Coming To Terms With Italy's Terrorist Past
By Stephen Robert Morse
July 22, 2009
In 2009, when you hear the word "terrorist," who and what comes to
mind is no secret. However, many of us forget that in the 1970s,
leftist terrorism was a major cause for concern. In the US, it was
the Weather Underground, Symbionese Liberation Army, and Black
Liberation Army who were the main proponents of these unlawful
tactics. But Italy was the true global epicenter of these movements.
From the late 1960s through the early 1980s, legions of Italy's most
radical communists (led by the Red Brigades) terrorized their
country with regular bombings and murders in an era that became known
as "The Years of Lead."
In Pushing Past The Night, journalist Mario Calabresi (currently the
managing editor of Italy's La Stampa newspaper), takes readers back
to these troubled times, starting with the events that led to the
brutal murder of his father Luigi on May 17, 1972, when the author
was just two years old. Calabresi goes to great lengths to explain
why misguided left wing radicals have for years symbolically invoked
the name of Luigi Calabresi when using propaganda to justify other
heinous actions. With a remarkably beautiful translation into English
by Michael F. Moore, Calabresi weaves back and forth between the
1970s and the present day, illustrating the lack of justice for
Italy's criminals (many obtained immunity by moving to France or have
been let off because of the statute of limitations, and some have
even become high-ranking elected officials) and the falsehoods in the
national consciousness surrounding the death of his father. To debunk
the claims made by leftists that his father was guilty of a crime,
Calabresi carefully and scientifically has many experts recreate the
events of the death of Giusseppe Pinelli (whom the leftists claim his
father killed), leading to the solid conclusion that Luigi Calabresi
is innocent of all wrongdoing. Calabresi's discussion of how many of
Italy's former terrorists became acclaimed scholars, intellectuals,
and philosophers while serving little to no time for their crimes
depicts the chaos and inadequacy of the Italian justice system, as
well as how faux-revolutionaries are made into pop culture heroes.
What I appreciate so much about this work is Calabresi's ability to
create such rich emotion while retaining his own values and morals.
For instance, when writing about the Italian government's failure to
inform his family that one of his father's murderers was released
from prison, Calabresi notes, "I don't think the government should be
required to seek victims' permission before passing laws or deciding
whether to grand a pardon, parole, early release or supervised
furloughs. Such matters should be carried out in the general
interest, which might not coincide with the interests of the
'families of the victims.' If the state, the judiciary, the
government or the president thinks that an act is appropriate,
necessary, and justified, then the pain of private citizens should
obviously not be an impediment."
This memoir presents history through many angles on poignant subjects
that most Americans would likely only be aware of if, during the
1970s, they attentively read the foreign section of a national
newspaper. For the rest of us, catching up on what we missed by
reading Pushing Past The Night is the next best thing.
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