[Peace-discuss] Uproar in Italy

[Jenifer Cartwright]

Yeah, this was on DN! recently. And MY question is, why don't you folks convince the Italian gov't to say NO to this?? Assbackwards to talk to US gov't, even if there were a snowballs chance in hell it'd make a difference.
   
  Jenifer 
"Morton K. Brussel" <brussel4 at insightbb.com> wrote:
  From: HTTP://www.afterdowningstreet.org/vicenza

Anti-U.S. Uproar Sweeps Italy
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-05-04 18:50. Nonviolent 
Resistance
By David Swanson

The U.S. government has proposed to make Vicenza, Italy, the largest 
US military site in Europe, but the people of Vicenza, and all of 
Italy, have sworn it will never happen.

As with the story of the Downing Street Minutes two years ago this 
week, a major news story and huge controversy in Europe right now is 
unknown to Americans, despite the fact that it is all about the 
policies of the American government. In February of this year, 
200,000 people descended on the Northeastern Italian town of Vicenza 
(population 100,000) to march in protest. Largely as a result, the 
Prime Minister of Italy was (temporarily) driven out of power. 
Meanwhile, just outside Vicenza, large tents now hold newly minted 
citizen activists keeping a 24-hour-per-day vigil and training 
hundreds of senior citizens, children, and families every day in how 
to nonviolently stop bulldozers. The bulldozers they are waiting for 
are American.




The conflict, should it come about, will be as surprising to American 
television viewers as were the attacks of 9-11, unless someone tells 
them ahead of time what is going on. This week a group of Italians is 
in Washington, D.C., attempting to do just that. A group of Italian 
Members of Parliament also visited Washington last month in 
opposition to the base.

To understand this story it is necessary to be aware of a few basic 
facts that Americans are not supposed to be aware of, including that 
our military maintains several hundred bases in other people's 
countries, and that many of the residents of these countries resent 
the U.S. military presence. (Of course, the alleged planner of the 
murderous 9-11 attacks said he was reacting to U.S. bases on foreign 
soil, in that case in Saudi Arabia. The Bush Administration closed 
the offending bases.)

In addition, it is helpful to understand that Vicenza is a UNESCO 
World Heritage site, a beautiful treasure of a town showcasing the 
renaissance architecture of Andrea Palladio. Reflecting on this makes 
it easier to put into context the proposal for Vicenza from the U.S. 
military and the reaction of the people who live there.

If you google "No Dal Molin" you'll find 83,300 results. Dal Molin is 
the name of the proposed new military base. This compares with 9,290 
for such an important news story as "John Edwards' hair." But the 
only U.S. media link you'll find is Democracy Now, which interviewed 
one of the Italian activists in Washington this week.

In Italy, the women leading the opposition to the base, women who 
were housewives and had never been activists until news of this 
proposal leaked, have appeared frequently in the media. Here's a 
television news show video in Italian (click on "Puntate," scroll 
down to "Vicenza," and click). And here is an activist's video in 
English.

Since this story broke last year, Vicenza has become a focus for 
peace activists in Europe, including Americans living abroad, and has 
been the site of numerous protests and acts of civil disobedience. 
There is another protest march planned for this coming Sunday. (Flyer).

I spent all day Thursday with U.S. peace activists Stephanie 
Westbrook and Medea Benjamin accompanying a delegation of four 
Italians to meetings with Congress Members, Senators, and their 
staffers. The Italians were led by two women, Cinzia Bottene and Thea 
Valentina Garbellin.



They had arrived Tuesday and began their lobbying efforts on 
Wednesday. Stephanie and Thea appeared on Democracy Now that morning. 
And Code Pink launched a petition website where we are collecting 
Americans' signatures in support of the people of Vicenza.

On Wednesday, the delegation spoke with various Congress Members, 
including Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D., Hawaii) and Rep. Walter Jones 
(R., N.C.). At these and many other meetings, the Italians dropped 
off materials, told their stories, and answered questions. The 
Congress Members and staffers made no commitments but promised to 
look into the matter.

"The amazing thing," Cinzia said, "is that nobody in the United 
States, not even Senators and Congress Members, knows anything about 
it. But we found a great deal of interest."

On Thursday we met with Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D., N.H.)and a staff 
person. They, too, knew nothing about it, but were very interested. 
The same goes for aides to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.) and Sen. 
Jack Reid (D., R.I.).

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio) had a little bit different 
reaction. He said he opposed the base and would write a letter to all 
of his colleagues asking them to join him. He said he favored closing 
foreign bases but not opening new ones. Cinzia thanked the 
Congressman and invited him to come and speak in Vicenza.

