The View from Bologna

Fabrizio Quattrocchi posthumously awarded medal of honour

Fabrizio Quattrocchi, who was murdered by his kidnappers in Iraq two years ago, has been awarded the medaglia d'oro al valor civile by Italy's President Ciampi, on the suggestion of Interior Minister Pisanu.

Posthumous medals are as much about creating potent symbols for the living, as paying respect to the dead. As such, it's worth taking a closer look at Quattrocchi's medal, and the controversy it has generated in Italy.

Quattrocchi was not the first Italian to die in Iraq, nor sadly the last. Only one other Italian killed in Iraq has thus far received the medaglia d'oro, Nicola Calipari. It's not a macabre contest, but it's worth pointing out those who have not received the medal of honour.

Firstly the military who died when the Italian base in Nassirya was attacked by a suicide bomber. Maria Cimino, the mother of Emanuele Ferraro, one of the victims of the Nassirya bomb blast, openly questioned President Ciampi in the press: "Why haven't our boys received a medal yet? In contrast to Quattrocchi, my son died wearing the Italian uniform"[1].

The other glaring ommission from the medal list is Enzo Baldoni, a journalist and peace activist who, like Quattrocchi, was kidnapped and murdered in Iraq.

What differentiates Quattrocchi from the soldiers in Nassirya, or murdered civilians like Baldoni? Two things - 1) Quattrocchi's business in Iraq, and 2) his dying words, videotaped by his murderers and now widely available online for those with a propensity for snuff movies.

Investigating Quattrocchi's role in Iraq

Quattrocchi, a former baker, was working in Iraq as a private security contractor. He was recruited by the Italian branch of Ibsa, a security firm specialising in work in high-risk areas. Recruited via email, Quattrocchi passed from being a bouncer in Genova, to mission work in Iraq, where, along with fellow Italians Steffio, Agliana e Cupertino (working for Steffio's firm Presidium), he worked protecting designated persons or structures (the precise nature of the mission at the time of his kidnapping remains vague)[2].

Ignazio La Russa, head of post-Fascist party Alleanza Nazionale's parliamentary group, commented on the medal giving with a somewhat flawed logic that "now all Italians know that Fabrizio Quattrocchi was a hero and not a mercenary". Leaving aside the emotive connotations that the word may have, Quattrocchi worked in a para-military capacity (according to another Italian 'security consultant', Paolo Casti "we were armed with pistols and rifles, we had the power to stop and search people and, if necessary, open fire"[3]) for payment.

To call him a mercenary is not to assign a moral value, simply to state the facts. There's no evidence that Quattrocchi harmed anyone in the course of his work, and his main motive in going to work in Iraq was not related to geo-political concerns, peace missions, or imperial hubris, but rather the simple wish to earn money to pay for his wedding.

While this Monkey is quick not to ascribe any moral judgement on Quattrocchi's work in Iraq, it seems to be work that is expressly forbidden by Italian Law (art.288). A subsequent investigation was opened into how and why the four Italians came to be working in Iraq; an investigation that uncovered a shadowy organisation, the Dssa was uncovered, running parallel alongside official Italian state security services. The Dssa was set up, in the wake of the Madrid bombings, to provide security services in the fight against terrorism - for payment. An unofficial (and probably illegal - the investigation continues) outsourcing body for ex-military, secret services, police. Two of the men behind the Dssa belong to the extreme-right wing, and connections have already been suggested to Gladio, the NATO backed organisation implicated in two attempted coups and various terrorist attacks in Italy (it's important to point out that Quattrocchi was not found to have had any connection with the Dssa).

Whatever the value of Quattrocchi's work, we can safely assume that there was no intrinsic heroism involved that merits the recognition of the State.

To die like an Italian

Which brings us to the more likely reason for Quattrocchi's medal. In a gruesome videotape of the body guard's murder, released to Al-Jazeera, Quattrocchi rips off his hood before being murdered, and shouts to his captors "Now I'll show you how an Italian dies".

