| Table of contents no. 3/2008 |
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| The universe of the violent supporters |
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Answers by: Carlo BALESTRi, Lucio CARACCIOLO, Giuseppe CARUSO, Massimo CECCHINI, Lorenzo CONTUCCI, Franco FERRAROTTI, Claudio LOTITO
Judging from the headlines that appear in the newspapers, the word ‘ultrà’ (or ultras) always appears to be tied to facts of blood, violence, vandalism, and not of contained proportions. There is no doubt that a phenomenon such as the organized fan support, which originated in the 50’s – asserting itself in the 60’s and proceeding until today, with transformations which have followed those of the society in which it was established – has a component of aggression which can easily become uncontrollable. There is also no doubt that among the ranks of the ultras there are persons that exploit the football event, with the entire whirligig that accompanies it, to perpetrate acts of violence and vandalism. And yet, the ultrà phenomenon is also, above all, something else. From conducted research an extremely vivacious, throbbing, rich world has emerged, which certainly constitutes an important social potential. Just thinking of the huge number of people who go to the Stadium for every match, motivated by passionate enthusiasm; to those who decide to follow their team in away-games; to those who dedicate themselves to the choreography at the Stadium; to those who are fans as a reason for living, one can gather the enormous stimulus and the positive social impact which derives from football...(Photo Ansa) |
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| Essays and articles |
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 | How many friends have you mistrusted, how many dreams have you incarcerated, how many times have they tried and have never cowed us. Let’s get over the barricade, shock-wave and human flesh.Push with force against the Blue(s)*, push to the death, push onward!
ENTER BY PUSHING INTO THE STADIUM - ENTER BY PUSHING INTO THE ARENA - ENTER BY PUSHING INTO LIFE - ENTER BY PUSHING ALSO YOU!
(www.identitaultras.splinder.com)(Photo Gustincich) |
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 | The Institutions to which the defence of security is entrusted are submitted to pressing demands.
They are required to provide a penetrating control of the territory; multiplication of presence; vigilance; prevention; but also a renewed strategic commitment. They are called to strike the new types of criminality which grow with the globalization of the markets, with the great migratory movements and with the development of the applied sciences. Radical changes of the world market and technology have fed new threats, modifying the nature and danger of crime. The new demand of security reveals alarm but also signals confidence. In the ten years of the ‘emergencies’ which have borne heavily on the Republic, the political system submitted the Institutions entrusted with the security to a constant demand of commitment in defence of the democracy and civil co-existence threatened by armed violence and organized crime... |
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 | The Olympics represented for China a ‘mediatic opportunity’ without precedent; the opportunity to offer , to the entire world, the image of this boundless Country, ready to grasp and manage daily and future challenges, even, at the same time,respecting their ancient traditions. It was visualized in this way, sustains the author: the image of Peking as the Capital, visible and symbolic, of a Country not only leader at a global level, but able to transform nationalism into an ideology of harmony among the Nations. (Photo Ansa) |
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 | The Mafioso associations, by now, sophisticated intelligence structures destined to infiltrate the repressive apparatus of the State, resort always more, for the acquisition of information, to the ‘insider’ able to obtain data in an easy and continuous fashion. It is to the Mafioso insider trading that the detailed study of the author is dedicated. In examining the matrices and characteristics, he also underlines the peculiarities and dissimilarities with respect to other related systems. (Photo Ansa) |
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 | The present research attempts a reconstruction, on broad lines, of a complex phenomenon of such boundless dimensions as to allow, in following contributions, the investigation of its most obscure and disturbing aspects. The greater criminogenic propensity of non-structured juvenile groups and the increasing diffusion of Satanist sites contribute, in fact, to the proliferation of a reality which attracts always more followers responsible, also, for episodes of extreme violence.
