Originally published at 325nostate.net and reprinted in Dark Nights issue #39.
By Sean Swain, anarchist prisoner
Back in May 2012, Roberto Adinolfi managed Ansaldo Nucleare, constructing nuclear power plants all over Europe, including the one in Kroko, Slovenia, and Cernadova, Romania. Adinolfi had power, money, prestige, and influence. To him, the suffering and death in Fukushima, Japan wasn’t nearly as real as his spacious, air-conditioned office or his luxurious Genoa home or his expensive suits.
Sometimes, you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet. And besides, none of his death-traps had melted down yet.
Yet. Key word. Yet.
Roberto Adinolfi with his power, money, prestige, and influence never noticed that vehicle following him home. He suspected arrogantly that he would spend an entire career raking in money hand over fist by rolling the radioactive dice and betting millions of other people’s lives, and he would never have to answer to anyone at any time, anywhere.
So one the morning of May 7, Adinolfi left his luxurious Genoa home on his way to his spacious, air-conditioned office – and that’s when an anarchist’s bullet knee-capped him. He bled and screamed.
His expensive suit was ruined.
Alfredo Cospito and Nicola Gai were credited with this humanitarian public service of delivering a clear message to Adinolfi from the millions of his future nuclear holocaust victims. They were not provided awards or accolades, but 10 years 8 months, and 9 years 4 months respectively.
It would appear that the Italian government values Adinolfi’s soiled suit more than the millions of lives trembling in the shadows of a nuclear nightare. Given the long track record of deluded hierarchs, this probably comes as no surprise.
The inspiring and unrepentant statements of both Alfredo Cospito and Nicola Gai are available at Act For Freedom Now.
On 30 October, when Cospito attempted to read his statement in the courtroom, the judges interrupted and then called upon the cop enforcers to drag the two anarchists from the courtroom.
By all published accounts, the judge’s home address is still unknown. The judge does not appear to walk with a limp.
Prosecutors Nicola Piacente and Silvio Franz, who argued for more time and a million euro award (to pay for Adinolfi’s suit, no doubt) also appear to walk with carefree and symmetrical gaits.
Those court officials have clearly not been shot in the kneecaps yet.
Yet. Key word. Yet.
Beyond the real, penetrating, exit-wound justice that’s pretty obvious, there’s also some poetic justice in all of this. It’s not just the poor and powerless who wake up in fear every day – not anymore. Just like the folks who dread the thought of that siren from the nearby power plant, officials in Italy now hold their breath when stepping out of their front doors on their way to commit the day’s quota of mundane atrocities.
When cars back-fire close by, they pee just a little, and they speed up, and they spill their coffee. In that moment of panic and terror, they glimpse a flash from the future, a snapshot of a vision, where corporate executives and lawmakers, bankers and oil tycoons, military advisors and heads of state, all hobbling up and down the sidewalks leaning on canes or swinging along on crutches, smile and nod to one another as they pass, but with dreadful smiles and haunted eyes.
I suspect that moment feels very real to them, and they shudder when they contemplate all of those carefully-aimed gunshots, directly specifically not to kill… because the shooters want them alive.
If you kill them, they won’t learn anything.
There are parking lots all over the world, with smug and oblivious Adinolfis cruising home after a work-day spent murdering the future. They chat on their cell phones with their spouses while texting their lovers and planning the mass graves they will orchestrate tomorrow.
They never notice the cars behind them. They never suspend anything.
How many Alfredo Cospitos and Nicola Gais could there be?
How many indeed.
Sean Swain 243205
Ohio State Penitentiary
878 Coitsville-Hubbard Road
Youngstown, Ohio 44505
USA