An interview with Roberto Sarti of Falce Martello on growing opposition to plans for the expansion of a U.S. air base in Northeast Italy.
Socialist Appeal: Tell us a little about the planned expansion of the US airbase at Vicenza.
RS: Basically, the US military wants to transfer the entire 173rd
Airborne batallion to Italy. Part of it is already based at Vicenza,
another part is in Germany. They want to close the German base, and
move the whole unit to Italy. As a part of this move they want to
convert the civilian airport into a military airbase, expanding it
dramatically, by a total of 500,000 square meters, including hundreds
of housing units for the soldiers. All this less than a mile from the
downtown of Vicenza, which is a small town of some 150,000. They want
this to be a rapid response unit and staging area to take care of
emergency response in Europe, the Middle East, and a large part of
Africa.
From the beginning, there was a huge response against this proposal by
the population of Vicenza. Traditionally, this is a conservative,
right-wing part of the country. But they mobilized by the thousands
against what they percieve as “colonization” by the U.S. This shows
how quickly things can change. The largest of these mobilizations took
place on December 2, 2006, with 30,000 people on the street. The city
council has voted in favor of the base. The Center-Left national
government, which came to power in April 2006, had clearly stated in
its electoral platform that they opposed any more NATO or US bases in
Italy. Remember, this government was also elected on the promise that
they would withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan. They have left Iraq, but
they remain in Afghanistan, and have now sent troops to Lebanon.
The general feeling among those who voted against Berlusconi’s right
wing government, and brought the Center-Left to power, is that they
don’t want Italian troops to be stationed in war zones. This was part
of a strong movement against the war in Iraq, millions mobilized when
the war first broke out.
On the question of the enlargement of the base at Vicenza, the
Center-Left government of Romano Prodi tried for a long time not to
take a clear position. But the time came when the US government
demanded a definite answer. In the space of 24 hours, Prodi changed
his position from: “we’ll see, we must continue to discuss it” to: “the
decision has been taken, we will go forward with building the base.”
Why was this? Because the Italian government has no real independence
from the US government.
Socialist Appeal: Why does a government that includes
people calling themselves socialists go along with US imperialism’s
plans to project its force in this part of the world?
RS: Because in the final analysis, there are no fundamental differences
between the interests of US imperialism and the Italian ruling class.
Italy is also an imperialist country. Remember, the Italian Center-Left
originally protested the invasion of Iraq, not because invasion and
occupation was wrong, but because the occupation was not “legally”
backed by the UN. The bottom line is, they wanted a slice of the cake
in Iraq, and the US was not willing to share the spoils. The
Center-Left has always supported the occupation of Afghanistan, and
they are playing an active role in the multi-national “peacekeeping”
force in Lebanon. Despite their nice-sounding speeches, these leaders
are not genuine socialists.
Remember, the Center-Left supports NATO in general, it has no problems
with it. Why is this? Because they don’t have a class position. We
don’t think there is such a thing as the interests of “Italians” in
general. We believe in the interests of the Italian workers, and these
are quite different from the interests of the Italian capitalists.
This is the same in the US and every other country in the world. This
is why these reformist so-called “socialists” support imperialist
intervention.
Socialist Appeal: What effect has this had on the rest of Italy?
RS: The decision to build this base has provoked widespread
discontentnot only in Vicenza but throughout Italy. You see, there are
several other US bases in Italy. Altogether, they take up more than
2,000,000 square meters of Italian territory. But although they are on
Italian soil, the Italian government has no jurisdiction over them.
The US military can do whatever they please. As your readers will
remember, in 1999, two US Air Force jets were horsing around, flying
near Cermis in the Italian Alps at extremely low altitude - despite
laws against this - and one of them hit a ski lift, killing 20 people.
The Italian government has never been able prosecute the pilots. This
is an example of how the US military behaves abroad – disregarding
local laws and the safety of the people that live there.
So the movement against this base is building. There will be a
national demonstration against the base on February 17, in Vicenza. The
government is already in trouble and split on this issue. We think
that the trade unions, socialists and communists, must mobilize their
forces for this demo. Falce Martello
will be sending dozens comrades from across Italy to participate in
this important demo, which we see as only the beginning of the
struggle. The movement could reverse the government’s decision to build
the base, but only if the working class is at the forefront of the
struggle. The trade union leaders have already come out against the
base. We are calling on them to take the next step and call a general
strike. Workers need deeds, not just words. It is clear that if the US
builds more bases in Europe, this is not a problem only for European
workers. It is also a problem for workers in the Middle East, Africa –
and the U.S. These bases are a clear indication that despite the
disaster in Iraq, the US ruling class is preparing for new imperialist
adventures around the world.
We link our opposition to the base at Vicenza to our opposition to
Italy’s being part of the NATO alliance in the first place. Italian
workers and youth have no interest in being part of an imperialist
alliance. NATO was originally intended as a bulwark of imperialism
against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries. Now it has
been transformed into a bulwark against the oppressed peoples of the
world.
Socialist Appeal: Any final words to our readers?
RS: Our struggle is not against the American workers and youth. They are our best allies in opposing the further expansion of US imperialism around the world.