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Bolognas lesson for London
Bolognas lesson for London
Geoff Andrews - openDemocracy
12 - 8 - 2005
continue reading: http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-terrorism/bologna_2752.jsp
Geoff Andrews - openDemocracy
12 - 8 - 2005
The northern Italian city of Bologna, hit by terrorists in August 1980, memorialised as well as mourned. London could take heart from its response, says Geoff Andrews.
On 2 August 1980, a bomb planted by neo-fascists ripped through the waiting-room of Bologna railway station, killing 85 people and injuring more than 200. It exploded on the morning of the first Saturday in August when hundreds were setting off on their holidays. Those killed were a mixture of station workers, passengers and tourists, including British and other visitors.
The strage di Bologna was and is the most devastating terrorist attack in Italian history. It was the culmination of a decade of terrorist violence of right and left, defined by commentators as the strategy of tension in which the state was undermined from all sides and Italians lived in fear of each other.
The response of the city to the indiscriminate attack was immediate and unequivocal.(....)
Every year the massacre is commemorated by a march through the city, with many of the victims' families taking part. For this year's anniversary, the walls of the waiting-room were adorned with a rich variety of artwork, stamps and photographs of the bombing and its aftermath.(....)
Bologna has renewed itself as a city of culture, tolerance and unshaken anti-fascist values. London is a city with a proud history of tolerance and dissent and of being a place of refuge for those facing persecution. It can justly claim to be one of the most diverse cities in the world, a fact which is becoming more evident in the conscience of its citizens. This is demonstrated by the backgrounds of those who died five weeks ago, and is reinforced by many responses of Londoners old and new since the bombings. Now the city needs to reassert this identity through its own collective memory of the tragedy of 7 July 2005.
continue reading: http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-terrorism/bologna_2752.jsp
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