Brave words from a man facing death, and not to be belittled. The question though remains, do Quattrocchi's final words merit a medal while the soldiers of Nassirya, surprised by a brutal bomb blast, forced to remain silent, remain uncommemorated? Does Enzo Baldoni's death have a lesser importance because he was bookish-looking and left behind no traces of defiant patriotism?

Quattrocchi's words don't deserve to be belittled, but neither do they deserve to be hijacked.

Alleanza Nazionale, the party that emerged from the fascist M.S.I. (formed by Giorgio Almirante, one of Mussolini's ministers in the Republic of Salò) has long attempted to lay claim to the virtue of patriotism. Their election campaigns focus heavily on the tricolor and, not surprisingly given their fascist roots, the love of the Patria (their slogan for last year's administrative elections was 'those of us calling Italy Patria were in a minority. Now we're the majority').

Quattrocchi's pride in being Italian was seized upon immediately by Azione Giovani, the youth branch of Alleanza Nazionale. In May 2005, Giorgia Meloni, on behalf of Azione Giovani, wrote "We've waited sixty years to see that other Italy, proud and strong, that the left-wing have tried to hide and suffocate. We revindicated it, handed it down, embodied it often. And then, unexpectedly, our Italy is in front of our eyes. Our martyrs in Nassirya, the Italian Red Cross that decides to stay in Iraq against the advice of the International Red Cross that runs away, and Fabrizio"[4].

The key point in Meloni's speech is the sixty years reference, bringing us back to 1944. A cursory glance at the history books, reveals the liberation of Italy from Nazi-Fascism. For Meloni and her political associates that liberation, and the subsequent development of a constitutional democracy, seems to somehow have been shameful.

Quattrocchi's death was commented on worldwide, with particular emphasis from American bloggers, rightly condemning his brutal murder by 'islamo-fascists'. Ironic, sad, and more than a little stomach-churning then that his death has been hijacked to promote fascism. More traditional, more Italian, but fascism nonetheless.

[1] "Perché i nostri ragazzi non hanno avuto ancora una medaglia, a differenza di Quattrocchi. Mio figlio è morto indossando l'uniforme italiana" - La Repubblica 22/03/2006
[2] Vita e morte di Quattrocchi
tutto per diecimila euro - La Repubblica, 15/04/2004
[3]"Siamo stati armati di pistola e mitraglietta, avevamo il potere di fermare e controllare le persone e, in caso di necessità, aprire il fuoco." - Fabrizio Quattrocchi, i «contractor» e la trama oscura delle «spa paramilitari» - L'Unità, 2/07/2005
[4]"Per sessant’anni noi abbiamo aspettato di vedere l’altra Italia, quella orgogliosa e fiera che la sinistra ha fatto di tutto per nascondere e soffocare. L’abbiamo rivendicata, tramandata, incarnata molto spesso. E poi, inaspettatamente, la nostra Italia ce la siamo ritrovata di fronte agli occhi. I nostri martiri di Nassirya, la Croce Rossa Italiana che sceglie di rimanere in territorio iracheno contro il parere della Croce Rossa Internazionale, che scappa, e Fabrizio." - Azione Giovani,

Applauding Berlusconi's Buffoonery - Boris Johnson aims out of the vase

Boris Johnson, writing in the Spectator, suggests that it would be a shame were Silvio Berlusconi to lose the next election.

Focussing primarily on Berlusconi's legendary gaffes, suggesting "they help to make him fallible and human, and to explain his popularity", Johnson admits that five years of the Forza Italia government have "been a disappointment, and that his attacks on the size of the state have had all the incisiveness of limp fettucine [sic]". At the same time though, Johnson "cannot help hoping that this peacock will be given one last chance to convert his outrageousness into real political bravery, and reform the Italian economy".

