A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #24-26 - Block arms trafficking, build resistance structures (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The story: ---- On the evening of August 24, a Kuwait Air Force Boeing 
C-17A Globemaster III, registration KAF343, landed at Pisa Airport. 
While images suggest the aircraft was there to load or unload equipment 
compatible with anti-aircraft artillery systems, public tracking data 
has allowed it to reconstruct the various routes taken by the same 
aircraft in the preceding days, through military hubs in Kuwait, Italy, 
the United States, and the United Kingdom. However, it is not possible 
to determine whether these flights were part of the same operation or 
transported the same equipment.
Many aspects remain unclear. It is not known for certain where the 
aircraft was located at the airport (whether the civilian or military 
section), whether it was loading or unloading weapons, and what its 
destination was. What is clear, however, is Italy's involvement in 
global war scenarios and the use of this Tuscan region as a 
military-logistical hub, increasingly undermined by US interests and its 
military adventures in Iran. The United States maintains significant 
military installations in Kuwait, while Italy officially operates in the 
country with a dedicated air defense force and technical assistance to 
the Kuwait Air Force. A few days after the Pisa incident, the United 
States again attacked Iran. We have no evidence directly linking the 
flight that transited through Galileo Galilei Airport to that operation, 
but this context makes it even more urgent to understand the nature and 
purpose of the movement.

Not a Case, a System
This incident is not an isolated case, but further evidence of Italy's 
role in the global escalation of war, a role that institutions seek to 
conceal, but of which the city is only aware thanks to grassroots 
reporting. As early as March 2022, workers at Pisa's Galileo Galilei 
civil airport, together with the USB union, discovered and reported a 
shipment of weapons destined for the conflict in Ukraine, refusing to 
load the plane that was officially supposed to be carrying humanitarian 
aid. Since then, thanks to constant monitoring and grassroots reporting, 
the movement of vehicles, tanks, explosives, ammunition, and troops in 
the military hub spanning the Pisa-Livorno-Piombino area has 
increasingly come to light.
From the Port of Livorno and Piombino to the rail tracks connecting 
Pisa with Camp Darby, weapons transportation has become central to the 
logistics of the global war chain. So much so that in recent years, both 
Italian and American investments in strengthening the infrastructure of 
these arteries have increased, with the goal of making military forces 
increasingly integrated and rapid. Swing bridges, improved rail 
transport (e.g., Tombolo, Pontedera), canal redevelopment (such as the 
Navicelli Canal, the main waterway between Camp Darby and the Port of 
Livorno), coastal concrete construction (Darsena Europa), and new docks 
are irreversibly transforming the landscape with the clear goal of 
maximizing military operations.
What we see in our territory is merely a reflection of what is happening 
on a larger scale. As early as 2022, the European Commission Executive 
Agency CINEA had made EUR330 million available for military mobility 
projects, while in 2024, the European Union's approval of Regulation 
2024/1679 further institutionalized and strengthened the process, 
already underway in previous years, of adapting European networks for 
dual use to military mobility needs.
In Italy, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) immediately embraced this 
recommendation and in April 2024 signed a collaboration agreement with 
Leonardo to "implement a shared project within the Military Mobility 
framework, an EU initiative aimed at increasing existing infrastructure 
and digital capabilities to ensure the movement of military resources 
within and outside Europe, even at short notice and on a large scale."
All of this further confirms the strategic importance of infrastructure 
in this global war, which could not exist without the ability to 
physically organize in territories like ours.