Another meeting we had on Thursday was with three Senate staffers, 
who each worked for the Armed Services Committee or for a member 
thereof. They had all been to Vicenza. In fact, they flew to the new 
base location to examine it in 2004, two years before anyone in Italy 
had even learned about the proposal.

In our meeting, they articulated the U.S. government's position, and 
Thea and Cinzia articulated that of the people of Vicenza. At times, 
the two world views clashed. One of the staffers, who said he had 
been to Vicenza many times and had many Italian friends there, but 
who did not speak a word of Italian, suggested that the base might be 
necessary to allow the U.S. to airlift aid to starving Africans. This 
did not sit well with the Vicentines, who are motivated as much by 
their opposition to global militarism, arrogance, and lies, as they 
are by the potential impact on their city's water and traffic.

The Senate staffers tried to be helpful, and explained as others had 
before them, that what they needed to know about were potential 
impacts on water, traffic, power, pollution, and the environment. 
They also were very interested in learning about alternative 
locations for the base and accounts of the Italian government having 
offered other locations. But the danger brought to the people of 
Vicenza by making it a major military target was not a concern that 
had made it onto their radar screen. The damage to historic and 
artistic treasures was deemed "intangible." And the affront to the 
dignity of the people of Vicenza was unfortunate but insignificant.

The Italians explained that they have never protested the existing 
U.S. base in Vicenza, which has been there for 50 years. In fact, 
there are a number of U.S. military installations in and around 
Vicenza and throughout Italy, including facilities holding 90 atomic 
bombs, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, and this 
video news report in English from Italian television.

"The people of Vicenza and the Americans have always been friends," 
Cinzia said. "But when you invite a friend to your house and give 
them a room, it changes when they demand to have the whole house."

As in much of the world, Vicenza is already overrun by American 
soldiers who drink too much, commit too many crimes, return from Iraq 
in mental anguish, and – since 9-11 – remain ever more isolated 
from the Italians. It's the Vicentines' city, but they are second- 
class citizens. If an Italian is waiting in line in a hospital 
emergency room, and a U.S. soldier comes in, the soldier can go 
straight to the front. And the economic argument so cynically used 
all over the United States to keep our economy based on war does not 
work in Vicenza: Italian tax payers are paying a large portion of the 
cost of their own occupation.

American taxpayers, on the other hand, are completely oblivious to 
the fact that they are paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the 
construction of a base that has enraged the nation of Italy and 
serves no purpose that the people of the United States have ever 
debated or had any say in. While the State Department and the 
Pentagon make our decisions for us, the Congress does have to approve 
the money. They've already approved half of the money for this base, 
and the rest is expected to be voted on by October.

The people of Vicenza have also had no say in this. They handed in 
10,000 signatures and requested a referendum, but were denied. The 
Italian government has said it will permit the base, but it has not 
actually issued the construction permits. Leaders of the opposition 
movement met with the Minister of Defense who said that Italy was 
capable of saying No to the United States. But the U.S. ambassador 
gave Italy a deadline of January 19th to accept the base, and the 
Prime Minister announced his acceptance of it on a trip abroad on 
January 16th. While no permits have been issued, fiberoptic cables 
have been laid on the site, which activists have dug up and ripped out.

The activists leading this resistance struggle say they want to be 
friends with Americans. They have even proposed that the hundreds of 
millions of dollars for the base be spent instead on aiding the 
people of New Orleans, and that the cities of Vicenza and New Orleans 
establish a relationship as "twin cities."

But Cinzia Bottene made her case very clearly in the meeting with the 
staffers. "The citizens," she said, "will never, I repeat, never 
accept a base at Dal Molin."

The Italians plan to deliver a petition showing American support for 
their peaceful efforts to Senator Carl Levin and Congressman Ike 
Skelton, chairs of the Armed Services Committees in both houses. You 
can add your name to it here.

The Commander Guy, George W. Bush, plans to visit Rome on June 9th. 
He might actually be greeted by some cheers if he cancels the plans 
for Dal Molin. Otherwise, he can expect a grand unwelcoming party.

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spotlight
Yes they hate us..
Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2007-05-05 06:23.
...But they sure do love our money. Why do you think these 
governments let us stay in their countries? The US Military is one of 
the largest employers in Germany and we're pulling almost all of our 
bases out of here leaving alot of people without jobs. The 
unemployment rate is already in the double digits._______________________________________________
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