Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 12:05:38 +0100
Subject: Re: AUT: R. Debray & the "red-brown" (alleged) anti-war alliance




Harald, Angela and all others, I 'am not sure a will be able to be more
clear, but I shall tray.

I was trying to give you some informations about the movement in italy, not
simply my own position. Of course it's my own interpretation.

First problem
In these two months there has been a development of positions.
In the beginning it was not clear what each spontaneows group meant with
"no war", the range went from catholic peace (peace as no war, but into the
capitalist order/ solidarity as charity) to not bombing Milosevic's
Yougoslavia.

Catholic position didn't change, and catholic people went on theirs own
praxis (solidarity: gathering food and so on, sending volunteers into the
camps in albania, and ......praying) separated from the left part of the
movement. Formal unification occures only in case of big manifestations.
(this is one of the differences of this starting movement with that against
Vietnam war and capitalist society in the 60's: the groups (collettivi)
were composed also of catholic, no distinction in between on this basis).

Leftist's position.
Pro Milosevic was from the begining a small minority, and it seems none of
them changed their position. Nevertheless the debate went on because NATO
war's substainers went on accusing the ones against the war to be Milosevic
substainers. The outcome is that "not bombing" (no to this war) has been
shifted into "no war" (no alla guerra), that is "no to war in itself as a
means of domination" (not simply interstate logic, instead as dominion over
people). Thus there seems to be a general acknoledgemnt on "no war" slogan
(no alla guerra) - at least inside the active groups (collettivi) spead on
the territory, which are many but small, more or less linked to social
centres - as being an anti-nationalist and anti-capitalist slogan.
(It includes: no to bounderes and no to UCK)

The second problem, which arises from one of my sentenses, concerne the
"us", and it is my own, not an explicit ussue of the movement, though I
think it ought to be.

>Harald wrote:
>Laura, you write
>>focused on what it means for us
>>to be part of governements bombing people. That is "no boms, no war", not
>>only for balcans people (all of them) but also for us, for our own
>>lives/identity (autovalorisation).
>
>Not to be pedantic, but we are not part of any government. I think
>I get what you mean to say. But the words one use is essential
>if we wants to get out the message that this is a war _against us
>too_. _We_ certainly don't have anything to gain from the ongoing
>war, or a strengthened and war-hungry NATO.

"we" are not part of any government, the war is NATO (or their) war, we
are........alter. Ok, but......

Let me explain the essue on stake:
As I said before the groups struggling against the war are many, spread,
autonomows, but small. At my university (20000 students) "we" are around
40-50, meeting every day if needed to deside what to do in particular
cases, and so on. This number is very small also in relation to students
movements in the 80's, and a lot smaller regarding Gulf war.
One of the problem is what to do for enlarging the number of partecipants,
to unlarge the "us". We tryed with stopping the lessons, plaing films,
distributing documents (volantini) and so on. No answer: everybody say they
are against the war.......but not willing to do anything. It seems that in
saying and feeling privately that they are for peace (or something like
that) they clean their soul. The problem is: why do they feel it is enagh?
My answer is that if we go on saying that the war is Nato's war, that "we
citizens" are not responsable of it, that somebody else do the war, they,
the silent majority, will go on thinking that it is something out of them.

>From a theoratical point of view the problem lays on the formal separation
of civil society and the state, or on formal autonomy of political.

Which is the relation between "we the citizens" and "we the
communists/antagonists (the class)"?

ciao laura







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