(Photo /www.mediterraneopovero.go.ilcannocchiale.it) |
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 | Al Qaeda, twenty years after is no longer as monolithic as it appeared the day following the 11th of September. The terrorist organization founded by Osama Bin Laden is much changed and arriving from within its organization are signals of always more open dissension. Guido Olimpio has analyzed documents and detailed examinations by scholars and researchers on the terrorism front, which do not always lead to unequivocal conclusions. The information of Intelligence, the careful study of available documents and of what appears on the Internet, allow us, however, to establish that the terrorist sudden lethal attack policy has provoked strong dissent, especially in the recent period: this Islamist policy has alienated not only certain thinking beings of the Jihad, but with the indiscriminate killings, the extremists have found themselves against the very people they wanted to transform into followers. Beyond the strategies and tactics of the terrorists, there is also an ideological question that eats away within the movement, provoking evident rifts, which have already emerged in two important outposts of Al Qaeda: Iraq and Algeria. But the crisis within the organization does not mean the decline of Al Qaeda. Missing the occasion of the Olympics at Peking, for some analysts, the next appointment with the Islamic terror will be the American Presidential elections. But as Guido Olimpio underlines, the previsions of the analysts have not always hit the mark. (Photo /www.johnfenzel.typepad.com/) |
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 | The modern Western Countries have realized, over the course of the years, a model of society which is characterized by a high “quality of life”, implying with this expression, the possibility of having access to a “fundamental” number of services and opportunities which are made available to each single citizen until he can better express his own aptitudes and satisfy his own needs. From this perspective, the elements that are part of the “quality of life” are, for example, the services of energy supply, the protection of health, the transport system, the banking system and so on. In recent years, it has become necessary to affirm the need to better understand the real dependence of our society on those infrastructures which consent the delivery of the services that characterize the quality of our lives. ([LEW1], [HYS1]).
These infrastructures are called “critical” and the necessity of protecting their existence and correct functioning is synonymous with the necessity of safeguarding the quality of life. By way of example, let us consider what happened in Italy in occasion of the strike of the road haulers, in December, 2007. Three days of strike were enough to put various systems in crisis, such as: food supplies, the emergency health services (no petrol for ambulances), the productive systems based on the movement of people, the delivery system of medicines in the large cities etc. In synthesis, the failure of a specific service (transport on tyres) caused a series of chain repercussions on sectors ‘apparently’ not correlated to the lives of the citizens.... |
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| Surveys |
| TRUE STORIES, ANECDOTES AND LEGENDS |
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 | Espionage and counter-espionage are like a game of chess: sometimes a piece is sacrificed to save others or to prepare the possible checkmate: but there is always the risk of being outwitted, as happened during the “Cold War”, with one of the most brilliant actions of the CIA and the Intelligence Service: the digging of a tunnel to intercept the telephonic cables of the Red Army in East Berlin. The Soviets although knowing of the “Gold Operation”, remained silent in order not to expose their ‘mole’ in the MI6 and, they were convinced that the intercepted conversations were of no great value. In reality, in almost a year of interceptions, the West acquired precious and meticulous information, both on the organization of the Soviet Army and on their progress in the realization of the H bomb, much more than the Kremlin would have wished to make known. (Photo freenfo.blogspot.com)
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FROM THE ARCHIVES TO HISTORY  |
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 | In this Number, we propose two documents and a press article, dated 1925, relative to incidents between fans which happened on the occasion of a football match played in Turin, between Bologna and Genoa at the close of the Championship.In fact, the article of the Corriere della Sera describes the very serious episode that happened at the Porta Nuova Railway Station, during the course of which fans fired – from the specially provided trains for the transfer of the football fans – numerous revolver shots in the direction of the adversary fans waiting on the platform.
The episode, concluding with the serious wounding of a young fan of the Genoa team, testifies to, in an unequivocal manner, a series of disturbing similarities to what is still, today, recorded in the world of the organized football fans. In fact: ….then as now... |
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| BOOK REVIEW |
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 | Two volumes rich in references; indications from the archives; documents; reconstruct the history of the Italian Information Service, starting from the birth of the Kingdom of Italy up to 1949. A courageous step and without precedent. Almost a century of history has been re-read by Professor Maria Gabriella Pasqualini through the “secret papers of the Italian Intelligence” with a matchless and precious work for scholars and zealous enthusiasts. A work, as Pasqualini herself has written “susceptible to be continued and expanded”. In other words: the path is traced, others will follow and extend it”. |
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| CHRONOLOGY OF ORGANIZED CRIME |
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 | We present the chronological file of the most significant arrests of the organized crime
During the last three months, followed by an evocative and colourful description of one of them. (Photo Ansa) |
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| CHRONOLOGY OF TERRORISM |
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 | It is understood that an act of terrorism is a violent action, politically motivated, intended to strike objectives of symbolic value and destined also to intimidate a ‘targeted audience’ socially or politically connected to the primary objective.
The act of terrorism, unlike that of ‘political violence’ (carried out by individuals or groups acting ‘in the open’)and that of the ‘guerrilla ’(carried out with instruments and paramilitary logistics) is usually performed by individuals or groups who operate in secrecy or undercover, or in any event, under disguised conditions within the threatened societies”. (Photo Ansa) |
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