Friday,
May 04, 2007
Sparked by
The
ANNOTICO Report
No
one in the
The
Italians have never protested the existing
But
the proposed military expansion in
Not only will the
negative impacts on water, traffic, power, pollution, and the environment
be serious. Even the danger brought to the people of
"The people
of
As in much of the
world, Vicenza is already overrun by American soldiers who drink too much,
commit too many crimes, return from Iraq in mental anguish, and since 9-11 remain ever more isolated from the
Italians. It's the Vicentines' city, but they are
second-class citizens. If an Italian is waiting in line in a hospital emergency
room, and a
You
have quite a group of REALLY Angry Italians.
It's
really unfortunate that we Italian Americans are not as organized as other Ethnicities, otherwise we could give much needed
political support to their justifiable cause.
Anti-U.S.
Uproar Sweeps
Op-Ed News
By David
Swanson
May 4, 2007
The
As with the story of the
Downing Street Minutes two years ago this week, a major news story and huge
controversy in Europe right now is unknown to Americans, despite the fact that
it is all about the policies of the American government.
In February of this year,
200,000 people descended on the Northeastern Italian town of
The conflict, should it come about, will be as surprising to American
television viewers as were the attacks of 9-11, unless someone tells them ahead
of time what is going on. This week a group of Italians is in
To understand this story
it is necessary to be aware of a few basic facts that Americans are not
supposed to be aware of, including that our military maintains several hundred
bases in other people's countries, and that many of the residents of these
countries resent the
In addition, it is
helpful to understand that
[
Almost NO US
Media is giving any attention to this Matter]
In
Since this story broke
last year,
I spent all day Thursday
with
They had arrived Tuesday
and began their lobbying efforts on Wednesday. Stephanie and Thea appeared on Democracy Now that morning. And Code Pink
launched a petition
website where we are collecting Americans' signatures in support of the people
of
On Wednesday, the
delegation spoke with various Congress Members, including Rep. Neil Abercrombie
(D., Hawaii) and Rep. Walter Jones (R., N.C.). At these and many other
meetings, the Italians dropped off materials, told their stories, and answered
questions. The Congress Members and staffers made no commitments but promised
to look into the matter.
"The amazing
thing," Cinzia said, "is that nobody in the
On Thursday we met with
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D., N.H.)and a staff person.
They, too, knew nothing about it, but were very interested. The same goes for
aides to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.) and Sen. Jack Reid (D., R.I.).
Congressman Dennis
Kucinich (D., Ohio) had a little bit different reaction. He said he opposed the
base and would write a letter to all of his colleagues asking them to join him.
He said he favored closing foreign bases but not opening new ones. Cinzia
thanked the Congressman and invited him to come and speak in
Another meeting we had on
Thursday was with three Senate staffers, who each worked for the Armed Services
Committee or for a member thereof. They had all been to
In our meeting, they
articulated the
The Senate staffers tried
to be helpful, and explained as others had before them, that what they needed
to know about were potential impacts on water, traffic, power, pollution, and
the environment. They also were very interested in learning about alternative
locations for the base and accounts of the Italian government having offered
other locations. But the danger brought to the people of
The Italians explained
that they have never protested the existing
"The people of
As in much of the world,
Vicenza is already overrun by American soldiers who drink too much, commit too
many crimes, return from Iraq in mental anguish, and since 9-11 remain ever more isolated from the
Italians. It's the Vicentines' city, but they are
second-class citizens. If an Italian is waiting in line in a hospital emergency
room, and a
American taxpayers, on
the other hand, are completely oblivious to the fact that they are paying
hundreds of millions of dollars for the construction of a base that has enraged
the nation of
The people of
The activists leading
this resistance struggle say they want to be friends with Americans. They have
even proposed that the hundreds of millions of dollars for the base be spent
instead on aiding the people of New Orleans, and that the cities of Vicenza and
New Orleans establish a relationship as "twin cities."
But Cinzia Bottene made her case very clearly in the meeting with the
staffers. "The citizens," she said, "will
never, I repeat, never accept a base at Dal Molin."
The Italians plan to
deliver a petition showing American support for their peaceful efforts to
Senator Carl Levin and Congressman Ike Skelton, chairs
of the Armed Services Committees in both houses.
The Commander Guy, George
W. Bush, plans to visit
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