by Giovanni Giacalone
On August 22nd, 2024, the far-left group “Italian New Communist Party (INCP), issued a 24-page long public notice (notice no. 145) calling for the boycott of Israel and the fight against the Zionists in Italy, against the United States, and NATO. In that same notice, the INCP also published a list with Italian and Israeli companies, as well as Italian Jewish and non-Jewish politicians, academics, diplomats, journalists, and activists, all accused of being “Zionists” and “on Israel’s payroll”.
In addition, the notice also cited a speech made by far-left agitator Gabriele Rubini during a pro-Palestinian event organized by CARC (Committee for the Support to Communist Resistance) and the Arab-Palestinian Democratic Union in Tuscany, which included the following statement:
“The primary culprits and targets of the continental resistance in support of the Palestinian people are journalists. They must be afraid to go to work every day, they must fear for the safety of their sons and daughters….”If there was a general global movement it should attack the media first”.
The document was updated on September 18th with a long list of names that, for some unknown reason, also included individuals who took critical positions towards Israel. The list was composed based on spontaneous reports from the group’s followers made via the web, as suggested by the party itself in the press release of August 22nd.
It is worth recalling that, on December 7th 2023, the INCP published a prior statement that included a short list of Italian media groups, TV channels and newspapers accused of being “imperialist”, siding with Israel and of complicity in the “genocide against the Palestinians.” Unlike statement no. 145, that list did not include names of individuals.
On Saturday, September 28th, 2024, scenes worthy of Nazi Germany were seen in Milan, during a “pro-Palestinian” demonstration organized once again by the far-left group “Committee for the Support of Communist Resistance (CARC)” and the Arab-Palestinian Democratic Union.
During the street march, cardboard signs with the faces of several people including a rabbi, an Israeli consul, and 94-year-old Holocaust survivor, Liliana Segre, next to the words “Zionist agent”, were paraded.
On that same evening, from the CARC stage in south Milan, the already quoted Rubini, incited to mark the houses of the “Zionist agents”; unfortunately, someone decided to follow Rubini’s suggestion because, on Monday, September 29th, an elementary school in Milan was defaced with the words “Israeli murderers”.
Rubini also referred to Hassan Nasrallah as a “brother” and was filmed on another stage in Milan, on the same day, next to well-known Palestinian militants Shoukri Hroub (Palestinian Democratic Union) and Muhammad Hannoun (photographed in the past with Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal). During the demonstrations, Hezbollah flags were also paraded.
It is worth mentioning that CARC’s national directive member and Rome-based, Andrea De Marchis, stated that the INCP’s blacklist of “Zionist agents” does not incite violence, and it’s only “information”. However, the facts show a very different story. After all, De Marchis was sitting next to Rubini clapping his hands when the latter incited activists to go and look for houses where the Zionists live and mark them.
CARC, INCP, and a myriad of other far-left groups such as Cambiare Rotta, Opposizione Studentesca Alternativa, Rete dei Comunisti (connected to Nicolas Maduro’s party), Potere al Popolo, and several trade unions announced that they would take part in a demonstration, on Saturday October 5th, to celebrate the October 7th anniversary, defined as “resistance”. The event, organized by the Palestinian Youth in Italy (Giovani Palestinesi) was not authorized by the Italian authorities for reasons of public order, and because it is the celebration of a massacre. However, the far-left formations challenged the prohibition.
Two factors that are worth mentioning are:
1- Not all the Palestinian groups in Italy challenged the authorities’ decision. In fact, the Palestinian Community of Rome and Latium and the Association of Palestinians in Italy will not join and published. PCRL also published a statement in which it dissociates itself from the demonstration and its promoters. The number of Palestinian groups taking the streets on Saturday barely reached ten on Friday October 3rd.
2- The Palestinians are heavily outnumbered by the various far-left groups as it becomes evident that the demonstration is rather against the current Italian government, against NATO, Ukraine, and the United States.
Would it therefore be correct to state that, not only this demonstration will very likely be counterproductive to the Palestinian cause, but that the latter will also be used by the far-left as a pretext to attack the Meloni government?
After all, that is exactly what the INCP and CARC declare in their notices:
“We need to oust Meloni and impose a government that is willing to take the necessary measures to deal with the most serious effects of the crisis, the Popular Bloc Government”. (See link).
And again:
“We need to overthrow the Meloni government, making the country ungovernable until we impose an emergency government that is the expression of workers’ and popular organizations and the rest of the organized masses”. (See link).
These statements are subversive in their nature as they incite the overthrow of the democratically elected government, and it is surprising to see them still active. What are the Italian authorities waiting for to intervene?
In addition, CARC and INCP are not a new phenomenon, they did not pop out of the blue after October 7th 2023, and they have a long history.
The CARC was founded in early 1993 by Giuseppe Maj (born in 1939 in the Bergamo province) following a congress held in Viareggio in November 1992 and promoted by members of the Centro di Documentazione Filo Rosso. The objective of the new committee was to play a vanguard role among the proletarian masses, inspired by revolutionary Marxism-Leninism. In January 1999, the Preparatory Commission for the Founding Congress of the New Italian Communist Party was established. In March of that same year, the commission released a new publication, most likely authored by Maj, called “La Voce del Nuovo Partito Comunista” (The Voice of the New Communist Party), where the new party claimed the need to act underground. In 1999, Maj left his position as national secretary of the CARC and was replaced by Pietro Vangeli, a Milan-based chemical engineer originally from the Calabrian province.
As explained by the Italian investigative journalist, Francesca Galici, for “Il Giornale”, Giuseppe Maj was arrested for the first time in Paris, together with Giuseppe Czppel, in 2003 for subversive association and production of false identity documents, as well as for logistical links with the Spanish terrorist group called Grapo.
In 2005, once again in France, as the two were arrested for the second time, the Comité d’Aide aux Prisonniers politiques du (nouveau) Parti Communiste Italien (Committee for the aid of political prisoners of the (new) PCI) was created.
Where is Giuseppe Maj today? Despite being 85 years old, he seems to still be active, since on September 24th, 2024, he signed a short letter, posted on the INCP’s website and entitled “Open letter to the members of the Forum “In Praise of Twentieth Century Communism”, referring to an event organized by the Rete Comunista (Communist Network) taking place at Sapienza University in Rome.
It is indeed interesting how close CARC and INCP are, not only in their roots, but even in the narrative used in their propaganda content.
Further observations must be made in relation to a series of aspects such as the fact that the INCP truly believes that its activity is clandestine; quite a naïve belief for an alleged underground group that uses the web and operates in a small country of 60 million people.
The situation becomes further interesting as the INCP required help to find “the enemy”, asking potential followers and supporters to report the names of “Zionists” to be included in the party’s blacklist and even managed to get it wrong, by including individuals who have nothing to do with Israel and even some who expressed opinions contrary to Israel’s military operations.
As if it was not enough, CARC and INCP often complain of being “criminalized” by the “pro-Zionist media”, while at the same time using Nazi-style means such as blacklists, parades with photos of “Zionists” that include Holocaust survivors, and calling for actions such as the marking of “enemy houses”.
An old, but always useful, Central Intelligence Agency rule on Counterinsurgency states that a conflict in the pre-insurgency stage is difficult to detect because most activities are underground, and the insurgency has yet to make its presence felt using violence.
These formations are boasting on the web about their alleged clandestine status, and they do not seem to be able to go beyond a first phase of grievance with some online promotional content while, in the meantime, they are exposing many of their weak spots. However, it is very possible that the fall and winter season demonstrations, starting with the one taking place in Rome on October 5th, will turn violent. Overall, an extremely interesting phenomenon deserving further investigation.