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NEWS & LETTERS, April - May 2007Our Life and Times by Kevin A. Barry and Mitch WeerthItaly and Bush’s warsIn March, Italy’s social democratic Prime Minister Romano Prodi won a razor-thin vote of confidence in parliament. This put him back in power after his coalition had collapsed over Italy’s ties to the U.S. war machine. These ties continue despite the 2006 election, in which voters repudiated pro-Bush Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Afterwards, Prodi moved to withdraw U.S. troops from Italy. But by early 2007, the Italian Left was beginning to mobilize to force Prodi to do more to separate Italy from Bush’s militarism. In February, 100,000 demonstrated in Vecinza against plans to allow the U.S. to expand a local military base, chanting "Bases Go Home," with many waving rainbow peace flags. The demonstration was entirely peaceful despite police "revelations" that violent terrorists would show up. Italy’s participation with 2,000 troops in the Afghan war has also come under attack from the Left, which has failed, as elsewhere around to the world, to take a clear stance against Islamic fundamentalism even as it opposes Bush’s war drive. |
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