Acronia

Anti-militarism in Italy. From the Second World War to today

a cura di Isabelle Felici, Giorgio Sacchetti — 2024-12-29

Introduction. Anti-militarist activism, Italian maps.

Isabelle Felici, Giorgio Sacchetti — 2024-12-29

Opposition to the military presence in Sardinia. Political battles from the Second World War to the 1960s: the role of the Italian Communist Party

Walter Falgio — 2024-12-29

The first signs of opposition to the military presence in Sardinia starting immediately after the Second World War and during the 1960s can be traced in multiple areas of the dynamics of democratic participation in the political debate. From the organized initiatives of parties and as-sociations to forms of individual expression, from denunciation mediated through cinematographic art to journalistic production and journalistic investigations: dissent towards the burdens of Defense on the island has taken on widespread, heterogeneous and transversal features from which emerge the contents of a sometimes peculiar research object, attributable to the scenarios of the political and social history of twentieth-century Sardinia, also in connection with much broader and more complex transnational contexts. Here we propose a partial mapping of the initial manifestations of the antagonism to the imposition on Sardinian territory of constraints attributable to policies within NATO, with particular attention to the press and parliamentary debate dominated by the Italian Communist Party.

Conscientious objection and antimilitarism. Lexicon, forms, context, languages, conflicts

Marco Labbate — 2024-12-29

The essay investigates how vocabulary and forms of conscientious objection change since the second half of the 1960s, moving from a predominantly intimate and individual dimension to an anti-militarist and collective one. In the first part it examines the roots: the semantic legacy of anarchism, the impact of Don Milani’s letters to chaplains and judges and the new proposals of the songwriting world. In the second part the diffusion of antimilitarist objection is instead analyzed: the languages of individual and collective declarations of objection, the redefinition in an antimili-tarist key of Capitini’s peace marches, the role of objectors’ diaries in denouncing the conditions of prisons and military justice, the geographical spread of nonviolent antimilitarism and its relations with that present the army, the role of Radicals’ Party.

Opposition to the war in Vietnam between Italy and the United States. Genealogy of an antimilitarist imaginary

Tommaso Rebora — 2024-12-29

The American military escalation in Vietnam fueled widespread discontent that soon erupted into open dissent. Pacifist and anti-militarist initiatives proliferated, turning Vietnam into a global anti-imperialist reference point. In Italy, along with a shared feeling of internationalist solidarity, an ambiguous perception emerged, viewing the United States both as an enemy to be fought and, at the same time, an example to emulate. The transnational contacts of the New Left bypassed this mistrust, allowing contamination between different practices of contestation. These exchanges notably influenced protest movements, which revitalized the slogan “bring the Vietnam war home”. Conflict in the streets erupted, exacerbating differences between the old and New Left and giving rise to unprecedented phenomena, such as the soldiers’ anti-war movement. The article shows how mobilizations against the Vietnam War shaped an anti-militarist imaginary capable of spreading globally.

«NATO will be our Vietnam»: Italy between loyalty to the Atlantic Pact and the ques-tioning of military bases.

Elisa Santalena — 2024-12-29

On February 27 and 28, 1969, Richard Nixon travelled to Italy to explain the White House’s new foreign policy to his most loyal allies before departing for the Soviet Union-a visit that had far-reaching consequences for both domestic politics and Italian-American relations. His arrival was preceded by a conflict over Italy’s membership in nato. The PCI, in fact, had called for the country’s exit from the Atlantic Pact and the closure of us military bases on Italian territory. This essay, excerpted from the author’s forthcoming habilitation on diplomatic relations between Italy, the United States and Chile, examines Nixon’s first, eventful to Rome and the reactions of the main political parties to the new form of Atlanticism proposed by his administration. The sensitive issue of U.S. military bases brought into question by the rise of anti-militarist movements and the ideologization of the debate surrounding their presence on Italian soil – is also addressed.

Antimilitarist battles on the armed island. 40 years of struggles against the war in Sicily

Pippo Gurrieri — 2024-12-29

Since the Allies landing in July 1943, Sicily’s role as an armed island under the control of the United States of America with an anti-Soviet function was defined. A long process of militarization begins. In 1981 the decision by the USA and NATO to install 112 nuclear-tipped Cruise missiles in Comiso provoked the development of an important pacifist and anti-militarist struggle with anarchists among the main protagonists. In the summer of 1983, the attempts to occupy the base and the protests met with a harsh police reaction which sealed the defeat of the movement. Almost thirty years later in Niscemi the installation of the MUOS satellite communications system met with a strong popular reaction which put the usa in difficulty; antimilitarism proves capable of hindering war projects, as happens in the acute phase of the conflict. The fight continues today.

From Comiso to Niscemi, passing through Sigonella: what influences participation in the anti-militarist and No-war movements against the US-NATO bases in Sicily?

Gianni Piazza — 2024-12-29

Abstract: In this chapter, the main anti-militarist, and No War mobilizations against the us-na-to bases in Sicily, over the last forty years, have been reconstructed. From the movement against the Euromissiles in Comiso in the early eighties, to the protests the Iraq War in 2003 in front of Sigonella, up to the no muos movement, which for the last fifteen years has opposed first the construction and now the operation of the communication system geo-satellite at the us navy base in Niscemi. Subsequently, based on a plurality of sources, the factors that facilitated and hindered the spread of the protests beyond the narrow circle of political and trade union militants were analysed. In particular, the perception of the activists interviewed on the factors that influence mass participation was compared with those present in the sociological literature on movements.

Power of an impotence. Desertion from yesterday to today

Luca Salza — 2024-12-29

The article focuses on desertion as an existential and political practice of evading the friend/foe opposition, hence the very logic of conflict. The aim of the text is to show that deser-tion is again taking shape as a power, as ‘‘the negative power of shirking’’, capable of revitalizing the anti-war struggle by the anti-militarist movements. Indeed, in the catastrophe we are experi-encing, as Céline says, «there’s nothing to be done, all you can do is clear out».

Readings

AA. VV. — 2024-12-29