December 17, 2007

Three Days of Solidarity In Italia!

Terrific coverage of this demo, including background info and news of the spread of activism to Germany, the Czech Republic and other places in Europe that are occupied by our military. I emphasis text in bold:
Italians Block Construction
of U.S. Base
By David Swanson
The people of the northern Italian city of Vicenza, with help from activists around Italy, the rest of Europe, and even in the United States, are continuing to block the proposed construction of a new U.S. military base on their soil. When a company laid underground fiber-optic cables at the site of the proposed base, activists fill a junction box with cement. When another company tried to begin the work of removing World War II era U.S. bombs from the site, activists camped out in the cold for three days and nights while allies in Florence and a small town near Naples conducted simultaneous protests in front of the company's offices. The company backed off and has suspended the work. And a small town outside Vicenza has now refused to allow the United States to construct a residential village for troops.
[…] Saturday, December 15th, 2007, was predicted to be the coldest day Vicenza had seen. It snowed lightly in the morning.... But as the march proceeded ... it became clear that, without any advertising, and with negative or nonexistent media coverage, over 80,000 people had turned out in this conservative city with no university and no protest tradition. And there was no counter-protest whatsoever.
At the end of the march, the crowd poured into a piazza to hear speeches from playwright Dario Fo, Catholic priest Don Gallo, event organizer Cinzia Bottene, American Code Pink activist Desiree Fairooz (famous around the globe for holding blood-colored hands up to Condoleezza Rice) and others. Desiree was wonderful despite being moved to tears by the thought of whose fault it was that Italians and others around the world must hold these protests.
[…] citizens maintain a 24-7 presence on the edge of the site in their "permanent" fort, consisting of large white tents and trailers. The tents have heat, electricity, light, a sound system, a kitchen, and a store selling every possible article with the anti-base label "No Dal Molin." A trailer has a radio station. There are not, however, places for large numbers of activists from out of town to sleep. So, in addition to hosting guests in homes, the No Dal Molin movement, in preparation for Saturday's march seized an abandoned Italian military barracks. Activists then contacted the police offering to pay the utility bills for three days and give the place a major cleaning. The police left them alone.
[…] Citizens of the Czech Republic learned that a base was being planned in their area. The absurd U.S. line is that this base is needed to protect against attacks from North Korea and Iran. But, in a public vote, 99 percent of residents of the area opposed the construction of a base. A group of town mayors in the area formed an alliance to speak out against the base. It has not been built.
[…] When I asked Cinzia what she would do if they chose to build the base in Romania, she replied "We'll go train the Romanians."
[…] ONE THING YOU CAN DO:
One of the biggest local backers and profiteers of the proposed base at Dal Molin also profits when anyone buys a bottle of wine with the name Zonin on it. Don't buy any! You can find a list of brands not to buy at http://www.nodalmolin.it/
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/29388

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