SOURCE: Century of Italy
Mark Iacona
Forty years ago - July 14, 1970 - began the revolt of Reggio Calabria. The protest note from our most popular post-war period with five victims, hundreds injured and extensive damage. The duration of the facts, those of some importance, was seven months (from July 1970 to February 1971) and the cause that gave you a place of historical importance: the decision of placing from the regional capital of the newly formed body region Calabria Reggio Calabria but not in Catanzaro. Many will recall that the right time - first with its review of the reference Cisnal - pledged to support the reasons for the citizens of Reggio. One of the leaders of the revolt was in fact that Francis (or Ciccio) Franco, who died in 1991 and commemorated by a statue on the promenade of the Straits, which was appropriated for the occasion of the historic motto "Executioner who spring. " The true origin of a phrase which has become strafamosa thanks to Franco (but derived from the Risorgimento, or perhaps D'Annunzio) is also uncertain at least until the '40s, the years of Lieutenant Roberto Mieville tank crewman, the prisoner's Fascist Criminal Camp Hereford in Texas, then MSI youth leader and one of the first parliament of the MSI. It was at that time in fact (Mieville died in a car accident in 1955) that the phrase became part of the recurring slogan in Msi, virile rather as an invitation to hold on to overcome adversity. Since then, through the crest of the '60s and '70s until the '90s and Beyond, "Hangman who spring "(with exclamation point) has become one of the mottos identifying the right in its branches handled. The revolt of the "Executioner who spring" of Reggio has opened well in every sense of the '70s. The period in which the institutions could no longer meet the expectations from the "low", those same institutions in the following years, as is known, will eventually falter. Of course it was obvious that without the award of the "plume" (ie, the regional capital of Calabria) the reggini only after being touched by the economic boom were cut off from the benefits that the "promotion" in capital region could make them. And that is, certain jobs and led a far from negligible. The parties and the triple union did not understand fully the desire for redemption of the citizens who asked not to be deprived of powers which historically had belonged. The same Democrat mayor Peter Battle found himself in a difficult situation, between the hammer and the anvil of political protesters, it was he himself will lead the first protests city before the situation from degenerating. But it was useless. A Reggio, in addition to the parliamentary right and do not, they had gathered "from the left" even those of Lotta Continua, hoping they too can play a real revolt of the people. Adriano Sofri and his closest associates were down to Reggio trying to attend the event and making a poster put up across Italy: Reggio capital for a showdown with the state. " "Here - supported Sofri - there are excellent prospects revolutionary." The protagonists of the uprising of Reggio came in fact from "culture" different but united by certain beliefs eventful. So, as Giano Accame wrote in his A History of the Republic "were built barricades, there were deaths, the government came to use the military units, the women of the popular districts such as students learned of the center-north to pack bottles incendiary projectiles against the police. Contributed not a little to excite the minds union MSI Ciccio Franco with his "Executioner who spring", but in a context that included representatives Democrats and people of all parties. " To spearhead the revolt and proclaim a general strike to the bitter end was in fact an "action committee" cross, rather intransigent and led by Franco. The "enemies" if you will call them national representatives were born in Calabria in the center-left coalition that led the country from a handful of years: the Christian Democrats and the Socialist Giacomo Riccardo Misasi both Mancini Cosenza, and more interested in the needs of their city and much less the fate of the Reggio could not claim that representations of the same weight in the Parliament. This was therefore the "bad" policy driven by the unprecedented right intended to undermine. So July 14, 1970 after a meeting of the Mayor and the Battle Councilor Fortunato Aloi MSI (it was declared a general strike against the establishment of the Regional Assembly in Catanzaro albeit temporary), and after a charge of the police will start the actual popular revolt. Protesters occupy roads and railways. The first real clash is not to Reggio to Villa San Giovanni, but the port from which ferries leave for Sicily. A to escalate the climate then will be the news that the police have made no stops. The MSI right hand after an initial hesitation, the protest ride with more political motives. And the higher powers will act like? The three unions have gone from an attitude of "disengagement" to one of harsh criticism. The media are like Italians instead displaced, many of them speak of "actions thugs" and that's it, the Soviet Tass agency at that time will talk instead of action "fascist" tout court, in an obvious attempt to discredit a protest that went beyond the logic of the party machinery. Within days, however, the protest will rise to almost the point of maximum tension: starting with the derailment of the train of the sun, the Palermo-Torino at the Gioia Tauro, with six deaths (22 July), with the occupation of the University of Messina, with the proclamations "secessionists" (and the Republic of bars, which was the district Ciccio Franco), with the assault on the Chamber of Labour and the arrest of Franco and other demonstrators. After the halfway point of the new year (February 12, 1971), the government headed by Emilio Colombo, especially in emergency financial matters and divorce law, however, decide to run for cover. The citizens of Reggio and the surrounding areas have had their time to "vent" and the logic of politics back to the shots. The result of government measures but will be something halfway between a "wise" mediation and a colossal joke. At three major cities of Calabria will be assigned important powers, at least on paper. A Catanzaro will remain the "plume" that is officially the capital and seat of the county council. Cosenza is the university, while the Reggio will sop seat of the Regional Assembly. But there's more. The government will promise to build a center in Gioia Tauro steel and Saline (both near Reggio) an establishment Liquichimica. On paper, it will be almost a draw ... And the true fruit? The protests will go on for many months. The industrial area of \u200b\u200bCalabria do not ever take off, or at Gioia Tauro where it will be killed for nothing hectares of olive groves and citrus trees, nor in Saline. Forty years therefore, will only hold the memories of acts of force led by Ciccio Franco. The former mayor of Reggio Calabria Giuseppe Scopelliti in 2006 will define for the courage and brilliance in the field shows a "model for right now."
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