REPORT FROM ASSISI, ITALY: INTERNATIONAL ANTI-IMPERIALIST CAMP
Special to Workers World
Assisi, Italy
Over 200 anti-imperialist activists from Europe and around the world
gathered in an outdoor camp in Assisi, Italy, the first week in August
to discuss experiences, strategy and theory in the fight against war
and repression through a series of plenary sessions and workshops.
In an attempt to frighten activists and obscure the issues, the big
business press of Italy immediately ran headlines baiting the
gathering, such as, "1,500 terrorists have come to Assisi."
Sharon Black Ceci, a delegate from the International Action Center in
the U.S., was loudly applauded when she declared in response to the
press at the opening plenary on Aug. 5, "The real terrorists are 45
minutes away from my home town in Baltimore. They reside in
Washington, D.C., at the Pentagon and the White House. Capitalist
exploitation is terror! Imperialist war and domination is terror and
the U.S. is the citadel of both!"
In this atmosphere, Italian police demanded that the camp organizers
allow them to seize Chilean revolutionary Jaime Jovanovic Pietro to
expel him. The organizers refused the police requests. A tense
standoff began until Jovanovic Pietro, known as Professor J, decided
to ask for asylum at the Catholic Church in Assisi.
But church officials allowed police to enter. They seized Professor J
and deported him to South Africa. Picket lines and press conferences
took up a campaign to expose the Italian authorities for refusing to
support an anti-fascist fighter. Professor J is accused of
assassinating a fascist Chilean general and of attempting to kill
dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Camp activities continued despite police searches of cars coming and
going. Discussions centered on the issue of the increased use of
repression by both the United States and European capitalist powers,
the role of social democracy in Europe, support of liberation
struggles around the world and the threat of U.S. aggression against
Iraq.
Representatives from liberation struggles around the world, including
Palestine, the Basque Country, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela,
Argentina, Indonesia, the Philippines and Morocco, made exciting
presentations.
Cesar Taguba, BAYAN Philippines representative, discussed his
organization's support for the independence of the island of Mindanao
while fighting against U.S. domination. He announced that the U.S. had
deployed up to 7,000 troops in the Philippines. He declared, "We will
resist the U.S. war of terror against our people."
The Basque people's movement for freedom was highlighted because of
the tremendous attacks that Spain is now waging against their
struggle. Spain has sought to ban Batasuna, the Basque people's
organization, which has garnered 15 percent of the vote in recent
elections. This attack is being orchestrated under the guise of
declaring Batasuna a "terrorist organization."
A special session was devoted to the illegal trial in The Hague of
former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. All the panelists
attacked the U.S. war against Yugoslavia and called for an end to the
tribunal. Speakers were Fulvio Grimaldi, Italian journalist and member
of the International Committee for the Defense of Slobodan Milosevic;
Aldo Bernadini, professor of international law; Serguei Novikov,
historian and representative of the Communist Workers Party of
Russia-Revolutionary Party of Communists; and Andrea Martocchia,
National Coordination for Yugoslavia in Italy.
Representatives from organizations in Greece, Turkey, Germany, Russia,
Scotland, Britain, Austria, Italy, France and the United States
attended.
The camp passed important action resolutions, including an
international day of support for the Palestinian struggle on Sept.
28, the second anniversary of the current Intifada. The camp also
called for demonstrations Oct. 26 in Brussels against the European
Union and its adoption of a "Black List" similar to Washington's
targeted list of countries and liberation struggles. It also called
for an international delegation to travel to Iraq in the event of a
U.S. attack.
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“There are no boundaries in this struggle to the death. We cannot be indifferent to what happens anywhere in the world, for a victory by any country over imperialism is our victory; just as any country's defeat is a defeat for all of us.” – Che Guevara
“We still believe that the struggle of Ireland for freedom is a part of the world-wide upward movement of the toilers of the earth, and we still believe that the emancipation of the working class carries within it the end of all tyranny – national, political and social.” – James Connolly