Perhaps there's some 'projection' going on here, portraying Berlusconi as a likeable buffoon braving the 'politically-correct' brigade while holding a torch for Thatcherism, and the free market. Well might Johnson laugh at Berlusconi's jokes, and the people who find them impossibly offensive - Johnson doesn't live in Italy, or face the effects of Berlusconi's politics, a politics that has precious little in common with the conservatism that Johnson espouses.

With an overwhelming majority in parliament, five years of government have seen sweeping reform of legislation, primarily in areas beneficial to Berlusconi's business interests.

Changes have been made to the sentences for false accounting. Not, as one might reasonably imagine, increasing them in order to ensure transparency in financial markets - but rather reducing them. In September 2005, Berlusconi was cleared of charges of false accounting in relation to All Iberian, thanks to this new legislation.

Changes have been made to broadcasting legislation, saving one of Mr Berlusconi's television stations that, in accordance with regulations limiting media ownership, was due to be forced off the national airwaves and onto satellite. Rather than breaking up a dangerously anti-competitive* media holding, under Berlusconi's government, it has been consolidated.

Changes have been made to the statute of limitations for various offences. It's worth noting that a number of prosecutions against Berlusconi and his associates, prior to and after these changes, resulted in charges being dropped, not for lack of evidence, but rather because the statute of limitations had been reached.

Johnson suggests that Berlusconi "could have done far more, in his first term, to tame the unions and reform the labour markets and generally get Anglo-Saxon on the economy". Which shows exactly how he has misunderstood Berlusconi's politics. Lip service is paid to the 'free market', but the economy under Berlusconi has and will remain resolutely 'Italian'. Reducing the likelihood of successful prosecutions in cases of corruption, bribery, and false accounting can only favour the type of business that relies on power and influence. The type of business that prospers from limited competition. Need we suggest what type of business Mr Berlusconi is involved in?

Berlusconi's buffoonery is another matter. This monkey is no politically-collect prude, and has often laughed both at the gaffes and at those who remain so indignant to them. Leaving aside the question as to whether it's a prime-minister's responsibility to make us laugh (or, more often than not, cry), Berlusconi's own attitude towards cutting-edge-comedy is worth noting. In the last five years some of Italy's favourite comedians have been chased off the national airwaves. The much noted case of Sabina Guzzanti gives a good example of how Berlusconi handles comedy. Guzzanti's programme RAIOT, a satirical show with impersonations of major political figures (à la Rory Bremner), had one show before receiving multi-million Euro libel suits from Mediaset and Fininvest - two of Berlusconi's companies. The administration of RAI, the state broadcaster, appointed by Berlusconi's government, immediately suspended the programme despite huge viewing figures. The libel suits failed when they eventually came to trial, having no merit, but the programme was never reinstated. Guzzanti is by no means alone, Michele Santoro, Enzo Biagi, and Daniele Luttazzi being just some of the examples of comics and journalists who have been banished from Italian TV during the Berlusconi era.

Considering Johnson's spirited defence of BBC journalists in the face of New Labour bullying, one might have expected Johnson to have taken a firmer line on Berlusconi, or at least have the decency to limit himself to writing about matters that he's better informed on.

There's a quaint expression in Italian, used when somebody has said something out of place: ha pisciato fuori del vaso, or he/she has pissed out of the vase - an embarassing and buffoonish failing. With his light-hearted defence of Berlusconi, Johnson has missed the vase by a mile, to mix our metaphors.

*Why is the concentration of media in the hands of Berlusconi anti-competitive? As explained by journalists Marco Travaglio and Peter Gomez in the book Inciucio, in the early '90s when Berlusconi's Mediaset faced economic ruin, Berlusconi "wanted a cast-iron agreement to be reached [between RAI and Mediaset] to divide from the outset the audience. If one party went over its quota, it would have to lighten its programming, that is insert low quality, low cost programmes, allowing the rival network to regain the lost audience share".