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No. 260 (February 2000) of the magazine deals, as usual,
with numerous issues.
After a humorous article by Carlo Oliva, commenting (very
critically) on the speech traditionally pronounced by
the President of the Republic on the evening of December
31, three contributions continue the debate begun in the
previous issue on militarism - particularly on the reform
of military service, on the "pedagogical" role
of the army in society and on the relationship between
"intellectuals" and the recent war in Kosovo.
In the "Fatti&misfatti" (deeds and misdeeds)
column there are:
* the account (by Patrizia "Pralina" Diamante)
of a conference held in Florence on December 3-4 on the
newspapers produced in Italian jails;
* the account (by "the heretic") of another
conference, held in Pisa in late November, on the anticlerical
press in Italy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries;
* the account by Edy Zarro of a third conference, this
one international, held in Toulouse (France) in late October
'99, on the prospects for anarchism;
* a comment by Mario Bossi in the awarding of the Piero
Ciampi prize, the most prestigious award for singer songwriters
in Italy, to the anarchist singer Lalli;
* a report (by Giulia Fumagalli) on the situation of the
Saharawi people, whose aspirations to independence from
Morocco - though legally recognized by the U.N. - are
still in the world of dreams;
* an article by Luciano Lanza (editor-in-chief of the
new quarterly magazine "Libertaria") on the
Russian aggression in Chechnya, with criticism of the
pacifist movement (anarchists included) for its general
insensitivity.
In the reviews section ("Rassegna Libertaria"
- Libertarian Review) two books are presented that have
recently appeared on the Roma and the persecution to which
they are subjected: two particularly interesting books,
because they are written by two well known intellectuals,
the writer Tabucchi and the historian of the workers'
movement, Revelli. Massimo Ortalli reviews a book edited
by Maurizio Antonioli and Pier Carlo Masini on the history
of the anarchist movement and libertarian syndicalism
in Italy between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Others present in this issue are Marco Cagnotti, a regular
contributor with his page devoted to the Internet ("Libera
rete" - Free Net), Felice Accame, with his regular
page of social comments ("A nous la liberté")
and Carlo E. Menga, with his column of criticism of advertising
("Segnali di fumo" - Smoke Signals).
The two centre pages are devoted to an exhibition to be
held in Milan in February and March by the painter Enrico
Baj, dedicated particularly to his monumental work (13
metres long) "The Funeral of the Anarchist Pinelli",
devoted to the anarchist railway worker killed in the
police HQ in Milan following the "strage di stato"
("state massacre": a bomb exploded at the Agricultural
Bank on December 12th 1969, killing 17 people and wounding
100; it is widely believed the state security services
were involved).
A 7-page dossier - edited by Dario Sabbadini - is devoted
to the C.I.R., a network of self-managed initiatives (particularly,
but not only, in the agricultural field) who promoted
a national meeting in Milan last December. Hundreds of
people from all over Italy took part in the meeting.
Mario Bossi has conducted a long interview with the Dutch
music group Ex.
Three accounts are devoted to the life of "A"
magazine, and particularly to the website (created less
than two years ago): webmaster Alex Steiner tells how
the site was born and how issue after issue is made; Swiss
Edy Zarro, who makes the space available and is responsible
for putting it on the Net, gives some contacts (how many?
where from? etc.) from Italy and the rest of the world;
Massimo Torsello - for two years involved in the monumental
task of indexing 30 years of "A" - explains
how he is working and presents the website (recently activated)
where the part of the index already completed can be downloaded.
As always, the postbag is lively: Gianfranco Careri (Ancona)
protests against the recent interview in "A"
with the Spanish CGT, claiming that the only anarcho-syndicalist
organization is the CNT; Cosimo Scarinzi (Turin) and Guido
Barroero (Genoa) polemize against Pietro Adamo, who has
criticized the very concept of "anarchist communism"
on a number of occasions; they claim the full legitimacy
and utility of defining yourself as "communist"
as well as "anarchist". Teodoro Margarita (Erba)
criticizes an editorial by Maria Matteo, in which - though
harshly criticizing the chemical multinationals and their
genetic manipulations - she did not express an equally
clear condemnation of all genetic manipulations. There
follows a long response by Matteo herself, who criticizes
with equal force the supporters of technology as the solver
of humanity's problems and the supporters of an unconditional
"return to nature": two mirror-positions, Matteo
affirms. Finally, a letter from the prisoners in the La
Voghera maximum security prison (Pavia) denouncing the
conditions they are subjected to.
As always, the magazine closes with the list of "fondi
neri" (slush funds), that is, the subscriptions and
sustainers subscriptions that have reached us over the
recent period.
The inside front cover presents the International Conference
promoted in Venice in the first weekend of May by the
Libertarian Studies Centre (Milan) and the International
Centre for Research into Anarchism (Lausanne - Switzerland)
on the theme "Anarchists and Jews".
The inside back cover advertizes a new libertarian magazine,
specifically devoted to art. The first issue will come
out in the next few weeks, and is entitled "ApArte".
On the back cover, the usual list of the around 150 sales
outlets (bookstores, social centres, anarchist meeting
places, alternative shops, etc.) where it is possible
to buy the magazine.
translated by Leslie Ray
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