We'll look after you. "City Angels" patrolling Milanese metro. Photo : www.cityangels.it

Italy goes out on patrol

Citizen patrols of all kinds — from extreme-right militia squads to groups of pensioners that supervise streets outside schools — are increasingly common in Italy. Social, cultural and political rifts have prompted the emergence of a phenomenon whose dangers have yet to be evaluated by public authorities.

Published on 17 July 2009 at 16:48
We'll look after you. "City Angels" patrolling Milanese metro. Photo : www.cityangels.it

Via Padova, Milan. They certainly stand out on the sidewalks: the mixed police patrols with their escort of soldiers in camouflage combat suits; then come the Blue Berets, controversial for their ties to right-wing extremists; the red berets of the City Angels, the oldest “volunteers” [i.e. vigilante group] in the city; and the Green “Volunteers”, the Lega Nord (Northern League) members with their Po Valley armbands and the double V. All these “security workers” – should they be considered as temporary or as a necessity? A map of the vigilante groups in Italy might reveal some surprises. It was in the 1990s that the North discovered it was vulnerable. Villa break-ins prompted politicians to play sheriff. Among the first to sign up were the Lega Nord, who took a rib from the Po National Guard and fashioned the Green Volunteers out of it in 1998 and ’99. They are now under the baton of Max Bastoni, an LNist famed for his punning slogan “Bastoni contro gli immigrati” (“Sticks Against Immigrants”). But the LN often fail to practise what they preach, reciting racist refrains and then working to improve administrative efficiency. “What we do is we take group walks,” explains Bastoni, “at best we know how to defend ourselves. And we’re really volunteers, whereas nowadays I see a certain trend towards some sort of external funding.”

The name “Po National Guard” seems to have inspired the “Italian National Guard”, commanded by right-wing extremist Gaetano Saya, with a whole slew of brown uniforms and symbols out of history books. Their rhetoric smacks of a wooden version of the “Illinois Nazis” in the movie The Blues Brothers. Saya seems rather isolated, but in fact you never know, say the carabinieri: they fear the rise of neo-Nazi youths, often linked to football hooligans, who increasingly hate Jews, blacks and globalisation.

All manner of forces lurk behind these “security committees”: by tentative counts, a hundred-odd organised groups are involved so far. The most fanciful one is in the Tuscan town of Follonica, where a restaurateur has mustered “Volunteers for the Wives of the Squad Members”. But the vast majority are hardcore. They personify sociologist Slavoj Zizek’s notions of biopolitics and postpolitics: “Postpolitics is about leaving ideologies behind to concentrate on competent administration…while biopolitics seeks to regulate security and well-being.” The only way to get us to embrace these politics wholeheartedly is through fear: “fear of immigrants and crime, of wicked sexual depravity, ecological disasters, and harassment.”

In Veneto the social, cultural and political divides are striking. In Padua there were Lega Nord vigilance committees and left-wing counter-committees. And a little further away is the only existing phone-line committee: “Pronto soccorso civico” (“Civic First Aid”). Whilst Jesolo was one of the first municipalities to organize vigilance committees, chiefly against prostitutes, the first community watch groups to include immigrants in their ranks formed up in the same area. At Vittorio Veneto the townsfolk are organizing against motorcyclists who “lean in” too far on hairpin curves. Basically, the committees are formed according to highly specific local needs. Grugliasco in Piedmont has “ecological committees” that try to ferret out those who fail to sort their trash.

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The Friuli Venezia Giulia region has passed a law providing for a register and days reserved for vigilance committee training. In Trieste a fishermen’s association has come up with a food security squad. In the South, on the other hand, the phenomenon is having a hard time catching on. There are committees in Naples province to defend the statues of the patron saint and in Agropoli (Salerno) to curb thefts of refuse bins; in Acireale (Catania) they combat illegal bill-posting, while in Bari pensioners keep watch over the kids as they leave school. In Calabria, however, vigilance committees are not exactly the order of the day: in ‘ndrangheta territory, you wouldn’t want to stop the wrong guy in the street. That could be your last mistake.

Legal framework

Psychologically sound vigilante groups…

In the wake of criticism made against his new security laws, and this not just by the opposition, Interior minister Roberto Maroni has unveiled the rules that will apply to his newly introduced "ronde", officially called "associations of volunteers for security". The norms appear to limit the more strikingly paramilitary aspects that were at first imagined. The patrols will be limited to five people and will not be authorized to wear uniforms or distinctive signs except for a fluorescent yellow jacket with the group's logo. Members will be subjected to vetting by a special committee that will examine their criminal record and psychological as well as physical fitness. Those belonging to "movimenti organizzati" (organised movements – i.e. any party, group or ideologically motivated association) will be barred. Their only duty will be to call the police in case they witness any infringement of the law. Above all, they will not be allowed to carry weapons, a concept that extends to both steel torches and dogs. President Giorgio Napolitano, who has written a letter to the government expressing concern for the possible consequences of the bill he just signed into law, has said pepper spray should be banned also.

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