Accused of criminal association, he speaks for 4 hours in front of the judges: «I am the leader? For the police station only”
Only the inseparable baseball cap is missing, left on the benches of the classroom (“that wasn’t the case here”), for the rest, the face and speech are those of the iconography of story of Askatasuna, of twenty years of struggle No Tav and – he insists – of the role that the press office of the police station wanted to give him: Giorgio Rossetto, 62 years oldspeak for almost four hours in court (president Federica Bompieri) in the trial which hypothesizes the existence of a criminal association right inside the social center in Corso Regina. And he, of this criminal association, would be “the founder, promoter, organizers, director”, according to the Digos investigation coordinated by the public prosecutor Manuela Pedrotta. Nothing less true, replies the accused, defended by the lawyer Roberto Lamacchia: «I feel like a militant, the son of farmers, who completed eighth grade». Indeed: «Tendively, I would define myself as a revolutionary».
First arrest as a minor
After all, he has been in the balance between revolution and the courts since he was a minor, arrested after the seizure of “subversive leaflets”. Except that, “to make a revolution you need to have the masses”; and failing that, we fight: «I have always been involved in the social struggles of this country, and you do it by being in the square and in demonstrations. Without being co-opted by capitalist ideology.” Even though a lot has changed: «The policemen’s approach to the square is now more bureaucratized: there was more possibility of dialogue and a solution was found. Without it, there are tensions.” Everyone pursues a political goal: «It is achieved through mobilization and, sometimes, you carry on anyway, pushing. But once upon a time people went to demonstrations with sticks which were the handle of the pickaxe, demonstrators and law enforcement had them. Now they are flag sticks».
«You don’t whine about repression»
Yet, we still get beaten up, especially at the May 1st march: «Because they want to cut us off and We are no longer happy when the police act as a hinge». Moral: «Until 2015/16 I always had a relationship with the officials of the police station, then Francesco Messina arrived, someone who made a film for himself». Pedrotta quotes passages from an old interview with Rossetto, from 2011: «Repression is accepted without whining”. Hard and pure: «I said that I wanted to go to the Alessandria prison because there were the last diehards of the Red Brigades: I wanted to get to know them, on a human level». Protest is not the means to other ends, he claims: «Conflict has always been the path to transformations, we are not interested in seats in Parliament».
«Am I the commander? Ridiculous”
The prosecutor draws an interception: “One considers her as his commander.” He shrugs: «The commander, the general, that’s how the police station portrayed me, yes a somewhat ridiculous size». Well, Pedrotta replies: «You are modest». Moral (by Rossetto): «When you are intercepted for six months you talk a lot of bullshit». More: «With Askatasuna I no longer have that relationship mentioned here, I would feel out of place: now there is a youthful dimension, and would I go there to be a know-it-all?”. He points out: «I didn’t tolerate cannabis plants being planted in pots. Never used drugs, even if there are substances and substances.” And again: «I am against drug dealerswe must give him battle.”
“The fight will continue”
Words and life remain militant: «The activist belongs to civil society, as in Caritas». Rules for being a good militant, therefore: go to the streets, “do not accept the cadrega”, misrepresent yourself for demonstrations and, in case of clashes, rugby protection. Yet he, still wearing a cap and face uncovered: “I’m no longer of a suitable age.” But he now has legal knowledge: «For the special surveillance I asked 36 questions with the certified e-mail». And the future? “Uncertain, but I think the fight will continue.”
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