100,000
Demonstrate Against Expansion Of US Base In Vicenza
By Marianne Arens
24 February, 2007
World
Socialist Web
On February 17, some 100,000
protesters marched in the north Italian city of Vicenza against the
planned expansion of the US Ederle military base. The six-kilometre-long
march was also directed against the US war in Iraq and the foreign policy
of the centre-left Italian government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
“Prodi Vergogna”
(“Shame on You, Prodi”) could be read on many banners. Protesters,
who came from all parts of Italy, carried hundreds of banners, pennants
and hand-painted posters criticising the Iraq war.
The demonstration remained
completely peaceful, although the government and media had sought to
stoke up fears of possible acts of terrorism. Sewer covers had been
welded shut in the city centre of Vicenza, thousands of police and Carabinieri
were mobilised, and police helicopters circled continuously overhead.
The main demand of demonstrators
was an immediate end to military interventions by Italian forces. “It
is not just about the American base,” one participant told the
Reuters news service “It is about the fact that bomber aircraft
fly directly from this base to intervene in countries where war is raging.”
At the end of the protest,
the well-known playwright and Nobel laureate Dario Fo performed a short
piece with his wife Franca Rame and others. Fo explained to the press
that he was opposed to any such military base, whether it be Italian
or American. He warned that the presence of the US base could make Vicenza
a possible target in any military conflict.
The expansion of the US military
presence in Vicenza has the support of the Prodi government. Prime Minister
Prodi explicitly confirmed the decision made by his predecessor, Silvio
Berlusconi, at the beginning of the year and gave official approval
for the expansion of the base.
The development of the Ederle
barracks and the Dal Molin military airport in Vicenza is of great importance
for the US military. More US soldiers are currently active on Italian
soil than at any other time since the end of the Second World War and
the Cold War. The Pentagon is realigning its troop levels in Europe
in line with a future attack on Iran, in which Italy, for geographical
reasons, would play an important role.
Vicenza is to be expanded
by the year 2010 to become the most important European base for US deployments
in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The base is to house the entire
173rd US Air Brigade, whose units are currently divided between the
German bases of Bamberg and Schweinfurt. The 173rd Brigade participated
in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and is active in Afghanistan.
Italy houses other important
bases for the US military, including Camp Darby near Pisa and Sigonella
in the Sicilian Islands. The US Navy also has bases at Gaeta, Taranto
and Naples.
The US Air Force base at
Aviano is located at the foot of the Dolomites, just a hundred kilometres
from Vicenza and, according to the newspaper Il manifesto, is where
the US has stockpiled at least fifty tactical nuclear bombs.
Italy has been a reliable
member of NATO since the Second World War. Since last year’s election
defeat of Berlusconi, the Bush administration has been able to rely
on the continuing support of the Italian government led by Prodi. The
prime minister does not want to endanger the traditionally close military
and intelligence links between Italy and the US, and has refrained from
any criticism of the Washington’s belligerent foreign policy
Predictably, Prodi has also
refused to cooperate with the attempt by public prosecutor Armando Spataro
to bring charges against CIA agents who collaborated with the Italian
military secret service SISMI in the illegal “rendition”
in 2003 of Abu Omar, who possesses an Italian passport. The main obstacle
to any successful trial of the CIA agents is the stance taken by Prodi,
who has declared that important information relating to the cooperation
between the CIA and the Italian military secret service constitutes
a state secret.
The Rifondazione Comunista
(Communist Refoundation) has played a particularly devious and cynical
role in covering for the foreign policy of the Prodi government. Rifondazione
has been part of the Prodi coalition since May 17, 2006, and has one
cabinet minister (Paolo Ferrero), one deputy minister and six state
undersecretaries in the government.
Despite the fact that Rifondazione
declares its opposition to militarism, and some prominent Rifondazione
politicians took part in the demonstration in Vicenza, the organisation
has continued to back the government. Following an appeal by Prodi for
members of his cabinet to boycott the demonstration, arguing that “the
government cannot demonstrate against itself,” Rifondazione leaders
responded by staying away from the protest—sending other Rifondazione
representatives in their place to Vicenza.
In the words of the secretary
of the CGIL trade union, Oscar Mancini, “Our aim is not to bring
down the Prodi government, but to force it to reverse a false decision.”
For his part, Giovanni Russo Spena, the Senate parliamentary leader
of Rifondazione, declared that the protest was directed against “the
decision to double the US base” and warned the government that
its stubborn stance on the issue could cost it one-and-a-half million
votes.
In reality, the demands of
the demonstration were palpably and clearly directed against the government.
The clear and overwhelming demand was for an end to all further preparations
for war and the withdrawal of all troops—whether Italian or American—from
Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon
In the aftermath of the demonstration,
a number of Rifondazione deputies in the Senate either abstained or
voted against a motion calling for support for the government’s
foreign policy. The vote is seen, in particular, as an obstacle to the
government’s plans to increase the number of Italian troops in
Afghanistan.
At the moment, Italy has
1,900 soldiers active in Afghanistan as part of the NATO operation in
the country. The vote on Wednesday means Italy may not comply with NATO
requests for an increase in troop numbers, under conditions where fighting
and hostilities are intensifying, in particular in the south of Afghanistan.
For its part, Rifondazione
has already made clear it is not opposed in principle to military operations
by the Italian army. Just six months ago the organisation gave its seal
of approval to the dispatch of Italian troops to the coast of Lebanon
as part of the UNIFIL mission in the region, and it continues to support
this deployment.