DN Note: On 8th August a repressive operation has been inflicted upon 10 comrades, resulting in four house arrests with all restrictions, five residence obligations with overnight return, and one comrade in prison due to not having proof of residence. All are accused of the charge of subversive association for the purpose of terrorism (art. 270 bis c. p.) and incitement to commit crimes (art. 424 c. p.) aggravated by the purpose of terrorism, in connection with the publication, as of 2020, of the fortnightly internationalist anarchist “Bezmotivny,” as well as offense to the honor and prestige of the president of the republic and clandestine printing.
We translate and reproduce below the editorial from the last publication of Bezmotivny No.12 ‘Come si cambia?’ (How does it change?)
More about the unfolding operation: https://darknights.noblogs.org/post/2023/08/11/italy-crackdown-operation-against-anarchist-newspaper-bezmotivny/
How does it change?
Within the Italian anarchist movement, is the need and importance of a printed newspaper still felt? In a world dominated by digital and immediacy, is it still subversive and revolutionary to print and disseminate a material tool of anarchist propaganda?
These are two questions that we have been asking ourselves over the two and a half years that the fortnightly “Bezmotivny” has been out, and which become all the more urgent now, at a time when the paper has been going through, unfortunately for several months already, a deep crisis that seriously threatens its existence.
Yes, comrades, “Bezmotivny” is in danger of never coming out again, seriously beset by two fundamental problems.
The first is financial: there is no more money to be able to pay for the printing and mailing of the newspaper. The fact is that nearly 50 percent of subscribers have not yet renewed their subscriptions for the current year, although they continue to receive the periodical. In addition, some places that receive 5 or 10 copies to disseminate it have long since stopped sending us money from newspapers sold. Add to this the increases in paper and shipping costs, and that’s it.
The second problem involves both the editorial staff and, in our opinion, the anarchist movement itself. The editorial staff, inasmuch as only 3 or 4 comrades are now left to work constantly for the release of each issue of the journal, while the others make minimal material contributions. The movement, in that the initial project of “Bezmotivny” to enlarge the editorial area to include other and different comrades outside the Carrara area (from which the idea of the fortnightly came and which saw comrades give heads and arms to the paper) has essentially failed. Failed both in the enlargement of the editorial staff itself and as contributions on certain issues or debates. Because, if there were contributions at certain times, these were unfortunately occasional and did not lead to more constant collaboration on the part of the comrades involved, as was the initial intention of the paper. Collaboration that, beyond the articles or interventions sent, also concerned the diffusion of the periodical within the area of anarchism to which it, for good or ill, referred, and that if on the part of some realities was constant and passionate, on the part of many others unfortunately did not develop. Continue reading “Italy: ‘How does it change?’ (Come si cambia?) from the 12th issue of the internationalist anarchist newspaper “Bezmotivny””