarization of rail transport and infrastructure, the resulting cuts in safety, and the increasingly worsening working conditions on the railways. A banner from the "PASSENGER AND COMMUTER TRAINS - NO MILITARY TRANSPORT" coordination group and a banner from the "RAILWAY WORKERS AGAINST WAR" collective were displayed. As the coordination group, we were interviewed by the local press, and the general interest in the initiative was deemed positive, also with a view to building a united and autonomous mass movement that will make the government understand that we are not willing to resign ourselves to their militaristic and authoritarian plans.

We support safe and civil rail traffic.

We oppose the use of the railway network for military purposes.

The war starts here too, let's stop it!

Livorno Antimilitarist Coordination

PALERMO

Like the Palermo No War Assembly, we too here in Sicily, and specifically in Palermo, responded to the Antimilitarist Assembly's call by staging a flash mob against war logistics on March 25th in front of the Palermo Notarbartolo train station, a major rail transport hub in the city.

A banner bearing the words "Against rearmament and military logistics infrastructure" was unfurled, sparking lively interest from countless residents passing through, who were reminded of the devastating impact of arms trafficking by rail.

As antimilitarists, we have pledged to return to the city's main train stations to distribute anti-war leaflets.

Antonio Rampolla

NAPLES

As part of the week of mobilization called by the antimilitarist assembly, the Anarcho-Communist Group "Francesco Mastrogiovanni" of Naples, part of the Italian Anarchist Federation, after participating with several comrades in the anti-war march on March 27 in Rome, organized a flyer exhibition the following Sunday in the Bagnoli neighborhood of Naples, in the heart of the Phlegraean Fields, where the group has long been active. The exhibition took place between the Cumaean railway station, the neighborhood's busiest square, and the Sunday fruit and vegetable market. Five hundred flyers were distributed, the exhibition was read by several people, and with a good number of participants, it was possible to engage in interesting interactions.

Anarcho-Communist Group "Francesco Mastrogiovanni" - FAI Naples

TRIESTE

On Friday, March 27, as the Germinal Anarchist Group, we distributed flyers in front of the Trieste train station.

Trieste station is a terminus, but the region's railways are involved in the new line connecting Tuscany to the eastern border. Therefore, while Trieste does not play a significant logistical role, it is still part of the modernization of the military arms movement network. In Trieste, on Fridays, the station is frequented primarily by student weekly commuters, many of whom return to the provinces of Udine and Pordenone. Our leaflet distribution was aimed primarily at them and daily commuters, but we also managed to intercept people using the nearby bus station and some railway workers. The comrades present were identified by the railway police, who asked if the leaflet was connected to the recent blockade of an arms train in Pisa.

Germinal Trieste

TURIN

Antimilitarists at Porta Susa against war trains.

The railways are increasingly at the service of war. A flood of public money has been allocated to the modernization of military transport lines.

On Saturday, March 28, as part of the week of information and protest launched by the Antimilitarist Assembly, a demonstration was held at the Porta Susa station in Turin. Riot police deployed to block access to the platforms. A banner reading "No to War Trains" was nevertheless hung above the entrance. The initiative attracted a wide and diverse turnout.

Music, leafleting, and speeches captured the attention of passersby and travelers, who lingered for long periods during the various speeches, which highlighted how rail transport has become increasingly dangerous in recent years, as staff cuts and the outsourcing of maintenance expose workers and travelers to enormous risks.

From Viareggio to Brandizzo, the list of massacres grows. These are not accidents, but murders, the perpetrators of which sit on railway boards and in government.

With new investments in war logistics, railways, a potential target for drones and bombings, will become increasingly dangerous. Thanks to dual use, both civilian and military, trains full of ammunition and tanks travel alongside passenger trains.

The money wasted on military logistics could be used to make the trains we take every day to work and school more comfortable and safe.

World War III is now underway. Military bases on Italian soil are key hubs for logistics and intelligence for the wars that, from Ukraine to Palestine, from Iran to Lebanon, are setting ever-larger areas of our immediate world ablaze. The war industry is rapidly expanding, thanks to rearmament programs that span vast swathes of the planet.

Every intervention has emphasized the importance and urgency of information and direct action against war and those who arm it. We cannot stand by and watch. We cannot accept that war becomes just another option.

The bases of war are just a stone's throw from our homes. It's up to us to pour sand, not oil, into the militarist machine. If we allow a train loaded with weapons to pass through our homes, we are complicit in the murder of men, women, and children killed by those weapons.

One day, someone dear to us could die if that train were to crash.

The day concluded with a commitment to continue monitoring military transport, weapons production, and the Aerospace City construction site.

The war is already here. Stopping it is possible. Today, they would like us all to be conscripted. We desert.

We want a world without borders, armies, oppression, exploitation, and war.

Antimilitarist Assembly - Turin antimilitarista.to@gmail.com

Here we also report the report of the initiative held in La Spezia, which followed a specific path but addressed the same issues and was conducted in the same spirit as the initiatives organized as part of the Antimilitarist Assembly campaign.

LA SPEZIA

As part of the mobilizations on this issue, on March 18th there was also a demonstration in La Spezia organized by the Coordination Let's Rest Human-Let's Reconvert Seafuture and Railway Workers Against the War, in which antimilitarist comrades actively participated.

https://umanitanova.org/iniziative-contro-treni-guerra/
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Link: (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #11-26 - Initiatives against war trains between March 23 and 29 (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca