Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling.
Police fire tear gas in Rome, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Italian police fired tear gas and water cannons as protesters in Rome turned a demonstration against corporate greed into a riot Saturday, smashing shop and bank windows, torching cars and hurling bottles. The protest in the Italian capital was part of Occupy Wall Street demonstrations against capitalism and austerity measures that went global Saturday, leading to dozens of marches and protests worldwide.
When police fired tear gas canisters and water cannons at Italian "Occupy Wall Street" protesters, it evoked another violent and deadly demonstration against Wall Street. Evidently, a peaceful demonstration in Rome against corporate greed and in solidarity with the New York Occupy Wall Street Movement turned violent as some protesters started to smash windows belonging to multinational storefronts. Others threw rocks and incendiary devices at financial buildings in response to severe austerity measures. Back in 1920, an Italian-American immigrant and an anarchist named Mario Buda parked a horse-drawn wagon near Wall Street and the House of Morgan. At noon, windows exploded in the faces of office workers while those walking by or discussing financial matters were cut down by metal shrapnel and shards of glass. As a cloud of smoke enveloped Wall Street, debris and paper money rained down on dozens of people that were killed.(1)
Before dismissing either protests as acts of random violence or senseless killing, the failure to consider the political and economic context of any behavior is a serious psychological and sociological crime. Both Buda and Italian Occupy Wall Street protesters confronted and challenged hostile neo-liberal governments and corporate institutions that were not only responsible for exploiting and oppressing the working classes and the poor, but that were guilty of committing mass murder by legalizing killing through wars and military institutions. At the same time, intolerable and demeaning injustices, like mass unemployment, numerous work-place injuries, inadequate healthcare, a lack of educational opportunities, extremely limited freedoms and civil rights, economic disparity, and state-sponsored and corporate violence against self-governing popular movements, make some believe they have no other recourse than to commit extreme acts for the good of all.
When police fired tear gas canisters and water cannons at Italian "Occupy Wall Street" protesters, it evoked another violent and deadly demonstration against Wall Street. Evidently, a peaceful demonstration in Rome against corporate greed and in solidarity with the New York Occupy Wall Street Movement turned violent as some protesters started to smash windows belonging to multinational storefronts. Others threw rocks and incendiary devices at financial buildings in response to severe austerity measures. Back in 1920, an Italian-American immigrant and an anarchist named Mario Buda parked a horse-drawn wagon near Wall Street and the House of Morgan. At noon, windows exploded in the faces of office workers while those walking by or discussing financial matters were cut down by metal shrapnel and shards of glass. As a cloud of smoke enveloped Wall Street, debris and paper money rained down on dozens of people that were killed.(1)
Before dismissing either protests as acts of random violence or senseless killing, the failure to consider the political and economic context of any behavior is a serious psychological and sociological crime. Both Buda and Italian Occupy Wall Street protesters confronted and challenged hostile neo-liberal governments and corporate institutions that were not only responsible for exploiting and oppressing the working classes and the poor, but that were guilty of committing mass murder by legalizing killing through wars and military institutions. At the same time, intolerable and demeaning injustices, like mass unemployment, numerous work-place injuries, inadequate healthcare, a lack of educational opportunities, extremely limited freedoms and civil rights, economic disparity, and state-sponsored and corporate violence against self-governing popular movements, make some believe they have no other recourse than to commit extreme acts for the good of all.
Anarchists and self-governing movements are a constant reminder that property and wealth, as symbolized by Wall Streets around the world, are not the highest good, nor should they be the goal of any society or nation. Anarchists force governments and their "law abiding" citizens to rethink the ideals of liberty, equality and justice, especially in relation to governments and corporate structures that institutionalize violence and mass murder. Still, violent anarchists are merely mirroring violent governments and oppressive corporations, governments and corporations that believe they are making the world safe for democracy by militarily invading and colonizing foreign countries, or by arresting and torturing imagined radicals within their spheres. The difference is that where militant anarchists kill only a few people, a lengthy history is filled where the United States and Italy, backed by corporate powers, have killed tens of millions of innocent people.
More than likely, such lessons will not be accepted, let alone learned. There is too much concentrated power and violent control in corporations and governments. Conservative hostility, reactionary fear, and governmental dependence through economic crises and disasters, will continue to make the masses place their trust in abusive state and corporate institutions. Actually, "law abiding" citizens fear self-governance. Subconsciously, they are thankful that oppressive corporate and state leaders are in place to tell them how to think and behave. Anarchy, or the belief that government is unnecessary and harmful and self-serving and that social organizations can best be achieved through voluntary cooperation among individuals and groups (2), is always difficult to achieve because it takes great thought and effort. But some do have the insight and courage to ask oppressive states and corporations: "Where is that democracy for which we fought?"(3)
Like Buda and Italian anarchists, some understand that tyrannical corporations and repressive states can only be changed through revolution. Whereas Italian anarchists finally gained the attention of the state, for the first time in its history and after Buda's wagon exploded, frightened authorities and wealthy financiers suspended trading at Wall Street.(4)
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.)
(1) David, Mike. Buda's Wagon: A Brief History Of The Car Bomb. New York, New York: Verso Press, 2001., p. 1,2.
(2) Rohmann, Chris. A World Of Ideas: A Dictionary Of Important Theories, Concepts, Beliefs, And Thinkers. New York, New York: Ballantine Books, 1999., p. 17.
(3) Brinkley, Alan. American History. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers, 1998., p. 797.
(4) David, Mike. Buda's Wagon: A Brief History Of The Car Bomb., p. 2.
(Fuente)
