To fan the flames of the revolt against Israel in the universities, speaking in the student assemblies or remaining on the sidelines but suggesting to young people the ancient forms of strugglethere are many known faces: the forensic police, viewing the videos of the scuffles that broke out on Tuesday afternoon at Sapienza, first under the Rectorate and then in front of the San Lorenzo police station, found the faces of 5 historical exponents of Roman anarchynow over fifty, today mobilized for Gaza as they were a year ago for Alfredo Cospito, the leader of the informal anarchist Federation (FAI), still imprisoned in 41-bis.
After all, they couldn’t explain themselves 27 injured among the police if on the other side there weren’t people well trained in street clashes. And it didn’t go unnoticed either Jehad Othman62 years old, Palestinian extremist refugee in Italy, present on Tuesday at the Sapienza as he was already in Piazza Vittorio on 27 January, despite the Interior Ministry’s ban on organizing marches on Holocaust Remembrance Day, shouting «no to genocide in Gaza» together with old militants of Roman Autonomy and antagonism: from Daniele Pifano to Nunzio D’Erme.
Othman is a representative of the Palestinian Arab Democratic Union, an association to which he is also a member Mohammed Albarsi Ali Junmahthe 27-year-old Libyan student who returned free yesterday morning after the validation of the arrest for damaging a Digos car: “I had many friends in Gaza, students like me, they died killed by the Israeli army”, said Mohammed , who studies Economics at Sapienza. The risk of “infiltrators” it is what the investigators look at with the most concern: their words inflame souls and create a climate of intolerance in universities. Not only in Rome: last March 15th at Polytechnic of Naplesthe Student Network for Palestine – often supported by those of the Insurgencia social center – organized a protest against the presence at a debate of the director of La Repubblica, Maurizio Molinari, defined as “pro-Israeli”.
The event was cancelled. Thus in Rome, again at Sapienza, a week earlier the protest for the same reason had fallen to David Parenzo, host of The blowing air on La7. One of the protagonists of that day, Letizia Lampis, 20 years old, from Turin, Pharmacy student in Rome and militant of the communist youth organization “Cambiare Route”, last Tuesday (before the clashes) chained in front of the Rectorate “to ask for a stop to the agreements” of the university with Israel and the resignation of the rector Antonella Polimeni from the Med-Or foundation.
«Change course» has been camped out for days, together with the Student Collectives, Potere al Popolo, the Zaum Collective and the Palestinian Student Movement in Italy (the president is Maya Issa, 24 years old, a student from Roma Tre), with at least 15 tents on the lawn of Wisdom. A representative of the group, Francesca Lini (already a guest of Bruno Vespa at Porta a Porta) yesterday on her birthday (24) started a hunger strike under the Rectorate with my colleague Leonardo Cusmai, 23 years old, enrolled in Philosophy.
Yes I am theretied with snow chains of Leonardo’s car and now they are waiting in the freezing cold in a tent to have a meeting with the rector Polimeni. They say that hundreds of teachers and researchers are engaged with students in the fight against the “dual use” of research: among the most famous, Paola Rivetti in Turin and Laura Guazzone in Rome. «In Bari, Turin, Pisa, something is finally moving» they add confidently. And so too at Federico II of Naples, where the occupation of the Rectorate has just ended after the rector, Matteo Lorito, said he was willing to resign from the Med-Or Foundation committee and to face the students’ request to end the collaboration between Federico II and Al-Quds University of Jerusalem.
