A-Infos (en) Sicilia Libertaria: Alfredo Bonanno (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Alfredo Bonanno died in Trieste on December 6th; he was 86 years old, 
having been born in Catania on 4 March 1937. ---- Despite being divided 
by both political and human choices and paths that have diverged since 
the 1980s, there is no doubt that his figure and his role were central 
in the elaborations of contemporary anarchism, in particular for some 
areas which, for the sake of simplicity, we define as insurrectionist, 
although the term may be reductive; in any case he was one of the most 
translated Italian anarchist writers abroad.
Our paths crossed in Sicily, when he began his assiduous collaboration 
with the La Fiaccola editions edited by Franco Leggio, which also gave 
rise to the foundation of the magazine "Anarchismo" (January 1975). 
Although they were not free from conflicts, to every repressive act they 
put themselves behind - as was good practice among anarchists - to favor 
solidarity. One of the most critical moments of these relations was 
when, without consulting Franco, Bonanno decided to remove the La 
Fiaccola logo from the magazine and have it released as editions of 
Anarchismo (January-February 1978).

From that period, the youngest among us were indebted to him for a 
series of stimuli in the elaboration of the action, and this newspaper 
in particular, for the opening of the debate on Anarchism and the 
national liberation struggle ("Anarchism" n. 7 , January-February 1976) 
which after exactly one year would lead to the birth of Sicilia 
libertarian and the publication, in 1982, by Sicilia Punto L editions, 
of his essay Sicilia: underdevelopment and the struggle for national 
liberation. Among the other original contributions, we remember the one 
on the organization of autonomous grassroots nuclei, which was taken as 
a model by the anarchist and libertarian railway workers of the Turin 
compartment during 1977, when they managed to establish the Base 
Autonomous Movement.

It was with the fight against missiles in Comiso (1981), started alone 
by the Ragusa anarchist group in collaboration with some local political 
groups, to which the Catania anarchist group was added a year later, 
that the maximum collaborative effort was reached and organizational, 
culminating in July 1983 with the failed attempt to occupy the NATO base 
under construction. That circumstance, due to its political and 
strategic significance and the energy expended in the struggle, will 
leave indelible consequences in our relations. Different visions emerged 
in conceiving the presence in the territory and the implementation of 
the organizational proposals, but above all authoritarian methods and 
strategies at the origin of the definitive separation, accompanied on 
his part by accusations also on a personal level, and above all by an 
absence of self-criticism on the management of the last months of the 
fight in Comiso and its epilogue. More of us will move away from his 
sphere of influence in later years. Since then the aftermath of that 
experience has never subsided, but everyone has continued on their own path.

This is not the place to go into the merits of Alfredo Bonanno's thought 
and role in the anarchist movement, which we intend to do in one of the 
next issues. But this does not exempt us from remembering his passing, 
like that of a figure who influenced a part of contemporary anarchism, 
both Italian and international. On the characteristics of this 
influence, on its consequences, our opinions will certainly be different 
from those of other compañeras, but it is an objective fact that such 
influences have existed and will continue to exist for a long time to come.

The editorial team

https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
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