A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #33-25 - Forlì - Aerospace and War. The EriS Project by Leonardo and Thales (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

As often happens in our digitalized world, life events appear to us as 
images, screen abstractions, completely disconnected from their causes 
or material perpetrators. Thus, war, tragically a recurring theme in our 
society, is presented as if it were an adverse weather event, something 
unpredictable, much less preventable. Instead, just as with the genocide 
in Palestine or the war between NATO and the Russian Federation on 
Ukrainian soil, any type of armed conflict requires soldiers who, 
obediently, fight it; officers and strategists who direct it; 
politicians who approve it; banks and wealthy entrepreneurs who finance 
it; technicians and research centers who develop weapons; and companies 
and factories who build them.

And so, in the peaceful and, all things considered, privileged city of 
Forlì, the Municipality and the Cassa dei Risparmi Foundation 
(ubiquitous wherever there's money to be made!), united in the "Mercury 
Foundation," along with the "ERiS" (Emilia Romagna in Space) consortium, 
promoted by "Thales Alenia Space" with seven Emilia-Romagna companies, 
want to establish a citadel of war, to give us a firsthand understanding 
of what it means to be an integral part of the logistics of death.
2,000 square meters of land (which could become much larger in the 
future: we're talking about an area of over 8,000 square meters) owned 
by the Municipality of Forlì, in the Ronco neighborhood (wasn't the De 
Gennaro barracks enough?), specifically in a rural area between Via 
Montaspro and Via Carnaccini, behind CIRI Aerospazio and a stone's throw 
from the University's Aeronautical-Space Technology Center (the Forlì 
campus linked to the University of Bologna). A high-tech production 
center for dual-use satellite antennas, for both civilian and military 
use, is planned for the site.

The ERiS project was presented in Rome in October to the Ministry of 
Business and Made in Italy by Vincenzo Colla, Vice President of the 
Emilia-Romagna Region with responsibility for Economic Development; 
Forlì Mayor Gian Luca Zattini; and Paola Casara, City Councilor for 
Economic Development and the Forlì Aerospace Project. They were joined 
by the heads of Emilia-Romagna aerospace companies Bercella, Curti, 
Nautilus, NES, NPC-SpaceMind, Poggipolini, and Tex Tech. The University 
of Bologna is also involved in the project through CIRI Aerospazio.

The project has a cost of between EUR15 and EUR25 million, which is 
expected to be recouped through public funding linked to development 
contracts. Meanwhile, the transfer of the land for the ERiS project, 
through the Mercury Foundation (which was also presented with great 
fanfare in February), was already unanimously approved by the Forlì city 
council in mid-October. Proof that the center-right and center-left are 
in complete agreement on militarization and money.

What does this have to do with war? Unfortunately, the track record of 
the companies participating in the ERiS consortium speaks for itself: 
the leading multinational Thales Alenia Space, owned by Thales (67%) and 
Leonardo (33%), is a key player in the military-industrial complex that 
fuels conflicts around the world, producing strategic components for 
communications, surveillance, and defense systems. The satellites 
produced by Thales Alenia Space provide the "eyes" for drones and 
military technologies to strike their targets.
Leonardo (a company jointly owned by the Italian state) and the French 
company Thales, a key partner of the Israeli Elbit Systems, to which it 
supplied components for the IDF's drones, are among the main suppliers 
of military technologies to the State of Israel for the massacre of the 
Palestinian population. Not to mention that Leonardo is the 
third-largest arms company in Europe by revenue.
The ERiS consortium also includes, among others, the 
Castelbolognese-based company Curti, already at the center of protests 
for its role as a supplier of military components to Leonardo.

The "dual" use, both civilian and military, that is being touted to 
convey a sort of "social value" to the technology produced is pure smoke 
and mirrors: the fact that these satellite antennas can also be used for 
other purposes does not obscure their primary purpose. To give an 
example of the use of satellite internet services in today's conflicts, 
it's enough to recall the role that satellite constellations and 
receivers like Elon Musk's Starlink have played and are playing in the 
war in Ukraine, becoming a key element for telecommunications and Earth 
observation, guiding drones and artillery targeting systems to their 
chosen targets. It's no coincidence that Starlink is the declared model 
for the creation of a European constellation of dual-use satellites, 
spearheaded by the alliance between Thales, Leonardo, and Airbus (Bromo 
project).

The rubble of the Gaza Strip and the tens of thousands of deaths in 
Palestine (or Sudan, Congo, Yemen, Ukraine, etc.) bear the signatures of 
Leonardo and Thales, among others.
If this project were to come to fruition, Forlì could also become one of 
Italy's centers for the production of death. And for what? For the usual 
bloodthirsty profit-seeking of bosses, foundations, and private 
companies, and for the thirst for power and recognition of local and 
regional politicians.
Will "job creation," the eternal mantra for swallowing every filth, once 
again make us forget all moral scruples? The "instructive" side of this 
terrible affair is that it shows us that wars are fueled just a few 
kilometers from where we live, in our cities, showing us that the 
producers of death have names and addresses, and that we can stop them! 
We must stop them! No citadels of war, neither in Forlì nor elsewhere! 
Let us sabotage, desert, boycott militarism! A free Palestine in a free 
world!

Samara Collective

https://umanitanova.org/forli-aerospazio-e-guerra-il-progetto-eris-di-leonardo-e-thales/
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