A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova - On the Fascist and Racist Attack in Cesena (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

We announced it when the good souls of the institutional "left" were 
looking elsewhere, and we promptly received confirmation: the opening of 
a neo-fascist branch in Cesena would bring a series of problems. ---- A 
racist attack that occurred on the evening of Friday, August 29th, in 
front of the CasaPound headquarters in Corte Dandini in Cesena, where 
the fascists were planning a reopening party after their summer break, 
quickly became local and national news.

Preceded by racist insults ("fucking niggers") directed at three young 
men who were casually walking past the headquarters, the attack, 
according to witnesses, saw about fifteen comrades come out and 
physically attack the youths with chairs, belts, and bottles.

It also appears that before the attack, the fascists also insulted and 
harassed a group of minors who were walking past their headquarters.

We have written, said, and reiterated that the opening of such a den 
would pose a threat to public safety for everyone: from our physical 
opposition to the fascists' presence in the square, to the organization 
of the demonstration against the inauguration of CasaPound's first 
headquarters in Cesena, on Via Albertini, in 2018 (later closed and 
reopened in May 2024 in Corte Dandini), to the many initiatives launched 
by the Cesena Anti-Fascist Assembly.

For their opposition to the opening of the Via Albertini den, four 
anti-fascists endured a seven-and-a-half-year trial for domestic 
violence, accompanied by shameful media coverage by various 
(dis)information outlets, who, however, carefully avoided reporting that 
these same four people were later acquitted by the Bologna Court of Appeal.

The attempt to distort reality and portray fascists as victims is, after 
all, a well-known and tried-and-true rhetorical device.

This is evidenced by the description of the attack, which some media 
outlets have turned into a "brawl," with an unacceptable sharing of 
blame, simply because the attacked youths had legitimately attempted to 
defend themselves. This is also reflected in the news that the 
prosecutor investigating the incident has placed five people under 
investigation, including the attacked themselves.

Furthermore, this is not the first time CasaPound activists in Cesena 
have been responsible for harassment and asserting their fascist 
beliefs. For those with short memories, we recall the attempts to 
intimidate the residents of the building where the first headquarters 
was located, on Via Albertini, who immediately opposed the fascists and 
had to endure their raucous late-night singing of national anthems from 
the 1920s, as reported at the time in the local news.

One thing, however, we want to make clear.

With our initiatives opposing all forms of authoritarianism, we have 
never intended to support the opportunism of the parties governing the 
city. The anti-fascism to which we have always aspired and advocated 
requires active participation and a strong sense of action, prerogatives 
that those who belong to (or support) the established parties will never 
be able to understand and embrace, given their blind faith in 
delegation. A clear example of this is the mayor of Cesena, who stated 
that the city administration "does not have the tools to act" against 
the fascist headquarters in Corte Dandini, entrusting the task to the 
Police Headquarters... which, as is well known, is distinguished by high 
anti-fascist ideals (of course!).

As if the presence of the aforementioned headquarters were merely 
another public order problem, or a bureaucratic nuisance, and not 
instead a degenerative process within the territory that affects the 
political legitimacy of such spaces.

Relying on institutions will not solve the problem of fascist presence 
in cities. If institutions-not only national ones but also local 
ones-are part of the problem, if they themselves are incapable of acting 
as a deterrent to fascism and, indeed, often promote and foment fascist 
culture itself, for example, by supporting resolutions and ordinances 
against social marginalization without providing alternative solutions 
(such as the provision of affordable public housing), appealing to these 
is not only childish naiveté but even a betrayal of the anti-fascist 
ideals so much vaunted. When anti-fascism becomes a mere embellishment, 
it is simply a lie; if it is then invoked for low-level political 
propaganda, it is irreparably debased. Anti-fascism must be a constant 
in our lives, not an electoral calculation of a certain left that 
increasingly winks at the worst of the right in its policies.

The extremely serious nature of this attack remains, which cannot and 
must not be underestimated. Nor should it be considered an isolated 
event, but rather should be seen as part of the dynamics of neo-fascist 
groups, fueled by the climate of intolerance for those other than 
themselves that is rampant today, not only in social media comments 
(which are pointless) but above all thanks to the policies of 
institutions, both right-wing and left-wing, that wage war on the poor 
while fomenting a "war among the poor," providing moral justification 
for racist delusions such as so-called "remigration," i.e., the attempt 
to present the deportation of non-whites as a political proposal.

In the face of fascism, racism, and the supremacism of far-right 
extraparliamentary groups and institutions, which we see rising 
worldwide (along with militarism and nationalism), we continue to 
believe that the only social defense is to join forces and organize from 
the bottom up.

Solidarity with the three young men attacked.

Close all fascist offices!

Antifa of Forlì-Cesena

https://umanitanova.org/sullaggressione-fascista-e-razzista-di-cesena/
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