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.
Reprinted from the Aug. 29, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
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