Anybody Notice the Quiet Militarisation of Italy?

virgincrude

jlw61

They feel safer by having groups of pimple-faced kids roaming the city armed with heavy weapons?

And they call the American fixation with the right to bear arms crazy?
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Ferretlover

I think this is scary. Everywhere that military are placed in public seems to be totally accepted by the public.
To me, it seems that this type of action is similar to a unit flanking the enemy, preparing for an attack. One order, reasonable or not, and the public is locked down tight.
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skeptik

Comments from an Italian in Puglia on another forum:

I'm not worried, because:
1. It's only in the big cities and I never go there.
2. It's a publicity stunt by Il Cavaliere, rather than a meaningful move.
3. Generally speaking, Italians are scared of their own shadow, so the perception of crime is much higher than the actual level of crime.
4. The number of troops being deployed is tiny
5. There are at least 8 types of police force in Italy already, so adding another to the mix is not going to make much difference.
6. Their uniforms are way too drab compared to the other police officers, so you'd hardly notice them.
link

Soldiers parked out front of important buildings is nothing new - I think it's the Marine corps thats usually used in Washington DC? Blackwater in New Orleans?

Ideally though this should be left to the police. If you need more police, recruit and train more. Troops were widely used throughout British history to maintain public order prior to the widespread establishment of police forces - often with lethal results. link

WyoDutch

It's been happening here in the "Homeland" (Goebbels would have loved that term) for years...

Americans have long maintained that a man’s home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.

These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.

jlw61

virgincrude

It is obviously a Berlusconi-media-attention-grabbing flourish. But that doesn't mean he won't keep the troops on the streets permanently, he is a hard right winger, and the only reason people voted for him again was because of his ability to appear to be doing something. Anything. In Italy, that counts as good governance.

What is astounding is the general population's acceptance of his neo-fascism. This move is the result of decades of instiutionalised corruption wearing down the efficacy of Italy's national infrastructure. If somebody along the line had done something about the ineffectual police force in Italy, there would now be no need to resort to armed forces.

Berlusconni has managed to get the entire judiciary in his pocket, thus rendering himself immune from prosecution from buying votes and other unconstitutional activities the whole world knows he's guilty of ... sounds like somebody else I can think of ... (Dubya.)

Here in Europe the only places you'd see troops patrolling the streets of any member state was (used to be) Northern Ireland. The only Embassies guarded by an army tank is the U.S embassy wherever you go (which speaks volumes). Here in Spain we have a semi-militarised police force, the Guardia Civil who wear those distinctive three cornered black shiney hats and who's duties and role within civilian life are strictly controlled. Only recently have they been harmonised with the regular state Police force to reduce clashes and paper work. There is still a lot of emotions attached to the existence of such a force, who were the de facto Franco hench men, and who's ranks harbour an element of fascist-like nationalism.

It seems to me the Italians are being used as a testing ground for more civilian repression in the name of 'security', and 'law and order'. And it looks like they're so totally fed-up with the anarchy governing their daily lives generally, that they'll soon be applauding Berlusconni's rounding up of Gypsies, immigrants, Moslems ...

jlw61

Twilight · Expert Joined: Mar 02, 2007 Posts: 2971 Location: UK

Italian domestic politics are a whole different world.
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Cochise · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 13, 2008 Posts: 51 Location: LA

As an Italian, i'll answer to the below points (coming from another forum) the way they deserve to be answered.
And i'll stress it again- I am italian, I live in LA but i was born and lived in italy for 37 years, so i hope nobody will scream that i am racist towards the italians.
These are the points reported:

1. It's only in the big cities and I never go there.
2. It's a publicity stunt by Il Cavaliere, rather than a meaningful move.
3. Generally speaking, Italians are scared of their own shadow, so the perception of crime is much higher than the actual level of crime.
4. The number of troops being deployed is tiny
5. There are at least 8 types of police force in Italy already, so adding another to the mix is not going to make much difference.
6. Their uniforms are way too drab compared to the other police officers, so you'd hardly notice them.

If you control the big cities, you control the nation. If that does not worry you, i suspect it's because you don't realize that while their number is small, a big principle of any democratic has been broken.
Who these soldiers report to? Are they accountable for any abuse of power?
Not that the other police forces are accountable for their abuse of power. The fascist policeman that murdered Federico Aldovrandi are still free, and although under trial they are protected by their police friends, more or less like mafia man protect each other.
Deploying soldiers in cities is just another step in the militarization of the country.
Which bear the question: why are the italians accepting this?
Because they are scared by TV. There are 6 main TV channels in italy: 3 are 'managed' by the parliament (widely under the control of Berlusconi) end 3 are owned by Berlusconi.
Youa can imagine what kind of 'independence' they enjoy! And all these TV are relentlessly broadcasting new of people being robbed, pick pocketed, murdered etc.
Never mind that statistics show that the number of murder has fallen, or that we have a huge number of people condemned for mafia sitting in our parliament.
No, pickpocketing is the emergency! Mass media created fear in people and therefore italians accepted the soldiers in the street.
Italians, stupidly accepted this without questioning, because with the usual exception mass media turned italy in a nation of brainwashed, egotistic, detached from reality people.
Of course there are people that are fighting this degrade, but they have no voice because they are cut out from mass media.
I could go on for hours to show how low my country has gotten, but that would go beyond the scope of this thread, and beyond my available time.

Carlo · Coal Joined: Nov 21, 2004 Posts: 11

Ayoob · Expert Joined: Jul 15, 2004 Posts: 1051

Italy for the Italians!

MD

Populations usually view military/police buildups as a Hobson's Choice dilemma. Take the extra police or live with growing anarchy.

I'm not sure there has been a population in history that has rejected militarization under those conditions?

I'm not even sure I would. I'd likely hang back and hope for beneficence.
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Cochise · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 13, 2008 Posts: 51 Location: LA