Italy is at war.
All existing polls, regardless of the question's formulation or focus, 
show widespread concern and rejection of war in the country. Among 
these, the Censis survey conducted in Italy on a sample of 1,007 
individuals between the ages of 18 and 45-essentially the individuals 
most likely to be called up-is striking. "Only 16% would be ready to 
fight, 39%, proclaiming themselves pacifists, would protest the call-up 
to the armed forces, and 19% would desert or flee to avoid taking part 
in hostilities, avoid the front, and avoid witnessing the bloodbath."
And despite the government's tireless efforts-with Crosetto at the 
forefront-to propagandize ideals of defense of the homeland and to 
reform the system to recruit even minors and integrate civilians into 
the army, this common sentiment remains prevalent in society.
Therefore, if people don't want war, war must be organized secretly.
The Meloni government's statements have repeatedly attempted to reassure 
public opinion regarding Italy's lack of involvement in the global 
escalation, the conflict in Iran, and the genocide in Palestine. Yet, 
every day, equipment and troops depart from Italy. New projects 
involving the US military or Israeli companies directly implicated in 
the genocide are being funded. Industrial-military cooperation 
agreements are being signed. A global war is constantly killing 
civilians, and Italy is deeply involved.
In the end, even the state had to admit it. Indeed, as reported by the 
Osservatorio Repressione (Observatory on Repression), to deny access to 
data on arms trafficking in the port of Ravenna-access guaranteed and 
regulated by Law 185/1990-the State Attorney's Office cited a "piecemeal 
and hybrid global war" and "the state's national security, defense, 
military interests, and international relations," effectively 
acknowledging Italy's involvement in the global escalation.
In this context, the transition from civilian to military occurs 
seamlessly, without major upheavals: military trains begin to run on the 
tracks we travel every day, the factories that once produced automotive 
components continue to produce the same products, but to sell them to 
military companies, and war is not declared-indeed, peace is 
declared-but it is waged.

The Role of Territories: Monitoring, Reporting, Blocking
The aforementioned law (185/1990) was a breakthrough for anti-war 
movements, guaranteeing parliamentary and citizen oversight of Italian 
arms exports. This was done to monitor and prevent Italy from selling 
weapons to countries at war or responsible for human rights violations. 
Currently, the process of amending Law 185/1990 is underway, with 
provisions that risk drastically reducing the transparency of the annual 
report to Parliament, specifically eliminating essential information on 
banking transactions related to the arms trade. Transparency of 
information becomes an obstacle to be overcome, whether it concerns arms 
exports or new military bases, as we have been denouncing for years. 
This example is indicative of how the government systematically intends 
to cover up any information related to arms sales, imposing total 
silence on the issue of war and its complicity with undemocratic and 
even genocidal regimes like Israel.
Yet, regardless of how the process of amending the law ends, we know 
that even today, the local communities are not allowed to know anything, 
even though they directly pay the price for these reckless decisions 
that hold communities hostage and put them at risk. Just think of the 
dangers of living near military bases, which, especially during the 
height of various ongoing conflicts, become potential strategic targets; 
or of living near munitions factories likeKNDS Ammo Italy, formerly 
Simmel Difesa, which exploded a few weeks ago in Colleferro, an 
explosion that only by chance did not turn into a tragedy. We have no 
right to know anything, yet every day war transforms the stations, 
airports, ports, roads, and workplaces we pass through daily into a 
minefield, whose risks fall entirely on ordinary people.
In this scenario, the territories have demonstrated their refusal to be 
victims and accomplices of the war. From the dockworkers organized in 
the ports of Livorno, Genoa, Gioia Tauro, Piombino, and Ravenna, to the 
railway workers protesting the use of the railway network for war, to 
the blockade of the shipment of weapons and military equipment by the No 
Base Movement along the tracks at Pisa station, concrete opposition to 
the war is growing ever stronger and more widespread. Every action that 
exposes the war makes it visible, blocks it, and can disrupt war 
logistics, even for just a few hours or a few days, forcing the opposing 
sides to seek new solutions, take longer routes, and avoid certain times 
or locations. All of this jams the war machine, a machine that is oiled, 
transformed, and strengthened to make every operation as swift as 
possible. We cannot predict the future, but we know that if the war is 
here, it is from here that we must build resistance infrastructures.

No Base Movement

https://umanitanova.org/bloccare-il-traffico-di-armi-costruire-strutture-di-resistenza/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en